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3V cards are still alive and kicking, surprisingly

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I spent a few days last week up in North Yorkshire, taking the kids to their grandparents.  I was more than a little surprised to wander into the Tesco in Filey to see 3V cards on the gift card rack.  Annoying, though, there was only one of them!

However, in the 5 days I spent in Filey, that solitary 3V card was not purchased – although, sadly, neither was the rack topped up.

(3V cards are an amazing way to earn literally free Avios.  You can buy 2 x £25 3V Visa cards for £50 in Tesco, spend them online to pay £50 of bills, and earn 150 Clubcard points – 360 Avios – each time.  See here and here for older posts on this which explain everything.)

Simon emailed me to point out that 3V has finally added Tesco to its list of official stockists – which presumably means that they aren’t about to go away tomorrow.

Another Flyertalker also posted this:

I got 36 in Bournemouth on Monday afternoon (left 1 on the shelf) and 20 from Swansea the week before (left about same again on the shelf)

…. so supplies are certainly not low everywhere.

Ironically, the card that I saw in Filey last week was the first that I have seen in the flesh since the very first day I saw one, in the Covent Garden Metro.  For old times sake I popped in there again this week …. but the shelves were bare.


How to earn Avios from UK credit cards

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (April 2025)

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

In February 2022, Barclaycard launched two exciting new Barclaycard Avios Mastercard cards with a bonus of up to 25,000 Avios. You can apply here.

You qualify for the bonus on these cards even if you have a British Airways American Express card:

Barclaycard Avios Plus card

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Barclaycard Avios card

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

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

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British Airways American Express

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You can also get generous sign-up bonuses by applying for American Express cards which earn Membership Rewards points. These points convert at 1:1 into Avios.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

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The Platinum Card from American Express

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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, and the standard card is FREE. Capital on Tap cards also have no FX fees.

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There is also a British Airways American Express card for small businesses:

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There are also generous bonuses on the two American Express Business cards, with the points converting at 1:1 into Avios. These cards are open to sole traders as well as limited companies.

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American Express Business Gold

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

Comments (123)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • JSXOX says:

    Just searched 4 stores around the perimeter of Heathrow. Came back with a huge stash of cards despite others trying to play tactical hiding games

  • Me says:

    Noo, I was going to visit those ones next week!!

  • Rob says:

    Using a voucher has no impact, done this a few times.

    I have never heard of Tesco not automatically adding the correct bonus as long as you bought correct multiples of £50.

  • danksy says:

    I got refused at my local tesco yesterday morning – “you have come to our attention as being suspicious with the amount of gift cards you are buying”

    I fired off this email (forgive me hamming it up with BS about my credit rating etc. etc.!!!)

    Dear Sirs,
    “I was recently embarrassed when at a visit to my local tesco Extra store I was quizzed in front of other customers with regard to the quantity of giftcards i was purchasing. The staff member explained there was a maximum number that were able to be purchased.

    The reason I was buying the giftcards (Visa Gift cards) is that I find them a convenient way of settling my utility and tax bills due to poor credit I have which precludes me from holding other VISA accounts!

    I was hoping therefore that you could clarify for me the position in order that if I am challenged in store in future I may reproduce your response as evidence.

    I would rather not shop elsewhere, as it is more convenient for me to use Tesco as my one stop shopping destination!

    With Kind regards
    Danksy

    Response from Tesco customer services…

    Dear Danksy,

    Thank you for your email and patience whilst awaiting a response.

    I’m sorry about the issue surrounding the quantity of Visa Gift Cards that you are able to purchase in our Tesco Extra Store was questioned by a member of staff.

    Looking into the matter further, I’ve spoken with my Business Support Team and they have confirmed that there is no limit to the quantity of Visa Gift Cards. However, there is a limit of £250.00 in total can be done in one transaction, therefore if the value you requested was more than this amount the store can refuse. This is due to Money Laundering Regulations.

    I do hope I have explained the reason for the decision made by the store. I realise how disappointed you must have been when questioned about this.

    Once again, thank you for contacting me and if I can assist with any other enquiries, please let me know.

    Kind regards

  • James67 says:

    Can we use cc coupons and tillspits to get money off giftcards? Looks like I have been missing a trick.

    • Colin says:

      It says on the money off coupons they cant be used for gift cards, but every coupon i have handed over for 3V has been accepted without any problems. e.g. the recent £7 off a £50 spend, used it for £50 of 3V cards – and paid £43!

      • Rob says:

        I HAVE had trouble twice out of, probably, 5 goes. With one, the cashier asked her colleague and they agreed ‘if it scans, it’s ok’. The other time the cashier would not budge.

    • Rob says:

      Not in theory, but the tills do accept the vouchers so you just need to find a cashier willing to scan them

      • James67 says:

        Thanks folks. I think I will try my 7 off 50 today with one of our young weekend workers and see what happens.

        • Colin says:

          i do have a bit of a tactic for ensuring it works – i do a shop for some other goods also, and then hand the gift cards over first. My thinking being that by the time i hand over the money off coupon they will have forgotten about the gift cards. It’s worked for me 4 out 4 times and also for OH (who, rather nastily will pick out the younger less experienced looking checkout operator!).

          • James67 says:

            It worked for me too 🙂 £7 off £50 this morning. Bought last 2 gift cards which I offered first followed by others items I needed to a total value £7.50 which were also on half price offer. Total shop was £50.50. No problems with my 150 points crediting. Hope more 3V cards appear soon. Assistant informed me that some guy comes round the stores just to restock and mange giftcards so I guess it is some sort of franchise operation rather than an inhouse operation.

          • Brendan says:

            Has always worked for me too. I used a £13 off £80 spend the other day. Did about £50 of shopping too. Unfortunately there were no 3v cards so had to buy one with the £3.95 charge. Still equates to a £9 saving on my shopping + clubcard points though!

    • Simon says:

      I’ve tried 5 times and the cashier’s have accepted it each time, I always throw in a few items of shopping that I want and put the giftcard first in the hope the cashier will have forgotten about it after scanning the other items!

      • James67 says:

        Yes, me too. Twice I tried 8 cards alone and the transaction cancelled af the till.However, when I pick up even one other item it never fails.

  • aeroflott says:

    I might be missing something here, but is it possible to redeem multiple 3V cards for one purchase online?

    So say 4 x £25 for a single £100 online shop for example?

    • Simon says:

      To do that you’d have to transfer the money from 3 of the cards onto the 4th card and 3V charges £1.75 for each transfer, so you’d end up with £94.75 (£100 – (3 * £1.75)).

      If you want to buy something for £100 from Amazon though you can buy 4 x £25 email gift certificates (don’t forget to use Raffles link!) in separate transactions and then apply those gift certificates to your account.

  • jason says:

    Is it possible to forward pay HMRC for an expected tax bill?

    • Sinizter says:

      Yes.

    • Rob says:

      Absolutely. You can even, once you’ve done it, ask them for a refund of your overpayment – although, if they know a bill will be due, they don’t always grant it.

      • Flashware says:

        Although I’m not sure I’d be wanting to rinse/repeat this game with HMRC to be honest!

    • DANIEL says:

      100% sure… Ive prepaid my laibility for the working month of august via billpay

  • squillion says:

    Same applies to (our) council tax.

    I’ve pre-paid next year’s and was in telephone conversation about the account.

    Nice girl asked if I would simply like the over-payment credited back to our bank a/c.

    Your LA might not be so nice of course.

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