I come across a new credit card launch every few weeks. I usually do not pay much attention to these new cards. After all, how many credit cards can you own? However, if I come across a co-branded credit card by a merchant/retailer/brand that you extensively use or browse, it is difficult to ignore such a product. The product warrants at least a quick look. Which are the websites/apps you use extensively? Amazon, Flipkart, Paytm, Zomato, Swiggy, MakeMyTrip?
Today, I came across such a product: Flipkart Axis Super Elite Credit Card. I found out about this product while glancing through the Flipkart website. While I do not use Flipkart much, I thought if you are a Flipkart user, you might be interested in knowing more about this product.
Flipkart Axis Super Elite Credit Card: What Is the Eligibility?
- Age between 18 and 70 years
- Minimum salary of Rs 15,000 in case of salaried
- For self-employed, minimum income of Rs 30,000
- A joining fee of Rs 500 in the first year. In the subsequent years, the fee is waived if your annual spend exceeds Rs 2 lacs
What Are the Benefits of Flipkart Axis Super Credit Card?
You can check the benefit list here on Axis Bank and Flipkart websites. I don’t trust the promised discounts on the partner websites. There may be caveats. The partners can change. Discount percentages can change, or caps can be brought in.
In this post, I want to focus on Flipkart SuperCoins. In fact, that’s how this credit card product gets its nomenclature — Flipkart Axis Super Elite Credit card. And this card fetches you more SuperCoins.
What are Flipkart SuperCoins?
Flipkart SuperCoins are like reward points you earn for spending on Flipkart. Flipkart SuperCoins cannot be converted into cash. You can use SuperCoins for payments on Flipkart’s group/partner sites/merchants.
By the way, you don’t need Flipkart Axis Super Elite Credit Card to earn SuperCoins. You earn SuperCoins for any purchase on Flipkart. This credit card simply increases the number of SuperCoins you earn for each purchase, both on and outside Flipkart.
Super coins come with an expiry date and are valid only for a year. Thus, all unutilized coins will expire 12 months from the end of the month of credit. So, if the SuperCoins get credited on April 15, 2023, these coins will expire on April 30, 2024.
The problem with credit card rewards is that you can never be sure of the real value of these coins. A 1000 reward points could translate to Rs 50 or Rs 10, depending on how and where you utilize the reward points. Plus, you do not have full control over how you can use these points.
Fortunately, it seems 1 SuperCoins = Re 1 wherever you can use it. It is another matter that you would be able to use SuperCoins only at select places. By the way, you can use SuperCoins to buy discount coupons for certain promotional purchases. In such cases, the value of a SuperCoin may be more than Re. 1. For instance, you may be able to buy discount coupon of Rs 200 for grocery purchase for 25 or 50 SuperCoins.
However, as I see, Flipkart does not allow you to use SuperCoins for all kinds of purchases. Plus, even for those where it permits, it allows you to make only a partial payment using super coins. This makes everything so confusing. Perhaps there is a rule about how and when you can use the coins that I could not understand.
When I tried on the group website (ClearTrip), it allowed me to redeem the entire SuperCoin holding towards the purchase. Myntra and ClearTrip are Flipkart group websites. Hence, you can expect these sites to honour the payment through SuperCoins. You cannot expect the same for partner websites as those arrangements may change.
You Don’t Get SuperCoins For
- Fuel spends
- EMI transactions
- Purchase of gift cards on Flipkart/Myntra
- Loading wallets (pre-paid instruments)
- Purchase of gold/gold jewellery
- Cash withdrawals
This is similar to Flipkart Axis Bank Credit card, where you don’t get cashback for such purchases.
Flipkart Axis Super Elite Credit Card vs Flipkart Axis Bank Credit Card
Flipkart Axis Bank Credit card offers you cashback of 1-5% on any purchase. There is no cap on the cashback amount. And the cashback gets credited to your Flipkart account. You can use cashback for purchases on Flipkart. Plain and simple.
Is the Super Elite Card better? I don’t think so.
Flipkart Axis Super Elite earns you more SuperCoins but, as we saw, the usage is restrictive. You can’t use these SuperCoins everywhere. In addition, the number of SuperCoins you can earn per transaction is capped for purchases on Flipkart. The SuperCoins have an expiry date too.
If you were to make a purchase of Rs 50,000 on Flipkart using the Flipkart Axis Bank Credit Card, you will earn cashback of Rs 2,500 (5%), which is as good as cash.
On the other hand, if you use Flipkart Super Elite card for the same purchase, you get 400 SuperCoins. I don’t see how 400 SuperCoins can have a greater value than Rs 2,500.
I don’t use Flipkart much. Thus, I may not be able to appreciate the full value of Flipkart SuperCoins. If you are an extensive user, you may know more about the utility of these SuperCoins. And if you find merit, you can opt for this card.
I prefer simpler products. Not necessarily better. Hence, if I had to pick one between the two, I would pick Flipkart Axis Bank Credit Card.