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Office Depot and OfficeMax stores have returned with a (possibly) profitable gift card deal this week on Mastercard gift cards.
The Deal
- Buy $300+ Mastercard gift cards at Office Depot/OfficeMax & get $15 off instantly.
Key Terms
- Valid May 7-13, 2023.
- Limit 1 per household/business (YMMV)
Quick Thoughts
As always with these types of deals, the best option points-wise is to buy two $200 Mastercard gift cards. Although you’ll pay an additional $1 in purchase fees, you’ll get an additional $101 worth of spend which can be worth far more than $1 if paying with a card that earns more at office supply stores such as the Chase Ink Cash or Ink Plus cards.
With two $6.95 fees (note that some Metabank cards now have a $7.95 fee), you’ll make $1.10 (or -90 cents with two $7.95 fees) profit in addition to 1,995 Ultimate Rewards points for every two $200 Mastercard gift cards that you buy.
H/T: An anonymous reader
Past Deals
- April 9-15, 2023
- March 12-18, 2023
- February 12-18, 2023
- January 15-21, 2023
- December 11-17, 2022
- November 27-December 3, 2022
- November 6-12, 2022
- August 14-20, 2022
- May 15-21, 2022
- February 13-19, 2022
- November 28-December 4, 2021
- September 26-October 2, 2021
- August 15-21, 2021
- May 16-22, 2021
- December 6-12, 2020
- September 20-26, 2020
- December 8-14, 2019
- August 18-24, 2019
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Where is the actual advertisement for Thai deal? Can somebody share? I just went to Office Depot and cashier knew nothing about it so I decided not to risk paying activation fee
The display reads: “Limit three (3) per household,” purchased 3, $200 at $30 off ($10 off/ea). Thanks to the reader who caught this these on last couple OD go rounds, sure helps having that extra $200!
So I went to Office Depot today as I’ve done many many times before to take advantage of this offer. Most of the time in the past the $15 rebate doesn’t appear on the register until the credit card purchase is processed, at which time the register is updated to display the rebate deduction. Today (7/9) the rebate did not appear. My credit card was charges $413.90. I pointed this out to the clerk, who called the manager who advised me to call the Visa customer service. Visa advised me this was an Office Depot issue. The store manager showed me that the register would not allow him to cancel the transaction and advised me to contact Office Depot customer service number. OD customer service advised the rebate is a store rebate. Stuck in a crossfire I decided to eat the $13.90. I’ll never go back there again.
The deal is on Mastercards, not on Visas. Next time make sure that you read the fine print and purchase the correct type of card. This one is your fault, not the store’s fault. I would just take the $13.90 loss and call it a lesson learned.
Barry
You’re right!! I’ve done these deals at Office Depot and Staples at least dozens of times for years. and I’m “never” in doubt. I’ll “never” be able to say that again. Thanks for the slap down. I deserved it. Lesson learned. I hope!
[…] Office Depot/OfficeMax stores have $15 off of the purchase of $300 or more in Mastercard gift cards through Saturday. Always experiment a bit here, but usually the games work better on the Visa side and the Mastercards are exactly as they seem. (Thanks to FM) […]
[…] HT: FM […]
[…] HT: FM […]
[…] Update 5/8/23: Deal is back from 5/7/23 – 5/13/23 (ht FM) […]
I bought 3 for $590. I’m curious if this will scale any further. I might try buying 6 the next time.
Would be great, though I suspect not. The posted flyer they always have displayed says in the fine print the limit is two per customer. I’m guessing that is translating into treating a $600 purchase as two $300 ones, hence two $15 discounts applied (effectively). But hey, would love to be wrong on that.
Just bought 3X $200 and my receipt shows a $10 promotional credit for each card. The credit didn’t come up automatically at the register though. A manager needed to come do some sort of override but it wasn’t questioned.
Another confirmation here. 3 x $200 for $30 off worked, though manager had to come override. Also stacked with Chase $11 back offer. Sweet deal.
I had to get manager approval too.
My guess is that the manager had to do the override because the transaction was over $500.
I can verify that buying 3 $200 cards takes $30 off.
Man, if this was possible this whole time, that’s pretty hilarious that we’ve all been missing it all this while. Good to know. Thanks.
Officenaxbi went to They asked me to see my license and card first then after they scanned the gift cards , their system popped up something and the cashier manually entered my license and name on their computer snd followed my manager authorization . Is this normal now? Hope I didn’t get reported to irs for this
CVS does that too to ensure no fraud takes place with those GCs, you’re fine. I get asked all the time if someone forced me to buy them.
p
I would love it if you posted this Fri-Sat, before the sale. I just bought GC at Staples on Sat but wanted to push my purchase out a week for cc “due date” timing…
I have not seen Office Depot/Max on Dosh in a long time. Just checked again, not there.
I came here to question the same thing. Maybe he forgot to update the wording.
Nick, tell us your liquidation method for these. No point in posting this damn article without some tips. Unless y’all just want the clicks, you, Tim, Stephen and Greg.
Those of us who can liquidate appreciate the heads up. Honestly the liquidation options on these are in a current state of flux so if they did post something and it died folks would be moaning they had been led astray. Damned if you do and damned if you don’t.
There are few liquidation methods for MC gift card other than normal spend, maybe MO will work at your local grocery store. It is more trial and error to see what will work.
My local Office Depot said cash only on the Mastercard gift cards today. Anyone else experience that?
Just used a CC with no issues.
Store make-up policies all the time. Try again on a different day and different time.
I haven’t had the Dosh 2% available for a couple of months already.
Anybody getting the Dosh 2%?
Got 4 percent about a month ago. Spent 2 k on various gift cards before Christmas
Got paid in a couple weeks.
I think there was a special promotion last month. But all in all, I think DOSH has squashed the office depot monthly 2%. Do you see that as well?
Will try when I get new ink card this week.
I just saw it in there today.
Always wondered if these smaller, in-person gift card sales were worth it. It’s only 2K UR points and requires a drive vs. ordering Staples cards online. Do folks regularly do these?
Well… if you have a friendly store you can fo up to 5 sets ( max $2k/day without paperwork)so not bad getting 10k points/miles with the ink that you can also leverage for extra 25% when redeemed thru certain categories.
Your store allowed you to purchase multiple sets in the same transaction?
I have three stores within a short drive from home. So 6,000 points possible for a half hour of my time. And none has questioned my coming back several times during the promotion week. Two of the three do run out of $200 cards early in the week, but one seems to never run out.
Thanks for posting. I’ve been looking for this. Normally someone (DOC) posts this on Sunday but no go this week. I missed 3 days of opportunity . I guess that’s what I get for being too lazy to check for myself.
Does this code correctly 5x with CIC?
Absolutely, kind of the whole point 🙂
Any suggestions on how to best liquidate a Mastercard GC? MO and normal spend?
costco and utilities for me. costco takes MC if you run it as a debit with a pin.
Great timing! Got the 5000 UR bonus offers on all of my Chase Ink cards for each $5k of spend.
Did not work Crystal Lake, Illinois
Cool. There is also a Chase offer for 10% back on up to $80. P2 got it on an Ink card.
Dosh suspended my account. I emailed them & went thru the process to reactivate & redeem, but I’ve since removed my CIC from their app to prevent reoccurrence.
You have a typo. Deal is dead. Doesn’t go until Feb 29 – also not a leap year 🙂
Anyone come across an app which allows using a prepaid Metabank vgc to pay another person who also has that app? I know Cashapp doesn’t accept, but with so many transfer apps popping up, I was hoping to find one. Even just to actually pay someone, not just ms.
I realize this article is about the MC deal, but thought I’d ask my question. People want to pay private sellers via apps yet use prepaid VGC (like Metabank 500s or variable) to liquidate or also so the seller can’t do more damage than what’s onthe card if they’re a fraudster. No easy liquidation methods in my area anymore. But if a P2P app comes along that allows it they will become very popular. Maybe there already is one which people are keeping o themselves, so I asked in this limited topic and not a forum.
So is it a visa or MC this time?
Mastercard.
[…] Hat tip to FM […]
I just tried this deal at my local Office Depot in Woodbridge, VA and they did not ring up as on sale and the cashier said she knew of when they were on sale but were not this week.
The Office Depot in Edison, NJ is closing down. They have signs in the store that they everything is up to 30% off. That leaves only 1 Office Depot left in NJ.
[…] HT: FM […]
How can I use my Chase Freedom and/or Flex to take advantage of this offer and get the 5x for Paypal? I thought of utilizing Paypal key and Google Pay wallet but get a message it won’t work for in-store purchases.
[…] Hat tip to FM […]
When are the fee free Visa cards at Staples again?
It’ll depend on when they decide to run that offer again. It tends to come around once a month or so, but there doesn’t seem to be any set schedule.
Staples fee-free $200 Mastercard gift cards (8/22-8/28/21)Link: https://frequentmiler.com/staples-fee-free-mastercard-gift-cards/
I went in store.. they had no idea about this? Is the offer online somewhere? It was a wasted trip.
Did you try buying $300+ worth of gift cards and it didn’t work, or you didn’t buy because there was no sign? If the latter, some stores don’t put out these offer signs like they should, so it should still work.
No, I didn’t actually ring it though, but I should have. I asked the cashier about the deal and she didn’t know it. She then called a manager, who said that she checked and didn’t see the offer either. I’ll try another location. I guess they don’t publish them online?
Unfortunately not. The Rewards offers they publish online (e.g. the recent ‘Buy $100 Happy gift cards, get $25 Rewards’ offer), but not these Visa or Mastercard gift card offers.
How is one per household measured or enforced? Can it be one per household per day? Or are they linked to a phone number or rewards account such that you won’t get the discount a second time?
It’s basically up to the store. It’s not enforced at rewards account level and some stores will actively restrict you from doing this deal more than once per day, whereas others will let you buy far more.
[…] Hat tip to FM […]
I’d be curious to know how anyone is currently liquidating these MCGC’s.
Doubtful you’ll hear from anyone with the very limited options still left, but I assure you there are ways (although they may be regional). Keep searching.
In the past, I’ve heard that Publix markets worked for liquidation. Don’t know if that is still true.
the machines at Publix actually do still work for this, but their internal policy (at least in southern FL where I live) has changed in that they want to see your ID and the actual debit card you are going to use. they have signs up that they “may” ask you to produce this, but they actually do ask you to present these. I have gone to various stores thinking I might find clerks who will be lazy and not ask, but they all do. so, Publix is out for me. Walmart is out for me. I am having a tough time flipping cards to money orders anymore.
I live in GA and there are some stores where they don’t ask for ID but why bother and take the chance when I can buy thousands of dollars of gift cards with my name on them from Simon mall and liquidate in larger quantities. I know the cost will be higher but I would rather earn points at a higher cost knowing that it will not be a pain to liquidate them. It really sucks driving around from store to store to yet another store just to liquidate a $200 VGC.
Anthony:
How do you liquidate the gift cards in larger quantities from Simon Mall? What is the difference between Simon Mall gift cards and Office Depot $200 VGC?
Thanks for sharing!!
You can buy Money Orders. The difference is the amounts and the fact that your name will be on the Simon Mall cards. Most stores want to see the card and compare it to your ID to make sure they match. I’d rather earn 20,000 points at time from a single Simon Mall order then buy $200 cards that don’t have my name on them and it might be much harder to liquidate them.
Yea, sorry, most of us aren’t going to share our best liquidations.