Can I buy JB Hifi or Coles Myer gift cards from Coles using Coles gift card?

jade on 30/08/2013 - 15:43

Dear fellow Ozbargainers,

I managed to purchase a $50 Coles-Myer gift card using part of my $200 Coles (red color) gift card in the same transaction when buying groceries at the Coles checkout counter. I was just trying my luck one day, and it worked. It could have just been my luck that the operator at the check out counter was nice or was just ignorant. But we now know that the Coles payment system allows it.

I am now wondering if I can try my luck with buying $500 x 2 JB Hifi gift cards using Coles gift cards which I can purchase at 5% off. I need to buy an 11-inch Macbook air, and JB Hifi seems to be offering the best price at the moment ($1200 for a 256GB storage).

Has anyone done this, ie. buying gift cards with Coles gift cards? Is it allowed by Coles?

To avoid having to interact with a Coles cashier, am I able to buy gift cards from Coles at the self-service checkouts? Or must gift card purchases only be done at a manned checkout counter?

Thanks in advance for all your thoughts!

General Discussion

Comments

  • wartortle on 30/08/2013 - 15:52

    I'm fair sure that you can do that. At the end of the day, coles is still making a small amount of money by selling the JB card so it would seem silly for them to refuse it.

    As for self-checkout, I don't think you can buy gift cards.

  • fedwood on 30/08/2013 - 16:37

    Gift cards can be bought at self checkout but an attendant will come to finalise it.

    I say give it a whirl, I think it will work. Unless you get some jobsworth.

  • Stargazer5 on 30/08/2013 - 16:45

    I bought Coles myer gift card with target gift card. It worked for me.
    I didn't have anything to buy at target. Coles myer gift card was a lot better! Haha I also got extension for expiration date.

  • ilostnemo on 30/08/2013 - 16:53

    Usually you can't, the system doesn't stop them, it's the knowledge of the staff member!!!!

  • Stargazer5 on 30/08/2013 - 17:10

    At target where I did it, the staff member rand the manager who approved it. I did about $250 conversion.

  • BEKLEI on 30/08/2013 - 17:52

    Hi,
    I'm just wondering how you buy your cards at 5% off. I was able though the Entertainment Book but they have put a $4000 limit on per year and mine are all used up. To answer the question, yes you can buy JB Hifi cards at the register with Coles Gift Cards. I did it last week!!

    • jason101 on 30/08/2013 - 18:58

      API Leisure Lifestyle = no cap and free shipping Aust wide on gift cards over $50, 5% off on Coles / Woolies, higher discount % on the smaller retailer (higher margin sellers) - they recently had a 15% deal on Westfield cards (a cap applied) but these were awesome to use @ DSE, COLES, WOOLIES etc within Westfields.

      • emibel19 on 30/08/2013 - 19:54

        I'd never heard of them, but it looks like you have to be employed to join. Pity I'm retired.

        • BEKLEI on 30/08/2013 - 20:32

          Thank you, yes I had a look to see what it was all about but their main page is just a log in. I am not currently employed and not planning on being (3 small children) but my husband works full time. His employer would need to be affiliated with this I suppose?

        • jason101 on 31/08/2013 - 18:54

          They accept memberships from the general public, its just not widely known as their core market is employers providing the product to employees for reward or recognition, but you can buy your way in - give them a buzz on Monday.

        • emibel19 on 31/08/2013 - 19:08

          OK, thanks.

    • jade on 30/08/2013 - 23:06

      I get my Coles and Wish gift cards at 5% discount from Red Energy. I signed a 2 year contract with them, and got a Rewards Booklet with coupons, sort of a mini cut-down version of the Entertainment Book. This booklet includes the 5% discount for Kmart, Wish and Coles gift cards, all with free shipping.

  • [Deactivated] on 30/08/2013 - 19:00

    I usually end up with Target only gift cards from various loyalty programs. I use them to make a small purchase at Target which I needed anyway then convert the rest of the Target gift card to a Coles group gift card which I use to purchase groceries. I've never had a Target staff member yet refuse to do this. I usually pull the Target gift card out at the last minute so the operator doesn't realise that's what I'm doing.

    One strange thing I've found with these transactions is that I get Flybuys points for the entire transaction, not just for the goods purchased at Target. This doesn't match up with the rules but I wasn't going to ring Flybuys and ask them to take away points. Once I even got triple points on the whole transaction from either a general or targeted flybuys offer I had at the time. Other times since this, however the goods have tripled and the gift card has remained at base points only. I've only seen this happen at Target. A friend of mine purchased a Coles group gift card at KMart and only got flybuys points for the goods and not on the gift card.

    • hayfeverman on 28/05/2014 - 21:00

      Hi - can you help me out with what times/which store you visited to achieve this? I've been knocked back once, do I keep trying at different times? I tried to convert 5x $50 Target cards into a $250 Coles Myer Gift Card. She said that she can't do it and her manager was off-duty so she couldn't escalate it. Am I being too ambitious - should I do it piece by piece (i.e. one card at a time) instead of in batch?

      • [Deactivated] on 28/05/2014 - 23:11
        +1

        I'd try one voucher at a time so it's not actually obvious what you are doing.

        I go to Target anyway so I only do the conversion at the time of a small Target purchase. I haven't done it in the last year so it's possible the loophole has been closed with all staff members.

        I don't make it a blanket conversion. If I have a $100 Target card I'd make my small purchase and ask for a $50 Coles Group card and then use the balance of the Target card another day. If I still had almost $50 on the Target card the next time, I'd ask for a $20 or $30 Coles group card. As I suggested above, don't make it obvious.

        I don't know about times of day. If I had to punt I would suggest a busy day. The staff just want to get the transactions through and might not question a transaction that just happens to have a gift card conversion in it.

        • hayfeverman on 31/05/2014 - 13:22

          Thanks for the advice! I don't want anything from Target so I tried again. This time my strategy was:

          1) midday weekend where there are queues rather than evening week nights when there is no one else except me and the one person at the register
          2) use a specialist line like the entertainment checkout or the layby checkout
          3) don't even show my cards, just explain I need to pay in increments of $50 and swipe away like it's my own card and none of their business

          Other minor cues which may or may not have worked: picking the "happy birthday" card so that they would feel like it's not for my own benefit; letting the person write the details on the card first before even paying probably also reduced her resistance, and mentioning that I've done it before when I explained that I have some prepaid cards and she said gift cards can't buy gift cards. Converted $250 of cards at no cost (except my time…) for anyone else wanting to do this.

        • [Deactivated] on 31/05/2014 - 14:53

          Well done. I often use the Happy Birthday cards as well for my conversions.

  • tensai on 30/08/2013 - 22:25

    I did manage to buy Coles Myer Gift card from Coles Gift Card at Coles.
    However, the system picks up that I'm not qualified for the extra fuel discount that was on at that time. (eg spent $100 get 16 cents off or something), my docket only printed 4 cents fuel discount.

    • emibel19 on 30/08/2013 - 22:36

      So what was the value of what you bought, and the card you surrendered?

  • paul_5666 on 31/08/2013 - 10:32

    Are there any gift card sales atm?
    Really want to double dip and get 5% off one card and then use that card to get 5% off a jb hifi card.

  • snvl on 31/08/2013 - 11:31

    The official answer is "you cant". But it if up to the stuff member, if you get refused just try again later.

  • jade on 31/08/2013 - 16:41
    +4

    Hi all, thanks so much for your comments. Just a quick update on my mission. I successfully converted $650 worth of JB Hifi gift cards at Coles with my Coles gift cards. And yes, it depends on who the staff member is. I enquired at the customer service counter and I got a terse reply "No, you can't buy gift cards with gift cards."

    Anyhow, I grabbed a bunch of $100 JBHifi gift cards and went to a manned cash register far away from the customer service counter. The cashier was a bit hesitant at first to put through the gift cards and lifted the phone to call her manager. I reassured her that it should work as I've done it before, and she hung up just in time. The transaction went through, and all's good!

    Have a great Father's Day weekend ya'll.

    p/s: I think I got a great deal at JBHifi today, paid $1160 for an 11-inch MBA with 256GB storage, $15 for a wireless Logitech mouse and $10 for a Targus sleeve.

  • Elitebhy on 31/10/2014 - 13:29

    Really having a hard time converting these

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