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Why I Spent £1,052.84 on LEGO Friends – Confessions of a HfP reader (Part Two)

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Here is part two of HfP reader John’s experience with manufactured spending.  You should read Part 1 of the article here before continuing below.  HfP has edited the article and any errors are probably ours.

What about the coffee machines?

“I was actually hoping to offset a slight loss on my LEGO sets with the profits I’d make from the coffee machines.

It turned out to not be as easy.

Nespresso decided to do a sale and suddenly the machines were selling for only slightly more than I’d purchased them for.  This meant I’d actually end up losing money after deducting sales, shipping and handling fees.

Deciding that I just wanted to get rid of the stock, I revisited my calculations and tried to estimate the maximum price I was prepared to pay for my points.

Having recently signed up to The Sunday Times Travel Magazine and in-effect paid 0.66p / Avios, I decided that this was my upper limit and reduced my prices to 90% of the RRP.

Suddenly, the floodgates opened and order after order started coming in. To speed up the packaging process I purchased some packing bags on Amazon for next to nothing and got Hermes to pick up the boxes from my workplace.

I did look at getting a thermal label printer which would have made getting boxes ready for shipping an absolute doddle, but they aren’t particularly cheap and after reviewing my calculations I decided I wouldn’t be making a habit of manufactured spending via reselling.

Thanks to Hermes destroying one of the boxes, getting another one wet and losing a third one, I had to deal with three complaints. Hermes sorted out the first two complaints (each item was covered up to £25) and I assume the third person managed to track her LEGO down after I suggested filing a ‘missing item’ complaint.

So …. was it worth the effort?

My total outlay stands at £321.63 in return for 99,666 equivalent Avios.  In effect, I’ve ‘bought’ 99,666 Avios for 0.32p each.

I’m relatively new to the miles and points game so I’ve not claimed that many miles but based on my tracking, I’ve averaged 0.3p per Avios.  Most of these miles will be used up on a redemption from Manchester to Dubai in First Class in February next year and I’m looking at a value of around 2.06p / Avios on that route. Even if you value miles as low as Rob (1p/Avios) this is still a pretty good deal.

What about your time? Doesn’t that reduce the value of these miles?

It’s true, I haven’t accounted for my time. This wasn’t insignificant and has taken several hours over the past few weeks. I’m a reasonably well-paid web development contractor so I could have almost certainly spent my time on a more productive activity than packing and shipping LEGO boxes.

When factoring-in my time, it is not quite as lucrative a deal.  Knowing the value I’ll be getting on my redemption to Dubai still means it’s a net gain on my time and money.

Would I recommend reselling? Would I do it again myself?

Difficult question …. I can see myself doing this again under the right circumstances (another big Clubcard bonus from Tesco for example) but definitely won’t be in a hurry to repeat this process each month.

When researching reselling as a manufactured spending technique, all the guides encourage you to build up enough cash reserves that you can afford to have your stock sat for as long as a few months to ensure you get a good price for it. I neglected this and was in more of a rush to sell.

I got lucky with the LEGO sets and ended up with 42 boxes of a product that was reasonably easy to sell. However one of the coffee machines was heavily discounted just a few days after I purchased it and I’m now left with £69 locked up in a coffee machine that Nespresso is selling for £59. Not ideal …. but a reasonably small problem in the grand scheme of things.

If you are tempted by reselling, make sure the numbers stack up before you pull the trigger on your move. Research your products and ensure you can sell them quickly and at a price that works for you.

The goal with reselling should be to generate profits and allow the points to accumulate as a bonus on top. In my opinion, this isn’t a great way of accumulating points even if you can ‘buy’ them very cheaply!”

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How to earn Avios from UK credit cards

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (April 2025)

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.

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

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

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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.

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

Category

British Airways and Avios, Tesco Clubcard

Comments (125)

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

  • Neil Spellingws says:
    23 Oct23 October 12:57

    I chose CW over First for a recent 2 for 1 redemption. The last First trip I did wasn’t worth the extra wad of Avios. CW ticks all my boxes..lounge access, flat bed, decent food.

    Most of the “First experience” is down to the on board crew so it’s not worth the risk given the large amounts of extra Avios it burns.

    • Jason says:
      23 Oct23 October 13:15

      Travelling in F, to DXB, is an extra 10k Avios OW per person using 241’S.
      That seems very worthwhile to me.
      My wife actually prefers BA F, to the Etihad F appt as she felt the appt was too big 😉

    • John says:
      23 Oct23 October 13:46

      Flying with Avios and a 241 so the extra wad of Avios required for F increases the redemption value of my 241 voucher.

  • Genghis says:
    23 Oct23 October 13:02

    We booked F to SIN and back from KUL (for a holiday in Bali) as it might be our last holiday before we have children. Special occasion and all that…

    • Genghis says:
      23 Oct23 October 16:02

      I’ve been to all of these places before when I was a poor student but the plan is to do it nicely this time (and hopefully no bed bugs!). So 4 nights in SIN (hotels not yet booked but thinking the Conrad on part pay with points for 2 nights and Intercon for two – using an Ambassador voucher), Air Asia to DPS, 5 nights in Ubud (not yet booked but have a couple of hotels.com nights), 7 nights in the Conrad (booked with cash), Air Asia to KUL, two nights on points in the Double Tree (from James67’s recommendation the other day).

      The Conrad on Bali looks great. From the reading I’ve done online they seem to do well with the Diamond recognition. I’ll report back. This is a relaxing holiday that I promised my wife (after our ordeal in China last month) so hopefully it delivers what we want.

      • Andy says:
        23 Oct23 October 17:32

        How much is the Conrad Bali Cash rates if you don’t mind me asking?

        • Genghis says:
          23 Oct23 October 17:54

          I think I paid £950 for 7 nights in Hilton sale in June 16 pre Brexit. Not sure of price now.

        • Genghis says:
          23 Oct23 October 18:03

          Just checked price now for my dates next Easter and the USD cost is the same, though if you’re paying in GBP it’ll cost quite a bit more now.

          • Alan says:
            23 Oct23 October 18:20

            It’s the one small post Brexit positive factor I’ve seen, hotel points are now worth more as they’re effectively denominated in dollars!

          • Rob says:
            23 Oct23 October 19:31

            Doesn’t help if you earn points via hotel stays though as you get fewer points for every £1 spent as it is only worth $1.30 and so, for eg, 13 IHG base points per £.

          • Alan says:
            23 Oct23 October 19:56

            Quite – it’s been rubbish on the earnings front for sure, but my 650k+ stash of HHonors points has jumped up in value, 150k for 3 nights in Chicago is saving me a packet compared to the current USD prices! Also found a few hundred in cash from when the exchange rate was 1.6 which has helped too 😉

          • Alan says:
            23 Oct23 October 20:02

            Plus if earning on cards here the points earned are worth more if you spend them outside the UK on redemptions 🙂

          • Rob says:
            23 Oct23 October 20:26

            Perhaps I should be upgrading my valuations ….. may do an article.

          • Alan says:
            23 Oct23 October 20:36

            Indeed, I’ve popped HHonors up to 0.4p in my own mind now (although for Chicago am getting way better thanks to a conference being on but somehow redemptions still being available!)

        • Liz says:
          23 Oct23 October 21:04

          I bought 160k HH pts back in May to use specifically for 5 nights in Washington next year – cost £556. I have now booked it – just a Hampton Inn Cat 7 but the cash price is £1096 – that’s a decent return for my points purchase. Finding the USA hotels a lot more expensive now – trying to get as many hotels booked on points rather than pay cash.

    • Alan says:
      23 Oct23 October 16:34

      Personally I wouldn’t attribute too much value to the Concorde Room. It’s fine but compared to the some of the First Class Lounges elsewhere I don’t think it’s top league.

  • James says:
    23 Oct23 October 13:48

    How do I use the £150 code when they are £74.95 each on Tesco.

    RRP is £99.99, Toys r us are selling them on ebay for £74.94 with free post, who is going to buy them at RRP for £99.99 + post.

    You then have 10% ebay fees + 3.9% Paypal fees, 2nd class signed is around £4.00 so for each sale you get back around £60, so the cost of the sale is a loss of around £15 per box.

    Do I need a new calculator or does this not add up.

    • Tilly71 says:
      23 Oct23 October 14:26

      The code was on the last lego promo, not this one but yes agree with you on fees, paypal and courier costs all when totalled up are hefty.
      10% ebay fees of total amount, couriers are £6.95 upwards and paypal at 2.75% or 3.4% + 20p of the amount to withdraw.

    • David says:
      23 Oct23 October 14:30

      I think they were £78.70 each during the last promotion so two purchases and you could use the code.

      • Tilly71 says:
        23 Oct23 October 15:07

        You would of only got 1500 points though for the two purchases totalling over £150 to get the code to work.

    • Sideysid says:
      24 Oct24 October 03:03

      Sorry and I also added a very small Lego friends pop star set for under £10 which I sold for around £14.50 on each order.

      Toys R Us didn’t have them for £75 then, as the prices fluctuate across the year among retailers (High Speed Train is another set that fluctuates a lot) I sold them for £89.95 per set, packaging cost me nothing, just courier costs (Hermes is cheapest) and Ebay fees.

  • HAM76 says:
    23 Oct23 October 13:56

    It’s a personal choice… Over the past few years it has become more difficult for me to redeem Avios. Availability got worse, 2-4-1’s in Germany got axed with the new credit card rules, our son needs his own seat which reduces availability even more. Avios are nice, but they are worth less to me now. First, OTOH, is definitely worth it, to me. I ended up just paying for the few (mostly one) L/H trips a year. ex-Germany it’s cheaper than CW from the UK.

  • AC says:
    23 Oct23 October 14:36

    Fingers crossed your points post to you! Keep us posted 🙂

    • David says:
      23 Oct23 October 14:43

      He should find out next Monday, if they aren’t there you normally get a letter a few weeks later.

      • Aeronaut says:
        24 Oct24 October 10:37

        What does the letter say? “Your transactions were contrary to our T&Cs so we’re not giving you the Clubcard points”?

        • Tilly71 says:
          24 Oct24 October 14:15

          It will simply state they have detected unusual behaviour in your account which they feel is not in the spirit if the scheme in which it was designed for so they are closing your account/s and will not be processing your points to vouchers.
          In effect, you are banned from clubcard. Some have argued case law with Tesco and won what we believe to be out of court settlements of monetary value but not points reinstated and they have been sworn by confidentiality agreements.

  • Genghis says:
    23 Oct23 October 16:26

    OT. Does anyone know how Creation report FX charges on their statements? I.e. For a £100 spend would it be two charges of £100 and £3 (à la MBNA) or one charge of £103 (à la Amex)?

    • Rob says:
      23 Oct23 October 17:36

      One charge like Amex

    • Roger* says:
      24 Oct24 October 10:59

      Which Creation card?

      I only use my Creation Everyday MC abroad. This is notionally 0% f/x but the transaction is posted gross with the f/x surcharge deducted separately.

      • Genghis says:
        24 Oct24 October 11:04

        IHG Creation. I plan on using it in France over the next few days (on expenses). It sounds like it will post gross (with no deduction in my case – ie. no separate line item).

      • Rob says:
        24 Oct24 October 11:24

        Marriott shows the charge as just one figure with the text underneath saying something like ‘$100 translated at $1.29 which includes a 3% foreign exchange fee’ (I don’t have a statement to hand at the moment).

        • Genghis says:
          24 Oct24 October 11:30

          Hmm. I might just use my Curve card linked to IHG then as I don’t really want the 3% FX fee to be explicit. My boss lets me use my own credit cards for points but I also have a corporate card (issued by my bank) which is FX free for staff.

  • CV3V says:
    23 Oct23 October 16:54

    For flights in/out of KUL then CW is a good option, on a new 787, so everything is that little bit better than on say a 777 CW. If on a 777 to SIN then my preference is to get into First. In either class bear in mind these are overnight flights so you will be going to sleep anyway, i always feel First is a bit of a waste. Did First class from HKG to LHR a few years ago with CX, now that i would recommend without hesitation!

    Concorde Room is nice and worth at least one visit as a bucket list item. MAS business class lounge at KUL is (to me) preferable to their First Class lounge, lots of food options including a laksa station. At SIN the Qantas business lounge is a great place to hang out, haven’t tried the BA lounge but gets good reviews.

  • James says:
    23 Oct23 October 20:40

    Apologies for off topic but I wanted to know the following: referral bonus is max 90k for Amex gold holders. However I heard that this sometimes goes to 99k or 108k. How would I know if I reached the max number of referrals? It’s just that I have shared my link on all my social media and I have lost track! I am already at 90k from referrals.

    Thsnks!

    • Rob says:
      23 Oct23 October 21:30

      Some people get to 99k, some to 108k. No logic to it. I think Amex applies the caps manually, or perhaps checks at the end of each day or week so if the last couple come close together you may go over. NEVER seen anyone beyond 108k.

      NEVER heard of anyone getting above 25k on the Starwood card though, interestingly.

      Whether or not you get your bonus, the person you refer still gets the higher bonus.

      Wait until January for the limit to reset if unsure.

      • James says:
        23 Oct23 October 21:57

        Thanks Rob. What I am asking though is how I know that I reached my limit so that I can start sharing my missus’ link?

        Will my referral link become invalid or Amex will contact me saying I have reached max number of referrals?

        • Rob says:
          23 Oct23 October 22:12

          You won’t know.

          All that happens is that you refer someone who gets accepted but you won’t get any points. Beyond 90k it is a gamble. It isn’t a risk to the person you refer as they WILL get 22k regardless.

          Frankly, given we are in November near enough, I would use your wife’s. The limits reset in 10 weeks after all.

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