Staples is currently offering McAfee Antivirus Basic for $39.99 – $38.98 rebate (via Visa gift card) for a total cost of $.01 per copy. There is a limit of 10 rebates per household. You can get this deal online or in-store and the rebate is completed 100% online.
Online
- Go through the Splender shopping portal for 5% cash back.
- You will earn 2-5% in Staples Rewards.
- Use a Chase Ink card for 5X Ultimate Rewards points.
If you purchase the limit of 10 with a Chase Ink, then you will make $20 in cashback, $8-$20 in Staples Rewards and 2,000 Ultimate Rewards points.
Note: You may also have to pay sales tax, however in some states you don’t have to pay for a digital download so it is probably better to purchase the digital version instead of the boxed copy.
In-Store
This week Staples has a coupon for 25% back in rewards for in-store purchases. If you go to a store to purchase 10 copies then the math works out as follows:
- Staples Rewards: $99.98
- Ultimate Rewards: $2,000
If your store doesn’t have 10 copies, then consider purchasing the digital version through the kiosk. At checkout select “pay at register” so you can have the store apply the coupon. You may also be able to save on sales tax this way.
HT: Miles Briefs
Never miss a Quick Deal, Subscribe here.
Want to learn more about miles and points? Subscribe to email updates or check out our podcast on your favorite podcast platform.
[…] going well. In January, Staples ran a Free After Rebate (FAR) deal on McAfee Antivirus software (Frequent Miler’s post). Long story short, I purchased 10 copies of the software, submitted the Staples Easy Rebate and […]
Got the gift card for all 10 today, and unloaded it and $500 Simon Mall card into a money order at the post office.
@Peter S – I too was negligent and burned by the 1/24 to 1/30 rebate #16-59941 snafu, a real bummer. Gonna try to see if there’s anything I can do to get a refund…
Did everyone receive the 25% instore rewards? Staples won’t honor mine – talked to 2 supervisors and they both refuse to honor it. I did the software version and staples does not allow return. Very frustrated.
I also receive a card from staples that said I need to submit more information, even though I submitted my easy rebate online. I call the easy rebate phone number on the card and the first agency said the system didn’t applied the order information over. So he went ahead and applied the correct easy rebate number. However, he said the system only allow him to apply one copy and he said the rebate was only good for one copy per name but no limit for household (which was total BS, I knew he didn’t know what he was talking about). So I thank him and told him to just applied the easy rebate for 1 copy (big mistake). I hangup and called back. Another agent picked up the phone and she was more knowledgeable, she said the rebate should have been entered for all 10 copies and now since the rebate is already in the system she can’t use the same rebate otherwise the system will reject the second one ( it gave me an heartattack). Later on, she did some internal modification and gave me a separate tracking number for the other 9 copies. So all is well, but she had to circumvent the system to correct the first agent’s mistake. If you purchased the product 1/17 to 1/23 rebate# 16-58006, you are entitled to 10 rebate per purchased as the term have it. However, if you purchased the product between 1/24 to 1/30 rebate #16-59941, that is entirely a different rebate number and it only entitled you for one copy per name per household.
Judging by the comments, it seems like this post weren’t closed and some reader bought the product between 1/24 to 1/30 which only entitle them to the 1 copy per household. I think this is a honest mistake, and I feel sorry for people who bought 10 copies of the antivirus software between 1/24/ to 1/30. I think this mistake could have been avoided if the post simply spell out the rebate #, and the valid date of the rebate. Then reader will not jump into this deal after the effective date.
The EasyRebates process is a bit broken on this one. If you get postcards denying your rebate in the mail, don’t necessarily take them at face value. Here’s what happened for me:
First, like has been noted above, I got a message saying “Your eligible rebates are still being determined.:
Next, after about a week, I got an error message. I can’t recall the exact message but something like “could not match transaction details”. After a lengthy but helpful call with a rep, new tracking numbers were issued for my two purchases (one for 10 McAfee Antivirus, one for paper).
Today, I got two postcards from Staples with a different set of tracking numbers listed (not the originals, not the re-issues) with a message saying “we could not honor your request due to the following reasons: all required products were not submitted”.
I called Staples and the automated system confirmed that I have two rebates in the works and they should be mailed out by March 15, 2016. Then there was a message saying that if I’d received postcard saying “all required products were not submitted”, I should disregard those because they were sent in error.
So, this is fun 🙂
Anita
Thanks for the update! I got that postcard saying they couldn’t honor my request. I’ll call them in the morning to get it straightened out!
Wow, I’m really sorry about this one. Usually when deals end, it’s very obvious to the consumer when they try to take advantage of it. In this case, Staples followed up on the 10 limit rebate with a new 1 limit rebate that looked very similar. Yes, we should have marked this dead early.
I’m having the same problem: Invalid. McAfee AntiVirus Basic 1 Devic Missing UPC.
I bought 10, not one. Hope this doesn’t become a PITA….
Please try to make an effort to add updates to your content when deal circumstances change materially. I followed the steps in your post on an order made on the 24th, and eviscerated $200 in gift cards in the process for some terrible software downloads no one actually has any use for. I know MS is always execute at your own risk, and I take full responsibility and take this as a lesson learned, but in the future please try to update your content when things change. As of right now the body of this post is still telling people that there is a limit of 10 per customer.
Same here, all of my 11 rebate submissions have been marked as “could not match transaction details” or something of that kind. Will have to manually get them to do it.. they are trying hard to make it a hassle for us and not pay it
I would chat with them. I had an issue and they fixed it right away.
I just got an email saying my rebates are invalid. Wrong upc number. How is this possible? What to do now? I guess I could return them all.
I would contact them via chat.
Has the rebate changed terms to 1 item / household as of 1/24/16? There’re two easy rebates on https://rebate.staples.com/promocenter/staples/promotion.html?sku=1910459 , one ends 1/23, another starts today. Select Form to read details seems to suggest 1 per household starting today?
Does anyone have a copy of the terms allowing up to 10? I just looked at the Staples site thinking I might buy more and saw the limit of 1. Would love to have a screenshot if anyone has one to share.
Go here: https://rebate.staples.com/promocenter/staples/easyrebates?page=promo_search.html
And search for the rebate. Make sure you select the form with the correct dates. (The one for last week.) In the fine print on that form is states the limit of 10.
[…] Up to 2,000 Ultimate Rewards & $100 in Staples Rewards for $.10 After Rebate […]
Does the 25% reward coupon work with the Mcafee software? My rewards haven’t tracked in my account yet and there seems to be a lot of confusion on the slickdeals thread. My receipt says that coupon may not apply to promotional items.
Can get the online rebate to accept… “Your eligible rebates are still being determined”
ITS BEEN 4 DAYS.
WTH?
Same here. You will have to chat or call to push it through. Known issue for all Staples online orders. So much for “easyrebates”.
Similar issue. Just called and the support agent wasn’t able to find anything with my tracking or order number, had me email proof of my order to them. Not optimistic, this is one way companies make money off rebates is by making you jump through hoops just to validate something that is perfectly valid. Last case resort if they don’t help is to dispute the charge, but I paid for some of the order with staples gift cards so I won’t ever see that money again.
Data point: I ordered my 10 in a few separate orders. I chatted on the first submission and he said it hadn’t migrated over and offered to submit it and gave me a new tracking number. That whole process seemed to take a very long time. Then the next day I got on chat to get the other one moving and she told me it can take up to 10 days to “migrate over” so I should contact them after 10 days.
my order for 10 went through on Jan. 20. got the download email an hour after order
My order was canceled, and none is showing in a 50 mile radius.,
I ordered and got the confirmation yesterday; I even submitted the rebate form. But today I just got an email that the order was canceled:
We sincerely apologize; we are contacting you regarding your above order. Unfortunately, the above referenced item number is not currently available. This item was part of a special promotion and we are not offering backorders or rainchecks. At this time the item has been canceled and you have not been billed for it.
I think you meant 2000 ultimate points not $2000 in ultimate rewards. I wish it was the second.
[…] that in the comments on Frequentmiler it’s said that after submitting the rebate form from an online purchase, it doesn’t work automatically […]
My local Staples has a limit of 5.
doesn’t matter, rebate system has a limit of 10, if the store limits you, just buy 2 x 5 and submit both receipts. most stores will let you buy 10 if they have them.
Do i need to fill out easy rebate 10 times? or once is enough? lol
once per order. if you buy all 10 on one receipt, then you only submit once.
tax is 34$ here… which kinda negates earnings
A good way to turn Staples Gift Cards into Visa you can use anywhere. Unfortunately you can’t set a PIN on it.
Question – If you purchased the digital version of this software. Will the rebate be for the total amount on the receipt. 10 x 39.90 = $39.90 plus applicable taxes If I am not mistaken, since it has a limit of 10 copies. Thanks Henry
the rebate will be for total before taxes. taxes are not subject to the rebate.
if you buy 10 copies of the software on one receipt you’ll receive one visa card for ~$400.
I deleted 25% discount Staples coupon.
Could anybody have suggestions to get it?
Thank you.
LLQ
There is no 25% coupon. There is a 25% back in rewards that is publicly available.
My state charges tax for digital downloads, however my mother’s state does not. Do you know if the rebate will still be valid if I change the shipping address to another state? Or would that invalidate it?
Sorry for the clutter. I see you answered this already.
United portal is 6x with credit card (so 11x with portal and Ink).
When I try to submit my rebate, I receive the following: Your eligible rebates are still being determined
It’s going to be that way until the end of time. Submit it, and then 3 days from now you’ll have to do a chat to fix it. This is assuming you did an Internet/kiosk purchase. If you did in store, just wait a few hours and should show up.
Thank you!
So, I don’t know if this is what happens to everyone else who gets “your rebates are still being determined,” or if this is new…
I did the one-per-household rebate last night (it’s still free points!). I had an option at the end of the “still being determined” message allowing me to click through to a form so that they’d “notify me” when my rebates were ready. I figured I’d try that. The “form” was the same info you put in when you’re completing a rebate.
After completing the form, I got a confirmation screen thanking me for submitting my rebates (!), but with nothing indicating which rebates those actually were.
This morning I got an email saying that my rebate was being processed–they had all the correct info in there about its being the McAfee rebate.
Maybe they’ve added something new?
Do the VISA Prepaid cards come with PIN?
Just saw the fine prints… “This Rebate Visa Prepaid Card is not redeemable for cash and does not have a PIN associated with it.”
Can I purchase more than one online – fill my cart with 10 copies? I have been purchasing 1 at a time….
Sorry, missed earlier comments which answered my question
Looks dead to me:
*At this time, we are not able to fulfill your order for the item listed below*
1910459 ESDDWNLDMcAfee Antivirus Basic 1 PC 1.0
Offer is not dead. They may be out of stock, but rebate lasts 2 weeks.
Great find! Thanks so much for the heads up. Got 10 🙂
Already did 2 in-store with coupons. Plan on doing another 2 more in-store and then 6 online.
Also if I ship to a family member’s address can I still have the rebate mailed to my address?
as long as you don’t exceed 10 rebates per household (YOUR household in this case) it will not be a problem. when submitting, make sure you enter the zip code where the items were shipped to, not your own.
just remember Staples has been having issues with rebates for online & kiosk orders lately.. most likely you will have to call or online chat 3 days after you submit.
Any issues with the rebate if you purchase the McAfee with Staples gift cards?
no… gift cards, coupons, or rewards never change anything for rebates.
and since this is a fixed value rebate, nothing else matters, you will get the amount promised.
Sorry, but I couldn’t find it says 10 copies per household for online purchase on the order page or rebate details…
if you click through from the product page to the rebate form, it is mentioned in the fine print there under “addtional information”
Me neither, but I confirmed it through chat with a CSR and kept the log in case there is a problem with my submission.
Is this one of those deals where you have to sign up for a year of anti-virus service after the first year expires? Tigerdirect is famous for that.
this is Staples. no need to sign up for anything… just place an order and submit rebate.
If I buy 10 online and submit the rebate, will I get 10 different rebate VGC for $39.98 or a single VGC $398.80?
one reward car per rebate submission… in your case one Visa card for ~$400.
All done online. I cannot find anywhere whether this rebate requires download and activation of the software. Does anyone know?
neither is required for the rebate.
just remember Staples has been having issues with rebates for online & kiosk orders lately.. most likely you will have to call or online chat 3 days after you submit.
Hey, Shawn.
Thanks for the post on this deal. SavingsStar and UPromise have 5% cash back for Staples, too.
I ordered 10 digital copies on-line and the codes arrived. Do I have to do anything to submit the rebate? I didn’t see a rebate form in the receipt. Is it automatic? I’m fine with a Visa gift card that I didn’t pay fees for. I use them at places that don’t have bonus categories.
Go to the Easy Rebates website, log in, and enter your order ID. It will automatically submit the rebate requests for you. I confirmed via chat that there is a limit of 10 rebates per address. Hope this helps!
Thanks
All 10 in one transaction online ok?
yes, just remember Staples has been having issues with rebates for online & kiosk orders lately.. most likely you will have to call or online chat 3 days after you submit.
Thanks! And thanks for the tip!
You might be able to avoid sales tax on a digital download if you choose ship to store and pick a store in a no sales tax state like NH.
Thanks for being on top of deals like this, I check daily. It should be noted that the rebate is in the form of a visa prepaid card.
Clickbait Hall of Fame material here. This is accounting at its finest, Hollywood-style.
Thank you!
Only 1 purchase per transaction. The 25% coupon only works once. You’ll have to do it 10 times, thief.
This coupon has always worked on multiple items. It is saying you cannot combine another coupon in the same transaction.
coupon only needs to be scanned once but applies to all eligible items in the order. no need to do 10 transactions.