40% off all points purchases in the QANTAS store — 100 items available
some picks include:
Fitbit Flex™ Wireless Activity and Sleep…17,000 points Now: 11,500
Samsonite Cosmolite FL Spinner 92,000 points Now: 54,500
GoPro HD Hero4 Action Video Camera Silver Edition for 56,000 points ($370 of gift cards v $470 cheapest retail)
(Thanks Forma2)
…and heaps more - kettles, vaccums, wine,rowing machine, XBOX,
I value 10k points as ~$125 value. Making the GPH4 about $700. Darer than retail, but not bad compared to your average QFF trade.
How are you getting 125$ value from 10k points?
Business class upgrades are usually the best bang for buck. Can be over $400 per 10k points.
Simpler spend would be economy class domestic flights. BNE-SYD costs around $120 before taxes. That's 8k points.
@Thrawn: when do you use your points for upgrade to business? say if we buy a ticket during a sale online, do you have to upgrade to business during checkout?
Delayed reply…
A return trip (Perth to NZ) is about $900 on any given day. Or it's 50k points plus about $200 for taxes (sometimes less) so dividing the 700 gap by 5 gives $140 per 10k points. It's all approximate though, but I think that (Perth to NZ) for me is one of the best bang for buck things to spend points on.
If you're spending your points on a Oz to USA flight (or anything items from their store) you're doing it wrong :)
The title should be "Up to 40% off Top 100 Selling Products". But good deal deals through.
40% off all points purchases????
Yeah, here's the email I got from Qantas.
We’ve saved the best for last… with up to 40% off our Top 100 Selling Products* at the Qantas Store!
This offer is strictly limited to two weeks only and stocks will not last, so get in quick to take advantage of fantastic discounts including -
40% off Caribee, Samsonite and more…
30% off Fitbit, Dyson, De'Longhi, Weber and more…
25% off Breville, KitchenAid, Sonos, Sunbeam and more…
Sale ends 2 February 2015 unless sold out prior, so visit the Qantas Store today to avoid disappointment! And remember, if you’re a little short on Qantas Points, Points Plus Pay~ is available on most items.
I've found in the past QFF costs are 30% over retail. Plus they only have old crap.
Check out the Dyson DC59 and DC59 Animal from that deal here: https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/179485
All items still overpriced.
You can sell points on classifieds here or guntree for 1-1.5 c per point.
Using that exchange rate, the flex will cost you $115 to $172.50 in points and you can just buy it at Officeworks for $97.
The Apple TV is even worse - you can buy these for $80-$90 but even on sale it's 17000 points which is $170-$255 worth of points you can easily sell.
Caveat emptor.
I thought points were non-transferable?
How do you transfer them?
Limited number of transfers per year for "family". simple google search will yield that info for you.
It may be possible but is against Qantas's T&C, so you may risk having your account closed and losing your points.
Sounds like a worthwhile consideration. Pull your head in.
"minimum 5,000 to maximum 100,000 points per transfer
maximum four transfers in any 12 month period"
to an "eligible family member"
Gumtree and eBay frequently pull these listings and refer them to Qantas.
If you're caught selling points, you'll be losing any points you have for sure, and I wouldn't mind betting they'll close your account permanently.
Haven't done it myself but I think it involves someone temporarily becoming a member of your family…
sell a guy 100,000 points on ebay, travel to NZ where they allow gay marriage, get married, do the transfer, get divorced, travel back. Sounds legit.
Good post! But Qantas is the worst program in AU, always overpriced.
So, the best rewards program in Aus is??
OzBargain AMEX card
lol
Best deal EVER!!!
Thanks op, got myself a cool camera to record my overseas stupidity! Anything out there for insurance for Qff pts?
thanks mate, i got the fitbit flex. good deal
new fitbits are out, charge and charge hr. However the flex will still do.
Value of points spent on flights depends where you are and where you want to go. In my case a return flight PER to New Zealand is 50000 points but rarely less than $1000 on any carrier. So I value them at 2c per point as I go to NZ not infrequently.
Once you consider taxes/fuel surcharges of $220+ that reduces the value per point to ~1.6c. Even less considering the very limited number of available days with reward seats and frequent sales by AirNZ that are cheaper than QF.
Last time (in December) I paid 1350 for Air NZ flights. Nice plane (Dreamliner) but not cheap. Luckily work paid for that one. I've been following PER-ZQN flights for nearly six months (for a personal flight) and they've never gone below about 950, most usually 1050ish with horrible 10 hour layovers.
This is not a deal. Even with the discount, the point cost is still a ripoff. If you use your points right, you can get 3 to 6 cents worth of value per point with long haul business and first class flights.
That calculation assumes you would fly business or first class at regular prices anyway if you had no points. Would you?
Since I personally value business class flights at only around 1.3 - 1.5 the ecomomy price that means I don't very often fly business. The 'value' per point is accordingly lower as well.
Yes, it assumes that but it's a fair assumption. You use them to upgrade, you get 3-6c per point of value, especially because you can't generally get business upgrades elsewhere. But you can buy these products with normal cash elsewhere. Imo, therefore terrible waste of points on these goods, even if your personal value on upgrades is low.
Not sure it became clear what I meant. Let's take an example: SYD - LHR in March, each direction costs around $900 in Economy and $3800 in Business. An upgrade from discount Ecomomy to Business costs 96k points and saves $2900, imaginary value per point: 3c. I am sure you can find some legs where that figure would be 4c or 5c.
But the question I ask: if you had to pay cash, how much would you be willing to spend on Business? In my case, for me, that would only be about $1500 for the one way, an extra $600 over the Economy fare. So my value per point if I was to use them for an upgrade would only be 0.625c. Not a good use of points.
@team teri:
On top of which- you could get cheaper discount economy flights, than the standard economy flights that are upgrade-able. (I.e. not all Qantas economy fares can be upgraded.) E.g. Air NZ, would do discounted economy flights for half the Qantas undiscounted economy flights. Hence your business "upgrade" in this case would cost $450 (for the more expensive tickets) plus 96k points. So in your case they work out even worse than 0.625c, when accounting for Qantas more expensive ticket price.
That calculation assumes you would fly business or first class at regular prices anyway if you had no points. Would you?
This is exactly why people need to stop saying "if you use your points right, you will get X% value". Whether it is "using it right" or not varies from individual to individual.
All the calculations provided by people trying to prove that business upgrades are supposedly "better value" or not technically wrong in that their calculations are certainly correct, but you need to factor in whether you would have paid for that anyway as cash if it weren't for points.
Another consideration is, lets say you wanted to fly business class anyway.. were you definitely going to fly Qantas?
If you're flying something like a SYD-LHR, you could fly so many different airlines (Qantas, Etihad, Emirates, Malaysia, Singapore, China Southern, Cathay, Air China, Air India, Vietnam Airlines, Philipine Airlines) or a combination of budget airlines into Asia (e.g. SIN, KUL, BKK) + full service carriers into Europe, which you could get for a cheaper price overall. I'm quite sure you would consider flying one of them if you could get them for $3000 vs $6000, in which case you point valuation could be "halved".
Given the above examples, there's no way in hell you should ever think of Qantas points as worth whatever Qantas business upgrades specifically cost in points. Think broadly, Qantas is not the only airline that we can fly…
Similarly, this is also why AMEX Membership Rewards is regarded so highly. Because of its ability to transfer points to so many different airline loyalty programs (i.e. you are not restricted to Qantas).
Didn't realise you could get PSN $30 for 7000 pts.
Not the greatest value use of points, but I have quite a lot of FF points (over 150K).
I recently cancelled my rewards Qantas flight (2 people), but I only got points back for one person… plus there is a 5000 points cancellation fee.
Is this normal? or should I call Qantas?
Thanks
are you waiting for one of us to tell you to call Qantas? then here it is " please contact qantas"…
If someone has a similar experience, then I wont bother calling Qantas, and hence I save 30 mins of my life.
Yes, you will get fleeced if you choose to book and then cancel a reward flight (similar to the fees and charges stacked on when you buy an entry level red-e-deal flight). Best use of your points is upgrades.
Thanks, good idea.
Just realised I have enough points to get myself a PS4, but I'd really prefer to try and save them for a flights to Europe in November
only idiots buy "actual stuff" using their reward program points. Always try to get cash back or gift card..
lol cashback and gift cards are the worst possible way of using points
and how's buying an item straight off with points better? 99% of the time, you could find the items way cheaper buying yourself outside …maybe gift card does use up little more points, but it still ended up cheaper than redeeming straight with points..
Obviously everyone knows that upgrades to business class are the 'best value' for using points. This is assuming you are into business class etc!
Agree. In my view, you shouldn't use business class valuation if you wouldn't pay for business class by cash. If you do fly business class (cash paid) then yes the points are an alternative and therefore you can use this like for like valuation. I find so many people not understanding the real value to themselves. Points value differ from one person to another.
It's all about value for money (or value for points). I myself don't fly business class at normal prices (cash paid) because I don't see the value for money be it cash paid or point redemption.
@delfredo: I agree. Modern flights are public transport. I'm not paying any more than I have to to sit at the front of the bus, being served fancier food or reclining flat on my commute to work. Same goes on my commute to holidays. I've had two free random upgrades to business class at checkin (Emirates & Singapore Airlines) - I know what I'm missing on my regular flights, Anne Frankly, I don't give a damn.
Mrs muncan on the other hand…
i've had two free random upgrades to business class at checkin (Emirates & Singapore Airlines)
Sounds like lies. Singapore Airlines is particuarly known to not give free upgrades. Even for elite status holders.
Perhaps if you were upgrade, you would give a damn. =)
@humdogg: Upgraded in 2004 flying back from Singapore on our honeymoon. Last two to check in, our seats were at opposite ends of the plane. I asked if they could do anything to help us, and they could!
And what is? Flights that aren't available when you want or are cheaper than using points by the time you pay taxes?
Surely we should be encouraging all these gift cards and shopping enthusiasts? Leaves more upgrades and J awards for the rest of us!
A reasoable sale. I just found I had points in my account and got myself a fitbit flex and an iron.
Please correct me if I am wrong but GoPro HD Hero4 Action Video Camera Silver Edition for 56,000 points look like a pretty good deal.
56,000 points would give you ~$370 of gift cards.
Cheapest price from a good retailer is ~$470.
Just a question - will you get a tax invoice from Qantas for warranty purposes? I don't know myself.
I'm pretty much sure you gonna get a tax invoice as Qantas store is just a normal online store.
You even do not have to have any QFF points to buy stuff from them (I would not do it though).
awesome… thanks for pointing that out…
now just need to find a good deal on a memorycard for it, and accessories.
Hope velocity follow suit. I have half a million points
Grabbed the Dyson DC58, Cheers OP. Been waiting for something to spend my FF points on considering I'd never use them for actual flights with QANTAS.
Business to First (MEL-LHR) for 60,000 points looks great value for me :-)
Great value but hard to get.
I got a first class upgrade once SYD-LAX on A380. It was tops.
Awesome. Was actually looking for a kitchenaid and haven't had an excuse to burn any points of late. Cheers OP
what is your recommendation with 500,000 QFF points guys?
lol! classic! Never knew about this…
Sadly didn't do it in such extravagant fashion, this was more cattle class flights than any cow would ever take over many years and I still have this many!
Around the world in first class for 420K points.
thanks gccmelb - I think you're right, it's got to be flights and not buying stuff to maximise the value of the points
It has to be said that if you have no Qantas status getting flight and upgrades will me difficult. So go ahead and buy the toaster so as it not be disappointed. Oh and I may be just a little selfish here as it may make it easier for those of us still in for flights :)
It actually looks like some very reasonable deals - 56,000pts for GoPro HD Hero4 Action Video Camera Silver