(EXPIRED) 10% back at Staples (up to $40) with new Amex Offer

There are a bunch of new Amex Offers out this morning (we have updated our Current Amex Offers database accordingly). One that caught my eye showed up on Amex business cards in my household: Get 10% back on purchases at Staples, up to $40 back.

The Deal

• Get 10% back as a statement credit for purchases at Staples (in-store or online) with a new targeted Amex Offer (found on business cards; max $40 back)

Key Terms

• Expires 12/31/20
• Excludes Quill, Smilemaker, Staples Advantage, Staples 4 Government, Staples Toner Services, Staples Technology Solutions, Staples Promotional Products, Staples Print Solutions, Copy and Printing Services, Staples Contract and Commercial, Staples App Center, Staples Industrial, Stables Book Rental, Staples Simplexity, Staples Share Fund, Coastwide Labs, Catalog, and Staples Fundraising
• Not valid for gift cards in bulk purchases (this likely means that it isn’t valid if you’re buying Staples-brand gift cards in bulk to sell at your business)

Quick Thoughts

This amounts to a decent $40 back on $400 offer, though note that you’ll get 10% back on each purchase until you’ve received $40 back cumulatively. That’s a decent little deal and it should be very simple to max this out by the end of the year.

Amex has been clawback-happy over the past year or two. We haven’t seen a clawback on gift card purchases at Staples with similar offers ever since they limited Amex Offers to one per card member (rather than once per card account). That is of course no guarantee that they won’t start clawing back on gift card purchases now. I wouldn’t be thrown by the bulk gift card purchase line from the terms as I think that refers to buying Staples gift cards en masse to sell at your grocery store / convenience store / etc — not a pair of Visa Gift Cards. But obviously given Amex’s recent clawback of grocery bonus points on those who bought Visa Gift Cards could make one question the wisdom of relying on such Staples purchases to no longer be clawed back. I’ll probably use this offer to buy gift cards, but I won’t be shocked out of my seat if the statement credit gets clawed back. We’ll see.

While this is a good offer, I am somewhat disappointed by the long expiration timeline and limit: We’ve seen either better or more frequent Staples offers in the past, but I wouldn’t count on seeing another one in 2020 given the December 31st expiration. Still, I’ll be happy to (try to) collect a $40 statement credit on this one.

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