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Two weeks ago, I wrote about one of the most exciting triple dip opportunities currently available:
- Go through online portal to Staples (5X to 6X portal rebate)
- Buy $200 Visa gift cards with credit card that earns 5X
- If credit card is business Visa card, earn back 1% through Visa Savings Edge.
Details of the above opportunity can be found in these posts:
Is the deal dead?
I didn’t think the deal described above would last long. I explained my reasoning in the post “A great disturbance in the Force.” Specifically, I wrote:
I would really hate to see this go, but it would make sense for Staples to stop paying out to portals for gift card purchases made on their site
And then, last week, a person who purports to run his/her own cash back portal posted on Flyertalk that Staples had sent a message about portal payouts ending for gift cards. Voyaging wrote:
Figure i’d post here about it first
==============
Dear ____,
In order to ensure program profitability, Staples will no longer commission affiliates sales of gift cards. We have extended you a new program term with this exclusion. Please accept your new term as soon as you receive it . As always, don’t hesitate to reach out to the team if you have any questions!
Best regards,
The Staples Affiliate TeamI don’t think the $200 vgc will vanish, but i’m pretty sure the cashback will.
Voyaging then followed up with more details that suggest the end is nigh as of May 12 (today) or earlier:
…
Because I’ve run my own cashback portal well before TCB, credit card portals, shopdiscover, etc. Staples has pushed out new terms to their partners which must be accepted otherwise they are expired from their contract. Here are the details on which exact gift cards are no longer going to be commissionable.
As to the exact date of when is a good question. It varies from partner to partner. For me, I have to accept terms before 5/12. If the portals have already accepted the terms, then they no longer get paid for gift cards. It doesn’t mean it won’t track and portals won’t pay out, it just means they won’t get paid by Staples.
…
We do not yet have evidence that the above information is true (although it appears legitimate). Nor, do we have evidence that Staples has sent the same information to all portals. That said, I think it is likely that our portal options have closed or will close in the near future.
Is the double dip worthwhile?
With the full triple-dip in play, we’ve been making a profit while also earning 5 points per dollar spent. If portals are no longer in-play, we will no longer earn a profit. So, let’s re-do the math:
Let’s say we buy one $200 Visa card (in store or online) at Staples, and we pay with a 5X earning credit card, and we earn 1% back with Visa Savings Edge:
- Total price paid: $206.95
- Card value: $200
- Card fee: $6.95
- Visa Savings Edge rebate: $2.07
- Fee after rebate: $4.88
- Fee as % of card value: 2.44%
- Miles earned at 5X: 1035 (207 X 5)
We can then easily calculate our cost per point:
- Cost per point: $0.0045 (less than half a cent per point)
Or, we can use points earned to pay ourselves back for the fee (see “When category bonuses trump fees”):
- Points needed to pay back fee: 488
- Points after pay back: 547
- Fee free points per dollar: 2.74
Quick Summary
It’s possible that the days of earning money and 5X points from Staples are already over. If portals no longer work (and the jury is still out on that), then we are left with either buying points at less than half a cent each (which is still a very good deal) or using points to refund our fees and earning 2.74 points per dollar, fee-free. These options are very good, but they’re no longer better than all alternatives. For example, if you can buy $500 Visa gift cards and earn 2X or more, you’ll do just as well or better on a cost per point basis (assuming points earned are of similar value) and you’ll find that $500 cards are much easier to use.
As we go forward, please report in the comments in the Frequent Miler Laboratory if you receive portal payouts for gift cards bought at Staples.com on or after May 12 2014. Thanks!
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Sorry for the noob question, but why are $500 Visa gift cards easier to use than $200 Visa gift cards? Thanks.
Just because you’ll have more of them. For example, if you want to buy $2000 worth of gift cards, you would have either 4 $500 cards or 10 $200 cards.
[…] first reported this change on May 12th in the post “The deal without portals.” At that point, there was some evidence that portals would no longer payout for gift cards […]
[…] on May 12 Frequent Miler and others shared feedback they had received from readers, that Staples would no longer pay cash […]
May 19, 2014 at 11:01 am
Has anybody has any luck getting cash rebate from any portals yet?
Reply
Has anybody has any luck getting cash rebate from any portals yet?
I noticed that my local Office Depot has $500 visa gift cards again, which I think have a fee of ~$5, maybe ~$6, which works out to ~1-1.2%. Some web searches suggest that they reappeared in July 2013, and are purchasable by credit card. If that’s true, that now seems like a better use of the Chase Ink family of business payment cards (5 points/$ at office supply stores).
I think those $500 Visa gift cards at Office Depot are cash only.
@adam, the variable load gift cards ($20-$500) have been cash only for a very long time. The fixed value gift cards ($200) are purchasable with credit cards. If the cashier says otherwise, tell them to try anyways.
All, we won’t know for sure whether the portals have stopped paying out until some orders have been placed post 5/12 and then we have to wait and see whether or not they pay out. I made a uPromise order on 5/13. If I don’t get confirmation in about a week I’ll believe that the uPromise route is dead.
FM, I made orders on 4/28 and 4/30, both of which showed up as pending in Upromise about a week later.
All orders after that (on 5/5, 5/6, 5/7, and 5/8) have still yet to show up as pending. I’m suspect.
Has anyone gotten order to show up in Upromise as pending for orders 5/5 or later?
That’s helpful data. Prior to 5/13, my most recent uPromise order was 5/3 (and that did show up as pending). I also have a 5/5 order via SwagBucks that shows pending.
I also did orders thru upromise, 4/28 posted normally, but 5/2 and 5/8 have not. At this point, the normal posting time for the 5/2 has passed, but it is encouraging to hear that FM received credit for his 5/3 order, and the 5/8 order should be posting by the end of this week. I plan to submit a support ticket early next week if these orders don’t go pending by then. Upromise has not changed the T&C on their Staples page, so until they do so, they should pay in my opinion, especially since their T&C encourage the purchase of gift cards “give the gift of easy gift cards at Staples”. However, I don’t plan any more orders for now.
Also, I am still awaiting the activation codes from the 5/2 order, although the cards arrived last Saturday.
Same boat here, received a pending for the 4/28 and 5/2 , but not the 5/8 order. I’m still hoping the 5/8 will get a pending post. Same on the activation codes envelope, awaiting for the 5/8 order.
OK, so no portal cash back for VGC… what about other vendor GC’s like Home Depot? Any word on those? Thanks!
I placed an order for a few $200 GC on 4/30, the cashback showed up in Upromise (pending) on 5/7. Upromise’s T&C for Staples has not changed from the 30th, no indicating that GC’s aren’t eligible.
They’ve been doing a LOT more than just “surveys”. I own a legit biz for many years and applied for one of the ink cards. I was grilled pretty hard about GC purchases on a different Chase card, b/c of a “we’re not sure if you get the CC card” decision upon submission. I have a fair amt. of biz travel/purchases on the other card so it isn’t pure GC purchases by a long shot. And the amts. weren’t anywhere near the abusers of the GC purchases.
The chase rep can see ALL your chase accounts/interactions. ALL. And looks to be taking a more holistic approach to their C offerings. Yes, I have a few chase cards, but use them for hotel, air, office purchases, etc. So I’m sure that factored in. I still got a $25k limit on the new card, so it wasn’t like I was borderline and yet I still was grilled.
So, I’m sure in the coming year those abusers will start whining about Chase doing FRs on them and/or closing accounts….for them, I almost hope they claw back their points. It’d really go a long way in keeping the people who ascribe to “the long play” not having to continually change strategies.
[…] be my last Staples.com gift card order, until something changes (see Frequent Miler’s post). On the back side of the letter that was attached to your Visa Gift Card is a phone number to call […]
What was the TIB deal from 2009?
I think the information is correct because so many of the portals have changed their wording to state that gift cards do not count.
Anyone know if Discover still working?
Looks like Swagbucks may not be paying out for Staples Visa gcs anymore: I have 1242 SB pending for my 5/1/14 purchase of one $200 gc but 0 SB pending for my 5/8/12 order.