Gift cards are rarely reduced because stores are afraid that people will take advantage and play the system. We’ve spotted a cracking deal at Tesco, so we’re going to take advantage and play the system!
Until Sun 23 Nov, you can get 20% off selected Monsoon, Accessorize, H&M or Pizza Express gift cards IN STORE at Tesco (the discount will be applied automatically at the checkout). We’re not big fans of giving these as gifts here at MSE, because if a firm goes bust its gift card is usually rendered useless, and often people forget to use them before they expire.
So we suggest you buy them for YOURSELF, provided those are stores you’d shop in anyway, then double the discount with a bit of extreme couponing. You can buy as many of each card as you like, so the savings can be large.
What’s more, if you spend £50 or more on these gift cards (AFTER the discount), and swipe your Clubcard, you’ll get an extra 150 Clubcard points (worth £1.50 in store or up to £6 in rewards).
- EITHER save them for the January sales…
Pre-Christmas is the most expensive shopping time of the year, the January sales the cheapest. As most goods are full price before Christmas, there are usually lots of codes and discounts available, but few in January for the sales.
This allows you to turn that around by buying the gift cards now, for the stores you usually visit, effectively as a cheap form of credit to use in January when prices are cheaper. While the gift cards have expiry dates, they usually last at least 24 months (it depends on the company so check the back of the card before you buy).
As mentioned, in the unlikely event one of the firms went bust in the short amount of time before January, the card would become valueless. Yet in the past when that’s happened – if you bought the gift card at a separate major retailer (eg, a supermarket), it has refunded you, which mitigates the already low risk. Though that’s not a guarantee.
- OR use them now with other discounts…
As these gift cards effectively work as cash in stores, you can combine them with other discounts. Here are the gift cards available in this deal, and the current offers (go quick though, many expire this week):
– £10 Accessorize gift card for £8 – PLUS 25% off with a voucher in this week’s issue of Grazia magazine (Kim Kardashian on the front, £2, dated Mon 24 Nov). This code is only valid on full-price items, not sale items and is valid until Mon 24 Nov. Accessorize has confirmed that gift cards can be used with other offers.
– £20 Pizza Express gift card for £16 – PLUS 2for1 on Orange Wednesdays. This deal isn’t just for Orange and EE customers – find out how to get it in our Orange/EE Wednesdays guide. If you’re going on a different day, get a voucher from Pizza Express for 25% off your bill (Mon-Thurs and after 5pm on Sun only) until Sun 23 Nov. Pizza Express has confirmed you can use gift cards with any offer in its restaurants.
– £20 H&M gift card for £16 – PLUS you can use it in the up to 70% off sale. This gift card is only valid in store, not online. We haven’t found any vouchers that can currently be used in store, but if you use this card in the up to 70% sale you’re effectively getting an extra 20% off.
– £25 Monsoon gift card for £20 – PLUS 25% off with a voucher in this week’s issue of Grazia magazine (Kim Kardashian on the front, £2, dated Mon 24 Nov). This code is only valid on full-price items, not sale items and is valid until Mon 24 Nov. Monsoon has confirmed that gift cards can be used with other offers.
As most of the deals above give you an extra 25% off, on top of the 20% gift card offer, you’re getting about 40% off by combining the two – double the original discount.
A few things to watch
Tesco originally said there’s no limit to the number of cards you can purchase, but it later got in touch to say that there’s a maximum of 20 cards per transaction, per store. You can use Clubcard vouchers to buy them, but check first that this is the best use of your vouchers, as you could get up to four times their value with Clubcard Boost.
The offer’s available in every Tesco store that sells gift cards, but not every store will have the same range. If you’re planning a special trip, it’s worth calling ahead to check if your store stocks the one you’re after. The offer isn’t available online.
It’s worth noting, gift cards are non-refundable.
