Credit Cards - Fees on Gift Cards

flaneurs_lobster

grumpy_codger said:

flaneurs_lobster said:

FWIW I'm using gift cards via Airtime (4% cashback) for my supermarket shops (Tesco/Waitrose/M&S) via a Santander Edge CC (2%) cashback. 

Do you mean 'buying gift cards'?

Yes, a purchase using my CC details on the Airtime app.

Nasqueron

I have seen people comment they have been able to buy cards via supermarket shopping, running them all together so it treats them as a shop, not the card.

Be mindful of gift cards though, they often expire or end up with weird amounts left on them that goes to waste, if giving a gift card, you might as well give cash directly as it's more flexible 

born_again

Bought 5 costa gift cards online from their site. As they were giving a nice extra £5 for every £20 spent.
So get a card for free.
No charge on either Santander or Halifax CC.

Really is luck of the draw.😜

la531983

Nasqueron said:

I have seen people comment they have been able to buy cards via supermarket shopping, running them all together so it treats them as a shop, not the card.

Be mindful of gift cards though, they often expire or end up with weird amounts left on them that goes to waste, if giving a gift card, you might as well give cash directly as it's more flexible 

Even if you went into Asda just to buy a shop gift card, the till would just process it as it would 50 cans of baked beans. Doesn't have to be "ran in" with other things.

DullGreyGuy

la531983 said:

Nasqueron said:

I have seen people comment they have been able to buy cards via supermarket shopping, running them all together so it treats them as a shop, not the card.

Be mindful of gift cards though, they often expire or end up with weird amounts left on them that goes to waste, if giving a gift card, you might as well give cash directly as it's more flexible 

Even if you went into Asda just to buy a shop gift card, the till would just process it as it would 50 cans of baked beans. Doesn't have to be "ran in" with other things.

In practice I'm sure you're right but in principle a POS could be setup to run the transaction through a merchant ID based on a logic tree but as only 1 merchantID can be used for a single transaction if there is a majority of groceries then it'll be run through on the grocery ID 

WillPS

DullGreyGuy said:

la531983 said:

Nasqueron said:

I have seen people comment they have been able to buy cards via supermarket shopping, running them all together so it treats them as a shop, not the card.

Be mindful of gift cards though, they often expire or end up with weird amounts left on them that goes to waste, if giving a gift card, you might as well give cash directly as it's more flexible 

Even if you went into Asda just to buy a shop gift card, the till would just process it as it would 50 cans of baked beans. Doesn't have to be "ran in" with other things.

In practice I'm sure you're right but in principle a POS could be setup to run the transaction through a merchant ID based on a logic tree but as only 1 merchantID can be used for a single transaction if there is a majority of groceries then it'll be run through on the grocery ID 

I've never seen any evidence of supermarket till MCCs being dynamic. Any tills/PDQs for that. I'm not convinced it'd be a practical solution nor why the supermarkets would want to engage in it?

I have seen evidence of separate hardware for separate MCCs - the most obvious example being the tills in supermarket petrol stations (which use a different MCC from the ones in the supermarket). There's also reports of bureau de changes having separate payment terminals for some customers; M&S Bank credit card customers used to be able to use M&S bureaus and have it go through as a purchase for example.

gbhxu

Nasqueron said:

I have seen people comment they have been able to buy cards via supermarket shopping, running them all together so it treats them as a shop, not the card.

Be mindful of gift cards though, they often expire or end up with weird amounts left on them that goes to waste, if giving a gift card, you might as well give cash directly as it's more flexible 

Some cards even start charging you if don't use them for a time

flaneurs_lobster

gbhxu said:

Nasqueron said:

I have seen people comment they have been able to buy cards via supermarket shopping, running them all together so it treats them as a shop, not the card.

Be mindful of gift cards though, they often expire or end up with weird amounts left on them that goes to waste, if giving a gift card, you might as well give cash directly as it's more flexible 

Some cards even start charging you if don't use them for a time

Could you explain further please?

CliveOfIndia

gbhxu said:

Some cards even start charging you if don't use them for a time

Have you got an example of a card that does that?  It's not something I've ever come across.  Certainly most cards will close the account if it has a zero balance and hasn't been used for a couple of years, but I'm not aware of any that start imposing a charge.

The only scenario I can think of is perhaps one of the cards that does charge an annual fee but gives you the first year free, something like that.  Even then, I'm not sure if there are actually any cards that do that, I'm only guessing.

Phil65

Nasqueron said:

I have seen people comment they have been able to buy cards via supermarket shopping, running them all together so it treats them as a shop, not the card.

Be mindful of gift cards though, they often expire or end up with weird amounts left on them that goes to waste, if giving a gift card, you might as well give cash directly as it's more flexible 

Not always possible.  Businesses are allowed to provide trivial benefits to staff ex tax which can be gift cards but cannot be cash.