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Hopefully not too controversial a topic. I’m 2000 avios short on some flights and have maxed out all my transfer/boosting options. I started looking at buying a gift card rather than spending £50 on the purchase direct from Avios (weighing in whether its worth it..). But then I started getting search results for ebay sellers, of which there seem to be many.
Has anyone done this succesfully? Whats the worst that can happen? Obviously I would pay on a credit card to get the protection…Whats the worst that can happen? Obviously I would pay on a credit card to get the protection…
Dodgy ebay sellers are the least of your worries. BA can close your account for violating its Ts & Cs
This comes up every so often. It’s against the avios Ts and Cs so the worst that could happen is that BA could close your account and you could forfeit whatever avios you have, plus any flights you have booked! Also it’s never clear how the seller would actually move them into your account, so you risk losing your money.
I’m guessing that credit card protection wouldn’t extend to something like this as well.
How soon do you need them? The Wine Flyer often gives 2000 avios or more with a purchase and they post as soon as the order is confirmed.
This comes up every so often. It’s against the avios Ts and Cs so the worst that could happen is that BA could close your account and you could forfeit whatever avios you have, plus any flights you have booked! Also it’s never clear how the seller would actually move them into your account, so you risk losing your money.
I’m guessing that credit card protection wouldn’t extend to something like this as well.
How soon do you need them? The Wine Flyer often gives 2000 avios or more with a purchase and they post as soon as the order is confirmed.
Good tip, I could buy £50 worth of booze easily…
Also it’s never clear how the seller would actually move them into your account.
They give you their passwords or add you to their household / join your household or put you on their F&F list or add you as an authorised nominee etc
It’s not worth the risk if you wish to keep your BA account. It would probably be OK if it’s the first time both seller and buyer have done anything like this, but obviously there is no way of knowing.
Rule 1 – Do not do this
Rule 2 – See rule 1
I doubt a CC would reimburse you if this all went wrong.
As mentioned this is against the BAC rules.
I wouldn’t put it past it for some of these accounts to be plants.
I wouldn’t do this even if it was the first and only time.
If you have any friends you could ask them if they’ll transfer them to you. Even if you paid them the transfer costs back it’s safer than buying from some random off the Internet.
you are not covered under ebay money back guarantee for such item… this is defo against the T&C for BA , the sellers are dodgy , many are listed as collection only, they ask for the collection code before sending points, once you give it , they never send them, no come back…
most are the same sellers with low feedback in the same city .. there a couple of brokers on there , 1 which had is ebay account closed for selling such points and now uses a different user name ( mobile number spelt in letters )
would stay well clear
also not covered by charge back
I agree that this is one to avoid at all costs. I’m intrigued to learn of where the sellers are getting the Avios to start with, or if it’s more often than not a scam and they’ve got no Avios to ‘sell’.
@London Steve , ive been scammed before on ebay , they clearly had no points the person I bought from , I sent the code never got anything , ebay were not interest at first neither was my credit Card commpany ( they said you would be covered under ebay buyer protection , however when I told them that the item bought was not covered by that , they were not interested ) , however I was lucky as I had a contact at a tabloid newspaper who helped to get my money back via ebay , I was lucky ..
there are a couple of brokers on there …..
I’m sure some are complete scams, but quite often people post here asking how they can use a chunk of avios accumulated (and unwanted) by family or friends, so there are probably other people in the same situation who see an opportunity to monetise that.
It can work both ways – there are examples of people getting into hot water for selling or otherwise bartering their avios. Rob’s article shows that account holders can even inadvertently end up being accused of this:
https://www.headforpoints.com/2025/03/25/british-airways-account-closed/
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