Dunelm / Paypal / Amex for payments

[Misty]

I need to make some purchases from the retailer Dunelm, not a huge amount, about £300, but I don’t like to miss a points opportunity. I know they don’t take Amex, but noticed they do take PayPal, I’ve never had a PayPal account, but if I open one could I then link it to my Amex somehow ? I only have AmEx and a bank card so no visa or Mastercard etc.

[stevenhp1987]

Yes

[redethernet1]

You dont even need to register, just pay one off with PayPal

[RK228]

Just be aware that the protections from PayPal are different than for credit card, so for certain purchases (e.g., more complex purchases, where there’s a higher chance of something going wrong, etc.), it might be preferred to use a credit card (opinions will vary on this). Given that you have no other credit card option though, PayPal would probably be best in this instance, so not really a discussion to be had. It would be worth looking into a Barclay’s Avios card or something else that is non-Amex for instances such as this going forward.

Also, be aware that Dunelm is on the BA eStore, so you can get some additional Avios by initiating your purchase through there.

[Misty]

Thank you so much to you all, very helpful, I’m glad I can do it as a one off as well rather than open an account. Need to investigate Barclaycard, been put off by the bad press it gets on here, but do need something for when AmEx is not allowed.

[NorthernLass]

Hi Misty,

Just be aware that some retailers actively block Amex even via Paypal (e.g. Iceland used to, I don’t know if it’s still the case). If the payment goes through, it’s because the retailer hasn’t taken steps to prevent it!

[CarpalTravel]

Misty wrote:

Thank you so much to you all, very helpful, I’m glad I can do it as a one off as well rather than open an account. Need to investigate Barclaycard, been put off by the bad press it gets on here, but do need something for when AmEx is not allowed.

It is worth having a PayPal account I would suggest, so you can track your spends and if you do need to make a claim using them, it just feels to me like it would be easier. Especially if you are prone to using more than one email address. As has been pointed out, protections are different but equally, can be better, depending on the case. Just as an example, I bought an item that was never delivered and the seller (not ebay related) ghosted me. Couple of forwarded emails, wait a few weeks (they allow the seller to retort), the money was credited back to me. Easy.

Barclaycard wise, since the bumpy sign up process where their postal machine seemed to eat the cards it was meant to be mailing, the Avios Plus card has been really good for me, extremely good. The max 4x avios of your credit limit is also to my mind generous. Makes the limp Virgin card look even worse.

My CC spend approach is generally:
– Amex for anything big or has a higher chance of a claim needing to be made.
– Curve with Barclaycard behind it, for fronted spends, low risk items where they offer cashback (e.g. Argos).
– Barclaycard au naturale – where using Curve adds no value, I can’t use Amex.
– Paypal – when none of the above apply.

This has worked extremely well for me.

[Misty]

NorthernLass wrote:

Hi Misty,

Just be aware that some retailers actively block Amex even via PayPal (e.g. Iceland used to, I don’t know if it’s still the case). If the payment goes through, it’s because the retailer hasn’t taken steps to prevent it!

Thank you for making me aware Northernlass. I know they definitely don’t take AmEx in store as before Xmas I was purchasing bits and bobs & I kept tapping away, and the sales assistant asked me to present the card again looking puzzled, then we both realised at the same time – no Amex !

[Misty]

@carpalTravel

Sorry I missed your post. In the sense of using more than one email address, most of the time I use mine, but occasionally use my husbands especially if paying with his new BAPP, as I worry about email addresses/names not matching cards etc and being banned for something I didn’t realise was wrong. (so many horror stories).

When I moved to my current address 7 years ago we had 6 high street banks, now all we have is Santander and Nationwide, Barclays was part of the cull.

I expect a lot of the trouble with the Barclaycard was teething problems and if they wish to have a long term relationship with Avios, they will end up putting in more resources and staff training, better IT etc., so I guess things can only get better.

[JDB]

Misty wrote:

Thank you so much to you all, very helpful, I’m glad I can do it as a one off as well rather than open an account. Need to investigate Barclaycard, been put off by the bad press it gets on here, but do need something for when AmEx is not allowed.

To the extent you have read any bad press on HfP about Barclays/Barclaycard isn’t that a tiny fraction of the thousands who must have taken out an Avios Barclaycard? A great many complaints also concern rejected applications. There are also lots of complaints here about Amex service having gone to the dogs. There is no credit card provider that gets everything right all the time. Barclaycard is, by a huge margin, the largest credit card provider in the country and it by and large works well most of the time and they’re pretty good at fixing things and bunging some compensation.

[CarpalTravel]

@misty – no worries! My post is now in the HfP spam filter queue, seems it didn’t like the bullet points I added…

I think the main horror stories on PP are people making friends and family payments, something that costs them money and could be easily abused for churning. I would recommend you get added as a supplementary BAPP card holder so you have your own card which will also (in time) come with it’s own Amex offers that you can add to it. It also in no way limits any future sign up bonuses you may wish to do, for your own cards.

Barclaycard Avios has been out now for almost 2 years. Assuming you don’t already have a Barclaycard, then I am sure you’ll be fine and almost certainly won’t have any issues. Remember that forums are echo chambers, to a degree. 🙂

[Misty]

@JDB I did think that Barclaycard have been around for years so I guess they must be doing something right, I suppose they didn’t anticipate how popular the Avios cards were going to be. A couple of my friends have been with Barclays for about 40 years, since they left school and haven’t changed, although I know a lot of people stick with their first bank.

@CarpalTravel I will get OH to look in his Amex account and see if he can send off to get me a supplementary card. Presumably there is something he can click on. We need to spend £3000 in three months and it is a bit of a pain having to keep asking for his card. Neither of us has a Barclaycard.

[aq.1988]

@Misty, I have used Amex via PayPal on Dunelm online many times, so you don’t have to worry about them not accepting it, although of course, you don’t get S75 protection.

[NorthernLass]

@Misty, definitely get a supp card, you normally get 3000 bonus avios for this. There’s a link in the Amex account to do this. You will also get extra offers on your supp card.

If you have enough time to complete the SUB spend, look into whether you can pay your council tax by Amex/Paypal.

[Misty]

Thanks again to all of you for your helpful comments.

Need to work out a personal strategy for us, from all the information gleaned from here. We ordered the supplementary card on the BAPP for me this morning so that’s a start.

@carpalTravel, I don’t have a curve card, so can’t follow your blueprint exactly, but sounds like you have nailed it; infact I thought Curve wasn’t a thing anymore, due to some huge debacle I read on here with a company called creation. But perhaps I misunderstood.

[NorthernLass]

Curve is still a thing, Creation not so much 😂

[Misty]

NorthernLass wrote:

Curve is still a thing, Creation not so much 😂

Hi, so if curve is still a thing, which curve card is the best to get, is it the most expensive one ? It’s my OHs birthday soon and I was thinking of getting him some surprise ERNIe’s as he doesn’t have the full allocation, would that be possible , via this card ? I had a look around and they didn’t seem to take AmEx directly.

[NorthernLass]

You can’t use Amex with Curve. You’re best reading the relevant threads on here so you can decide which (if any) option would suit you, especially the one relating to the most recent changes.

[Misty]

NorthernLass wrote:

You can’t use Amex with Curve. You’re best reading the relevant threads on here so you can decide which (if any) option would suit you, especially the one relating to the most recent changes.

Thank you, I will look through them all later today looking out for the most recent one, as there seems to be a lot of threads on curve – that’s the once called ‘curve changes from Nov 15th’.

[NorthernLass]

Curve will only be any use to you if you want to use a Visa or MC where you can’t normally use a credit card. You say in your initial post that you don’t have these cards so you’d need to apply for them in the first instance, therefore you may as well take your time and get clued up on Curve. It’s getting more and more difficult to get good value from it so definitely don’t sign up for the paid version without doing all the sums!

[Misty]

NorthernLass wrote:

Curve will only be any use to you if you want to use a Visa or MC where you can’t normally use a credit card. You say in your initial post that you don’t have these cards so you’d need to apply for them in the first instance, therefore you may as well take your time and get clued up on Curve. It’s getting more and more difficult to get good value from it so definitely don’t sign up for the paid version without doing all the sums!

Yes will be applying for Barclaycard as our next card, want to make my 5th or maybe 6th Amex payment first, so that when they look into my records they can see how much I pay each month and that I pay it off in full, incase that helps them to agree to the card.

Just wanted to say that I appreciate all the time and trouble you have taken to answer my posts, you are so very knowledgeable.

[NorthernLass]

😀, we are good at paying it forward here!