My health fund allows me to buy Woolies and Coles e-gift cards at 5% off. I believe they charge 1% for credit card payments which makes it 4% off. Is it worth shopping this way? I like the convenience of Woolies where I tap my phone for Rewards and then again for payment, does shopping with e-gift cards mean you constantly have to type in codes to checkout? When you have a balance of let’s say $30 and need to pay $40, is it a hassle to spend $30 with the gift card and then another $10 on card?
Buy Woolworths/wish through cashrewards, 5% off with no card surcharge. Yes you have to type in numbers but it is easy to do. Also easy to split payments.
Yes you have to type in numbers
Use a pen or the edge of the card in this environment.
Or just wash your hands after.
Yes you have to type a giftcard number and a pin, your reward for this is $5 off per $100 spent (or in your instance $4 off) - If you spend $200 per week on groceries is it worth you typing in about 20 digits to a keypad to save $8 total - only you know the answer.
I've been using eGift cards for my usual shopping for at least four years. According to Cash Rewards I have saved over $1200 that way. I still buy items on special so the extra saving is quite nice. Is it worth the hassle? That's for you to decide.
i have no shame going to a self checkout and getting rid of all the ones with 2 bucks etc left on them, but maybe not in this current environment.
Coles already placed strict purchase limit on discount eGC.
Been removed now from RACT after purchase limits getting lower and lower this past year
Firstly, to address some of your questions:
does shopping with e-gift cards mean you constantly have to type in codes to checkout?
When you have a balance of let’s say $30 and need to pay $40, is it a hassle to spend $30 with the gift card and then another $10 on card?
I honestly think it is worth getting eGift cards, because the inconvenience of handling multiple eGift cards is worth the few dollars I save each time I purchase an eGift card. However, there are some things to keep in mind:
If you're wondering how much I have saved so far this year by using WISH and Coles eGift cards, it's $101. So yeah, for me it is worth it.
Wow, thanks so much for the write up!
To add one more note, Coles system can detect insufficient balance and allow partial payment to clear the balance immediately. Hence, no need to keep track of the balance of a Coles eGC.
Good summary! I concur.
Just to add one thing though, I buy mine through Suncorp Rewards (and have $10 in my account) and they’re available pretty much instantly. I like Wish cards since they also track live in the Woolworths Money app whereas Coles is a bit more of a hassle since you need to update the balance manually. Savings are totally worth it since you were going to spend that money anyway, and Wish is even accepted at other stores like Big W and can be useful for buying games/Chromebooks/etc.
what surcharge have you received on shopback for amex?? I've never gotten any
I don't think I phrased it correctly…
What I was trying to say was that the Woolworths Gift Card portal (which you can access through Cashrewards) does not charge any surcharges when using an AMEX card, which is atypical for gift card portals.
Also if you fill up at woolies branded caltex, that's another 5% off petrol. If petrol is 1.20 per ltr, that's 6c off.
(On top of the 4c voucher for spending >30 at woolies)
Obviously the more you spend the more you save, so only you can determine how much of that inconvenience is worth to you
Bargain， i have never thought about woolies caltex
Too lazy to spend an extra minute at the checkout?
Blows my mind when i tell workmates who shop at woolies,Bws,Woolworths caltex (all co located at local shopping centre)
Save 5% - and they think its too hard !
Blows my mind why people don't rotate through credit cards with high bonus points every 3 months which saves me a lot more than 5% on groceries. Everyone's different though and convenience is hard to measure.
Not everyone can, and rotate through credit cards is not as easy as buying discount gift cards.
There are many ways to save a few bucks in life. I think I've mastered quite a few, it's just not feasible to know all the tricks and habits to save on everything in life. To answer your question, I'm asking the community for advice if it's worth it (I didn't say I wouldn't do it). Some reservations I initially had (and still have):
- We shop at multiple supermarkets (not just Coles or Woolies)
- We don't do big grocery runs, but multiple smaller ones (inner-city life, no car)
- We have young kids, the sooner we get through checkout the better
- My wife does most of the runs, she already has to deal with my obsessions of earning the right amount of points with the right card etc, not sure if I want to complicate this further
- I've had gift cards previously that I lost or with unclear balances, not a big fan of that (perhaps not organised enough)
- I like seeing how much we spend on groceries for budgeting purposes (current process is fully automated), buying with gift cards will make this a bit harder.
Before I asked the question, I wasn't aware of the Cashrewards option or the Woolies Money app (which shows the balance of the gift card apparently), so I've learnt a few things.
Still not sure if it will work for me and my family though: I'm happy to spend an extra minute when making an online purchase (eg checking out Shopback vs CR) for less than 5% discount, not so much when I'm out and about for the reasons mentioned above. Does that make me lazy? Perhaps.
If you are the one interested in the savings but your wife has to do the actual shopping and with kids and using the right rewards card it may be too much to ask of her. Maybe you can look after the kids while she does the shopping. I cannot get my husband to use the GC Mastercards to pay for the allied health professionals he uses and that is a lot easier than using GC's to shop. Also it sounds like you would have to be more organised to do this well. I actually mostly use the printed eGC and write the balance on them. Your last reservation is sounds funny to me. You want your wife to use the correct rewards card and correct gift card while with children and people in the queue behind her glaring because she is taking extra time but are hesitant to change your budgeting system which you can do in peace and quiet and at the time of your choosing. I remember shopping with young children and was be happy if I managed to purchase all the items I wanted as their wining totally scrambles the brain. I have made mistakes using the wrong rewards card or GC without children in tow and with the luxury of time as I am not in paid employment. I do applaud you on investigating this issue but do not be “penny wise but pound foolish. Have you considered getting new credit cards for the points, reviewing you utility bills and mortgage rates.
Apple Pay makes managing cards super easy, I typically add a new one every few months, being the one we want to spend money on to get the bonus points - that’s a lot easier than typing in gift card codes at the register. I agree with your ‘penny wise, pound foolish’ comment, see my other comment in this thread. For me, I put a bit of effort into getting the best home loan, switching credit cards every couple of months, get the best annual deals on phone plans and getting good online discounts generally. Saving by effectively pre-praying for stuff via gift cards has never been on our radar but I think I would do it if it was just me.
Do you care about $4?
Sounds like you don’t care enough to save it coz you value your mild convenience.