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eBay drops Nectar – no more redeeming, no more double-dipping on earning

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Nectar has lost another partner (how many times have I written that line in recent years?) and this one is major.

eBay and Nectar are going their separate ways on 1st September.

Whilst you can continue to earn Nectar points from eBay, it won’t make sense for many people.

ebay drops Nectar

What is changing?

At present, eBay is a fully integrated Nectar partner:

  • you can redeem Nectar points for eBay vouchers at the standard rate of 0.5p per Nectar point
  • you can earn Nectar points from eBay by adding your Nectar number to your eBay profile

There are two key things to note here:

  • because you can buy pretty much anything on eBay, new or used, it was a genuinely useful way of spending Nectar points – especially if you didn’t live near, or don’t like, Sainsbury’s supermarkets
  • because the earning part was linked to your eBay profile, you could double-dip with other portals. For example, Virgin Red offers you 1 Virgin Point for every £1 spent on eBay if you click through from the Virgin Red app before purchasing.

What is changing on 1st September?

Spending Nectar points:

From 1st September, it will no longer be possible to redeem Nectar points for eBay vouchers.

However, any vouchers you order by 31st August will remain in your eBay account and can be used as normal – you won’t lose out.

ebay drops Nectar

Earning Nectar points:

Your eBay account and your Nectar account will be delinked on 1st September.

You can continue to earn Nectar points from eBay by clicking through from the Nectar app each time you make a purchase.

There is good news and bad news here:

  • the good news is that you will earn 2 Nectar points per £1 spent at eBay from 1st September, as long as you click through from the Nectar app – this is double the current rate
  • the bad news is that you can no longer double-dip by clicking through from other portals such as Virgin Red
  • another bit of bad news is that there won’t be any more of the often crazily generous Nectar bonus point promotions with eBay – the best was 50 Nectar points per £1 spent, equivalent to a 25% rebate on whatever you bought

Conclusion

eBay was the only large scale way left of earning Nectar points when shopping outside of companies owned by Sainsbury’s (ie the supermarkets, Argos and Habitat).

It is probably the final nail in the coffin of attempts to make Nectar into a proper ‘coalition’ loyalty programme which worked with multiple retailers.

We’ve also lost (deep breath) Daily Mail, DFDS, Marks & Spencer (redemptions only), TransPennine Express, Avanti West Coast, LNER, GWR, Expedia, Oxfam, Vodafone, Debenhams, South Western Railway, Homebase, BP, British Gas, Hertz, Europcar ….

Category

Sainsbury's and Nectar

Comments (123)

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

  • LawrenceH says:
    9 Jul9 July 15:35

    I’m quite the fan of eBay, pick up a lot of things that can be harder to find in shops, or would need a lot of “here and there” online shopping otherwise. But the Nectar Points were always a little sweetener over Amazon. Nothing more than a sweetener, but over a period of time they did add up.

  • Lady London says:
    9 Jul9 July 17:18

    Sounds like ebay wants to improve its cash position ie retain more cash.

    We had the it’s now free to sell clothing on ebay with some tricky conditions that would catch uncareful sellers out and the net is other fees ebay now wants are more eg many offers or privileges or advantages eliminated if there’s anything crossborder about your buy. (eg in my case, nothing crossborder on one buy at all. Except that my ebay username was originally established many years ago in another country, used everywhere and here since. So ebay systems decided a recent transaction was a crossborder transaction.)

    And now it looks like ebay doesn’t want to pay Nectar cash when Nectar points are converted into ebay vouchers, but is still willing to toss Nectar a tiny commission provided a sale is made to someone entering via the Nectar app, so quite restricting.

    • TGLoyalty says:
      9 Jul9 July 18:30

      More like their YoY grow is so pitiful they’re looking down the back of the sofa to find savings and eke out that last bit of good news for this years financial statements.

  • MC says:
    9 Jul9 July 22:00

    IMO it’s only a matter of time before ebay is something we talk about historically.
    It’s a textbook example of a company that grew too large and became too complicated, to be able to provide a positive, reliable and safe customer experience, whilst continuing to increase fees.
    Just a matter of how many years it’ll stick around before throwing in the towel. IMO of course.

    • cin4 says:
      10 Jul10 July 11:27

      Maybe but it’s still leagues ahead of all its competitors in 2024.

  • Rob H not Rob says:
    10 Jul10 July 06:00

    We’ve sold music on eBay since 1999, latterly via an eBay store as a business. The vinyl boom has taken it to a new level. We can get better selling prices on there than other online music selling platforms and have multiple repeat customers each month and the feedback system guves everyone in this area confidence. Their fees are similarly competive too and there’s also infinitely less red tape to navigate than those other platforms.

    I think I can count the number of time wasters we’ve had in the last decade on one hand. In certain spheres I’m happy to report its still a bustling environment.

  • Douglas Woods says:
    10 Jul10 July 09:19

    I’m not convinced Nectar is the issue here, I believe it is Ebay themselves which is in difficulty. Not only have they split with Nectar but also with Amex; you can no longer pay with Amex on Ebay.

    • Rob says:
      10 Jul10 July 09:56

      It’s not about ‘difficulty’, it’s about whether eBay believes that Nectar is driving it enough incremental business to justify the cost of being in the scheme. The answer is clearly No.

  • cin4 says:
    10 Jul10 July 11:18

    This is an actual disaster. Very sad day.

  • cin4 says:
    11 Jul11 July 10:05

    The main use of the collab was chasing out excess avios which won’t be possible after Sept.

  • JMB says:
    11 Jul11 July 10:44

    Perhaps up-coming sites like Vinted could negotiate a deal to offer Nectar reward points in the future?

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

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