BA Shopping – Sainsbury’s Groceries devaluation

[bigmansam]

Hi all, long time lurker but had to post this as was curious.

We’ve spent the last few month maximising our avios collection through our weekly Sainsbury’s shops (nectar point conversion, BA PP card and using the BA Shopping Portal).

Just noticed that the return for click and collect has dropped from 5 points per £ down to 2 points per £ (I think delivery has dropped as well, but cannot be certain!)

Is this a common/cyclical thing, or do we think this has dropped for the foreseeable future? I quite enjoyed getting roughly 750-1000 avios a week from a food shop!

[Rob]

Welcome to the forum!

Realistically this was the sort of deal that was never going to last indefinitely. Why should Sainsburys pay you (effectively) 5% back week after week given how low the profit margins are on groceries – and that their delivery operation is probably losing money?

[Andrew.]

Rates are always changing. You’re still earning double the number of Avios as you would Virgin Points if you went through the Virgin portal instead.

Be mindful about how much each Avios is costing you though. If you are a member of some employer Perks schemes, eg PAW, you can reload a Sainsbury’s gift card at £95 per £100. So you’re effectively choosing between £5 cash saving or 100 Avios. Can’t remember if you can use a Sazbo’s gift card to pay for shopping online though.

[Chris R]

I use the BA estore for all of my online purchases (unless a cash back site deal is particularly good).
I completely gave up with using Sainsburys on it as it failed to track 9/10 times and they don’t entertain a dispute.
Still decent nectar points to be had with the app which I convert

[davefl]

Andrew. wrote:

Can’t remember if you can use a Sazbo’s gift card to pay for shopping online though.

Yes you can, I do it every week however it’s a max of £50 per order. Egift card from PAW, but unfortunately PAW doesn’t take Amex

[OhOneTwoFour]

Another route – buy YouChoose All Access gift cards via TCB / TopGiftcards. That’s 5.85% cashback and you can pay with Amex. Then convert it on the YouChoose site into Sainsbury’s gift cards and use them online.

[NigelHamilton]

Chris R wrote:

I use the BA estore for all of my online purchases (unless a cash back site deal is particularly good).
I completely gave up with using Sainsburys on it as it failed to track 9/10 times and they don’t entertain a dispute.
Still decent nectar points to be had with the app which I convert

I’d try again. I had the same issue but in the last couple of months they have all tracked