A new way to spend your Avios, but who would actually use it?
Avios.com is in an expansive mood. They launched the Avios Goals function back in April, and now they’re bringing us a new way to spend your points. I can’t help feeling that they keep missing the mark on these new features. Avios Goals is niche, and the new Avios Shop feels very much like an edge case. That’s painful given how much time they have likely spent on building it.
What has been launched
Avios have launched the Avios Shop. Not to be confused with Avios Shopping (which allows you to earn Avios when you buy from a third-party website), the Avios Shop is a way for you to buy products on the Avios website, and either earn Avios or spend Avios.
Right now you can only buy Apple products. That includes the iPad, iPhone, MacBook and Apple Watch. The site does have sections for (non-laptop) Macs, AirPods and TV / Home products, but both pages give an error when you try to view them. I assume that will be fixed.
You can only use Avios points to part-pay for a product, effectively giving you a discount on products. The T&Cs state that you can pay in part or in full for items, but that is not possible right now. There are more rules around buying that I’ve listed further down in this article.
Here’s how the Avios Shop works:
- Visit the Avios Shop website, and select an Apple product to buy
- You can customise the product although the options are not as full as on the Apple website itself.
- Add the item to the basket, and visit the basket to see the Avios discounting options.
- Select a discount option, and then click Proceed to Checkout.
How much can you save?
It appears that the maximum you can save on any order is £187.20, which requires 31,515 Avios points. That means if you want to buy multiple items, it’s better to order them separately (although there is a £3k/£5k spend limit per month).
The maximum amount you can save on a per-product basis is 25%. 25.01% if you want to be very accurate. On lower value items, that percentage is less for some reason. On higher value items, the percentage you save could be in the single digits due to the £187.20 cap.
What’s the value per point?
I’ve shown some example products below, along with the discount and the number of points used. The value you’ll get per Avios point ranges from 0.39p/point to 0.59p. The lower rate was on the lowest value item (the £49 watch strap). All other items had a spend rate of 0.59p.
| Apple Product | Price on Avios Shop | Price on Apple.com | Max Discount |
|---|---|---|---|
| iPhone 16e 128GB | £599 inc VAT | £599 inc VAT | £149.80 (25,220 Avios, 25% discount) |
| iPad Mini Wifi 128GB | £499 inc VAT | £499 inc VAT | £124.80 (21,010 Avios, 25% discount) |
| Apple Watch Midnight Sky Nike Sport Band | £49 inc VAT | £49 inc VAT | £8.17 (2,070 Avios, 16.67% discount) |
| MacBook Pro 14-inch M4 24GB | £1999 inc VAT | £1999 inc VAT | £187.20 (31,515 Avios, 7.49% discount) |
What are the terms?
You can only get a discount on products up to £3,000 per month. That is a reasonably high value if you’re buying just one product, but that does mean if you’re looking for a very high spec MacBook, Mini or Studio, then you won’t get a discount.
If you are part of a household account, then you cannot spend more than £5,000 on Apple products every three months. I have no idea why these arbitrary limits have been imposed, given that the discounts are so meagre.
If you are buying more than one product, it’s better to buy them individually.
You will earn Avios on the cash element of the purchase. For example on a Macbook Pro for £2,499 I can use 31,515 Avios to save £187.20. That represents a saving of 7.49%. On the remaining £2311.80 that you have to pay, you’ll earn 4,623 Avios. That is being calculated on the total, including VAT, and at the current Apple earn rate on the Avios Shopping website, which is 2/£ at the time of writing.
It appears that the maximum discount you can get is £187.20.
Why wouldn’t you just buy from Apple directly?
That’s the big question. If I were spending £2k on an Apple laptop, I’d want to buy it from them directly. At this stage, it’s not clear who provides you with aftersales support, order tracking and everything else that’s part of the buying process. I would not want to be speaking to Avios (who are notoriously slow) if I had an issue with my order.
You will also miss out on the free engraving option (selected products) that you get through Apple.com, although this is rarely used.
Given that the pricing is the same as the Apple website, the main reason you would use this is if you had some orphaned Avios that you weren’t going to use on a flight.
Are there better ways to get a discount on an Apple device?
Yes. If you have certain types of points, then you could swap them for a voucher
- If you have a Capital On Tap card, then you can swap points at a 1:1 rate for stores that sell Apple devices. That includes Currys, Selfridges and John Lewis.
- If you have an American Express card that allows you to earn Membership Rewards points, then you can use points in a number of ways.
- You can use MR points with Amazon at a rate of 0.45p/point
- Paypal allows you to do the same, at the same 0.45p/point
- You can also swap your points for vouchers for stores, at the same 0.45p/point rate
- You can also earn 2.1% cashback from TopCashBack, but only for purchases from the Apple Refurbished store. These items will already be discounted, and beyond the discount on the Avios store. I highly recommend Apple Refurbished. We’ve bought a number of devices from them over the years and they are as good as new, but much cheaper.
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