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I have a few little things to report…
Staples $15 gift card
In Staples’ upcoming ad, which is valid from Nov 11 to Nov 17, they are showing a deal where you can buy $100 in MasterCard or Visa gift cards and get back a $15 Staples gift card as an easy rebate. Each $100 Visa or MasterCard comes with a $5.95 activation fee. This can be a lucrative deal if you make the purchase with a Chase Ink card or other card that earns extra points at Office Supply stores (see “Best Category Bonuses“). This offer is in-store only. No word yet on how many rebates each person can earn (when Staples ran a similar promotion recently, each person was limited to 10 rebates). I’ll write up more about this, and how best to leverage it, when the full offer is released.
Staples Free After Rebate deals
DealsWeLike reports that Staples will have several Free After Rebate deals on Black Friday. Unfortunately, most of the deals are mail-in rebates rather than the much easier “Easy Rebates”. See “Free 5x Points at Staples on Black Friday” for details.
BlueBird MoneyPass ATM withdrawals
I recently used PayPal and TopCashBack to “direct deposit” some money to my BlueBird account (see “Bluebird Updates“). In order to get free use of MoneyPass ATMs with a Bluebird card, you have to have made a direct deposit to your Bluebird account within 30 days prior. This seems to have worked! I used the MoneyPass ATM locator to find one in my town and I went to take out some money. The machine didn’t say anything about it being a MoneyPass ATM so I was a bit nervous, but I went ahead and requested some cash from the machine anyway. I was even more nervous when the machine said that I would be charged $2 for the transaction (but, hey, $2 isn’t really much for the sake of a Frequent Miler Laboratory experiment). I pressed OK and got my money. When I got home, I checked my Bluebird account. ATM Fee = $0. Sweet!
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I bought 10 gift cards as one purchase so one receipt. I* just read the receipt and it says ONE rebate on purchase of $100. or more on visa or MC gift cards. Did I just mess up and will only get one rebate because I did not buy each one as a separate transaction? I am depressed.
Barry: you should get one $150 rebate. A few hours after you fill out the rebate online you should get an email saying that the rebate is being processed. At that point you can click through to see how much the rebate is for.
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I bought 5 $200 gift cards with $6.95 activation each. I qualified for $150 staples card. I received a confirmation email from EasyRebates from Staples today.
Is this offer automatically applied at checkout? Or do you need to bring a coupon or find a participating Staples store?
Riposte: With your receipt you’ll automatically be given a rebate form which can be filled out online when you get home.
BTW Staples system seems to be rewarding more than it should for rebates. Maybe it will get fixed later, but some on SD are reporting that 4 X $200 on 1 receipt are giving the full $150. And that 2 X $200 and 3 X $200 are giving the best outcome ($75 + $135).
Staples system is just odd.
Sam_Goh: Thanks for that info. I’ll post tomorrow in-depth about this offer, but I might leave that part out. Might as well play by the rules and buy $1000 worth…
Lori: I’ve never encountered any cards that can somehow differentiate regular purchases at a store from prepaid card purchases. As far as I know, those purchases do always earn points.
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Shannon: No. Not unless you get a very nice cashier that will allow it.
Can I buy gift cards with the staples card I receive as I didn’t see the option for a check?
I read that many frequent flier programs do not give points for the purchase of prepaid visa or mastercards. Does anyone know if Southwest Rapid Rewrds excludes prepaid cards? I have not been able to find it on the website.
Hello FM -(‘-‘-)
Regarding Target AMEX, I read somewhere or heard it on the activation phone line that the temporary card will be deactivated within 30 days of activating the permanent Target Amex card. I haven’t tested it, but I believe both cards will have the same balance for the first 30 days until you spend money on one of them. I could try a $1 square charge on my temporary card and report back.
I just come back from my regular office depot trip. The manager told me they are pulling back all the vanilla reload card. They got a corporate memo this morning and will discontinue all vanilla reload. They dont even let me buy 1 reload even when there are 20 on the rack. The gravy train in office depot is gone 🙁
Any updates on the BB being dead at OD?
Brent: I’m working on it. Look for a post soon.
Dave, I am not sure on the $200 gift card, but that is how I interpreted Sam_Goh’s post above – that gift cards can be in varying amounts and you are given a rebate based on total (multiples of $100).
I’ll be going to staples anyway to purchase Visa GCs.
If I buy $200 visa gift cards, its eligible for the $15 staples gift card as well right?
so if the cap is 10 per person, i can buy 10 of those $200 gcs and get 15×10 rewards
I’m wondering if anyone has tried paying a credit card bill with Bluebird.
That’s seems a much easier way to get 5x for everyday purchases and beneficial in that you get the benefits of the points from the other credit card.
For example, paying off my Delta AMEX with Bluebird would net me the points from the reload card plus the Delta points. That’s better than just using Bluebird as an everyday card.