Today let’s talk about a topic I haven’t really covered much in the past: how to extract value from UK gift cards, specifically One4all.
Intro
One4all is one of the most popular gift cards in the UK. It’s a universal gift card that can be used at hundreds of retailers. Some popular ones include:
- M&S
- Waitrose / John Lewis
- Boots
- Argos
- Ikea
- TK Maxx
- Urban
Plus many high-street brands, restaurants and cinemas. What makes One4all special compared to similar products is this: it is essentially a Visa debit card.
- After activation, it can be added to Google Pay or Apple Pay
- If you have a physical One4all card, you can also swipe the magnetic stripe in-store (signature required)
I’ve encountered cases where a physical card couldn’t be added to Google Pay, but swiping the magnetic stripe at POS worked fine. Compared to standard gift card mechanics, this is a major advantage. Normally you can’t use a gift card to buy another gift card, but One4all cleverly works around this limitation.
Note that One4all also has a product called One4all Exchange (widely sold on Amazon and often with offers). That one is just a regular gift card with limited flexibility, so don’t mix them up.
How to use
The most straightforward way to buy One4all is via its official website. Occasionally there are promotions; otherwise buying at face value isn’t very interesting.
There are two common ways to buy One4all at a discount. First, via NX Rewards – each month you can buy £100 face value at 20% off, locking in a guaranteed £20 profit.
Second, via corporate discount portals like Perks at Work, where you may get a discount or rebate.
Because of One4all’s broad usability, this is a great way to generate discounts on all sorts of shopping, and potentially to help hit credit card spending targets – although the said portals usually don’t accept American Express.
Many merchants accept One4all already. At Argos, you can expand its utility further by buying gift cards for Uber, Deliveroo, Apple, Google Play and more. In-store purchase is straightforward, and Argos also sells gift cards online, though paying with One4all online can be hit-or-miss.
Argos and Boots also sell a gift card called Every-Wish, which can be exchanged for Amazon gift credit.
However, Every-Wish has very noisy fraud controls. Redemptions frequently fail and require emailing customer service to resolve, which can be quite a hassle.
Advanced strategies
If this were just about buying discounted gift cards, it wouldn’t be worth a full article. Here are three higher-yield strategies to maximise value.
1) Airtime
We’ve previously covered Airtime, a UK app that gives mobile credit rewards when you spend at participating merchants after linking your bank card.
The strategy again leverages the fact that One4all is effectively a debit card: once activated, add the card details to Airtime, then spend at participating merchants to earn mobile credit rewards.
Argos and Boots typically offer between 1% and 8% cashback, depending on promotions and your account. In my experience, both Google Pay transactions and magnetic stripe swipes track successfully, though tracking can take about a week.
Join Airtime using my referral code NAYK9C9Y to earn a £2 bonus if you spend at least £5 within 7 days of signing up.
2) NX Rewards
NX Rewards, another popular website we’ve discussed, offers up to 10% cashback for online purchases at Argos and Boots.
What many people don’t realie is that in-store purchases also earn cashback: simply upload a photo of your receipt using their claim form. The rate is lower (just 2%), but still meaningful.
3) Boots Advantage & Nectar
Again focusing on Argos and Boots, both with their own loyalty schemes. Interestingly, when buying gift cards at Argos, you can still earn Nectar points: at least 1 point per £1 spent, and sometimes more during promotions.
That wraps it up. The mechanics are admittedly a bit complex, so take your time digesting it all.
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