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Staples is again offering fee-free $200 Visa Gift Cards through Saturday, March 11, 2023. Note that the limit has once again increased to eight per customer per day.
The Deal
- Staples will waive the $6.95 activation fee when you buy a $200 Visa Gift Card between 3/5/23 – 3/11/23.
- Direct link to weekly ad (see the 3/5 ad page 9)
Key Terms
- Offer valid March 5-11, 2023.
- Limit 8 per customer per day (YMMV on whether your cashier / store allows or enforces the limit)
- In-store only
Quick Thoughts
This can be an easy points-generator for Ink Cash or Ink Plus cardholders (note that the Ink Plus is no longer available to new applicants). Some other cards also bonus office supply store purchases (See our Best Category Bonuses page for more options).
In my case, my wife has an Ink Cash card and I have the old no-longer-available Ink Plus card (both cards earn 5x at office supply stores), so if we were going to a store, we could each pick up 8 fee-free $200 gift cards per store per day, earning 16K total Ultimate Rewards points in the process ($3200 in gift cards x 5 = 16,000 points). That would certainly make this an attractive enough deal if we were to pass a store during this promotion.
Overall, this is an easy way to generate some points without cost on this end of the deal if you’re going to Staples. Remember that this does not start until Sunday and it is in-store only.
We have added this deal to our list of current Visa and Mastercard gift card deals.
Other times this deal has run recently at Staples:
Fee-free Visa Gift Cards
- 2/5/23 – 2/11/23
- 1/8/23 – 1/14/23
- 12/25/22 – 12/31/22 (only on $100 cards)
- 12/11/22 – 12/17/22
- 11/6/22 to 11/12/22
- 10/9/22 to 10/22/22
- September 25-October 1, 2022
- September 4-September 10, 2022
- August 7-13, 2022
- July 10-16, 2022
- June 12-18, 2022
- May 8-14, 2022
- February 27-March 5, 2022
- January 16-22, 2022
- December 12-18, 2021
- October 31-November 13, 2021
- October 17-23, 2021
- September 26-October 2, 2021
- September 5-11, 2021
- August 8-14, 2021
- July 11-17, 2021
- June 13-19, 2021
- May 9-15, 2021
- February 28-March 6, 2021
- January 17-23, 2021
- December 27, 2020-January 2, 2021
- December 6-12, 2020
- November 1-14, 2020
- October 11-24, 2020
- August 30-September 5, 2020
- August 2-8, 2020
- July 5-11, 2020
- June 7-13, 2020
- February 23-29, 2020
- January 12-18, 2020
- December 15-21, 2019
- November 3-16, 2020
- September 29-October 5, 2019
- September 1-7, 2019
- August 4-10, 2019
- June 30-July 6, 2019
- May 5-11, 2019
- January 13-19, 2019
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Tried to purchase repeatedly, no luck, every card available other that the denomination thats on “special”. Staff sez they NEVER have the advertised deal for that “special”
What’s the best [no fee?] way to transfer the Visa Gift Card cash to your checking account? Ty
My Staples store keeps the $200 Visa GC in the back room, with keypad access.
I have to ask at the counter. I bot 8, but it appears that I could have purchased more.
If you can find them. Went yesterday – rack full of them and no mastercards. today and the rack was full of mastercards and no visas….
somehow visa gift card website has been down for long time. does anyone have same issue?
Yes I’ve seen that too. Also giftcardkey site is down for activating cards bought online from staples/quill. Calling in worked for activation. I guess Pathward/Blackhawk is so busy blocking legitimate use of their cards that they don’t have time to fix the website.
Their website sucks. Always have issues.
[…] Cards at Staples: Next week, March 5-11, Staples is waiving the fees on $200 Visa gift cards. See this post on Frequent Miler. I have purchased these cards in the past to pay off cruises while earning 5X points with my Chase […]
Just ran into problems at Amazon, using these (and the MC alternative) to buy anything or load my Amazon balance. Last time it worked was Feb 2. Amazon says they have not changed anything but that is nonsense – I have been doing this for years – for over 10 years.
And just today I find that Amazon is rejecting my Simon Mall GC too.
I used to clear out small balances and even load $200 to my balance – done this for years and years.
Amazon says nothing has changed, but of course it has. I have had no trouble anywhere else (except Points.com who this week rejected my Wyndham purchase).
Trader Joe’s works but you have to say it’s a Credit card and it also will just drain the balance and ask for a different card if more is needed, same as Costco. Other stores mostly want you to say it is a debit card.
Figured it out at last. You have to register !!! your card online first with your (or anyone’s) name, address, etc. then you can use it like any other debit card at Amazon.
Terrible, as this would take so much extra time to clear balances on these GCs. Trader Joe’s, here we come!
FYI, Chase Freedom is 5x at grocery stores in this quarter, it’s an easier way to earn 5x till April.
Anyone else have a problem turning these into a money order at an Albertsons-brand store? I previously turned some Staples Visas at an Acme store in Philly, but now they come up as “not authorized.” This seems to happen sometimes at supermarkets, and it can be unpredictable which debit cards will or will not work.
visa hasnt been working for months. breaking news is that now mastercards wont even work.
I understand MS and all that, but I actually use them to pay for anything that is not 5pts or if not using a specific cc for a reason. So, gas, groceries, shoes and clothing, books, ebay and Amazon, anything not on a bonus category anywhere else. $50 dinner on SPP = 150pt. $50 dinner paid with a Visa from Staples = 250pts. And I always register the cards. This way you can trace what goes where just like with CCs.
Not sure why you would use them at Amazon. Amazon gift cards are available all the time at my local Staples and Office Depot so I can get 5x points on those anytime with my Chase Ink. And its also a lot easier to load an Amazon GC on Amazon.com than to constantly change credit card numbers on your amazon.com account.
Well, let’s say you get an Ink card with big bonus and don’t have an easy way to spend $6K quickly? But these and get 5x and then liquidate them at places where you can only get 1x.
When did you last try Amazon? I have not been able to since Feb 2. Just stopped working this week.
No Staples in my area has them. Didn’t have them at the last sale either. One store says they haven’t seen them in for a long time, another store said someone scoops them all up when they come.
Same issue. $200 cards are not found in store, only $25/$100. Any suggestion ?
Can you buy visa gift cards with staples gift cards?
No.
I am having trouble using these cards on Amazon.com – anyone else experienced this?
Fixed – a minor adjustment is needed – just a little more work.
Did it require registration or something else
You had to use the name on the card exactly as it is printed, like “A GIFT FOR YOU” – however this seems to not work anymore this week. I wrote to Jeff Bezos but no reply yet.
Can one use these immediately in a store or do they need to be registered or activated (besides what Staples does when you pay) beforehand? It’s been years since I bought these.
Do these usually get picked clean on Sunday where y’all are? Debating going by to help meet some minimum spend but its a ~20 minute drive.
Nope! Am guessing very location-dependent but I regularly get these later in the week, though I wouldn’t wait til Sat. Just picked 5 up today
They’re usually gone by Tuesday night or Wednesday morning where I live, but I’m probably personally responsible for buying 20-30% of the cards on the display.
I’ve got a current promo on my Ink Cash for 5000 bonus points for every 5000 spend (up to 3 times). I grabbed 8 cards this afternoon at the Staples down the street from me.
Thanks Nick – it’s tempting to load up on these…what’s a reasonable number/range to get without raising any flags with Chase?
Will Capital One be okay with this? I’m trying to hit the SUB bonus on my Venture X card.
Thanks.
Is it possible to liquidate by adding multiple gift cards to my Venmo account, and using the standard transfer option to move the money from my Venmo account to my bank account? Just plan on doing this in order to meet MSR for the CIC SUB.
No, Venmo won’t accept GCs.
What is CIC SUB?
Chase Ink Cash Sign Up Bonus
I think that’s a typo Re the $3600 and should be $3200
Does Chase have issues with pumping a few of these through during an MSR period? I will be able to hit the MSR on my Ink Cash either way.
No.
Does AMEX frown on this. Just trying to hit a SUB and we shop at Costco a lot. Obviously I’d buy something else along with gc so it wasn’t too obvious, or maybe it doesn’t matter?
You’ll probably be fine with a GC or two. I probably wouldn’t go and buy $1600 worth if I could meet the minimum spend differently, but a couple is likely to fly under the radar.
Can anyone confirm if the default PIN on these cards (Visa) is the last 4 digits of the card #? I tried that at a Costco gas pump last night and it got declined. Thanks!
Did you activate the card?…you can do so at the website on the back of the card and set the pin yourself. Not sure if there is a default pin number
i always reset the pin# via the website listed on the back of the car.
Yes, it’s last 4.
Yes last for, but you have to go inside and turn it into a Shop Card (gift card).
Checking my balance account on mC $200 gift card I noticed that the balance was $0. When I added all charges, the sum was $195! I am writing to Black Hawk customer service. Ded anybody else had this experience?
Sorry that happened to you! That stinks. This week is a Visa Gift Card Deal. Our post about the Mastercards (which is what gets posted when those are on sale) notes that the Mastercards are more susceptible to fraud and best practice is to use them right away. I think some people have been able to file a fraud claim with Blackhawk, but I understand that the process is long and slow.
One more thing. When I checked my Chase Ink+ statement I saw that I did not receive 5 points/$1 for the purchase from Office Depot. The charge showed as BHN Gift Cards.
Yes, buying online from OD routes the sale through GCM / Blackhawk. It’s always been that way – no 5x buying GCs from ODs website. You do get 5x on Staples website. However, the deal in this post is in store only.
I am a newbie and just got a chase ink. Anyone from NYC could tell me how you liquidate these cards?
Reading the other comments is a good place to start…
I tried, but also haven’t found that much as people seem to keep this info for themselves… I would appreciate any help! So far I found Walmart (not in NYC), Western Union, Dollar General, and Family Dollar. Do you have any experience with those stores in NYC?
It’s highly likely you’re not going to be able to liquidate them in New York City, and anyone who has found a method in the city is unlikely to share it publicly. Your best course of action is to buy a single card and look around for ways to liquidate it or plan to take a road trip out of the city every now and then.
Thanks for the info, Nick. Sad it’s very unlikely, but I’ll give it a try with one gift card and see how it goes
I do have. Was able to liquidate over 100k already.But the problem is once I share it. The bank gonna find out and shut down that way 🙂
Thank you for letting me know teo. Are you willing to share it privately and not here?
Hey Teo just wanted to check if your method is still valid
Thanks for the great content. I went to the staples closest to my house and they told me that they had to send their $200 visa gift cards back because of an error and all staples stores did the same thing. Anyone else have data points for this most recent sale? I haven’t had luck yet.
Huh? My staples was fully stocked with vgc today and i bought my 10 as usual. Routine.
I cannot find them anywhere…all stores near me are empty
Same. I think the store itself has a bad batch but they usually are gone the first day of the sales.
My staples stores was also empty, but i asked the clerk and she went to an office behind the counter and came back with the 8 card limit.
I’m curious if the offer rain checks… Going back today to see
regarding rain checks, I would think not, as the discount should be hard-coded into the register.
I haven’t heard of anybody offering a rain check on anything since I was a little kid (and even then I remember it more often as an advertising ploy, as in “Sorry, no rain checks” rather than as in “we offer rain checks”). Do those still exist?
As CJH says, there’s no mechanism for them to do that since these sales are hard-coded into the register. It’s not uncommon for stores in popular areas to either sell out or not bother putting them back on the rack (I was at a store in a different area recently that didn’t have any out and I asked and they opened up the rack and had VGCs inside it).
Go there before the sale starts and stash some cards in the store somewhere then when the sale starts each day you can go get what you need from your hidden stash!
This is brilliant
Hey so I clicked on the link and it says the sale ENDS on Sunday, Dec 11… it doesn’t start the 11th… fyi….
No Staples sale ever ends on a Sunday. They always start on Sunday and end on Saturday.
If you’re looking at the 12/4 ad, then you’re seeing the MasterCards that have been on sale from 12/4-12/10. See the note next to the link that says “see the 12/11 ad page 10”. The Visa cards (which is what this post is about) after there on page 10 on the 12/11-12/17 ad.
The only Staples in Austin closed recently. I’m in mourning for all the points I could have collected.
I just left the Staples at the RIM in San Antonio. There were approx. 8 Visa GCs left, on the rack on the cashier side. Plenty of restaurants to choose from at the RIM.
I am brand new to all of this. My only Staples said they don’t have any 200 Visa GC because someone bought them all, and they seldom carry them? My question is this – can you take a 200 V GC off a rack at some other store, carry it into Staples, and activate it there? Since they are empty on the racks?
OD/OM has $15 off $300 MC purchases this week (11/6-11/12). Not advertised but there are signs above the gc rack in the store. Bought a couple of sets as limit of 2.
Oh, great, thanks for the heads up
My Ink Cash is maxed out until the December billing cycle. My statement closes on the 5th of the month. Am I on the December cycle on November 6 or December 6?
I’m also looking at my other cards to earn when I can’t get 5x on the Ink. Suggestions?
Unrelated to staples (or indirectly related) , bought a $200 grocery everywhere visa at OD and rang for $7.99 at the register. The shell itself had the new price of $5.99. Exp date was 3/31. Found an old issue one with exp 2/30 and it rang at the old price of $4.95. Manager said the got new supplies of all sorts of cards as visa was changing their fees (the display was full of the new editions with higher fees)
I noticed at CVS yesterday, some Vanilla Visas were $5.95 and some were $6.95. Same kind, same issuer.
Just got an AMEX offer this morning on one of my Plat BIZ cards. “Spend $100 at Staples and get $25”. Stackage awaits!
Is there a risk of getting shut down by Chase by buying $25K worth of vgc at staples in a 4 month period of time?
They can extend it all they want, but all the stores near me only have a few and sell out the first morning. They finally got an order mid-week and it was only a pack of 12 that was gone before I even got there!!
The cashier at my local Staples told me that they aren’t selling as many of these cards as in the past. Either people are running out of ways to MS these or they’re hitting their annual limits for office supply spend.
for me it’s not that “i am running out of ways to MS”, rather places that previously took these cards no longer do so.
Same difference?
Where does this information come from? I believe it, but I’m not seeing it in Staples’ weekly ad nor on their website….
It’s on the bottom of page 9 in next week’s ad.
Thanks! I didn’t realize I was looking at the current week’s ad.
Friendly math correction: $3,600 x 5 = 18,000 points, not 16,000.
$3200 x 5 = 18,000 points is the correct scenario.
Try calculating that again 🙂
Yes, should be 16,000 points.
Since WM got the letter from WU not to accept gift cards, they will be harder for some to liquidate. I see Staples sales dropping dramatically. If my WM Money Center no longer works, I’m going to try DG and FD.
What is FD?
To decode the above, it’s Walmart, Western Union, Dollar General, and Family Dollar.
anyone knows what’s going on with these cards? just a few days ago, an online vendor that i’ve been using for years, could no longer process any of these cards as payment.
Can you liquidate GC loading on Venmo then cashing out to your bank?
Does this get down votes because it’s secret, or because it doesn’t work?
I’ve tried Venmo on a registered Blackhawk card with no luck
One liquidation option is to use them at Kroger grocery stores to buy $500 gift cards, because the self checkouts there autodrain smaller payments. So you could you five $200 gcs to buy two $500 gcs at Kroger. Obviously, there is some additional expense involved but if these are fee-free at Staples and OfficeMax, it works out okay for me at least.
Need some liquidation ideas please
Kiva loans.
Kiva reports credit loss on loans averages ~4%, and thats BEFORE the slowdown we’re entering. Maybe I’m missing something but aside from charitable value of lending, locking in money for ~2 years with no interest doesnt seam worth the effort.
I’m selective about the loans that I make. I always look for short, high-quality loans. I lend out for 8 months max. My default rate is .12% and my currency loss rate is .08%. These two added together make a total loss rate of 0.20% in my case.
“We have added this deal to our list of current Visa and Mastercard gift card deals.”
I don’t see it, just Quill and Gift Card Granny. Am I missing it?
[…] Staples Fee-free Gift Cards for 5X Points: Starting this Sunday, Staples is once again offering a deal for fee-free Visa gift cards. This is a great way to earn 5X points on certain cards, like the Chase Ink Plus/Cash cards. See this post on Frequent Miler. […]
What I do is buy amazon gift cards with them then deposit that directly into my account…easy peasy.
You buy Visa gift cards and then… use them to buy amazon gift cards? Why even bother with the Visa gift cards, you can just buy amazon gift cards at staples?
Not sure about where Frank lives, but I know I have issues finding amazon gift cards at my local staples.
Office Depot carries $1-$500 Amazon gift cards, resulting in 5X on Ink card
And your able to deposit this back into your account without any fees?
Yes, pretty easily
https://www.amazon.com/gc/redeem?ref_=gcui_b_e_r_c_d
But, on Amazon it competes with 5x from the Amazon Prime card? That way, it becomes a wash (other than the 1.25x or 1.5x value increase from Sapphire). In my view, you need to offload it at 2% or less to make any sense..
I use my Ink card to gain airline mileage. Does Amazon 5X credit card give you a cash back?
Yes, it’s 5% as cash versus 5X ultimate rewards
Just tried buying and the person at the register said they have a new policy as of a month ago where they won’t let you buy these with a credit card?
Varies by store and sometimes by cashier. Definitely not a nationwide thing. My wife and I stopped at a store this week and bought $1K each with no issue.
how sensitive is chase to MS’ing these? I just started, usually do 600-1k at a time but don’t want to get shut down
Because paying with cash cuts down on money laundering.
i bought 7 of these over on sunday to pay off a river cruise through gate1travel. thanks for keeping us posted on these!!!
If only using for regular spend, how do you deal with the remaining balance after a few purchases? I don’t want to have a bunch of gift cards, each with a few random amounts left on them.
A lot of places auto-drain the gift cards. I finish mine at Costco. I don’t use these cards ever for restaurants or gas at the pump. Restaurants can preauthorize these cards for 20% above the bill to account for the tip. Gas stations sometimes preauthorize the cards for $100 at the pump.
I spend them down as much as possible, then load the remaining balance to my Amazon account.
drain completely by adding to your amazon gift card balance. I think the minimum is 50 cents or a dollar to do so. I have a lot of random low value reloads that do add up
Costco is another good option as noted.
getting harder and harder to liquidate. my local grocery chain just stop accepting metabank visa and mastercards from purchasing money orders.
used to buy $25-50k annually using my ink cash card, but now have no place to go that will allow me to liquidate them.
regular spend for so much is not practical, so am at a loss.
any suggestions on how best to liquidate Staples Visa GC. Other than normal spend.
costco
are you referring to normal spend?
i know some ppl buy high value stuff using a bunch of these $200 cards and then return for cash. however this is not an avenue i choose to pursue.
Do large chain stores typically allow refund in cash for items paid by card (GC or otherwise?)
sounds like a fun week at Staples!!
And this week, we have 2 winners!
Say goodbye to $302M..
Kiva.
Kiva seems like a long process, do you become both lender and borrower to liquidate the money faster?
I only make loans. I’ve reached an equilibrium where my loan payouts equal the amount of VGCs that I purchase and deposit each month. About $8K per month with about $30K total in outstanding loans. I gain about 40K in UR points every month by doing this.
I would not want to be lending money going into a hard landing recession.
My small, rural Post Office still allows me to purchase money orders with VGC. Purchased 2.9k in Money orders today with Metabanks. The secret is to find a very small, rural p.o. that does not have an integrated computer system. I realize this is an outlier scenario for most but just wanted to let folks know that p.o.money orders with vgc is not completely dead.