Frequent Miler's latest team challenge, Million Mile Madness, is almost done! The last two weeks Greg, Nick, and Stephen competed to earn 1 Million SAS miles by flying 15 airlines. But who completed the challenge with the most Speed, Affordability, and Style?
This past Saturday I posted a great offer: Up to 14.5% off Amazon and Barnes & Noble. This week only, OfficeMax has a deal where you can buy two $25 Nook or Kindle gift cards and get $5 back. That alone amounts to a respectable 10% discount. Since the cards can be used at Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble, respectively, this is a great deal. Depending upon how you pay for the cards, you can do even better:
- American Express business card with OPEN Savings: 5% back on purchases of $100 or more at OfficeMax (until June 15).
- Chase Ink: 5 points per dollar at office supply stores
- American Express SimplyCash card: 5% cash back for office supplies plus 5% back with OPEN Savings. That amounts to a 19% total discount!
Visits to OfficeMax on Sunday were mostly disappointing. OfficeMax hadn’t yet figured out how to actually ring up these discounts. A few people managed to get the discounts anyway, but others left empty handed.
Problem fixed
OfficeMax fixed their register issue. They now have a sheet of paper with a bar code that applies the discount when scanned. I’ve heard from a number of people who have successfully bought a bunch of gift cards with this discount. A few stores limited people to no more than 6 cards, but most stores had no limit. I walked out of a local OfficeMax yesterday with 40 gift cards! Today, my mom (AKA Mom Miler) bought 20 cards at an OfficeMax near her!
Finding cards
The main problem you’ll face now is that many stores are sold out. I highly recommend calling before making a trip. Once in the store look near the e-book reader displays as well as at the gift card rack. They tend to put e-book gift cards in both places. Also, ask a manager if there are any more. I only found 8 in the store before I asked a manager who dug up 32 more for me!
Which card to use?
If you have the SimplyCash card, that’s clearly the best option. Otherwise, the Ink and the Amex business card options are very close. With the Amex cards you get 5% back plus the usual 1 point per dollar from your card. With the Ink you get just the 5 points per dollar. If you value points at the Fair Trading Price of 1.31 cents each, then each option is about the same. Go with whichever card gives you points that you value the most.
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[…] Thanks, Randy! I actually bought a Starbucks gift card at OfficeMax the other day for giveaways (sadly there were no more Amazon cards), so now my mug […]
R u saying the barnes&noble gift cards can be used on amazon? i never found om stores that sells kindle giftcards but sells bn cards
Tim: Thanks for the input. I wouldn’t expect the $50 cards to work for this discount.
sam: No! Barnes&Noble gift cards cannot be used on Amazon.
Went to my local OfficeMax and they gladly sold me a few $100 worth of Nook cards. They’ve got probably at least a few dozen more cards in stock. No $25 Kindle cards in stock, but they did have $50s. Didn’t try those.
I’ve bought 3rd party (including Amazon) gift cards at my local Officemax with Officemax gift cards that I purchased elsewhere. There is nothing technically preventing it from working at the register. I’m not sure what Officemax’s policy is on this, though clearly this is highly YMMV.
Tim, vrtrav: I don’t know why, but it’s certainly true that Amazon cards are hard to sell online. Try going through TopCashBack to CouponTrade.
Bitachu: Yep, thanks for the reminder
Mattolo: Ack!
Jon: Thanks for the tip!
WTF.. my Officemax only let me buy two of them (one transaction)!
Everyone don’t forget to log in thru the Hawaiian Airlines shopping portal to use your amazon gift cards
Similar question as Tim’s. Where can we sell Amazon gift cards? Plastic jungle nor Giftcardrescue allow Amazon gift card trade. I wonder why.
Does anyone know why the sites listed on GiftcardGranny don’t buy Amazon cards from users? Does anyone buy them?
I am not up to date on the gift card stuffs. Is this gift card strickly for shopping thru Amazon/BN or I can use it let say to pay my gas or any which earns only 2 points from Ink or Sapphire?
RedHat: Just for shopping thru Amazon/BN
Can you walk me through how you get to 19% total savings for using the SimplyCash AMEX?
1. Go to Office Depot and buy $500 SimplyCash card with Amex business gives you 5% open savings.
2. Go to Office Max and buy gift cards give you 10% cash back ($5 for each $50 purchased).
Where is the other 5% coming from? Thanks!
Jon: SimplyCash is a business Amex card. It has OPEN Savings associated with it plus it automatically gives 5% back at office supply stores. So, if you have that card simply go to OfficeMax and buy at least $100 worth of gift cards. This has nothing to do with Office Depot.
In chicago, the oms i went to didnt even carry any kindle giftcards. I have a question, i have $400 credit on my chase ink account. it was due to a return. So i wont get any points for any purchase office stores or not for the first $ 400 right?
sam: I think any points you earned on the returned items will be subtracted and then you’ll earn points for the office store purchases.
Does Officemax let you pay with a giftcard? I have a Freedom card and could get the giftcard at the grocery store to net the 5%
Tracy: I’ve been told by another reader that you can’t buy gift cards with OfficeMax gift cards. If you try it, though, please let me know how it turns out!