Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

Warning – changes to Tesco ink cartridge recycling policies

Links on Head for Points may support the site by paying a commission.  See here for all partner links.

I wrote recently about earning Avios points via Tesco Clubcard by buying cheap used printer ink cartridges on eBay and then selling them to Tesco’s recycling partner.

You earn 50 – 100 Tesco Clubcard points (120-240 Avios) per cartridge, which allows you to generate fairly cheap Avios points if you are happy to make the effort required.

The recycling company behind the scheme has quietly slipped out a new ‘price list’.  One key change is that HP920 and HP940 cartridges – two very popular models because they are readily available – will no longer be accepted.

This change came into effect immediately, so there is a risk that some people will be left with a box of HP920 or HP940 cartridges which can no longer be used.

Hopefully no Head for Points readers are caught up, but it is a reminder that you always run a risk with this sort of scheme.  You obviously have no grounds for complaint to the recycling company, given that you are not meant to be bulk buying cartridges via eBay in the first place …..


How to earn Avios from UK credit cards

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (April 2024)

As a reminder, there are various ways of earning Avios points from UK credit cards.  Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses!

In February 2022, Barclaycard launched two exciting new Barclaycard Avios Mastercard cards with a bonus of up to 25,000 Avios. You can apply here.

You qualify for the bonus on these cards even if you have a British Airways American Express card:

Barclaycard Avios Plus card

Barclaycard Avios Plus Mastercard

Get 25,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £10,000 Read our full review

Barclaycard Avios card

Barclaycard Avios Mastercard

5,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £20,000 Read our full review

There are two official British Airways American Express cards with attractive sign-up bonuses:

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

25,000 Avios and the famous annual 2-4-1 voucher Read our full review

British Airways American Express

5,000 Avios for signing up and an Economy 2-4-1 voucher for spending £15,000 Read our full review

You can also get generous sign-up bonuses by applying for American Express cards which earn Membership Rewards points. These points convert at 1:1 into Avios.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 20,000 points, FREE for a year & four airport lounge passes Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express

40,000 bonus points and a huge range of valuable benefits – for a fee Read our full review

Run your own business?

We recommend Capital on Tap for limited companies. You earn 1 Avios per £1 which is impressive for a Visa card, along with a sign-up bonus worth 10,500 Avios.

Capital on Tap Business Rewards Visa

Huge 30,000 points bonus until 12th May 2024 Read our full review

You should also consider the British Airways Accelerating Business credit card. This is open to sole traders as well as limited companies and has a 30,000 Avios sign-up bonus.

British Airways Accelerating Business American Express

30,000 Avios sign-up bonus – plus annual bonuses of up to 30,000 Avios Read our full review

There are also generous bonuses on the two American Express Business cards, with the points converting at 1:1 into Avios. These cards are open to sole traders as well as limited companies.

American Express Business Platinum

40,000 points sign-up bonus and an annual £200 Amex Travel credit Read our full review

American Express Business Gold

20,000 points sign-up bonus and FREE for a year Read our full review

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Avios. This includes both personal and small business cards.

Comments (46)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • TimS says:

    Luckily i sent off the 100x hp920s i had in early Jan and most of them (95%) were accepted.

    Glad i didn’t send them off in batches over the year now!

  • Jason says:

    TimS
    How long did they take to get processed?

  • Simon says:

    I got lucky as well, sent in 100 920s using the envelopes over the course of a week mid January and they were all processed over a 4 day period just before the new list came out.

    The points are awarded based on the list when the cartridges are processed but some people have reported some success contacting The Recycling Factory and as a goodwill gesture they’ve agreed to manually add the points for 920 & 940 cartridges sent before the list was changed but processed after the list was changed.

  • Dave says:

    Apparently you can phone up and they will manually add the points if your cartridges where in the post when they changed the terms. My eBay guy did and I got my points added.

    • Graham says:

      This may have been me! 🙂

      Indeed this is the case. I sent 7 orders out at the back end Jan which resulted in several being part or totally processed post Feb 4th, resulting in loads of missing points! Fortunately, they will add the point manually if it obvious the cartridges were sent pre Feb 4th by giving them a quick phone call.

      For reference they send their points list over to Tesco every Monday, points should post a couple of days after that.

      • Simon says:

        With the removal of 920s and 940s are you still able to offer cartridges at an attractive price for the Tesco scheme Graham?

        I’ve nearly reached my limit for this year so looked on ebay more out of interest and I couldn’t see much value (i.e. less than £1 per cartridge).

        • Graham says:

          Yes, but I’m probably going to have to increase prices from £90 per 100 to something closer to £95 in the future. The biggest problem has always been cartridge supply (at a reasonable rate), which has now been limited even further, so at some point it may no longer be worth my time to source the cartridges.

  • dandannn says:

    Only this week did I send off 100 350s which I bought a few months ago and hadn’t sent off yet. Checking the qualifying list now and I don’t see them on there, have they been taken off?

    • avidsaver says:

      I don’t think 350’s have been accepted for some time. They were not on the list published in August last year.

      • dandannn says:

        Oh 🙁

        I knew I should have sent them in sooner rather than leaving them sitting around! Total waste of money.

    • TimS says:

      Looking at the previous list i had, i don’t think 350s were on that one either?

  • Jason says:

    I sent a box off about a month ago and nothing showing, on my account, yet.
    Not sure which type, as I bought them on eBay and put the tesco envelope inside the box.

    • Simon says:

      They should be processed within a month, oddly although some people have had problems sending in boxes most have reported they tend to be processed much quicker than the envelopes.

      It might be worth contacting The Recycling Factory to see what has happened, not knowing the type of cartridge could make things tricky if they start asking questions. You can request they send you your tally so far this year, i.e. how many have been processed, failed etc so you could try just asking for your tally at least you’ll know if they received the box then.

  • Jason says:

    Thanks Simon, I’ll find out from the ebayer, I bought them from, what type of cartridges they were.
    First time I had used the service.

  • olybeast says:

    350s have never been on the list as far as I know

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

The UK's biggest frequent flyer website uses cookies, which you can block via your browser settings. Continuing implies your consent to this policy. Our privacy policy is here.