Qantas Marketplace is a new way to earn points shopping online

Looking for a boost to your Qantas Frequent Flyer account balance? The new Qantas Marketplace could have you covered, with Qantas Points earned per dollar spent and further stashes of bonus Qantas Points beyond that.

Qantas Marketplace, now online at the Qantas website, effectively replaces what was the Qantas Rewards Store. If you choose, you can still spend Qantas Points on merchandise. But the revamp gives the hub a greater retail focus, with many items available for purchase using dollars alone, not Qantas Points.

At launch, Qantas Marketplace counts some 900 brands and over 20,000 products among its collection. The selections centre on fashion, beauty, homewares, appliances and technology.

Earning Qantas Points at Qantas Marketplace

Under the previous Qantas Rewards Store, any amounts paid using dollars provided two Qantas Points per dollar spent. But now under Qantas Marketplace, shoppers will always earn at least three Qantas Points per dollar instead.

There are also some short-term bonus deals on the table – encouraging people to give the site a try. Until the end of March, you could earn 2,000-10,000 bonus Qantas Points per transaction, for purchasing items with dollars, rather than spending points.

Members can take advantage of these offers more than once. However, bonus Qantas Points are calculated based on the amount spent per transaction, not cumulatively. They also can’t be stacked – you won’t earn 10,000 bonus Qantas Points on a single $1,000 transaction, for instance.

There’s another sweetener for members of Qantas Points Club, although it’s a short-term offer rather than a permanent feature of Qantas Marketplace. Until 30 June, that’s double base Qantas Points for Points Club members, and triple Qantas Points for those at the Points Club Plus tier. Here’s what that looks like in numbers.

• All Qantas Frequent Flyer members: Earn three Qantas Points per $1 spent.
• Qantas Points Club members: Earn a total of six Qantas Points per $1 spent (3+3).
• Qantas Points Club Plus members: Earn a total of nine Qantas Points per $1 spent (3+6).

These boosts for Qantas Points Club and Points Club Plus apply to the base earning rate whenever spending dollars. The bonuses don’t apply to offers of fixed bonus points, but can be earned alongside them.

For example, a Points Club Plus member shopping in March 2023 and spending $500 in cash would earn:

• 4,500 Qantas Points, based on earning nine Qantas Points per $1 spent ($500 x 9), plus
• 10,000 bonus Qantas Points, from the fixed offer.

All up, that’s 14,500 Qantas Points.

Qantas Marketplace remains separate from Qantas Shopping

Another great way to earn Qantas Points when shopping online is to use the aptly named Qantas Shopping site. Rather than Qantas itself being the retailer, this allows Qantas Points to be earned when shopping with a range of other businesses.

Qantas Marketplace doesn’t replace Qantas Shopping. You can still earn Qantas Points by clicking through the Qantas Shopping site and making an eligible purchase from a participating retailer. Qantas Marketplace simply provides another avenue to earn Qantas Points, if you buy directly from Qantas instead.

As with the previous Qantas Rewards Store, it’s possible to spend Qantas Points at Qantas Marketplace. But as it’s a Point Plus Pay redemption, using Qantas Points on Classic Flight Rewards and upgrades instead remains the strongest way to spend those hard-earned rewards.

Our Frequent Flyers already earn more points on the ground than they do through travel. With Qantas Marketplace, we’re connecting them to hundreds of brands that they know and love, with the added benefit of being able to earn and use points.

Australia’s love of Qantas Points has seen us build strong partnerships with some of the country’s biggest brands. These connections are key to keeping our members engaged in the program and ultimately drive value for our business.

– Olivia Wirth, Qantas Loyalty CEO, 9 March 2023

Summing up

Qantas Marketplace is offering some tempting bonus points deals at launch. Being able to earn up to 14,500 Qantas Points from a $500 spend is significant. That’s up to 29 Qantas Points per $1 spent. And of course, if you pay using a points-earning credit card, you’ll earn an extra serve of points from the card itself.

We’ve also reached out to Qantas Frequent Flyer to confirm whether selected credit cards will earn bonus Qantas Points when shopping via Qantas Marketplace.

For instance, the Qantas Premier Everyday, Qantas Premier Platinum and Qantas Premier Titanium cards advertise a bonus Qantas Point per dollar spent at the Qantas Rewards Store (which Qantas Marketplace replaces).

It’ll be interesting to see whether Qantas Marketplace continues to offer promotions with bonus Qantas Points attached. Come the end of March, those fixed bonus offers will be retired, and come July 1, the bonuses for Points Club members are also set to disappear.

Thereafter, earning three Qantas Points per dollar spent is still nice. But many of the retailers attached to Qantas Shopping award points at higher rates. It seems the best advice is to continue shopping around to find the best deal.

Also read: When it makes sense to book domestic Economy using Qantas Points

Feature image courtesy of Ksenia Chernaya/Pexels.