Woolworths has put the signage for this promotion up early which has previously meant it could be shared here.
Note that variable load gift cards appear to be excluded so you will only earn points on $50 and $100 gift cards which have $5.95 and $6.95 activation fees, respectively.
Enjoy!
Are activation fees on gift cards normal lol? Whats the point?
All open loop gift cards have a fee, it stops you churning them for points.
Gift card activation fees at the time of purchase are unusual, but you usually see them on open-loop gift cards (i.e. prepaid gift cards where the gift card scheme issuer / owner places few restrictions on where you can redeem the gift card, including Activ Visa gift cards, Perfect EFTPOS gift cards, Coles Mastercard gift cards). I think there are some reasons they exist (besides what @JIMB0 has already pointed out):
When you purchase one of these prepaid gift cards, the gift card scheme owner (Blackhawk Network) only has the funds on the gift card. They hold onto the funds on your gift card until either the gift card expires (in which case they are no longer obligated to let you redeem the funds) or you redeem the gift card at a merchant (in which case the funds go to the merchant). This is unlike closed-loop gift cards (e.g. WISH gift card, Coles gift card, JB Hi-Fi gift card), where if you purchase such a gift card, the funds go straight to the gift card scheme owner (e.g. Woolworths Group, Coles Group, JB Hi-Fi) and you are locked into using the gift card at specific companies, so those companies effectively end up having your funds and the goods / services you want to purchase… and that is until you redeem the gift card for the goods / services you want, or (at least for Coles Group) the gift card expires.
It is the gift card issuer’s way of getting more money from you, because they would not be earning a lot on interchange fees (i.e. the fees a merchant pays to the card issuer when a transaction takes place). Keep in mind that Blackhawk Network needs to have staff supporting this gift card for when a cardholder needs assistance (e.g. the gift card does not activate correctly, the gift card magstripe is faulty, a cardholder wants to dispute fraudulent transactions made on the gift card.
I would argue it discourages money laundering, because paying 6.95% fee for the purchase of a $100 gift card is not an efficient way of laundering money.
Some Flight Centre gift cards have activation fees at the time of purchase as well (e.g. the ones sold through Australia Post).
I should also mention that this gift card deal does have limited appeal, but it would be somewhat appealing in the following scenarios:
An employer wants to purchase these as a reward for some of their employees and they do not care about the purchase fee.
An Everyday Rewards member is converting their Everyday Rewards points into Qantas points and the way they are using their points means they are getting good value out of their Qantas points. If you go to the Free Points website linked in OP’s description, there is a page discussing how a Qantas point could theoretically be worth between 0.5c and 6c, which means the Qantas points you purchase from a $100 gift card through this deal could theoretically be worth between $2.50 and $30.
Someone churning credit cards wants to quickly hit a minimum spend requirement for a sign-up bonus, and they are willing to take the hit in fees in order to get to that minimum spend faster.
There was digital visa card deal without any fees from card.gift not that long ago
Slightly better than even if Woolworth gave like $5.95 in everyday rewards value (because you weren't stuck with loyalty points and discount upfront)
It seems no saving at all…?
At 10x points, eg 5% in value, this is just not worth it.
basically $6 for 1000 erp = 500 qff points
A word of warning for anyone interested in these gift cards…
Some of the gift cards in this deal come with a PIN, whereas other cards do not come with a PIN and only allow you to verify instore purchases using signature verification. I mention this, as signature verification is an uncommon verification method in Australia, and some merchants will outright refuse to verify any transactions using a signature. The back of the gift card packaging will have a dot point mentioning one of the following:
There is a PIN on the back of the gift card (in which case means PIN verification is possible), or
No PIN is required for instore purchases (in which case means signature verification is the only available verification method for instore purchases).
Additionally, these prepaid gift cards cannot be used to send payments to the ATO via ATO online services (accessible via MyGov) or Government EasyPay, as the gift card issuer has blocked the ATO.
On the ATO bit, I thought the ATO only accepts apple gift cards.
Based on your username, I forgive you for thinking we haven't heard that joke before
When it used to be 2000 points for $100 gift card it was a marginal payoff, but it was good to be able to get 3 Amex reward points on the spend too.
helped to convert amex spend to merchants that don't accept it.
So the activation fee is less than the points value.
How is this a deal?
14 upvoted.
Money launderers
Nothing to see here. Move along people.
Spend $106.95 and get $100 card and $5.34 worth of point. You are losing $1.61 per purchase.
Only 1000 pts, no pts for activation fee.
click the link guys!
If you value QF points more than $1.39c, then it is a deal. I will get some by myself anyway.
Ozbargainer boycott this cards … There is no deal or bargain here … !
After the fees you end up losing money