Gift cards are a useful tool for spending less capital while being able to purchase the same thing as what you would have were you to spend your cash. This is because there are a lot of options for purchasing gift cards at a discount compared to their face value while their full face value can be redeemed.
There is a comprehensive list on OzBargain for the discount amounts and requirements to purchase these gift cards: https://www.ozbargain.com.au/wiki/discounted_egift_cards
Most of these discounts are offered through loyalty programs, many of which can be joined for free, however some require you to have a paid account with them such as utilities companies and insurance companies. Different rewards rates are offered from the different program so you’ll have to compare them to find the best one.
The following are rewards programs which can be joined for free and allow purchasing of discounted gift cards:
- Cashrewards: Make an account with them.
- Macquarie Marketplace: Open a Macquarie Bank Account which has no ongoing fees.
- RACQ eGift Cards: QLD residents can open an RACQ Bank Account which has no ongoing fees.
- Redeem Your Gift Card: Use code shopper, all gift cards have a $1 processing fee.
- Shopback: Make an account with them.
- Suncorp Benefits: Open a Suncorp Bank Account which has no ongoing fees.
- Crypto.com Pay Rewards: Make an account with them. (Note that the gift cards are purchased and rebated in CRO which is a cryptocurrency)
Coles and Woolworths also both have regular discounts or bonus points for purchasing various gift cards and these offers can be found in their weekly catalogues.
Although purchasing gift cards may technically be excluded by some credit card reward points T&Cs, at the point of sale, most gift cards are just sold directly by the retailer and the credit card company wouldn’t be able to tell that the purchased item was a gift card. This means on top of the discount, you also receive rewards points and purchasing bulk gift cards is a great way to meet credit card sign-up bonus minimum spends as it allows you to make the large purchases within the sign-up period (usually 90 days) but you can spend the gift cards in-store after the period has expired.
Store Gift Cards
These gift cards are limited to use by just one store or a group of stores. They usually have the highest discount rates as they are the have the most limited forms of redemption. Purchasing a bulk of these gift cards from a store that you know you’ll spend money on in the future (Coles, Woolworths, eBay, Amazon etc.) can be a good way to meet a minimum credit card spend for the sign-up bonus. These cards are also good to buy when there is a discount or cashback promotion for them because you know you’ll use them in the future.
Whenever shopping at a store (online or in-store), it’s always a good idea to check using the OzBargain link if you can purchase a gift card from the store at a cheaper price and pay with the gift card at checkout.
Eftpos Gift Cards
These cards can be used anywhere that Eftpos is accepted which is pretty much anywhere that accept the use of card. They can be identified as having the word eftpos somewhere on the card (e.g. Westfield Gift cards are just generic Eftpos gift cards as they have the word eftpos on them). They generally have an activation fee which usually makes them not worth buying however Coles and Woolworths occasionally run promotions where the fee is offset by a discount or reward point value.
As these cards can be used as Eftpos cards, they can technically be used at post offices to pay bills when you select Savings at the terminal to avoid any Visa or Mastercard transaction fees.
Visa/Mastercard Gift Cards
These cards can be used anywhere that Visa/Mastercard is accepted. They can be identified as have either the Visa or Mastercard logo somewhere on the card. They generally also have an activation fee which usually makes them not worth buying however Coles and Woolworths occasionally run promotions where the fee is offset by a discount or reward point value.
Some online stores might not accept pre-paid Visa/Mastercard as a payment method. One possible way around this if the store accepts PayPal is to add the gift card to your PayPal account (which does accept pre-paid cards) and then pay at the store via PayPal.
Low Balance
After you have almost finished using all of the balance of the gift card and there are only a few dollars on it, it can become difficult to finish using the balance. This is usually ok with store gift cards because they will usually allow you to use the rest of the gift card balance and then pay the rest by another method however it becomes more difficult with Eftpos and Visa/Mastercard gift cards as a lot of places won’t accept these types of split payments. Here are a few ways to finish using the remaining balance of a gift card:
- For Visa/Mastercard gift cards, Woolworths eGift cards can be purchased online at a discount at any price you set above $5 – this can be coupled with up to a 5% discount.
- For Visa/Mastercard gift cards, Amazon gift cards which can be purchased here at any value above $1 and directly applied to your account.
- Card split payment at Coles or Woolworths. This is easy to do by yourself at a self-serve checkout.
- Do a donation to a charity which accepts card and allows you to set the amount, also see page by Finder.