Now that Flybuys has teamed up with Etihad, many Aussies are trying to get as many Flybuys points as possible.  One of the best ways is to use a credit card that has a category bonus on supermarkets such as the American Express Platinum Edge.  You can sometimes extend this category bonus by buying gift cards for non-bonused categories in a supermarket.  Another way to maximize your points earn is to use the various promotions that are emailed or sent out as quarterly coupons and usually have a fixed target.  In the past I have had 500 bonus Flybuys for a $110 spend and used it to good advantage.

This is what I was trying to do when I bought Bunnings gift cards at Coles Supermarkets to maximize miles earned on our bathroom renovation.  I was right in used the bonused credit card but the one mistake I made was swiping my Flybuys card to pay for the Bunnings gift cards.  Purchases of gift cards don’t count for bonus Flybuys promos but they do count when Coles is assessing your average spend to determine your thresholds for future bonuses.

This is an example of offers Coles emails to Flybuys members.  On rare occasions they offer bonus points for gift cards but this is not the norm.

EXAMPLE:

I spend $100 on regular groceries and $200 on Bunnings gift cards.  I have a triple points email offer and the weekly coupon from the sheet mailed each quarter for 500 bonus points if I spend $110 at Coles.  Here is what I earn based on paying with an Amex Platinum Edge.

$300 x 3x supermarket category bonus = 900 Amex Membership rewards.

$300 at 1 point per dollar = 300 base Flybuys points.

$100 of regular grocery spend x 3x triple points from email (gift card doesn’t count) = 300 bonus Flybuys points.

I failed to get the 500 bonus Flybuys because even though I spent $300, $200 of that was on gift cards and I needed $110 of regular grocery spend to hit that target.

BUT……………………

Coles sees me spending $300 in a week and doesn’t consider that $200 of that was on gift cards that wouldn’t be part of my normal grocery budget.  They substantially raised the target on this quarter’s coupon mail out and I now have to spend $260 to get 1000 bonus Flybuys points……………….and gift cards don’t count!  This is basically impossible so I waste this whole quarter (mid Jan – mid April) of not being able to hit bonus targets.

WHAT I SHOULD HAVE DONE

Do 2 separate transactions.  One for the normal groceries in which I swipe my Flybuys card and pay with the Amex.  And another transaction for the gift cards in which I do NOT swipe the Flybuys card so Coles doesn’t think I am all of a sudden someone who can easily consume $300 of groceries a week!  I will still get the Amex points as Amex doesn’t know or care what I spent the money on at Coles, it all counts as supermarket spend.