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?
As I reported via my Quick Deals page, Staples is now selling $200 Visa gift cards online. Previously, their Visa gift card selection topped out at $100. This is a very big deal because:
- $200 Visa gift cards have the same fee ($6.95) as $100 gift cards, so the fee as a percent of the card’s value is half as much as before (3.5% instead of 7%)
- $200 cards are twice as convenient as $100 cards (or, more accurately, they are only half as inconvenient)
- There are many ways to profit when buying these gift cards
- There are many good ways to use these gift cards
Start with the right credit card
There are several cards that offer 5X rewards at office supply stores:
- Chase Ink Plus (up to $50K spend per year)
- Chase Ink Bold (up to $50K spend per year)
- Chase Ink Cash (up to $25K spend per year)
- American Express SimplyCash (up to $25K spend per year)
- Discover Business Card (up to $2K spend per year)
In addition to the above, some savings programs will offer additional promotional savings at Staples (or at office supply stores, in general). One great recent example is the Amex “Offers for You” program which recently offered Amex card holders a one-time $20 statement credit with $100 spend at Staples.
Enroll in Visa Savings Edge (if possible)
As of mid-2013, Chase began issuing their Ink cards as Visa cards rather than MasterCards. Then, in January 2014, Visa Savings Edge added Staples into their program. This meant that it became possible to earn 1% cash back for Stapes’ purchases in addition to the 5 points per dollar offered by Chase.
Shop through the right portal
I’ve had great luck going through the uPromise cash back portal to buy Visa gift cards from Staples. Others have reported success, via the Frequent Miler Laboratory, with other portals including: AAdvantage eShopping, EBates, MileagePlus Shopping, ShopDiscover, TopCashBack, and Ultimate Rewards. Given those reports, I have no reason to doubt it would work in virtually any reputable portal. I like to use CashBackMonitor to look for the best current portal deals.
Not shown on CashBackMonitor is a portal called SwagBucks. Reader hdawg reported that they are currently offering 6X rewards at Staples. I’ve never used SwagBucks, so I can’t say how well it works, but it might be worth a try.
Add it up
Let’s assume you use a Chase Ink Visa card enrolled in Visa Savings Edge, and you shop through a 5% cash back portal. Then:
- Price paid: $206.95
- Visa Savings Edge rebate: $2.07
- Shopping portal rebate: $10.35
- Final out of pocket cost: $194.53
- Points earned: 1035
Yep, if it all goes as expected, you will earn a small profit while earning points.
Ink-less option
If you don’t have a Chase Ink card (or other card that can be enrolled in Visa Savings Edge), you can still do well:
- Price paid: $206.95
- Shopping portal rebate: $10.35
- Final out of pocket cost: $196.60
- Points earned with 1X card: 207
Even with this somewhat worst case scenario, if all goes well, you’ll earn a very small profit and some points.
A better approach may be to start with buying Amex gift cards. Often, Amex gift cards are available through portals for 3 or 4 points per dollar. To successfully use Amex gift cards online with orders like these, you may have to first call Amex to register your name and address so that it exactly matches the billing address you use to check out at Staples.com. If we assume that you earned 3X buying Amex gift cards, then the math works out as follows:
- Price paid per card: $206.95
- Shopping portal rebate: $10.35
- Final out of pocket cost per card: $196.60
- Points earned per card: 621
This is still not as good of a deal as the Chase Ink / Visa Savings Edge duo, but it’s still pretty good! For more about buying Amex gift cards, please see: “Everything you ever wanted to know about Amex gift cards.”
Now that you have them, what should you do?
I’ll follow up soon with how best to use $200 Visa gift cards. In the meantime, if you have suggestions that I haven’t written about before, please comment below.
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[…] my recent post “Best ways to buy $200 Visa gift cards” I mentioned that SwagBucks is currently offering 6 points per dollar for Staples (thanks to […]
[…] was a time when $200 Visa gift cards at Staples was an absurdly lucrative deal (see this post, for example). Then, Staples stopped paying out through portals for online purchases of Visa […]
Arrgg. I bought 6k in Visa at Staples.com. for 3 family members. I’ve only been able to load 1K (and that was hit and miss) on my son’s account. I’ve activated them and loaded a pin, but they are not going through at the register, or at the kiosk. (excepte for the ones that DID)
Any thoughts? I did NOT register them.
I think registering/loading a PIN on them might cause problems. These ones are set up to use the last 4 as the initial PIN. I’ve done that flawlessly with the $200 GC’s from Staples for the past year +
You can try resetting the PINs.
Is there any update on this? Has any on figured out if there is cash back buying gift cards?
As far as I can tell, I think that cash back from Staples for buying gift cards is dead.
Hi
I had also orders through upromise around 6th May and still have not received cash back .
Is it advisable to contact upromise asking for cash back ?
It can’t hurt to try
Hi FM
I purchased the $200 visa gift cards through UPromise .
Visa savings edge has already posted their rebate. But UPromise has not credited the 5% cash back. How long does it take UPromise to credit the 5%. Also the walmart clerk refused to issue a money order using this card, saying gift cards are not valid to purchase MO. I showed her the debit card caption, but she says they changed policy. Any other options on getting a MO out the gift card.
Thanks in advance
Raghu
uPromise usually takes at least a week or so to show pending cash back, but with large orders it may take much longer. For buying a MO, just tell the cashier you’ll pay with a debit card. If that doesn’t work, try different stores in your area (grocery stores, discount stores, etc) to find one that sells money orders and takes debit cards for them.
Thanks!
I ordered some Gift Cards on 04 May and on 11 May and have received them both. Neither have showed up in Upromise yet. Has anyone had any recent success?
Topcashback and other portals are saying no cash back for gift cards. I have not seen this on upromise. Is unpromising still giving cash back?
We won’t know until people try it (I bought some this morning) and find whether or not cash back appears.
Any recent success with specific portals?
[…] Best ways to buy $200 Visa gift cards […]
I received my first batch of Staples Visa gift cards in the mail. Ordered 4/30. Arrived 5/7. I still haven’t received the activation codes though. It says they will arrive by mail but it’s been several days.
How long does it take to receive the activation codes usually? Is there a number I should call to get them?
In my experience the activation codes come the same day or within a day before or after. In your case, you should call. They can activate the cards remotely for you
Seems Staples stopping sell $200 Visa GC now. Cannot find it at Staples.com
They seem to disappear every now and then, but then they come back. They’re flighty
How long does upromise take to post the 5% CB ? Also, I had registered my card at Visa Savings Edge, so when does that rebate post ? I assume that will post directly to my statement.
The Savings edge rebate posts within 3 or 4 days in my experience. uPromise should show pending cash back in a week or so (if it is still working with Staples gift cards at all), and then it will take a couple of months to become payable.
I ordered on 4/4 through upromise. Cards delivered on 4/10, visa savings edge rebate on 4/12. Upromise has still not posted yet, shall I just give up ?
Purchases of gift cards at TopCashBack are not eligible for cashback. I believe the Chase UR portal is the same. FYI.
Those terms have been there for a long time, but they weren’t previously honored. That may have changed recently though.
[…] One great aspect of these offers is that they can be used in conjunction with credit card rewards (including category bonuses) and shopping portal bonuses. At the time of this writing, the most exciting offer is via Visa Savings Edge: Get 1% cash back when you spend $200 or more at Staples. Since Staples is widely available through portals, and it is an office supply store (5X with Ink cards!), and it sells gift cards online, the possibilities are nearly endless (see “Staples Rocks” and “Best ways to buy $200 Visa gift cards”). […]
Actually I spoke too soon! I just got an email from Discover saying that my 5% Staples cashback for the gift cards are now pending. I guess they send separate emails for the gift cards and non-gift card items. Thanks!