Preamble
I’d like to tell you about a way to get money off a shiny new computer. Technically, it works for more than just computers, but I’m currently using this method to get money off a new Mac Pro in a couple of months.
First things first: this is not illegal. It’s not multi-level marketing, it’s not pyramid selling, it’s nothing ‘dodgy’. It involves knowing how some systems work, and using them to your advantage. No rules are broken, and it’s all above board.
There are a few pre-flight checks for eligibility (arguably, there are even ways around this list, but that’s left as an exercise for the reader, should they be interested in pushing the proverbial envelope further):
i) you must be resident in the UK
ii) you must be in the catchment area of a John Lewis store, either delivery or collection
iii) you must be able to wait a while for the relevant pieces to fit into place
iv) have an active website with English-language (optional, but useful to earn an extra few pennies
At a high level, it works like this:
i) buy John Lewis gift vouchers from Euroffice
ii) earn extra bonus points for buying said vouchers
iii) take advantage of offers to earn more bonus points
iv) cash-in bonus points for more (free) John Lewis vouchers
v) take advantage of Euroffice offers to get more vouchers/bonus points
vi) earn extra commission from John Lewis and Euroffice affiliate schemes
This is a long post, so let’s take it step by step. Firstly, in the interests of disclosure, some of the links article that bounce you to other sites are affiliate links – should you buy anything, I will benefit financially – it won’t cost you any money, it’s essentially a commission from the retailer/vendor for me referring a sale to them. I’m going to be showing you how to set this up yourself – it’s all part and parcel of the referral system, and the way I see it, I can impart some useful knowledge to you, and have a few pennies for my trouble. That’s the disclaimer bit over with – let’s continue.
Select your product
In this instance I’ll be using the example of a new Mac Pro. I’m using this for a number of reasons:
i) I’m going through this very process myself at present with the intention of bying a Mac Pro
ii) John Lewis Apple prices are, as near as dammit, the same as Apple retail prices
iii) The retailer margins (profit) on Apple kit are so small that it’s near impossible to get Apple kit considerably cheaper without importing it, making John Lewis a good deal
iv) John Lewis include a 2 year guarantee on a lot of electronics, normal Apple guarantee is year
v) Visiting John Lewis is a surreal experience for me: it’s as close to a middle-class, white ghetto as you can get (at least in my experience), and some of the stuff there is waaaay out of my price range, so I feel a bit scruffy and poor
vi) John Lewis staff are, in my experience, smart and on-the-ball – which counts for a lot if you decide to collect your order
Compare and check your prices
Right, so let’s find our Mac Pro and check the price isn’t too different to Apple. First stop, Apple Store UK – Mac Pro is here (click image for bigger version):
And then, check John Lewis – their Mac Pro page is here (click for bigger version):
At the time of writing, Apple are selling a base-level Mac pro for 1712GBP, and John Lewis are selling the same thing Mac Pro for 1710GBP. Virtually no difference in price, and there’s an extended warranty included in the price. Hold that thought, we’ll return to it later.
Voucher politics
The UK gift voucher market is a funny thing – vendors and retailers offer vouchers for sale to consumers at face value – that is, a ten pound voucher can be had for ten pounds sterling. A straight swap. Although vouchers are traditionally used as gifts and incentives, the percentage of them that are actually redeemed in store is surprisingly low. Think about it – did you get a gift voucher from someone last birthday, or Christmas? How about your birthday five years ago? They make good bookmarks, or sometimes just end up in piles of paperwork stashed somewhere in the house. Some are even sold on eBay at less than face value.
Now, the retailer has sold this voucher for its face value – they have their money already. They don’t give two hoots if you spend it or not. Their books are up to date, job done. I’ve heard anecdotal evidence of 50% of vouchers issued never being redeemed – the actual figure is probably different, but you get the idea. This doesn’t surprise me – vouchers don’t have a picture of The Queen on ‘em, so they don’t have as big or such an immediate value to some people.
Right, we’ve established that retailers are happy to sell vouchers to consumers over the counter. They’re also happy to sell to businesses, usually at a discount – say, 10-15% off face value, assuming a large number are purchased in one sitting (hundreds of pounds, sometimes thousands). The retailer gets their money upfront, the purchaser gets a good deal, the final recipient gets a voucher that they may or may not redeem.
Knowing that vendors are more than happy to supply vouchers as fast as their print presses can supply them and that some businesses are happy to buy in bulk, these bits of info can be used to your advantage.
Enter Euroffice
Euroffice sell stationery. They sell lots and lots of it, they stack it high, they sell it cheap, and they have a very polished operation that runs like clockwork. They also sell vouchers. In this instance, they sell John Lewis vouchers in 10GBP and 20GBP denominations. Sure, they sell them at face value, as you would expect of a reseller, but the fun starts with the ‘extras’ they offer.
Any purchase you make at Euroffice gets you loyalty points, a bit like a supermarket card. There’s a sign-up bonus to get you started, a bonus after about 5 or so orders, a bonus if you spend >100GBP in one go and correctly answer the question, all of which can be redeemed for – you guessed it – vouchers. The Euroffice bonus scheme appears to give you about 1% back for your purchases, in line with most supermarket schemes, and a 10GBP voucher ‘costs’ about 12GBP in bonus points, a 20GBP voucher costs about 23.50GBP. I can’t explain this more-than-face-value anomaly, especially with the reductions they get when they buy vouchers in bulk, but it’s free, so let’s not dwell on it.
Mailshot madness
The really good deals crop up with the Euroffice mailouts – of an average couple of weeks, there will be a ‘spend x and get y free’ mailshot from Euroffice. Truth be told, I received one this morning, which prompted me to write this post.
Today’s mailshot offer was ‘free 20GBP voucher with 159GBP spend‘. So, spending 160GBP on 8× 20GBP John Lewis vouchers would effectively get me 180GBP worth of vouchers, or a an additional 12% return on my investment, essentially risk free (yes, John Lewis might fold, Euroffice might fold, let’s now split hairs).
Spending 160GBP got me:
i) 160GBP of John Lewis vouchers, with free recorded delivery
ii) 20GBP of free John Lewis vouchers
iii) 160 loyalty points, worth about 1.30GBP or so, give or take
iv) 100 loyalty points, worth about 0.83GBP or so, for spending >100GBP and getting the bonus question right
v) 12.80GBP in referral commission – more on this later
The return is about 35GBP on top of a 160GBP spend. That’s about 20%, if my sums are right.
Referral commission
The last thing I mentioned in the list above is referral commission. Euroffice (along with John Lewis and Apple, coincidentally) operate an affiliate scheme via Tradedoubler. That is, they will pay people like me (known as affiliates) to persuade people to buy from them (known as merchants). In return, I get a small percentage of the final sale value. In the case of Euroffice, it’s about 8%. As an affiliate on the Euroffice program, I am entitled (and encouraged) to buy stuff via my own links. This is an excerpt from the Tradedoubler FAQ:
“Affiliates are allowed to buy via their own links and encouraged to do so”
Right off the bat, there’s an 8% referral on every purchase. If I send more orders through to Euroffice, that 8% rises in increments to 11%. John Lewis offer a few percent on purchases, though it’s quite small on electronic stuff, and Apple offer up a few percent, too – though clearly you can’t spend John Lewis vouchers at the Apple Store.
The final numbers
Our new Mac Pro from John Lewis is going to cost 1710GBP, meaning we’ll need 171× 10GBP vouchers. If we had that money to spend this week (during the current promotion), and a public website which fits the bill for Euroffice criteria, here’s a neat way of saving a packet on a new Mac:
Follow this procedure
i) have a website that’s not porn-y, obscene or hateful
ii) apply to Tradedoubler, get accepted
iii) apply to the Euroffice campaign, get accepted
iv) apply to the John Lewis campaign, get accepted
v) buy 160GBP of John Lewis vouchers from Euroffice, using your own referral link
vi) answer the bonus checkout question in each transaction
The 160GBP you spend on vouchers will result in 180GBP worth of vouchers, at least for the duration of this promotion.
Next – the bit that takes a bit of thinking about: repeat that ‘buy 160GBP of vouchers’ step 8 more times (and don’t forget to answer the bonus question), adding an extra 10GBP voucher into one of the transactions – this will give you 1630GBP in vouchers, 1450 bonus points from purchases and 900 bonus points from the checkout question. Still with me? Good. Next…
Cash in your 2350 points (1450 points from purchases, 900 from your 9 bonus questions) for a 20GBP voucher, and add a further 60GBP of vouchers to your order.
When you have your vouchers, redeem your vouchers at John Lewis, either at the website (for an extra % or so in commission) or in person at a store. Finally, receive 120.80GBP in commission from Eurofffice (via Tradedoubler), spend it on something nice. This 120GBP may be higher if you a) refer more sales and b) sign up for more campaigns – at the base rate of 8% on a Euroffice transaction, you’ll get 120.80GBP commission on a spend of 1510GBP.
If you do this, your 1710GBP Mac Pro will have cost you 1510GBP in vouchers, and you’ll have 120GBP headed your way from Tradedoubler – so the net price will actually be 1390GBP – a saving of about 19% overall.
Nice, huh?
Not just Mac Pro
I used an example of a Mac Pro to show how it’s done – you can repeat this process for any other Apple stuff at John Lewis – or even other non-Apple stuff. Just be aware that you’re unlikely to find industry-beating deals at John Lewis, you’ll certainly find cheaper prices for most things at John Lewis in other stores, or elsewhere on the web.
This example works best because the margins are tight, the resulting package (goods plus warranty) is better that you can get elsewhere and considerably cheaper than elsewhere.
Let me know how you get on. I’m aiming to have enough vouchers to get my shiny new Mac Pro in about March or April time, I’ll keep you posted.
