The return of the £2.63 ‘Prosecco hack’

A multi-level discount deal which enabled Sainsbury’s online customers to buy Prosecco for as little as £2.63 before the retailer blocked orders has returned.

Sainsbury’s has been accused of ‘letting a lot of people down’ in its handling of a Prosecco ‘code stacking’ case

Consumer website MoneySavingExpert.com identified in May that Sainsbury’s was running three different promotions concurrently which shoppers could combine to pay just up to 70% less than the standard price for wine.

The only catch to the shopping ‘hack’ was that customers had to be newly registered as a Sainsbury’s online customer and had to purchase a case of six bottles. However, already registered customers could also use the hack to buy Prosecco for as little as £5.63.

The average price for a bottle of supermarket Prosecco is around £9-10.

The purchase trick required shoppers to find a discounted sparkling wine – Sainsbury’s was selling Valdo Prosecco Marca Oro at a temporary discount price of £7.50 – and combine it with Sainsbury’s 25% off six bottles offer and a second offer which allowed new Sainsbury’s online customers spending at least £60 to use a code to get £18 off the whole order.

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In June MoneySavingExpert.com reported that Sainsbury’s had pulled the plug on the Prosecco trick, saying that “large swathes” of customers who had taken up the offer but not yet received their wine were reportedly no longer being eligible to buy at the heavily discounted price.

Those customers were offered a £2.50 voucher as compensation for any inconvenience.

A statement from Sainsbury’s published on MoneySavingExpert.com at the time said: “Due to limited availability, that varies from store to store, we have reluctantly returned the unit price to £10.

“Otherwise our stores would effectively be promoting an offer that was unavailable to customers.

“We hate to disappoint customers but we have ensured that all those who placed orders will receive a voucher for the difference as a gesture of goodwill and by way of apology.”

MoneySavingExpert.com founder Martin Lewis responded to Sainsbury’s reneging on its deal saying: “This is a very poor way to handle a promotion, and rightly people are annoyed… It’s let us and a lot of people down.”

Now, however, according the site, the deal has returned. Moreover, the site said it had had assurance from Sainsbury’s that the deal would not be pulled this time round.

“This is a corking trick that means you can effectively bag a bottle of bubbles for just £2.63 by ‘code stacking’,” said Gary Caffell, deals editor at moneysavingexpert.com.

“When we featured this trick in May, Sainsbury’s outrageously reneged on its offer and told many MoneySavers they would have to pay a higher price after they had already placed their orders. This time Sainsbury’s has said it will honour the discount as long as stock lasts. Though of course, nothing is ever guaranteed.”