This deal is good until March 31.
A few days ago I posted “Sorry, an error has occurred“. In that post I explained my disappointment that the Staples site only allowed one copy of Trend Micro Antivirus to be purchased even though the rebate terms allowed 10 per household. It turns out that they’ve now opened it up and allow multiple copies in the cart at once. If you buy all 10, you’ll get a nice haul of points:
The idea here is to go through the Ultimate Rewards Mall to Staples.com. Once there, buy 10 copies of this “Free After Rebate” downloadable software product for $35 each. You will get 4 points per dollar from the Ultimate Rewards Mall and another 5 points per dollar if you pay with your Chase Ink card or another 1 point per dollar if you pay with a standard point earning credit card. This means that you will earn 3,150 Free Ultimate Rewards points with your Ink card or 1,750 points with another card. See Preparing for Miles for more info about the Ink and other cards.
Staples has an amazingly easy “Easy Rebate” system. Once you purchase the software, they send you a rebate link via email. You click the link, fill out a little bit of info and you’re done. Note that you will have to wait a while, though. It may take as much as 6 to 8 weeks to receive your check.
Here are the steps to follow:
Step 1: Go to Staples via the Ultimate Rewards Mall:
Step 2: Add up to ten copies of “Trend Micro Titanium Antivirus + 2012 (1-User)” for Windows or Mac to your cart:
TIP: Search for item 368658
IF YOU BOUGHT ONE COPY EARLIER IN THE WEEK, THEN ONLY BUY 9 NOW!!!
Step 3: Check out
TIP 1: If you have a Chase Ink card that gives 5X for office supplies, use it!
TIP 2: Your state may charge sales tax. If you know someone in a state that doesn’t charge sales tax for downloadable internet orders (CA, NH, etc.), then set their address as the delivery address and no tax will be charged. This is a download only purchase anyway, so nothing will really be delivered. I picked “deliver to store” and picked a store in New Hampshire. Of course, there won’t really be anything to pick up.
Step 4: Submit Easy Rebates
You will receive an email from Staples with a link in it for submitting the rebate form. It’s easy!
TIP 1: Even though you bought 10 copies, you only have to fill out one rebate form. Note that it can take 6 to 8 weeks (or longer) to get your rebate.
TIP 2: The software rebate can be changed from a Visa gift card to a check! See screen shots (taken from a prior order):
Q&A:
Per Household Limit
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Q: How do you know that we can buy 10? I don’t see that restriction anywhere
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A: See “Can I really buy 10” for a walkthrough of how to find that information.
Per Household Limit, Question 2
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Q: Can I buy 10 copies for every friend I know?
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A: I don’t recommend it. I know at least one person who tried to buy two sets of 10 that way, but Staples did not approve the second set of rebates. I don’t know how they figured it out.
Status = Researching
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Q: The status of my order says “researching”. What’s up with that?
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A: Staples needs to verify your order. Sometimes this happens if you have the wrong email address or phone number on file. Simply give them a call or do an online chat with them to verify the information they need. Once that is done, they’ll confirm the order.
Promotional Items
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Q: The Staples’ Terms and Conditions in the Ultimate Rewards Mall says that promotional items are excluded. Aren’t these free after rebate items “promotional”?
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A: I’ve done this many times now, and my Ultimate Rewards points posted quickly each time. So, either these items are not considered promotional, or Staples doesn’t enforce that restriction.
Number of Rebate Forms
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Q: I bought 10 copies of the software. Does that mean I have to fill out the rebate form 10 times.
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A: Nope. If you buy multiple copies of a single item in one transaction, you only need to fill out the rebate form once. Really. I promise.
Rebate Time
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Q: How long will it take for my rebate to arrive?
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A: The Staples web site says to expect 6 to 8 weeks. My first rebates arrived after about 5 weeks so it looks like Staples’ estimate is fairly accurate.
Number of Checks
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Q: I bought 10 copies of the software. Will I receive 10 small checks or one big check?
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A: One big check.
Download
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Q: Do I have to download this software so that I can qualify for the rebate?
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A: No! I didn’t download any of the software I bought, but the first rebates processed successfully.
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Thanks so much for the tip that this is working again!
I was charged sales tax on my download with a CA zip code. I received this email from Staples.
Valued Staples Customer,
When you made your recent purchase(s) of Trend Micro Titanium Antivirus 2012 software download (item # listed above) you were charged sales tax, which should not be assessed on downloads in your state.
We are processing a refund of the tax which should be seen on your account within three business days.
There are no FAR products in the next week.
Worked fine for me in chrome, in again for my 2nd round of goodness. Was disappointed at the beginning of the week but this is a good finish to a Friday!
My mistake. I was able to Order ten.
If you want pay your credit card with the rebate check, make sure to pay on the first day your statement cycle starts. If your statement closes April 1, then if you buy on April 2, you receive a ~60 day loan – statement close date then extended to payment due date.
Hi Guys, I get staples emailed with free gifts (as I am sure many of you do as well). Just to let you know that for the last two times, I have been able to redeem the free gift coupon at the time I placed the orders.
Now these are targeted coupons and not the $ off ones. Am I setting myself up for a blacklist.. dunno… thought I would share.
According to many Slickdealers, applying 25 off 75 or 30 off 100 coupons on downloadable software is a fast-track way of getting you blacklisted by Staples. Yes it does happen. And I sure don’t want to be blacklisted when they’re offering these points-hoarding schemes for me. You’re already getting thousands of points, why push your luck?
My researching status overcame itself in the morning without me calling.
Ted F: Thanks for the warning! I agree with you. That’s why I haven’t talked about those coupons in my posts.
Update: It works with Internet Explorer but not Chrome. It is weird.
It looks like it is sold out. One can’t add to a cart the download version anymore.
Ah thanks for the info…I’ve done a mix of buying stuff on sapphire preferred and not on sapphire preferred just to see what would happen.
Also, I pre-ordered the iPad 3, and got it on release day, so if there was any sort of embargo on affiliate rewards, I probably got included in it 🙁 Well at least I still got about 1000 Starpoints out of it 🙂
Silly question… I noticed that this was for Titanium Antivirus and the previous rebate was for Titanium Internet Security (done them both). I see that Trend Micro offers a 3rd product called Titanium Max. Was there a rebate for Titanium Max in the past I missed? If so, would anyone be able to share one of the links and keys? I actually would like to download this version. Thanks…
Kashyap – Where can I get one of these coupons you are referencing?
I only wish 1)I found out about this stuff sooner and 2)I had a need for Staples Reward status.
Actually this thing is a potential money + point making offer. Apply the staples 25 off 75 coupon at the time of purchase and you still get your full amount at the time of refund. This was proven by ME in the past.
Same for “ship” to CA, no sales tax now. But order in “Researching” status and call centers are closed. ugh