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Staples has been an awesome option for buying gift cards online. It has been possible to go through portals such as the Ultimate Rewards Mall or TopCashBack to earn extra points or cash. And, when you use a credit card that offers extra points or cash for office supply purchases (such as the Ink Bold), you can do even better! Last month, the Ultimate Rewards Mall offered 5 points per dollar for Ink Bold customers shopping at Staples. When you combined that with the built-in 5 points per dollar earned by the Ink Bold in office supply stores, you ended up with an outstanding 10X return!
Staples sells merchant gift cards (e.g. Marriott, Starbucks, Southwest Airlines, Lands’ End, etc.) at face value and charges no fees for purchase or for shipping. With Visa gift cards, they do charge a fee, but the bonus options I mentioned above have been more than enough to outweigh those fees. But times they are a-changin’…
Visa fee increase
A reader named Adam alerted me to this. Staples has increased the fee for $100 Visa gift cards from $5.95 to $6.95. Ouch!
Ultimate Rewards Mall T&C Changes
CodeAdam10 brought this to my attention. The Staples Terms & Conditions in the Ultimate Rewards Mall now appears to disallow gift card purchases from earning points:
Not eligible on gift cards, gift certificates or any other similar cash equivalents.
That wasn’t there before!
TopCashBack payout coming to an end?
A great alternative to the Ultimate Rewards Mall for Staples purchases has been TopCashBack. They have been paying out 5.5% cash back for all Staples purchases including gift cards. Unfortunately, it looks like the deal is ending soon:
It will be interesting to see what changes are in store. Will TopCashBack extend this offer? Will the Terms & Conditions change to match the Ultimate Rewards Mall? Natasha (head of TopCashBack’s USA site), care to comment below?
uPromise to the rescue?
If TopCashBack lowers the Staples’ payout or stops accepting gift cards as valid purchases, it looks like uPromise is still a great option. They give 5% back for all Staples purchases. I’ve successfully tested purchasing gift cards via uPromise in the past, so hopefully this still works. By the way, uPromise gives 5% back for almost all online vendors so it’s a great option for merchants that rarely give good payouts (Apple store anyone?).
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looks like topcashback still have staples.com…
I just bought some Visa gift cards along with Starbucks gift cards at Staples through UPromise and was only credited for the Starbucks gift cards. I’ll try contacting UPromise but I’m doubtful.
Ordered $100 Staples GC through UR shopping mall and received regular 5x points and extra promotional 4x. Still works.
BigRedBears: Thanks for the update! That’s good news.
smitty06: that’s bad news, but I appreciate the update! I’m hoping that Topcashback will still work for Staples gift card purchases
I ordered a gift card from Staples along with some other items. I only received points for the other items. Also, at drugstore.com, I only received points for nonmedications (I didnt know that was an exclusion). They are getting smarter at Ultimate Rewards!
[…] Is Staples’ gift card gravy train coming to an end? […]
D: The UR Mall still shows Barnes & Noble under “Buy Gift Cards” so I think that deal is still OK
It gets worse: the UR Mall includes the same language for Barnes & Noble:
“Not eligible on gift cards, gift certificates or any other similar cash equivalents. Portion of the transaction paid for by a gift card is not eligible.”
There goes double-dipping and using amex for the 5% back…
Help me out here, since I’m new at the Chase Ink game: Why can’t I buy a Starbucks gift card for $100 through TCB or Upromise, getting 5-5.5% back from the site, 5X points on the credit card, and the Staples points? Then, I could sell the gift card on eBay for almost full value or use it myself? Either way, a huge win.
Michael: Yes, you can do most of that. You can buy the Starbucks gift card and get 5-5.5% back and 5X on the Ink Bold. You won’t get Staples points for gift card purchases. Also, selling gift cards can be a pain in many ways especially on EBay where there are many fraudulent buyers. If you use the card yourself, it’s absolutely a big win. Note that when selling, you have to pay EBay + Paypal about 12% in fees. CouponTrade charges 10% + $1.50 to sell the cards.
FYI
It isn’t easy rebate
There is a FAR (Free after rebate) deal for McAfee Internet Security 2012 on Staples website weekly Ad. Good for people looking to get it.. Unfortunately I am not able to post the link here 🙁
Checkin..
FM: CB is from mid-May thru present. Used URM before the downgrade to 2x. TCB netted out coupons (expected), but did not include GC in calculating total spend for CB.
John Doe: You should definitely file a claim for the missing transactions in that case. TCB is supposed to have a flat reimbursement from Staples for all purchases.
@alan – my thoughts too. I would think the FAR items at Staples will be starting up again next month as the back to school cycle starts. Not getting UR points on Staples purchases through the UR Mall for these will be disappointing.
I’ve made half a dozen orders that included merchandise plus Staples-brand gift cards and have never received cash back for the gift card portion of the purchase from TCB. Did receive CB from Chase URM.
John Doe: When did you make the purchases? It wasn’t long ago that TCB changed their relationship with Staples to allow gift card and other purchases to all count for 5.5%
Chris L.: Agreed!