Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

Do you know you can redeem Avios for Nectar points for Marks & Spencer gift cards?

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Avios points can be transferred to Nectar points at an attractive rate – 1 Avios gets you 0.8p of Nectar points.

Details of how to link your British Airways Executive Club and Nectar accounts are in this article.

The Nectar website lists the places that accept Nectar points as part or full-payment. We usually focus on Sainsburys, Argos and eBay.co.uk but there are others, such as Eurostar.

There is one major partner which is not listed on the Nectar website, however – Marks & Spencer.

Marks and Spencer Nectar points

Nectar has a major partnership with the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday. Once you are registered for their MyMail scheme, you can earn points with every newspaper you buy. You simply input the unique code printed on the back page into the MyMail website.

It isn’t a huge earner. You would earn 35 Nectar points per week (22 Avios) if you bought a newspaper every day. Online subscribers to The Mail+ receive 150 Nectar points per month (94 Avios).

For reasons I don’t fully understand, there is a unique Nectar redemption option which is only accessed via the MyMail website.

You can redeem your Nectar points – your full balance, not just the points you collected via the Mail – for Marks & Spencer gift cards.

The rate is 1,000 Nectar points for a £5 voucher, which is the standard 0.5p per Nectar point redemption rate.

The one snag is that the vouchers cannot be used for food purchases. They are only valid on non-food, eg clothing and homeware. The gift cards can be used both instore and online.

If you are keen to run down your Avios balance but don’t spend much at Sainsbury’s, Argos or eBay, this is another route to exit Avios at 0.8p per point.

PS. If you don’t have the Nectar American Express credit card, take a look at our review here.

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.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 12th May 2024, the Capital on Tap Business Rewards Visa card is offering a bonus of 30,000 points, convertible into 30,000 Avios. You must have a Limited Company to apply. Click here to learn more and click here to apply.

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.

Category

Sainsbury's and Nectar

Comments (23)

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

  • John says:
    12 Oct12 October 03:18

    I wonder if you buy something and return it onto a different regular gift card, will the refund now be usable in the food section?

  • BJ says:
    12 Oct12 October 06:04

    I was surprised to see this as I was quite certain I read somewhere a few months back that this door was closing. However, I just googled it and can find nothing on that so it’s probably fine.

    • Andrew J says:
      12 Oct12 October 06:05

      I think Rob said there was a survey sent round a few months ago asking people if they wanted the option removed, which made him think it might be soon.

  • Andrew J says:
    12 Oct12 October 06:04

    The slightly irritating thing about this is that you have to redeem for individual £5 gift cards – and there is a maximum of 10 gift cards used online at once, so if you want a £100 coat, you can only redeem £50. And instore, the slight embarrassment of the assistant needing to scan your myriad barcodes.

    • Panda Mick says:
      12 Oct12 October 08:13

      It’s no different to when we used to gorge ourselves on the 2CV cards at Tescos 🙂

    • John says:
      12 Oct12 October 09:11

      If you’re embarrassed, buy something for £50 online with your 10 codes then return it to a single gift card.

  • Andrew P says:
    12 Oct12 October 06:12

    Capital on tap let’s you redeem for gift cards directly rather than via Avios, for the points earned on their card. There is a choice of gift cards. The M&S one is £100 max.

  • MattB says:
    12 Oct12 October 07:48

    Can you pay for gift cards in sainsburys with nectar points at self service tills?

    I know you can buy other brand GC using sainsburys GC.

    • Chrisasaurus says:
      12 Oct12 October 08:39

      I don’t believe so – crucially I doubt the checkout staff will believe so…

    • andiron says:
      12 Oct12 October 21:05

      Yes you can, you can also pay with them for petrol – which you can’t with GC.

    • trient says:
      13 Oct13 October 00:19

      No you can’t, I tried a few weeks back and the checkout machine said Nectar points were not valid for purchasing GC’s

  • JJ1 says:
    12 Oct12 October 08:12

    The only thing is it’s a real faff. I have done it before and you have to input every single £5 voucher. Buy something for £200 and it’s 40 inputs and so it takes a while!! 😫

  • Mr(s) Entitled says:
    12 Oct12 October 08:49

    I thought there would be a limitation not specified in the article. It’s like redeeming at Argos where there is a maximum nectar discount that can be applied which from memory is either £400 or £500. Good to know before emptying your account.

  • Vasco says:
    12 Oct12 October 10:08

    “The one snag is that the vouchers cannot be used for food purchases.”

    So, the only thing you’d actually want to buy at M&S.

    • Rob says:
      12 Oct12 October 10:14

      Home furnishings stuff isn’t bad. Admittedly I give the clothing a miss.

      • John says:
        12 Oct12 October 13:16

        Good for toddler clothes that are only going to be worn for 6 months before they’re outgrown

    • Andrew J says:
      12 Oct12 October 12:23

      They sell quite a large range of cosmetics including some reasonable mid-market brands such as Clinique and Origins.

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

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