150 Clubcard points per £50 Amazon purchase with 3V (and other uses)

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The easiest way to earn a lot of Avios points or Virgin Flying Club miles in 2013 was with 3V Virtual Visa cards – as long as your local Tesco sold them.

They look like this:

3V card

…. and, as with all non-Tesco branded gift cards, you earn 150 Clubcard points for every £50-worth you buy. This meant 360 Avios or 375 Virgin Atlantic miles. Because Tesco accepts American Express, it was also an easy way to increase your spending if you needed to hit a sign-up bonus on a new Amex card.

The deal was so great because you could use 3V cards for financial transactions. Most blatantly, you could pay them into certain bank accounts so you got your entire £25 per card back immediately. The only limit to the number of free Avios you could earn via this route was the number of 3V Virtual Visa cards stocked in your local Tesco.

The wheels came off the bus in December 2013. Overnight, 3V changed their acceptance rules. The cards are now rejected if you attempt to use them for a financial services transaction.

However, Tesco is still selling 3V cards at face value.

You still earn 150 Clubcard points for every £50-worth you buy.

If you use an Amex Gold to buy them, you would also earn 100 Membership Rewards points as it is a supermarket purchase which earns double points.

Where can you still use them?

I saw my first 3V cards for at least a year whilst on holiday last week. I bought £50-worth and redeemed them for Amazon gift certificates at £25 each.

This is the easiest way, for most people, to redeem 3V cards. You can order Amazon gift certificates for yourself and pay them into your Amazon account. You then have a credit balance which you can work through for future purchases.

(If you do this, please consider using our Amazon affiliate link by clicking here or clicking the Amazon logo in the right-hand margin. We earn a small commission on each gift card purchase. You cannot earn cashback anywhere else for buying Amazon gift cards so you don’t lose anything.)

There are some other places that still take 3V cards. If you have regular monthly payments to any of these companies then it is something you should take a look at:

Sky

Vodafone

EDF, Scottish & Southern and E.ON

TV Licensing

Parent Pay

Virgin Media

Apple Store e-gift cards bought direct

You can also purchase gift vouchers via TopGiftCards, High Street Vouchers and Love2Shop.

If you have a direct debit for bill payment with any of the above, you can use a 3V card to make a partial payment onto your account. The next direct debit will then be adjusted.

Some merchants may put a £1 block on your card when you attempt to use it as a security check. The maximum you can then pay is £24. The remaining £1 will be released within 7-10 days and can be used to buy an Amazon gift voucher.

Some merchants will also restrict the number of different card numbers that a single customer can use to 2+ in a 24 hour period. Do not expect to be able to use up 10 3V cards with the same merchant on the same day.

Any updates to the above list are welcome.

How to earn Avios points from UK credit cards

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (December 2021)

As a reminder, there are various ways of earning Avios points from UK credit cards. Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses!

There are two official British Airways American Express cards with attractive sign-up bonuses:

British Airways BA Amex American Express card

British Airways American Express

5,000 Avios for signing up, no annual fee and an Economy 2-4-1 voucher for spending ….. Read our full review

British Airways BA Premium Plus American Express Amex credit card

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

25,000 Avios and the UK’s most valuable credit card perk – the 2-4-1 companion voucher Read our full review

You can also get generous sign-up bonuses by applying for American Express cards which earn Membership Rewards points, such as:

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 20,000 points, FREE for a year & two airport lounge passes Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express

30,000 points and an unbeatable set of travel benefits – for a fee Read our full review

Run your own business?

We recommend Capital On Tap for limited companies. You earn 1 Avios per £1 which is impressive for a Visa card, along with a sign-up bonus worth 10,500 Avios:

Capital On Tap Business Rewards Visa

The most generous Avios Visa or Mastercard for a limited company Read our full review

You should also consider the British Airways Accelerating Business credit card. This is open to sole traders as well as limited companies and has a 30,000 Avios sign-up bonus:

British Airways Accelerating Business American Express

30,000 Avios sign-up bonus – plus annual bonuses of up to 30,000 Avios Read our full review

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Avios. This includes both personal and small business cards.

(Want to earn more Avios? Click here to visit our home page for our latest articles on earning and spending your Avios points and click here to see how to earn more Avios this month from offers and promotions.)

Category

Tesco Clubcard

This article is closed to new posts. Discussion continues in the HfP Forums.

Kipto says:

9 Aug9 August 07:50

I am with Eon for utilities and pay by direct debit. I rang customer service who told me that any “extra” payment into the account would just top up the balance of my account unlike bt and sky who don’t take any money from my account if I have paid my bill with them using 3v Visa cards. Does anyone have any experience of using 3v Visa cards to pay their bill if they usually pay by direct debit ? and wouldn’t it affect any direct debit discount ?
- Polly says:
  
  9 Aug9 August 07:55
  
  Worth trying paying a couple of cards in this month and see if your direct debit is reduced next month. They may also refund you if you have a big credit at some point. Utility companies are not supposed to hold on to big credits any more. So you could end up with a refund cheque or back into your bank.
- Andrew S says:
  
  9 Aug9 August 07:57
  
  Your direct debit is fixed. What you can do is go into credit and at the next payment review have the balance refunded or the direct debit reduced to less than the energy cost so you eat your credit balance.
  
  Direct debits for energy are not like regular bill payments as your actual usage is only known 2 times per year when the meter is read.
- squills says:
  
  9 Aug9 August 08:06
  
  I was in that situation with EDF but just phoned them and got my DD reduced to £10/ month.
- CliveJ says:
  
  9 Aug9 August 08:10
  
  I also use EON and have made payments by 3V online. After the payment has registered (a couple of days) you can go to the ‘manage my direct debits’ section or something like that. There you can reduce the amount of your direct debit. It won’t allow you to reduce it too far but will take account of a credit balance.
- Fenny says:
  
  9 Aug9 August 08:13
  
  I can’t speak for Eon, but SSE sent me a very comprehensive response saying that if I made overpayments with 3V, I could suspend my DD for as long as I wanted to, then call up and get it reinstated. Plus, at the end of my 12 months, when it was clear I was hugely in credit (at that point, I’d only made one 3V payment to see if it worked), they refunded the credit and reduced my DD anyway.
CliveJ says:

9 Aug9 August 08:01

I’m not sure that I have seen mention of this before but you can also use 3V cards to buy JD Wetherspoon gift vouchers through their website. Doing it in 5 x £5 tranches fits nicely with a £25 3V card and is postage free (£50 and over there is a £6 special delivery fee. 5 x £5 vouchers are despatched first class.

I have found most staff are aware of the vouchers although may need referring to the back of the vouchers where it says change is given. It means if you are popping in for a pint you can pay with a £5 voucher and get change. You can also use them for food and for stays at their ‘Wetherlodges’ attached to some of their pubs.

I used this method quite a bit to meet the minimum spend on an SPG card. Of course it means I am now a hopeless drunk 😉
PJK says:

9 Aug9 August 08:49

Anyone know whether Scottish Power (NOT Scottish & Southern) accept 3V cards?
- Mark Wheeler says:
  
  9 Aug9 August 13:24
  
  I am new to these cards but I have made a trial £5 payment to Scottish Power. It has got the facility to pay stated amounts so lots of £25 would work.
  The snag that I foresee however is that the tariff requires payment by direct debit so it would be necessary to persuade them to reduce the amount claimed by them each month. My experience of SP is that their admin is appalling. If you do not mind being in credit you could make some payments and the direct debit may be adjusted automatically eventually.
  - Rob says:
    
    9 Aug9 August 13:52
    
    Exactly, the DD should adjust, if not automatically then next time you submit a meter reading
    
    PS. Had a reader email me to say that Hammersmith & Fulham council definitely does NOT accept them for council tax
    - PJK says:
      
      9 Aug9 August 16:04
      
      Thanks Mark & Rob …
- Grimz says:
  
  9 Aug9 August 18:44
  
  I have just put £150 in via 3v – problem is how do I get my DD reduced? I pay 115 a month and would be good to reduce the DD to £15 and I would then deposit £100 in a month via 3v.
  - Mark Wheeler says:
    
    9 Aug9 August 19:27
    
    When I looked you can change the source of the money but not the amount. You will have to ring the call centre (good luck with that). It took them about six months to show the correct property on my online account. Some operators are helpful it just depends.
    Please report on your progress. I am going to try and do the same with Stratford upon Avon District Council for our council tax.
    - ankomonkey says:
      
      9 Aug9 August 22:13
      
      Please try not to draw any attention to the 3V aspect of paying SuA council tax this way. I’ve been happily doing this for quite some time…
      - Mark Wheeler says:
        
        10 Aug10 August 08:57
        
        I am keeping all of this close to my chest. The fewer people use it the better!
Michael says:

9 Aug9 August 09:19

Is it possible to also get change for the John Lewis vouchers when used at Waitrose?
- Polly says:
  
  9 Aug9 August 09:27
  
  Yes
Rob says:

9 Aug9 August 10:46

Or just buy a Starbucks card in Tesco!
Adam says:

9 Aug9 August 11:10

Hi,
Someone advised me that you can only use the 3v cards for online purchases so you do not pay the fee. Can you use a 3v card then to pay for Tesco groceries delivered from an online order?
Max says:

9 Aug9 August 11:33

Tried this for the first time today- seems painless enough and very little time needed to activate the cards. Used successfully to purchase some vouchers online.

I can confirm that there is currently no £1 test transaction charge at HSV.

My local Tesco usually doesn’t have them in when i have looked previously, but a few in this morning. I may go back and snaffle them. I restricted myself to four this morning. Should I go back, buy four, pay, re-enter the store, but four more at another checkout… or does that flag up alarms at Amex?
- louie-m says:
  
  9 Aug9 August 11:57
  
  Can’t say I’ve ever had problems giving the checkout staff say 16 x 3V and saying can you process them in 4s because I’ve had problems in the past with them not registering if you buy more than 4 at a time.
- e14 says:
  
  9 Aug9 August 12:48
  
  Amex won’t care
- Rob says:
  
  9 Aug9 August 13:56
  
  If it was an identical value (ie £100 with no other items) it would flag an alarm as it would appear to be a mistake by the store, even though it isn’t. Throw in other items and it should be OK, or even use a different card for the small loss of pointa.
- Mark Wheeler says:
  
  9 Aug9 August 14:33
  
  Love2Shop, which seems identical except for the name does not charge for postage on orders over £10 whereas HSV charges 99p.
  - Max says:
    
    9 Aug9 August 15:51
    
    I have place two seperate orders with HSV today, neither include charging for postage.
    - Mark Wheeler says:
      
      9 Aug9 August 17:16
      
      I am obviously being discriminated against then. I was charged 99p.
      - Brian says:
        
        10 Aug10 August 00:12
        
        Free postage on HSV for orders over £20. So if you ordered £15, say, then you’d be charged…It’s all on the site…
      - Mark Wheeler says:
        
        10 Aug10 August 08:58
        
        Thanks
        I had noticed .. eventually.
        If all else fails, read the instructions.
- Max says:
  
  9 Aug9 August 15:58
  
  Went back to Tesco for some coriander and naan bread and decided to buy eight more.
  
  It worked but one card didn’t register at the till. The Supervisor came and sorted it with no difficulty.
  
  She told me a customer had bought 30 cards a few weeks ago. This resulted in multiple card rejections and took a while to sort out but he left with all the cards registered. Come on, which of you was it? 🙂
- Polly says:
  
  25 Aug25 August 20:28
  
  Always ask them to sub total each card. Best chance of activation and saves hassle and a queue forming at the till. if one fails, you know immediately, and can run grab a replacement at that point. v embarrassing when it happens, believe me !
Mark Wheeler says:

9 Aug9 August 13:18

Thanks Raffles for more useful advice.
I bought a couple of cards to try and they work well. The only drawback is the £25 amount when most purchases try to deduct the whole amount from the card.

Looking at the range of cards at Tesco it seems that many purchases should be preceded by a trip to Tesco to buy the relevant card!
- Sully says:
  
  9 Aug9 August 14:50
  
  Absolutely – I built and entire shed and landscaped two gardens with £4,000 of B&Q Giftcards.
- Dave B says:
  
  9 Aug9 August 17:48
  
  sometimes it takes a few days to load from buying them in tesco. (with argos anyway)
  - Mark2 says:
    
    11 Aug11 August 07:47
    
    I bought a B&Q card from Tesco and then drove straight to B&Q to use it. I am pleased to report that it went through the self-service till with no problem.
    You do need to be a bit careful, however. Last year we moved into a new house so needed loads for the garden. B&Q were definitely not the best place to buy many things e.g. the timber would have cost c£500 from B&Q but £250 from wood yard (and better finished too).