UPDATE: Plink has been discontinued.
UPDATE: Plink now limits rewards at Staples to 10 transactions per month.
A long time ago, in a galaxy that was as yet unaware of Vanilla Reload cards, I posted “5X Everywhere!“. In that post I explained that it was possible to buy $100 Visa gift cards at an office supply store online and recover the entire purchase fee through a cash back portal. By paying with a credit card that earns 5X at office supply stores, you would get 5 points per dollar for Visa gift cards that could then be used in places that would otherwise earn only 1 point per dollar.
That was a pretty neat trick, but dealing with lots of $100 gift cards is no fun. So, the trick was overshadowed by an earlier post in which I explained how to buy $500 Visa gift cards at Office Depot (see “Almost too good to be true“). And, then both of those tricks were soon made irrelevant by my popular post “One card to rule them all” in which I showed how buying Vanilla Reload cards at Office Depot was pretty cool.
One by one, the opportunities to earn 5X everywhere have come and gone. Office Depot stopped selling Vanilla Reload cards, then later carried them again but for cash only. Same story with $500 Visa cards. And, Staples increased the price on their $100 Visa cards enough to make that deal much less appealing. Other opportunities for 5X everywhere have come and gone periodically, and lately we’ve been in such a drought that some have sought refuge with obscure Wells Fargo offers.
Now, we’re back to where we started with $100 gift cards. As I reported recently, Plink has added Staples as a reward partner (see “Plinking Staples“). With the addition of Plink rewards, buying $100 Visa gift cards online is once again a true path to 5X Everywhere:
- Register credit card with Plink. Add Staples to your Plink Wallet.
- Go to Staples.com via uPromise.
- Buy a single $100 Visa gift card for $106.95.
If all goes well, you’ll earn $5.35 cash back from uPromise and $3 worth of gift cards from Plink. Let’s value the gift cards at 95% face value so that we get a rebate of: $5.35 + $2.85 = $8.20. That’s pretty cool since the combined fees for the Visa gift card came to only $6.95. So, you earn $1.25 profit plus 5 points per dollar. Actually, the 5X points earned are based on the total purchase price of $106.95, so you can expect to earn 535 points. So, you are really earning 5.35 points per dollar based on the $100 value of the Visa gift card.
Lab Experiment
I tested the above process with the purchase of one gift card. I was worried for a while because it took uPromise over 2 weeks to report my cash back. Finally, two days ago, my cash back posted as expected! I’ve also received similar positive reports from people who have shopped Staples via mile-earning portals.
Reality
Sure, you could use those $100 Visa gift cards for all of your day to day spend and effectively earn over 5 points per dollar everywhere. But, most people will find it painful dealing with lots of gift cards in this way. You could, instead, make use of the gift card PINs to cash them out, or use them to load your American Express for Target card. UPDATE 1/12/2016: The American Express for Target card has been discontinued.
Even with those approaches (or maybe, especially with those approaches) dealing with $100 Visa cards will be painful.
So, yes, 5X everywhere is back, but its not as fun as it used to be.
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My wife is reporting that Plink is dying a slow death….
Indeed that is so. Plink wounds: Kmart is gone. Sears will be gone soon. And, Staples is hobbled.
So should we all rush to redeem? That’s ok as family just “acquired” Bluebird#2……..we are all drooling at the possibilities……….
That’s not a bad idea
As an experiment – I went through Shopdiscover using my Chase Ink Bold card, and bought a single 100$ Visa Gift card.
I did get the 5% cash back for it, along with the Plink points. So if you have Discover, that is another viable offer aside from Upromise, which is what I primarily am using. I heard that Shopdiscover was iffy on Gift Cards, hence I just ordered the one to test.
I’ll probably keep that as my backup option.
UPDATE: Plink now limits rewards at Staples to 10 transactions per month.
Thanks……interesting reading…….it is making the hunt more exciting……….
Is this change effective immediately? I was considering getting in a couple more purchases this month, but I’m already at my 10/mo. mark.
Yes, effective immediately
How long before i see points on plink? I have over $100 cb posted on upromise, but after about 1 month plink shows 0.
You should have received points about 4 days after purchase. Contact Plink support.
I just contacted (email) Plink support about the problem. I hope i don’t have to do it for the 20+ separate transactions that have yet to post.
Johnny I feel your portal pain……did two transactions on AA shopping and neither ever posted so I just vote with my feet and never use AA shopping again……if you want instant portal gratification then your best bet is Chase Ultimate Rewards portal……they may not always have the best bonus but they have the fastest and most trustworthy bonus…….just saying……..
How long do we have to wait before the cash back in upromise becomes available to withdraw?
kris: I’m not sure with uPromise, but typically you have to wait 2 or 3 months with any cash back portal.
Looks like this morning that Plink lost some of their gift card rewards. I don’t see Amazon listed any longer. The 5 that are left are of zero use to me, so I don’t see this being worth the time any more.
And, now Amazon and Walmart gift cards are back. They seem to disappear and reappear frequently.
How do I add Staples to my plink wallet? I do not see it anywhere
AP: If you don’t see Staples you can contact Plink for support.
2 questions:
1) Can you use VR to a MyVanilla Debit for legitimate purposes like swiping as a debit card and getting ATM cash? Would they shut those down? Need them to give to people for payroll advances. Confused why any get shut down at all…
2) Why would you EVER trust Plink with your Chase login, since it shows your checking account info too? I haven’t been able to get past that….am I being paranoid?
ShoNuffHarlem:
1) I don’t know how they decide who to shut down and who not to. Yes, it can be used for regular debit, credit and ATM uses. Most likely no one using it that way would get shut down, but there are fees when doing so that people using the card wouldn’t like.
2) Good question. You’re not being paranoid. I haven’t had any trouble though (nor have I heard of anyone having trouble with it).
I’m sort of confuse on how you get 5 percent cash back from staples through upromise. Do we need to have a Upromise Matercard or can I use my ink card? I got the plink part all set up.
You can pay with your Ink card. Just start your shopping at uPromise, find Staples, and click through
Been plinking staples w the $200s in store already but this is/could be better esp because its online so thanks fm for the tips.
But when i sign up for upromise (UP) i only see you get 5% cb if you use their mc. Where are we seeing that one gets 5% cb when shopping thru them with an ink? What am I missing?
Marathon man: uPromise is (among other things) a cash back shopping portal. Just search for Staples after logging in, and you’ll see the 5% offer. Click through and shop.
Is there an option to see tracking tickets on uPromise?
I haven’t seen an option to see tracking tickets
Hi.Should we register our ink card @ upromise or just login to upromise and navigate to staples from there should work just fine?
kris: just navigate to staples on uPromise. No need to register the card.
Since Staples is office supply, would you get an extra 5% is you use an Ink Card?
Roger: Yes, the Ink card (or Amex SimplyCash) is where the “5X everywhere” comes from. The uPromise and Plink pieces are there to overcome the Visa card fee charged by Staples.
Now that my Charlie Victor Sierra has unlimited VR cards I am cooling my heels each visit as I have already bought the monthly limit for Bluebird………so the big question is there another outlet to unload 5k VR cards a month? Have to compensate for the the United and Hiltons of the world as I load the MR on Barclay’s…………
JustSaying: you can load VR to a registered MyVanilla account and then use that to pay bills at Walmart, buy money orders, or even get cash out via cash advances. They often shut down those accounts, but if you can float the money for a while until they send a check it is probably worth it.
@FM Wow! Have you reviewed that card? Monthly limit?
oh that gives me a cold headache……….
JustSaying: yes checkout the Vanilla Reloadables page under the gift cards menu on my site
No love from Plink for me , did couple of staples transactions any suggestions FM, also i do have a upromise account it has some money in it , am I hearing that i can cash that out ?
Doug: Yes, you can request a check from uPromise