This deal is good until September 8 2012. Hat tip to Peter S.
Staples is back with a new FAR (Free after Rebate) software download. Usually, these are a great way to make progress toward meeting credit card minimum spend thresholds or to earn points for buying software you may or may not want. This week’s deal is really small, though, so you won’t be spending much or racking up tons of points. In fact, I’m not really sure it’s worth bothering with unless you have Staples’ rewards money that you need to spend.
The idea here is to go through the Ultimate Rewards Mall to Staples.com. Once there, buy only one copy of this “Free After Rebate” downloadable software product for $15 after discounts. If you use your Chase Ink card, you will get 4 points per dollar from the Ultimate Rewards Mall and another 5 points per dollar if you pay with your Chase Ink card (since this is an office supply purchase). If you use a Freedom or Sapphire card, you will earn 4 points per dollar from the Ultimate Rewards Mall and another 1 point per dollar from your Chase card. This means that you can earn between 75 and 135 free points. See Preparing for Miles for more info about the Ink and other cards.
Staples has an amazingly easy “Easy Rebate” system. Once you purchase the software, they send you a rebate link via email. You click the link, fill out a little bit of info and you’re done. Note that you will have to wait a while, though. It takes 4 to 6 weeks to receive your check.
If you have questions, please see the Q&A section at the bottom of this post.
Here are the steps to follow:
Step 1: Go to Staples via a shopping portal:
According to HikerT’s website, the Ultimate Rewards Mall currently offers 4X for Staples purchases. If you don’t have any Ultimate Rewards cards, you can go to TopCashBack or uPromise instead to get cash back.
Step 2: Add one copy of “Trend Micro Titanium Internet Security 2012 (3-User) [Download]” to your cart:
TIP: Search for item 368663
Step 3: Check out
TIP 1: If you have Staples’ rewards money, use it! If you have a Chase Ink card that gives 5X for office supplies, use it!
TIP 2: Your state may charge sales tax. If you know someone in a state that doesn’t charge sales tax for downloadable internet orders (CA, NH, etc.), then set their address as the delivery address and no tax will be charged. This is a download only purchase anyway, so nothing will really be delivered. I picked “deliver to store” and picked a store in New Hampshire. Of course, there won’t really be anything to pick up.
Step 4: Submit Easy Rebates
You will receive an email from Staples with a link in it for submitting the rebate form. It’s easy!
TIP: The software rebate can be changed from a Visa gift card to a check! See screen shots taken from a previous FAR deal:
Q&A:
Same Item
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Q: In the past I’ve bought the exact same item for the rebate. Can I do this again?
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A: Yes. As long as the rebate number is different from your past purchases, you should qualify for a new rebate. This rebate is different from any I’ve posted about in the past.
Per Household Limit
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Q: Can I buy a copy for every friend I know?
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A: I don’t recommend it. I know at least one person who tried to do something similar, but Staples did not approve the second set of rebates. I don’t know how they figured it out.
Status = Researching
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Q: The status of my order says “researching”. What’s up with that?
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A: Staples needs to verify your order. Sometimes this happens if you have the wrong email address or phone number on file. Simply give them a call or do an online chat with them to verify the information they need. Once that is done, they’ll confirm the order.
Ultimate Rewards Mall T&C
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Q: The Staples’ Terms and Conditions in the Ultimate Rewards Mall says “Not eligible on promotional items, technology, software, and electronics”. Shouldn’t this deal be ineligible since this is software? And, aren’t these free after rebate items “promotional”?
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A: In all past FAR deals, points have posted despite these terms & conditions.
Do I have to use a Chase credit card?
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Q: If I go through the Ultimate Rewards Mall to Staples, do I have to pay with a Chase credit card in order to get bonus points from the mall?
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A: No, you can use any credit card, but you may have better luck with a Chase card. For details and information about risks involved please see Ultimate Question.
Rebate Time
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Q: How long will it take for my rebate to arrive?
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A: The Staples web site says to expect 4 to 6 weeks. My first rebates arrived after about 5 weeks so it looks like Staples’ estimate is fairly accurate.
Download
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Q: Do I have to download this software so that I can qualify for the rebate?
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A: No! I didn’t download any of the software I’ve bought in the past, but all rebates processed successfully.
Do Good
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Q: I don’t need this software. Is there someone I can send the license keys to that could make good use of this stuff?
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A: Check with your local schools or libraries. If someone can make good use of this software, then great!
Chase's 5/24 Rule: With most Chase credit cards, Chase will not approve your application if you have opened 5 or more cards with any bank in the past 24 months. To determine your 5/24 status, see: 3 Easy Ways to Count Your 5/24 Status. The easiest option is to track all of your cards for free with Travel Freely. |
Chase 5/24 semantics ("Subject to" vs. "Count towards"): Most Chase cards are subject to the 5/24 rule. That means the rule is enforced in making approval decisions. In other words, you probably won't get approved if your credit report shows that you opened 5 or more cards in the past 24 months. Meanwhile, most business cards (such as those from Chase, Amex, Barclaycard, BOA, Citi, US Bank, and Wells Fargo) are not reported on your personal credit report. These cards do not count towards 5/24. Example: Chase Ink Business Preferred is subject to 5/24, so you likely won't get approved if over 5/24. If you do get approved, it won't count towards 5/24 since it won't appear as an account on your credit report. |
Amex credit and charge card limits: If you apply for a new Amex credit card, you may get turned down if you already have 5 or more Amex credit cards; or 10 or more Pay Over Time (AKA charge) cards. Both personal and business cards are counted together towards these limits. Authorized user cards are not counted. See also: Which Amex Cards are Charge Cards vs. Credit Cards? |
Applying for Business Credit Cards Yes, you have a business: In order to sign up for a business credit card, you must have a business. That said, it's common for people to have businesses without realizing it. If you sell items at a yard sale, or on eBay, for example, then you have a business. Similar examples include: consulting, writing (e.g. blog authorship, planning your first novel, etc.), handyman services, owning rental property, renting on airbnb, driving for Uber or Lyft, etc. In any of these cases, your business is considered a Sole Proprietorship unless you form a corporation of some sort. When you apply for a business credit card as a sole proprietor, you can use your own name as your business name, use your own address and phone as the business' address and phone, and your social security number as the business' Tax ID / EIN. Alternatively, you can get a proper Tax ID / EIN from the IRS for free, in about a minute, through this website. Is it OK to use business cards for personal expenses? Anecdotally, almost everyone I know uses business cards for personal expenses. That said, the terms in most business card applications state that you should use the card only for business use. Also, some consumer credit card protections do not apply to business cards. My advice: don't use the card for personal expenses if you're not comfortable doing so. |
Manufacturing Spend Caution: Many, many things can go wrong when manufacturing spend. If you suddenly increase credit card spend, your accounts may get shut down. If you cycle your balance often (e.g. spend to your limit, pay the bill, repeat) within a billing cycle, your accounts may get shut down. If you repeatedly pay your credit card bill from an anonymous bill payment source, your accounts may get shut down. If you buy lots of gift cards you may lose money due to gift card fraud, theft, loss, or simply mishandling those gift cards (e.g. maybe you thought you already used a gift card and tossed it into your “used” bin). If you rely on only one method to liquidate gift cards, you may be stuck unable to pay your credit card bill when that method gets shut down. In other words, don’t try this at home unless you know what you’re doing, and you understand and accept the risks.. |
Chase Ultimate Rewards points are super valuable and super flexible. At the most basic level, points can be redeemed for cash or merchandise, but you'll only get one cent per point value that way. A better option is to use points for travel. When points are used to book travel through the Ultimate Rewards portal, points are worth 1.25 cents each with premium cards (Sapphire Preferred or Ink Business Preferred, for example) or 1.5 cents each with the ultra-premium Sapphire Reserve card. Another great option is to transfer points from a premium or ultra-premium card to an airline or hotel program when high value awards are available (see this post for details). If your points are tied to a no-fee "cash back" Ultimate Rewards card, then first move those points to a premium or ultra-premium card before redeeming them in order to get better value. |
Amex Membership Rewards points can be incredibly valuable if you know how to use them. In general, if you use Membership Rewards points to pay for merchandise or travel, you won't get good value from your points. One exception is with the Business Platinum card where you'll get a 35% point rebate when using points to book certain flights. This gives you approximately 1.5 cents per point value, which is pretty good. Another exception is with the Business Gold Card where you'll get a 25% point rebate when using points to book certain flights. This gives you approximately 1.33 cents per point value. If you don't have either card, then your best bet is to transfer points to airline miles in order to book high value awards. More details can be found here: Amex Membership Rewards Complete Guide. |
Marriott points can be redeemed for free night awards, travel packages, airline miles, or experiences. 5th Night Free Awards: When redeeming points for free nights, the 5th night within a single reservation is free. Airline miles: Points can be converted to airline miles at a rate of 3 points to 1 mile. With many programs, a bonus is added on when you transfer 60,000 points at a time, such that 60,000 points transfers to 25,000 miles. Also, you'll get a 10% bonus when transferring points to United Airlines. Everything you need to know about Marriott's rewards program, Bonvoy, can be found here: Marriott Bonvoy Complete Guide |
Editor’s Note: This guest post was written by the same guy who showed you how to fly round trip to Africa (DC to Senegal) for 50,000 points, how to book business class to Europe for 80,000 miles roundtrip, and more. You can find John’s website and award booking service here: theflyingmustache.com/awardbooking. -Greg The Frequent Miler |
Amex Application Tips
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Chase Application Tips
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Citi Application Tips
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Bank of America Application Tips
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Barclays Application Tips
Consumer: Click here to check your application status |
Capital One Application Tips
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Discover Application Tips
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TD Bank Application Tips
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US Bank Application Tips
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Wells Fargo Application Tips
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Under certain circumstances consumer Visa cards don't work with Plastiq. The following payments are fine:
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In order to meet minimum spend requirements, people often look for options to increase spend in ways that result in getting their money back. These techniques are referred to as "manufacturing spend". American Express has terms in their welcome offers that exclude some manufactured spend techniques from counting towards the minimum spend requirements for the welcome bonus offer. For example, most new cardmember bonuses have terms like this:
Eligible purchases to meet the Threshold Amount do NOT include fees or interest charges, purchases of travelers checks, purchases or reloading of prepaid cards, purchases of gift cards, person-to-person payments, or purchases of other cash equivalents.That said, many techniques for meeting minimum spend are perfectly fine. Here are some techniques that are safe for meeting Amex minimum spend requirements (click each link for more information): |
We have added this to our running list of Black Friday deals, which will be constantly updated through Cyber Monday with a mix of gift card deals, merchandise deals, and travel deals. Check back often. |
Received email today – “Information about your Easy Rebate inside.”
Staples states “Trouble is, there aren’t any rebate offers associated with the Easy Rebate ID number/Order number you provided.”
So I checked orignal order & it was Canceled?? Also no Ink Bold charge.
Has this happened to anybody?
Thanks, Tom
I got in on this at the last minute.
I think I erred slightly. Now that the portals are all 4x for points, one should always use the Sapphire portal because the 7% year-end bonus is on points earned in the UR mall too, correct?
harvson3: Yes, when all else is equal, use the Sapphire Preferred log-in for the 7% annual dividend.
Michael: Great idea!
Here’s a good reason to go for this: to (for free) extend the life of points in a program.
My daughter’s 3000 Hilton points were about to expire. Since they’re worth almost nothing, I didn’t really want to spend much to keep them going. iTunes isn’t an option with Hilton. But Staples is! Done.
This one might not be worth the effort. Can only get 1 copy and the $50 is discounted immediately so you only get to charge 15 bucks.
great post! I think staples updates the opportunities at the beginning of the week? Where can we find new FAR opportunities on the beginning of each week?
Kenny: Staples puts out its weekly ad for preview each Thursday. Often the FAR deals are shown in those weekly ads, but not always. I try to always publish when the good FAR deals are available so a simple approach is simply to subscribe to this blog.
Thanks. Every little bit helps when trying to meet the minimum spend on a card. I don’t even care whether I get the bonus UR pts, but I think I got them last month.
Some people posted on FW that they haven’t been getting bonus points. I did the most recent one that had limit 10 and I did not receive as well. Small sample size though.
Either way it gets put to good use. I advise a small student group and we raffle these off as door prizes for our meetings and stuff.
Sam_Goh: Good idea to offer these as prizes. I have continued to get points from the UR mall despite the T&C…
HikerT has a website ??? 🙂
FM-
Just like your Sears posts recommend that people sign up for Shop Your Way rewards for 1%, I think these posts on Staples FAR deals should encourage people to sign up for Staples Rewards and be sure to log in at checkout. Staples Rewards earns 5% back throughout the store, including on these software purchases. I’ve received $60 bucks (or toward future Staples purchases) for FAR deals in 2012 so far. Applied toward current FAR deals, that money goes back to my checking account.
And I have free shipping of any order from spending >$1K at Staples.
harvson3: It sounds like you’re one of the lucky ones who was targeted for 5% rewards at Staples. I’m jealous! Most people (including me) only get rewards when buying Ink, Toner, Paper, etc.. But your point is correct that people should always signup for rewards programs like these. For me the advantage has been that I’ve become a premier member for spending so much (all FAR spend) and so I get some benefits that way.
So “software” purchases are still earning UR points even though T&C’s say otherwise?
Zach: Yes, I (and many others) have continued to receive points for software purchases.
Got it…that was just me being temporarily blind. It wasn’t even in the fine print. It’s listed right there at the top…
@marZ its in the terms and conditions of the rebate. may i suggest you start developing a love of reading all the fine print on a deal before you jump on it. even deals listed here on this fine fine blog.
I may have missed something, but why only one copy now? I recently (one or two months ago) bought 10 copies of some FAR software and got the rebate from all of them. It was a deal posted here.