Converting TopCashback cash to Tesco Clubcard to Avios – a reminder for beginners

I dedicated a lot of space on Head for Points in March to discussing TopCashback and its great new feature – the ability to convert your cashback into Tesco Clubcard points, and so effectively buy Avios points for 0.4p each.

I haven’t mentioned it much since, and the readership of the site has more than doubled. As we gear up for the start of the main Christmas shopping season, I wanted to run over the basics of how it works again. (Long-term readers can skip to the next article!)

For a long time – I have been a member since 2006 – Quidco was the UK’s leading cashback site for online shopping. It was reliable and it had good customer service.

TopCashback launched a few years ago and has been making aggressive strides in the market. Most in the industry expect it to overtake Quidco at some point.

Historically, TopCashback had three benefits over Quidco:

It paid 1% more on all sales (ie £1.01 instead of £1 – not a great improvement)

You could withdraw money as soon as it was received (although Quidco pays fortnightly, and the £1 minimum is not a major barrier)

You got a further 5% bonus on all of your payments if you took them as Amazon, Marks & Spencer or Love2Shop vouchers

In March, though, TopCashback took everyone by surprise by announcing a tie-up with Tesco – a pretty amazing achievement given the scale of the Tesco machine:

TopCashback will now pay your cashback directly into your Tesco Clubcard account – and give you a 5% bonus on top.

This dramatically increases the value of TopCashback cashback versus Quidco:

£10 of cashback earned at Quidco earns you £10

£10 of cashback earned at TopCashback earns you £10.50 (with the 5% bonus) paid into your Tesco Clubcard account. That gives you 1,050 Clubcard points. These convert into 2,520 Avios points or 2,625 Virgiin Flying Club miles. You are effectively ‘buying’ Avios points for just 0.4p each.

There are very few conditions, except:

You are capped at transferring £50 per year to Clubcard (a year runs from the date of your first Tesco transfer, not the calendar year or from the date you joined)

You can choose for each individual transaction whether it is paid to you as cash or paid into Clubcard.

As you cannot split up each individual transaction, do NOT do just one transaction that earns you more than £50 cashback, as you cannot split it to send £50 to Clubcard and the rest to your bank account. (You can get around this by donating the excess above £50 on that transaction to charity.)

TopCashback accounts are strictly limited to one per person. Extra TCB accounts for different people at the same address would require separate Clubcard accounts as well.

How do I join TopCashback?

Use this link here, please!

TopCashBack runs a refer-a-friend scheme, and the link above includes my referral code.

I am grateful to anyone who chooses to help support the site by using this link. You will not get a better deal if you sign-up directly on the TopCashBack website. Thank you!

What next?

You should open a TopCashback account now and using it for your day-to-day online shopping instead of Quidco.

Here is a quick tip – make your first Tesco transfer as soon as you can, even if it is just for £1. The ‘£50 per year limit’ runs from the date of your first Tesco transfer. The sooner you make your first transfer, the sooner your anniversary will come around!

You may want to take a look at some of ‘easy money’ offers on TopCashback. If you know what you are doing, some of the gambling and bingo sites offer effectively free money for signing up and betting a small minimum. (You can minimise losses by having your partner sign up and then taking opposite win/lose bets on the same sporting event.)

There are also interesting ‘no purchase’ deals, such as £12.60 for a free trial of LoveFilm and £8.92 for a free trial of the Equifax credit score service. These two deals alone would generate over £20 of cashback and over 5,000 Avios points.

PS. If you are not a regular Head for Points visitor, why not sign up for our FREE weekly or daily newsletters? They are full of the latest Avios, airline, hotel and credit card points news and will help you travel better. To join our 65,000 free subscribers, click the button below or visit this page of the site to find out more. Thank you.

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 Mastercard

Get 25,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £10,000 Read our full review

Barclaycard Avios Mastercard

Get 5,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £20,000 Read our full review

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

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

30,000 Avios and the famous annual 2-4-1 voucher Read our full review

British Airways American Express

5,000 Avios for signing up and an Economy 2-4-1 voucher for spending £15,000 Read our full review

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.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on the ‘free for a year’ American Express Preferred Rewards Gold card is increased from 20,000 Membership Rewards points to 30,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (30,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on American Express Platinum is increased from 50,000 Membership Rewards points to a huge 80,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (80,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 30,000 points, FREE for a year & four airport lounge passes Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express

80,000 bonus points and great travel benefits – for a large 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, and the standard card is FREE. Capital on Tap cards also have no FX fees.

Capital on Tap Visa

NO annual fee, NO FX fees and points worth 1 Avios per £1 Read our full review

Capital on Tap Pro Visa

10,500 points (=10,500 Avios) plus good benefits Read our full review

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

British Airways American Express Accelerating Business

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

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.

American Express Business Platinum

50,000 points when you sign-up and an annual £200 Amex Travel credit Read our full review

American Express Business Gold

20,000 points sign-up bonus and FREE for a year 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.