There’s currently a deal that runs until Tuesday, 10 April 2018 at Coles supermarkets nationwide. This was posted on Ozbargain.
Objectively speaking, it’s actually not that fascinating a deal, but it’s the closest we can get to getting anything similar to the days of 5% consistent cashback for all ING PayWave transactions.
I probably won’t post about these sorts of deals every time they come up, but they do come up from time to time and I thought it’d be good to make one post to highlight what exactly the benefits of this sort of deal are.
Summary of benefits of such deals:
- Effective ~3% off purchases anywhere EFTPOS is accepted
- Some places surcharge any type of “Credit” transaction but do not surcharge EFTPOS/Savings/Debit – Example: ALDI Supermarkets
- Kep in mind any contactless, i.e. PayWave, PayPass, Android Pay, Apple Pay transactions are considered “Credit” transactions
- Indirect way to pay for things with AMEX and earn points, and avoid surcharges
- Best Credit Card to use to pay for these? The American Express Platinum Edge for the 3 points/$ earn rate.
- A way to “burn” (use up) Coles Gift Cards that have been accumulated from other sources
- An example is Myer Statement Credits – with a deal like this, you could’ve bought (multiple, depending on number of AMEX cards you have, enroll and subsequently use) Coles Myer Gift Cards which can effectively be “recycled” into such gift cards
- Using Gift Cards to purchase Gift Cards is technically forbidden by Coles. However, the system allows it. My personal tip is to “get away” with this is to use a Gift Card that has more than the value of the Gift Card you’re purchasing on it and purchase using the self checkout machines
- If you try and do mixed payment, a prompt will tell you to go to the service desk which requires human interaction, which very likely means you won’t be able to pay on a Gift Card.
The deal is you get 2000 bonus points (which directly translates to $10 “FlyBuys dollars”, or $10 shopping discount at Coles) for purchasing any EFTPOS Gift Card from Coles between 4 April and 10 April.
The EFTPOS Gift Cards come in 2 denominations: $50 and $100.
You’ll have to pay the following:
- $55.95 for a $50 one ($5.95 = 11.9% of $50, offset by the 2000 FlyBuys points for ~$3.05 net benefit)
- $106.95 for a $100 one ($6.95 = 6.95% of $100, offset by the 2000 FlyBuys points for ~$2.05 net benefit)
Should you buy the $50 EFTPOS Card to “save” $1 in gift card fees?
It depends. Obviously as a percentage, you’re paying a lot more for the $50 EFTPOS Card.
However, the “discount” you’re getting is not a percentage based one. It’s a fixed dollar value return of $10, so I would in fact argue that there isn’t much benefit in paying the additional $1 for the $100 card.
You can look at this several ways:
- Are you paying a 11.9% surcharge by buying the $50 EFTPOS Card?
- Are you getting a $3.05 benefit by buying the $50 EFTPOS Card?
- Are you getting a $2.05 benefit by buying the $100 EFTPOS Card?
Hypothetically, all of the above are true. What exactly is the “benefit” in paying $51 for $50 additional cash? This is effectively what you are doing by buying the $100 EFTPOS card over the $50.
Assuming you are using the American Express Platinum Edge, or you are using discounted Coles Gift Cards from something like a Myer AMEX Statement credit promotion, it’s probably worth “paying” $51 for the $50 additional credit on an EFTPOS card.
You can think of it as “paying” $1 (the additional surcharge) for 153 American Express Platinum Edge points (3 points per dollar – you’re paying $51 for $50) – which is worth it!
So – in actual fact, it really depends on what card you’ll be using to pay!
Limitations of this Deal
The deal is limited to once per FlyBuys household, where a “household” is technically defined as a single FlyBuys Card member. This means even if you live at the same address as another person who also is a FlyBuys member, you can buy one EFTPOS card and earn the 2000 FlyBuys points on each membership. This, by the way, is why it pays to have multiple FlyBuys memberships. It allows you to take advantage of such deals multiple times!
Questions? Ask away!
