Update: All gone, unfortunately.
Update 2: If you received multiple gift cards or are having trouble accessing yours, just wait. No doubt they will eventually sort it out but it could take a few days. Definitely don’t try to spend gift cards that you didn’t pay for.
Update 3: The issue appears to have largely been resolved as of 31 Jul. The gift cards you paid for should now work whilst the additional ones sent by mistake will remain blocked.
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In what is likely a mistake, Qantas Marketplace have just started allowing customers to purchase TCN Mastercard gift cards with money. Previously, you could only pay using points.
The two gift cards are:
- TCN Mastercard gift card (sold out)
- TCN Mastercard Green gift card (no longer purchasable with money)
What makes this such a compelling deal is that you can earn 3x Qantas points per dollar spent on these gift cards and pay no purchase fee (e.g. a $500 card costs just $500).
TCN Mastercard gift cards can be used almost anywhere Mastercard is accepted both in-store and online. In particular, they can be used to pay the ATO for zero fees (I just bought a card and tested this myself).
However, you should keep in mind that the gift card company (The Card Network) could stop allowing ATO payments at any moment. It’s better to use these gift cards sooner rather than later.
On top of the 3x points, you’ll also get the points from the credit card you use to pay. If you don’t have a credit card, even the Qantas Pay prepaid card that anyone can get earns 1.25x points per dollar on Qantas Marketplace, meaning a $500 Mastercard gift card would earn you a total of 2,125 Qantas points.
As stated, it’s very likely a mistake that they have enabled cash payments for these Mastercard gift cards so buy quickly if you don’t want to miss out!
Warning: Make sure you don’t accidentally pay with your points as that would be a terrible waste. Double check that you’ve moved the slider all the way over so it’s a 100% cash purchase before you pay.
42 Responses
Ok so a success for me. So…….can I now use that card to purchase another gift card and obtain more points????
Depends where but in many cases you likely can. Online stores are usually a bit more restrictive with what cards they allow.
Did the QFF points arrived in your account immediately ?
They usually take up to a couple of days.
Thanks for the early heads up. I got 50 & the points have landed already.
So if I have this right, I could use this in store at Cole’s/Woolies to buy other gift cards?
There are no guarantees with these things but I’m not currently aware of any restrictions on what you can buy with these gift cards at Coles and Woolworths.
Im gonna try right now.
That’s a no haha. I tried.
Maybe you can purchase a Woolies gift card with it.
Thanks for letting us know. Was worth a try.
Can I buy them use to shop at Woolies
You can but if buying groceries is your only interest then it’s worth pointing out that it has long been possible to buy Woolworths and WISH gift cards on Qantas Marketplace.
what is earn rate if we pay with amex
qantas ultimate card
Can I use this to pay Everyday Wish Cards?
Just spent $1,000 (5 x$200) using AMEX Business Rewards card and totalled 4,268 points. You beauty! Thanks so much for the heads up
appears to be unobtainable.
I just did it. Make sure you add recipient email address and then in the cart change the qty
Correct. This is a scam.
A deal isn’t a scam just because it’s popular.
Nup 🙂
You mean ‘sold out’?
Ok so I purchased and got an SMS to upload tcn app, but when I open and added my phone number it comes up as error try again later uugh tried 10x no luck
Anybody else had this problem?
Some of the conversation ones take up to 24 hours to ‘convert’. Try again in the morning.
Also does not work with Qantas Pay card – I tried already
I got a bunch, went back to get more and looks like Green Card is back to points only, and the other one is no longer listed. Was fun while it lasted
The website to activate the cards now appears to be down (cardactivate.com.au). It was working earlier and I managed to activate cards from my first order.
Ok good to know, will try tomorrow to activate purchased cards
Managed to activate all cards after a lot of trial and error last night, but the app wouldn’t show any. This morning the app shows all of the cards but I can’t view card details for most of the cards, only the first two I added, anyone else having this issue?
That seems to be a common issue for those who bought towards the end. I would just wait for them to sort it out.
For card details go to view card information and then push the 3 dots st the top of the card that appears there
I can’t see the promotion anymore. Definitely could be an error their end. It was a great deal. I used the card this morning without issues.
All cards pit into Google wallet now are suspended – unusable.
No idea if and when this will be rectified
Both Qantas and TCN blame each other and it’s been a week. The solution to this is a credit card chargeback.
A chargeback carries the risk of your entire Qantas Frequent Flyer account being suspended. I would not recommend doing that at all.
Hi,
If a company commits fraud by taking money and not providing any goods or services, and a person rightly gets a chargeback why would Qantas suspend your account? Surely when the media, ACCC and the public become aware the action of Qantas suspending your account would just make it totally worse for Qantas?
It may not happen but if you read online it is a common occurrence with chargebacks. As frustrating as this situation is, I would just wait a bit longer.
Why is that ? It’s a legitimate chargeback, is this just a feeling or do you have evidence of Qantas Marketplace/Qantas doing this in the past
Qantas/TCN have held my money for a week, and hoping they will sort it out is not acceptable. It
It’s quite common with other merchants because they absolutely hate chargebacks. As for Qantas, this situation is unique so there’s no exactly a precedent for it but as general rule chargebacks should be a last resort. You may feel that you’re at that point now but personally I am not too concerned if I have to wait a little longer. The lack of communication from Qantas is very disappointing, though.
So no evidence that Qantas will block accounts for a legitimate chargeback.
Hi, what would be your recommendation. Have $2,000 stuck at the moment!
You can spend time with Qantas who handball you to TCN, which is not legally correct as the cards were sold by Qantas.
TCN will pretend to lodge a ticket and never get back to you
Or do a chargeback, lose the 6,000 Qantas points and get your money back
Purchased 9 x $200, managed to redeem 2x Friday. Email came through labeled as qantas marketplace resending 5x $200 not long ago and redeemed without issue. 2x $200 unaccounted for at this stage.
I haven’t made any contact with qantas or tcn