Coles gift card offers

[andye]

Sorry, I think I may have missed your strategy? or my maths are broken.......
Following what I understand is your approach --> $500 Council Bill, paying via Sniip, Buying Cards with AmEx Edge
Option 1 = 5 x $100 Cards
This gets 5 x 2,000pts (from promotion) + 525 ( for spend) + 1500 Amex points
Converting to Velocity as the currency, this equals 6012pts for $25. i.e 240pts per dollar
Option 2 = 2 x $250
This Gets 2 x 2,000pts (from promotion) + 514 ( for spend) + 1500 Amex points
Converting to Velocity as the currency, this equals 3007 pts for $14. i.e 214pts per dollar.
So my understanding is you will get more points and at a better value with the $100 approach? The only benefit of the the $250 approach vs $100 option is effort involved in qty of transactions.

The issue is that you can only buy 5 cards.
With a Platinum Edge you get 1.5 (very flexible) airline points per $ which is better than you can get anywhere outside a supermarket or petrol station
If you redeem them where you can only use Visa/MC or at sites where you pay a higher surcharge with Amex you are even more ahead. (Your example would be entirely correct if you could buy and source infinite $100 cards)

Edit: thinking about it some more: there is a $2 charge for the additional $150 spend so its not quite so clear-cut. I must say I almost always use then at a store that doesn't usually pay out points and has a higher surcharge then these cards attract

 

[Chicken]

there is a $2 charge for the additional $150 spend so its not quite so clear-cut.

Yes, there are a few angles which you could look at this.

Without going too deep, the $2 fee for $150 would translate to:
- 150 SQ miles; or
- 225 VS / VA / Avios / CX mile.

Which would further translate to 1.3c per SQ mile, or 0.9c per VS / VA / CX / Avios . This is good enough for me, and having more is better than having less. There is nothing worse being a few thousand short on your balance when you are trying to make a redemption.

 

[kangarooflyer88]

I don't bother with $100, only $250. From my point of view, it's only $2 difference, why wouldn't you buy more points for only $2 more?

Because the number of extra points is minimal. I mean you’re getting what an 150 extra FlyBuys points and having to spend $2 more in fees? Even if we value a FlyBuys point at 0.5 cents each that’s only 75 cents in added value. You bring it up credit cards but please realize not all of us have access to those things meaning our bonus point accrual is limited to wine, gift cards and the occasional hotel transfer bonus.

-RooFlyer88

 

[GrahamBRI]

1: I don't know why you say 2 x $250, you can buy 5.

To compare a return on your investment, I believe we should look at a fixed investment. I just choose $500 as an example. I could have picked $1,000, the return will work out the same - you just need 2 flybuys accounts to do this for the example (so requires a double purchase) - from my reading, I thought most people in this thread were using multiple accounts - maybe this is my misunderstanding

(Also note also in my example, I did not include any credit card fees for the spend, strictly speaking I should for the example I chose, as it was spend via Sniip which also has fees)

2: I am not understanding how you got the "525" and "514".

You get 1 flybuys point per dollar spent. So in addition to the bonus points you will get 525 points for a $525 spend.

Since this promotion is going to cover my card activation fee anyway, why would I choose to earn 1500 points when I could be earning 3750 points?!

For the $100 gift card example (switching to SQ as your currency), for five gift cards, we are earning 2,536 SQ points (via flybuys) and 500 SQ points (via Amex). While pushing this up to the $250 cards, will push up your Amex earn to 1,250 SQ it still does not get close to your flybuy earn value.... so my core focus is on those flybuys earns, not so much on the Amex earns. To maximise flybuys earn, the focus would be on volume of $100 cards not on volume of spend.

 

[NoName]

The cost of these offers is not the $100 or $250 card, it’s the activation fee. So buying 5x$100 cards costs you $25 (not $525) and you earn 5x2,000 bonus flybuys + 5x105 base flybuys + whatever points earned on the CC you use to pay for it.

 

[exceladdict]

Since this promotion is going to cover my card activation fee anyway, why would I choose to earn 1500 points when I could be earning 3750 points?!

A few reasons from me:
1. these cards are claimed to get hacked from time to time. It could be argued that the $250s are a more tempting target, a bigger risk if lost
2. When your credit card balance is due, you'll need to pay them off with cash, which I prefer sitting in my bank account (less cashflow impact on $100 cards)
3. Unless you have a way of cycling the spend quickly, higher value invested in the cards could be more coughbersome / take longer to use through everyday spend, increasing risk of #1

Acknowledge these are somewhat a moot point if you are covering a credit card spend criteria.

 

[Chicken]

To compare a return on your investment, I believe we should look at a fixed investment. I just choose $500 as an example. I could have picked $1,000, the return will work out the same

Right, OK, that explains that, you are just doing a straight comparison on dollar value. That makes sense now.

This is completely different from how I look at this.

If you are just strictly looking at earning the bonus flybuys / normal fly buys points, then yes, paying $5 fee is cheaper than paying $7 fee.

The reason I don't look at it this way, is because I am looking at the opportunity cost of not buying this promo.

I pay thousands in council rates and strata fee (I will admit that I made a not very smart investment decision when I was young and bought a studio apartment which I am now stuck with), so I could either:
- pay using EFTPOS / BPay / personal not business credit cards, and I would earn nothing;
- pay via something like Sniip, and pay 1.29% surcharge
- pay via these gift cards, and pay 0.85%

If I need to pay $3000 strata council every quarter (which is what I need to pay honestly), the $100 cards would never cover anywhere near $3000, whereas I would have a good chance of covering $3000 if I buy the $250 denominations instead. In other words, buying $100 denominations would effectly cut myself off from the opportunity to earn miles in the first place.

 

[Happy Dude]

I think the hold cost of spending $525 v $1285 (x the number of accounts you have) should enter the calculations in some way. I'd prefer to pay $2100 for max points for my four accounts, rather than $5140. That $3k can make a difference elsewhere.

 

[Chicken]

A few reasons from me:
1. these cards are claimed to get hacked from time to time. It could be argued that the $250s are a more tempting target, a bigger risk if lost
2. When your credit card balance is due, you'll need to pay them off with cash, which I prefer sitting in my bank account (less cashflow impact on $100 cards)
3. Unless you have a way of cycling the spend quickly, higher value invested in the cards could be more coughbersome / take longer to use through everyday spend, increasing risk of #1

Acknowledge these are somewhat a moot point if you are covering a credit card spend criteria.

1 - I thought about this point; but the packaging had been changed since, and the problem seems to have stopped?
2 - The only way I could beat this is Australian Unity currently paying me 5% p.a., say I pay strata quarterly, that's 1.25% per quarter, so, meah, same same.
3 - Even if you don't need to pay council strata, you could use these to pay rent, or just use these at the shops. Many shops doesn't take AmEx, or charge extra for AmEx. I don't know if this is off topic, but I have also stopped using AmEx at restaurants, but I'm now paying with Restaurant gift card or Pub & Bar card, as these cards cost nothing to buy, and Coles doesn't surcharge credit cards, both of these cards are EFTPOS card, so I could bypass credit card surcharges at cafes while earning the maximum of points using Edge.

That $3k can make a difference elsewhere.

But this would mean that you would have to pay the $3k somewhere else (Bunnings / myki card / coffee / god knows what else ) using Visa Master or AmEx, which would be subject to higher surcharge or reduced point earn rate, than using gift cards?

 

[MooTime]

2 Coles Melb CBD stores only had $250 cards. Had quite a pile of them sitting behind counter at Melb Central.
Weren't even delivered, so not sold out.
Was told they may come in at a later time.

Will check through out the week, luckily on my daily route.
Might have to try the burbs in next few days.

 

[Dr Ralph]

2 Coles Melb CBD stores only had $250 cards. Had quite a pile of them sitting behind counter at Melb Central.
Weren't even delivered, so not sold out.
Was told they may come in at a later time.

Will check through out the week, luckily on my daily route.
Might have to try the burbs in next few days.

Don't panic, Vanilla VISA cards the new deal at Woolwrths from NEXT Wednesday.

 

[Chicken]

Went to Rouse Hill Town Center at 7 AM this morning. There were maybe 3 or 4 when I left. Not much stock this time

 

[Happy Dude]

Plenty of $250's in the three stores I visited and one store had exactly eight $100's. Staff at that store flat out refused to sell more than 5 cards to me this morning. No correspondence entered into and no acknowledgment of the printed T&Cs other than 5 cards max per account.

It's no wonder dudes resort to hiding or taking them prior to the sale period.

 

[MooTime]

Don't panic, Vanilla VISA cards the new deal at Woolwrths from NEXT Wednesday.

But is the 20x or just 10x, not the 2,000 points like FB I assume?

We take what we can, but want the best value outcome.

 

[Chicken]

Staff at that store flat out refused to sell more than 5 cards to me this morning. No correspondence entered into and no acknowledgment of the printed T&Cs other than 5 cards max per account.

Yes, I'm starting to see the same, even in Coles and Woolies in fringe and outside of metro.

 

[luckypierre]

2 Coles Melb CBD stores only had $250 cards. Had quite a pile of them sitting behind counter at Melb Central.
Weren't even delivered, so not sold out.
Was told they may come in at a later time.

Will check through out the week, luckily on my daily route.
Might have to try the burbs in next few days.

In ADL early this morning first two stores 0 $100 cards, The third store only 5 left, Very few $250 cards on the shelves

 

[NoName]

Went in to my local store at a Westfield about 45 min ago. No $100 on the shelves as expected. Ample supply inside the cabinet (also as expected). Grabbed 10 of the 15 I want and will come back tomorrow most likely to get the other 5. Easy.

 

[Chicken]

No $100 on the shelves as expected. Ample supply inside the cabinet (also as expected).

So staff members are hiding the cards in cartons?

 

[NoName]

So staff members are hiding the cards in cartons?

No idea what the process is for putting them on to the shelves, whether that’s Coles staff, managers, or the external gift card people who deliver supply. But my experience is that extremely often there are more inside, either in boxes or outside boxes hanging on the shelves inside the cabinet. In this case there were at least 20 hanging on the shelf on the inside of the cabinet door. There were likely many more in boxes but I had no need to wade through them.


EDIT: I have posted a photo previously on this thread but these cards come in long rectangular boxes. Dimensions are such that 100 cards fit back to back in clear plastic packets of 10. They are easy enough to find in the cabinets.

EDIT: Post 1,378 has the photos.

 

[Chicken]

either in boxes or outside boxes hanging on the shelves inside the cabinet. In this case there were at least 20 hanging on the shelf on the inside of the cabinet door.

I feel like I would look like a crim if I start going thru the whole stand like a rep ......