This deal is good today only 3/3/2013
Staples has two new FAR (Free after Rebate) software downloads today only thanks to two overlapping rebates! These are a great way to make progress toward meeting credit card minimum spend thresholds or to earn points for buying software regardless of whether you actually want the software.
The idea here is to go through an online portal to Staples.com. Once there, buy ten copies of each of these “Free After Rebate” downloadable software products for a total cost of $799.80 (or less if you apply a coupon). If you use your Chase Ink card you will earn 5 points per dollar since this is an office supply purchase. In other words, you could earn about 4000 points for free. 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 takes 4 to 6 weeks to receive your check.
If you have questions, please see the Q&A section at the bottom of this post. Also checkout this SlickDeals thread for additional details.
Here are the steps to follow:
Step 1: Choose a shopping portal:
You can get additional points or cash back by starting with a shopping portal. Some good choices are TopCashBack 5.5%, uPromise 5%, ShopDiscover 5%, and the Ultimate Rewards Mall 2 points per dollar.
Step 2: Add ten copies of “Kaspersky Anti-Virus 2013 for Windows (1-3 User) [Download]” to your cart:
TIP: Search for item 991094
And, add ten copies of “Kaspersky Anti-Virus 2013 for Windows (1 User) [Download]” to your cart
TIP: Search for item 982926
Step 3: Check out
TIP 1: If you have Staples’ rewards money, use it! 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.
TIP 3: Consider using coupon code 62355 to save $15 from your order. Caution: Some think that the use of the code will increase the chance of your order getting held up as “researching” and possibly eventually cancelled. I took the risk and did one order with the coupon and one without. The coupon is supposed to be limited to one time use per household.
Step 4: Submit Easy Rebates
You will receive an email from Staples with a link in it for submitting the rebates . It’s easy! Don’t forget to add all four rebates (two per product)!
TIP: The software rebate can be changed from a Visa gift card to a check! About 4 screens into the rebate process, you’ll see something like this (screenshot is from a previous rebate, not the current ones):
Click on “or see other options for my reward” and you’ll see this:
Q&A:
Same Item
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Q: In the past I’ve bought the exact same item for the rebate. Can I do this again?
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A: Yes. As long as the rebate number is different from your past purchases, you should qualify for a new rebate. This rebate is different from any I’ve posted about in the past.
Per Household Limit
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Q: Can I buy a copy for every friend I know?
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A: I don’t recommend it. I know at least one person who tried to do something similar, 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.
Ultimate Rewards Mall T&C
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Q: The Staples’ Terms and Conditions in the Ultimate Rewards Mall says “Not eligible on promotional items, technology, software, and electronics”. Shouldn’t this deal be ineligible since this is software? And, aren’t these free after rebate items “promotional”?
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A: In all past FAR deals, points have posted despite these terms & conditions, but there is always a risk that portal points won’t post.
Do I have to use a Chase credit card?
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Q: If I go through the Ultimate Rewards Mall to Staples, do I have to pay with a Chase credit card in order to get bonus points from the mall?
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A: No, you can use any credit card, but you may have better luck with a Chase card. For details and information about risks involved please see Ultimate Question.
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 4 to 6 weeks. In my experience, that estimate is fairly accurate.
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’ve bought in the past, but all rebates processed successfully.
Do Good
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Q: I don’t need this software. Is there someone I can send the license keys to that could make good use of this stuff?
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A: Check with your local schools or libraries. If someone can make good use of this software, then great!
| Chase's 5/24 Rule: With most Chase credit cards, Chase will not approve your application if you have opened 5 or more cards with any bank in the past 24 months. To determine your 5/24 status, see: 3 Easy Ways to Count Your 5/24 Status. The easiest option is to track all of your cards for free with Travel Freely. |
| Chase 5/24 semantics ("Subject to" vs. "Count towards"): Most Chase cards are subject to the 5/24 rule. That means the rule is enforced in making approval decisions. In other words, you probably won't get approved if your credit report shows that you opened 5 or more cards in the past 24 months. Meanwhile, most business cards (such as those from Chase, Amex, Barclaycard, BOA, Citi, US Bank, and Wells Fargo) are not reported on your personal credit report. These cards do not count towards 5/24. Example: Chase Ink Business Preferred is subject to 5/24, so you likely won't get approved if over 5/24. If you do get approved, it won't count towards 5/24 since it won't appear as an account on your credit report. |
| Amex credit and charge card limits: If you apply for a new Amex credit card, you may get turned down if you already have 5 or more Amex credit cards; or 10 or more Pay Over Time (AKA charge) cards. Both personal and business cards are counted together towards these limits. Authorized user cards are not counted. See also: Which Amex Cards are Charge Cards vs. Credit Cards? |
| Applying for Business Credit Cards Yes, you have a business: In order to sign up for a business credit card, you must have a business. That said, it's common for people to have businesses without realizing it. If you sell items at a yard sale, or on eBay, for example, then you have a business. Similar examples include: consulting, writing (e.g. blog authorship, planning your first novel, etc.), handyman services, owning rental property, renting on airbnb, driving for Uber or Lyft, etc. In any of these cases, your business is considered a Sole Proprietorship unless you form a corporation of some sort. When you apply for a business credit card as a sole proprietor, you can use your own name as your business name, use your own address and phone as the business' address and phone, and your social security number as the business' Tax ID / EIN. Alternatively, you can get a proper Tax ID / EIN from the IRS for free, in about a minute, through this website. Is it OK to use business cards for personal expenses? Anecdotally, almost everyone I know uses business cards for personal expenses. That said, the terms in most business card applications state that you should use the card only for business use. Also, some consumer credit card protections do not apply to business cards. My advice: don't use the card for personal expenses if you're not comfortable doing so. |
| Manufacturing Spend Caution: Many, many things can go wrong when manufacturing spend. If you suddenly increase credit card spend, your accounts may get shut down. If you cycle your balance often (e.g. spend to your limit, pay the bill, repeat) within a billing cycle, your accounts may get shut down. If you repeatedly pay your credit card bill from an anonymous bill payment source, your accounts may get shut down. If you buy lots of gift cards you may lose money due to gift card fraud, theft, loss, or simply mishandling those gift cards (e.g. maybe you thought you already used a gift card and tossed it into your “used” bin). If you rely on only one method to liquidate gift cards, you may be stuck unable to pay your credit card bill when that method gets shut down. In other words, don’t try this at home unless you know what you’re doing, and you understand and accept the risks.. |
| Chase Ultimate Rewards points are super valuable and super flexible. At the most basic level, points can be redeemed for cash or merchandise, but you'll only get one cent per point value that way. A better option is to use points for travel. When points are used to book travel through the Ultimate Rewards portal, points are worth 1.25 cents each with premium cards (Sapphire Preferred or Ink Business Preferred, for example) or 1.5 cents each with the ultra-premium Sapphire Reserve card. Another great option is to transfer points from a premium or ultra-premium card to an airline or hotel program when high value awards are available (see this post for details). If your points are tied to a no-fee "cash back" Ultimate Rewards card, then first move those points to a premium or ultra-premium card before redeeming them in order to get better value. |
| Amex Membership Rewards points can be incredibly valuable if you know how to use them. In general, if you use Membership Rewards points to pay for merchandise or travel, you won't get good value from your points. One exception is with the Business Platinum card where you'll get a 35% point rebate when using points to book certain flights. This gives you approximately 1.5 cents per point value, which is pretty good. Another exception is with the Business Gold Card where you'll get a 25% point rebate when using points to book certain flights. This gives you approximately 1.33 cents per point value. If you don't have either card, then your best bet is to transfer points to airline miles in order to book high value awards. More details can be found here: Amex Membership Rewards Complete Guide. |
| Marriott points can be redeemed for free night awards, travel packages, airline miles, or experiences. 5th Night Free Awards: When redeeming points for free nights, the 5th night within a single reservation is free. Airline miles: Points can be converted to airline miles at a rate of 3 points to 1 mile. With many programs, a bonus is added on when you transfer 60,000 points at a time, such that 60,000 points transfers to 25,000 miles. Also, you'll get a 10% bonus when transferring points to United Airlines. Everything you need to know about Marriott's rewards program, Bonvoy, can be found here: Marriott Bonvoy Complete Guide |
| Editor’s Note: This guest post was written by the same guy who showed you how to fly round trip to Africa (DC to Senegal) for 50,000 points, how to book business class to Europe for 80,000 miles roundtrip, and more. You can find John’s website and award booking service here: theflyingmustache.com/awardbooking. -Greg The Frequent Miler |
Amex Application Tips
Check application status here. |
Chase Application Tips
Call (888) 338-2586 to check your application status |
Citi Application Tips
Check application status here. |
Bank of America Application Tips
Click here to check your application status |
Barclays Application Tips
Consumer: Click here to check your application status |
Capital One Application Tips
To check application status, call (800) 903-9177 or (877) 277-5901 |
Discover Application Tips
Click here to check your application status |
TD Bank Application Tips
Call (888) 561-8861 to check your application status |
US Bank Application Tips
Call (800) 947-1444 to check your application status. |
Wells Fargo Application Tips
Check application status here. |
Under certain circumstances consumer Visa cards don't work with Plastiq. The following payments are fine:
|
In order to meet minimum spend requirements, people often look for options to increase spend in ways that result in getting their money back. These techniques are referred to as "manufacturing spend". American Express has terms in their welcome offers that exclude some manufactured spend techniques from counting towards the minimum spend requirements for the welcome bonus offer. For example, most new cardmember bonuses have terms like this:
Eligible purchases to meet the Threshold Amount do NOT include fees or interest charges, purchases of travelers checks, purchases or reloading of prepaid cards, purchases of gift cards, person-to-person payments, or purchases of other cash equivalents.That said, many techniques for meeting minimum spend are perfectly fine. Here are some techniques that are safe for meeting Amex minimum spend requirements (click each link for more information): |
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| We have added this to our running list of Black Friday deals, which will be constantly updated through Cyber Monday with a mix of gift card deals, merchandise deals, and travel deals. Check back often. |
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If anyone doesn’t plan to use their product keys, please forward them to me. I could use some extras. samdory (at) gmail.com Thanks!
Looks like it was reported earlier, but nice to get a surprise profit of $100. Spent $800. got $900 check today plus all the UR. Need more of these.
Received all my checks today!!
My antivirus is going to expire and don’t want AVG (because of the tag line)… anyone have a spare link and serial code… if so, I am at leetrade (at) hotma.. (you know the rest). Thanks in advance… Lee
How many days will it take for me to receive rebate check after I see “validation complete”?
One of the four offers now says “Invalid Purchase Date” and another says “Invalid – You cannot take advantage of the selected offer because you already selected an offer for this product.”
Sent an email and got a reply:
“I apologize but your rebates are currently invalid. You will need to submit proof of purchase by providing the receipts if bought in store or the email confirmation or packing slips if bought online. You can submit this by fax or mail. please allow 2 weeks by mail or 5 days by fax for processing”
Ok. So I faxed. We’ll see…
Got postcards in the mail telling me two of the rebates were invalid. Did a quick online chat today and the agent marked everything as “validated” so I’m expecting 4 checks total 🙂
Andreas: +1 here. Should hopefully mail soon.
mine shows “validation complete” now. So on track to get $900 rebate check! Thanks FM!!
bill: I also ordered on the 3rd, but in the Staples system, it says my order date was the 4th. I spoke with a rebate center supervisor who said I would need to fax them a request to fix the order date along with proof of it being the 3rd. Otherwise, they’ll only honor the two rebates that were valid on the 4th. So I faxed them a letter of explanation, along with a copy of the order confirmation email they sent me on the 3rd (it’s dated the 3rd), and screen shots (from this post) show the product FREE after rebates. I just faxed that in yesterday, so I don’t know what the outcome will be, but I figure with this kind of evidence, if Staples decides not to do the right thing, at least I’ll have a good case ready to go if I need to dispute the charges with my credit card as a last resort. Want the fax number??? 🙂 It’s 866-964-7069. That’s the Staples Rebate Center fax. Good luck!
Got two postcards in the mail saying that Staples wouldn’t honor two of my purchases for the Kaspersky Anti Virus 1 user. One said “Invalid Purchase Date”, which is untrue — it was made on 3/3 in the middle of the afternoon EST. The other said “All required products were not submitted”, which doesn’t make any sense. Any ideas?
bill: I know it’s a pain, but I think you’ll have to call and convince them to fix it for you
Has anyone had their rebate status change from “validation in progress”?
I also got the “Please choose one of the rebate offers below.”
After a brief online chat with EasyRebates:
“I’ve sent the information off to Staples. They will confirm you qualify for the rebates and have them processed accordingly. We will have a response within the next 7 to 10 days. Sorry for any confusion or inconvenience this caused.”
Seems like this CSR was familiar with this set of offers and hopefully everything will go smoothly.
Staples cancelled my order after I didn’t return a phone call. “Free” points are not worth that much trouble.
hanly2: It sounds like you went through the Ultimate Rewards Mall that offers 2 points per dollar at Staples. So, the email says that from the Mall you’re getting 2X. That’s fine. You’ll also get 5X automatically on your statement if you paid with your Ink card.
Wow that would be even better since, I didn’t even go through the mall!
Ok so I was able to get in on this deal no problems with rebates and all, BUT I just got a email from chase ink saying that I earned extra points, Then I see that they only gave me 2ppd instead of 5ppd so what gives? Should I call and say something to Chase?
@Sandy
Not screenshots but this might help:
Kaspersky Anti-Virus 1 user 03/03-03/16
https://www.stapleseasyrebates.com/promocenter/staples/promo_detail.html?productId=7752110&bundleId=1791999
Kaspersky Anti-Virus 1 user 02/17-03/03
https://www.stapleseasyrebates.com/promocenter/staples/promo_detail.html?productId=7732016&bundleId=1790206
Kaspersky Anti-Virus 3 user 03/03-03/16
https://www.stapleseasyrebates.com/promocenter/staples/promo_detail.html?productId=7750011&bundleId=1791840
Kaspersky Anti-Virus 3 user 02/17-03/03
https://www.stapleseasyrebates.com/promocenter/staples/promo_detail.html?productId=7734111&bundleId=1790480
Sandy: Can you use the screenshots in the post itself?
Does anyone have a screenshot of this offer from Sunday 3/3? Staples is challenging me on it, saying that I can’t get two rebates on one product in one order. Hoping someone here took a screenshot since I neglected to.
FM posted it in his blog entry above. Here it is again..
http://slickdeals.net/f/5885834-KASPERSKY-Antivirus-staples-free-or-making-some-Today-only-Good-chance-to-redeem-your-rewards?page=25
TCB reported cash back overnight for the Staples orders. Payable in approximately 9 weeks. So it is official — for my $784.80 investment I am getting $900 in Staples rebates, $43.16 in TCB and 3,924 UR points. Thanks for posting this deal FM!
@Gabriel – Can you post a link to the Slickdeals thread…? I’m a “ordered at 10pm PST on 3/3” case that’s having a hard time getting them to honor…
why is everyone here having such a different time here than on the slick deals thread? that’s interesting. i too had the “2nd order” and i submitted both rebates for both products on the original order as well as the 2 rebates that it let me submit on the new order. Still waiting for ones to be either validated or “invalid”…but apparently everyone calling in about the “invalid” rebate on slickdeals has staples honoring it for them.
I just got done with several chats, emails, and phone calls because they weren’t going to honor this. After all that, now I got a call for the last person who I called (who was very helpful) that a message has been sent to the rebate center for them to honor this deal.
I am so glad I cancelled my order, or better yet, that Staples even let me do so. I understand sometimes you have to take risks and get creative in the points game, but this is just ridiculous.
I too had my 1-user March 3 order converted to a March 4 order and although the Staples rebate center and Staples (different entities) saw what happened they refused to honor the rebate since it was after the deadline. They did however charge my credit card multiple times for the 1-user software. After I called, they said they would refund me the charges.
TCB updated my account to show $43.99 pending from this Staples purchase. Awesome deal, will profit $144.19 plus 4000 UR points!
Finally after 3 calls, 2 chats – all my rebates are in valid status. For people with same issue as me, Staples created a new order # with March 5 date and this seems to have caused issues. I gave new order # and rep was able to verify everything.
Just received this email from Staples:
We received information for this/these product(s):
ESD KASPERSKY ANTI-VIRUS
ESD KASPERSKY ANTI-VIRUS
Currently, there are several rebate offers available for this product. Lucky you! Please click below to choose the promotion you’d like to receive: [LINK]…
Then I click the link in the email and this is what I see:
Our records show that an earlier rebate submission exists for this product. Under the terms of the offer, you are only eligible for one rebate. Please choose one of the rebate offers below.
Note: If you don’t make a selection, you will automatically receive the rebate value of your most recent submission for this offer.
And my personal rebate screen says this:
Status: Hold for campaign selection
This is frustrating. I’m going to have them call them although it seems like others already have and Staples won’t budge.
All $900 in rebate checks now show validation in progress. Everything is looking good on the Staples side. Now just waiting for TCB to report cash back.
My status is like Sam but my order was not canceled. New order data shows March 5 and rebate shows ‘invalid UPC’. I have to make few calls tomorrow or dispute it with cc. One rebate is good where as second 20$ is showing as invalid.
Staples cancelled the part of my order for the 1 user version 29.99 each and created a new order dated 3/5 so now it is probably not valid for the rebate. Plus I get an error message when I try to check the rebate status. This is not looking good…
@allure : I’m in the same situation as you. Planning to dispute with CC too.
I’m in the same boat as Justin P. and FM.
Jaymar01: i got the same email as you too. And the new order got issued with the 3/4 date and now staple is not allowing me to apply the rebate that ended on 3/3 even though i explained that i placed the original order on 3/3 and they reissued a new order as replacement on 3/4!! I tried to cancel and they don’t even let me cancel the order as it was software download! Guess i have to dispute with my credit card.
Finally just got my license keys! Now just waiting for rebate status to update (submitted on Sunday). Fingers still crossed!
Justin P: Same for me
Just got my 20 product keys via email and my order status is no longer “researching”. So far so good. Submitted Rebate on the 3rd still says awaiting validation.
it come’s out that i paid only $785 and i’m getting back $900 in checks! ($250,$250,$200,$200)
is this as posted, or a mistake?
So, my 11am order from yesterday went through. Got back from skiing to find that i got the same email around 10am as Jaymar01 did and then about 3pm all the CDKeys from 20 copies of Kaspresky came in. Submitted my rebates without any issue. I assume I’ll see a verified status change from Staples tomorrow.
[…] Frequent Miler put out a brilliant post yesterday about a way to get free points, meet minimum spend, and even earn some money in the process via Free After Rebate offers at Staples.com. I spent a few minutes of my time yesterday racing with the clock to get my order in. Unfortunately it looks like the deal has died. […]
I submitted the rebate and it showed the $20 check x2 but it didn’t show the quantity of the check (I bought 10 of 1-user product). Is it normal? I should receive the rebates for all 10, correct?
Ha: Yes, that’s normal. You should still receive the rebate $ for all 10
I had same problem as Angeleno228, 2 rebates were invalid. I called up and spoke to a nice rep who was not sure why it was invalid.
Long story short: he changed both to valid and said website takes one day to show updated status. I can see 13-49541 as invalid but other one turned to valid.
I bought the products as soon as FM posted(10:30 am PT) and used 15$ coupon.
Angeleno228 , can you please keep us posted?
will i get 10 of each rebate automaticaly? or do i need to enter 10 times the same rebate? or maybe i will only get back for 1 of each even i took 10?!?
2 of my 4 rebates are shown as invalid also. My order was early in the day so that is not the issue. I think maybe it is because I submitted the rebate before receiving the link for the downloads. Didn’t get that until this afternoon for the 1-user version.
@Greg The Frequent Miler, I sent an inquiry online, let’s see what they say. If I don’t see any updates by later today, I am thinking of canceling the order for product 982926. Thanks for your input.
@Stubtify; I’m was in the exact same boat and did the same. Cancelled my order over the phone earlier this morning.
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I cancelled my order, which was placed after 9pm Pacific. Spoke to the rebate center who said it looked like it would be denied. While I had the screenshots and such I just don’t have the energy to deal with explaining something that should be simple to understand but for some reason is not. It seems like the concept of time zones is lost on Staples.
was able to cancel via online chat
FM,
same like Angelina228 here, 3-49541 and 13-48586 as “invalid, while the 13-49542 & 13-48584 are fine and processed. Ill wait another day and see what happens.
If not do you think we can cancel and contest since this was their offer? plus they charged me tax $55 that did not show up and was showing tax as zero when i paid. Any ideas?
Lucy G / Angeleno228: If I were in that situation I would call to see if they could cancel the order completely.
Just got the following two emails from Staples at 10:00 am pst (covering both orders).
“Valued Staples Customer,
Due to high demand for the Kaspersky software advertised on Sunday, March 3, 2013, your order (Staples order number listed above) is still being processed. We apologize for the delay and appreciate your patience while we work to process your order.
We value every order we receive and we apologize with the utmost sincerity for any inconvenience this may caused.
If you have further questions regarding your order, please contact us at support@orders.staples.com or 800-333-3330. Please reference your order # and we will be happy to assist you.
Thank you for choosing Staples.
Sincerely,
Staples Customer Service
Still wondering if anyone got the download codes for the second product. My order shows ten shipped (actually just emailed) for the three-user product, but zero shipped for the single-user product. I believe Angelina’s was showing the same way. I went ahead and submitted all four rebates anyway. Fingers crossed.
Anyone getting the rebate offers 13-49541 and 13-48586 as “invalid”? It’s the $20 ones that I am having problems with. That is bad news if they will not honor. My other 2x $25 (rebate offers 13-49542 & 13-48584) ones are fine and I got an email they are processing.
Angeleno228: So far all of mine say “Submission received. Validation in progress”
Order cancelled. Dodged a bullet there. After much explaining to Staples they allowed me to cancel my order. A few things learned, 1. Staples doesn’t care about time zones, 2. screen shots are invaluable, 3. explaining an ordeal over the phone that is as “complicated”? as this is near impossible, 4. That was Easy……not!!
The 2 item numbers are now displaying 1 rebate each. #991094 has a price of $24.99 after rebate, and #982926 is $9.99 after rebate.
I ordered on 3/3 at 1020-1030 PST, but was already 3/4 EST. Let us know if you hear anything…I would hate to be out $350 after rebates. They should give the option of canceling the orders if they don’t honor all 4 rebates.
@Evan–13-48584,13-49542,13-48586,13-49541
Does anyone have the 4 rebate offer numbers?
@ Caveman. No, you are fine. There are two rebates for each product with each rebate having a limit of 10. So technically there are 4 x 10 = 40 rebates.
Where does it say “two rebates” I ordered ten of each. Did I mess up ?
I know its not 3/3 anymore, but the screen is still displaying both rebates. Anyone think I will be able to get both if I order both now?
Yeah, the website says what it says FAR!!! and the time zone issue maybe can be cleared up by calling Staples. The problem is the time involved in chasing all this stuff down and staying on top of it. Staples does not allow refunds on download software (according to some at slick deals) so it will be harder to try and cancel if they want to deny rebates. only option would be to dispute with chase and try and explain a $800 charge that was supposed to be free
@ Marie; Thanks for the data point. I feel like Staples should honor the rebates even for those in the Eastern Time Zone, especially since it still says “Free” and that the offer expires on 3/9/2013.
@Evan, Heidi, mulbry, kiddad—I went in the Staples site and the products still show “Free” with two rebates. It is 10:59pm Pacific Time.
It’s not clear that you get multiple rebates if you purchase multiple copies. One does need to be careful to apply for both $25 rebates.
@Marie – Hmmm, mine came through at 9:54 pacific. Maybe the rebate center is Central time zone?
@Heidi—I got “Thanks for submitting your rebate” email at 10:35pm pacific time and the date submitted 3/4/13.
I was having the same thoughts about time zones. If Stapels does not honor or extend the rebate period I will dispute the charge with Chase.
Ha. so now we know the main website is clocked in the eastern united states and the rebate center is somewhere on the west coast.
Ooh, I just checked my rebate status on Staples.com (via link in the rebate reciept email titled “Thanks for submitting your rebate!”) and it shows the date rebate submitted as 3/03/13. That is promising.
Hmm, where on the email does it show the date of order? I can’t see any date on mine. I also took screen shots, but clipped them, and the clock does not show. I’m sure we will learn a lot about time zones and rebates with this one 🙂
@Heidi—I found the rebate numbers. Thank you
Since I ordered after 9pm pacific time, the order date shown is 3/4/13. Can we still submit the rebate? Return download software?
got my order in with screen shots on 3/3/2013 mountain time. email confirmation came instantly saying i purchased 03/04/2013. i’m guessing staples.com is running on eastern time zone? i already checked T&C and found nothing about time zones for purchase by rules. not looking good. has anybody returned download software before?
@kiddad – yep, I found them.
@Marie – follow Kiddad’s advice, go back to the items on the Staples site, click on the lower blue rebate link and it will give you the number. HTH
@heidi: same thing happened to me–only two codes. But if you go back and look up the items on Staples.com, you can see both codes per item ( look at the details link for the rebate). I entered all four and appeared to work. Good luck!
Okay, I had to manually go find the other two rebate numbers, but they seem to have gone through okay. We’ll see. Crossing fingers.
FM:
I ordered 10 each. I got only 2 rebate offer numbers, not 4. One rebate gets a $25 Visa Prpaid Card and the other rebate gets $20 Visa Prpaid Card. Am I supposed to get 4 rebate offer numbers? Thanks for your help.
Offer is live!!
I just went back to look again, and they were back in stock. I was able to get 10 of each. I’m really hoping that the rebate is still good, as I am in the Pacific time zone. Not sure this will all work out, as on the printable reciept there is only one rebate for each item listed, not the two that FM mentioned.
Do i have to submit the easy rebate on 03/03 to get the overlapping rebate? Or I only need to purchase on that date?
So FM, I hope you did not miss the deal 🙂
@FM – lol. While they are at it, maybe folks at OD could find a some working $500 cards in the back.
Shoot, waited too long. Love how a download is “out of stock’!
I was hoping that someone at Staples would rummage around in their warehouse and find more downloads, but no luck so far.
I struck out on both. They are both out of stock. Should have done it right away, I guess. darn….
Can’t get it to work for me either. Crappola!
@Preacher, it is possible to sell out digital downloads. Each purchase comes with a username and password and if they run out of those, they can’t sell anymore. Some digital downloads, like iTunes songs, can never be sold out, so there is a difference in digital downloads.
I am little confused, I still the overlapping SKU’S that expire today and start today – are you saying do double amount of each SKU? Either way, once they come back in stock, there will be some SKU’s available for download, just not as much total $?
Good grief – just noticed step 4 after asking a dumb question about getting prepaid VISA cards. I actually did the first one using that option, so I guess I should get ten of those and a check for the second ten. Brilliant 🙂
Oh well, my grocery store is very kind about running down the balance on prepaids.
Thanks everyone!
There’s no such thing as being OOS on DDs, Gregory is right. Staples is just limiting their losses b/c someone messed up on their rebate dates.
OOS on a digital download… what a crock!
Angelina – I got the same thing. I have the confirmation email for the first ten, but not the second ten. Has anyone received it for the second ten.
Everyone – has anyone completed the rebates yet? My receipt mentions $20 and $25 VISA gift cards where it lists the rebate offer numbers. Am I going to end up with $800 in VISA gift cards in $20 and $25 denominations?
FM – this is my first foray into the FAR thing – thanks for the post!
Both are out of stock!!!!
Do you know do they go off of mailing address or billing address? Could my wife just put my parents address?
i was looking to buy an antivirus anyway but it seems to be out of stock right now. If anyone bought extras and wont use the code, I’d appreciate it 🙂
So does this count toward your Million Mile March? 😀
Lucy G- You enter one rebate, click “next” then enter the 2nd one till you are finished all 4.
I received my 10 product keys for the first item (#991094), but still haven’t received an email containing my other 10 product keys for the 2nd item. Anyone else?
Yeah, rather annoying…it said “researching” after I place the order and now it’s saying “out of stock” on the status page. I haven’t officially been notified by email yet and the charge went though on my credit card (although it’s just a pending charge). So we’ll see what happens, but it’s not looking good…
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@Gabriel uh oh…
DAMNIT…my order from 11am got changed to OUT OF STOCK
OUT OF STOCK!
FM , i received the email with the rebate link, i placed one order for 10 of each, so i have one order number with 4 rebate numbers, do i enter all 4 rebate numbers at once?
I also ended up paying $55 tax although on the checkout screen it showed tax 0 , if all works well i guess i should accept the $55 tax charge.
No luck. Still out of stock
how long does it take for validation to be completed. I bought earlier on and submitted my rebate
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I’m in for 10 of each (as of 11AM MST). My order is still “researching”…so hoping for the best!
Currently out of stock. Shouldn’t have waited.
While submitting the easy rebate for an order of 10, do we need to submit 10 easy rebate requests, or will one request take care of all 10 orders?
Moses K: Only submit 1 rebate per rebate number. Since each product has two rebates, you need to submit a total of four if you bought both products. It doesn’t matter how many of each product you bought.
Shows up as out of stock when I try adding to cart 🙁
Dead for me, too.
I used the $15 coupon along with Staples Easy Rebate before. The coupon doesn’t affect the rebate and the full amount of the rebate came at the mail so I made $15.
Hmm, just tried to repeat and now can’t add 991094 to the cart. Maybe I was one of the last one to get in. 🙂
Still alive for me. Just ordered 10 of item 991094 (982926 is showing out of stock).
Both still show as available to me. Keep trying. Maybe try a different browser…
Sorry, my mistake. When I try to add to the cart it doesn’t work. I’d recommend trying again in a few hours.
Deal Dead. I am way late today! 🙁
Thanks for the post though
Online and boxed are all out of stock.
Deal is dead!
Both now gone. Thanks though.
One of them became out of stock as I was checking out. Then the other said delivery would be delayed until Tuesday. Was able to run my card thru for $500 – hoping it all clears!
any reason not to get the boxed version now that the download is out of stock?
Both are out of stock now.
If I use Shop Discover, do I have to use the Discover cars as their T&C state? Thanks
1-3 user is working. The other one is sold out. Thanks FMiler!
Just made the purchased and submitted the easy rebate. Fingers crossed for it to go through!
awesome, put in my orders using my Chase Ink card last month and just $200 away from the $5000 spending to get 50k points!
Deal dead? Ordered 10 download version (1 user) and when i check status says “out of stock”, Anyone else seeing this?
Does anybody know how long your cash back takes to show up on top cash back portal? This was my first time buying through them and it didn’t show up instantly. Tanks
@MSPtraveler, the two boxed deals you spoke of are OUT OF STOCK. Unfortunately.
nevermind, rebate check is def. better way to go.
Thanks! Trying to meet the $10K spend on the Amex Bix Gold CC. This definitely helps.
On your MMS spreadsheet, row 16, column M, aren’t you expecting a $500 rebate for the second FAR purchase?
Jack L: Yes, $500 + 5.5% back via TCB. I did mess up on the row above, though. Now fixed. Thanks.
I ordered 10 each , total came to $799.80 , all good, received email to download and invoice showing they charged me state tax of $55? it was not showing when i paid , the total was showing as $799.80 , any advise ???
@tom read response #34
Data Point: Just got the fulfillment mail for one order(3 users) and Rebate submitted. Now waiting for the single user download fulfillment email.
Tip: Wait till you receive the confirmation email before submitting for Rebate.
@FM – Thanks, this is a great find. In for 10+10. 🙂 I did not use the coupon.
@Elizabeth: How do you come up with $158.36 profit plus 3,942 UR points? 5.5% on $900 is $49.50. Even with the $15 coupon, I don’t follow your math.
Just wondering did you place one whole order of 10 each or 10 single orders? I checked the easyrebate and it say there is only one rebate of each for the whole order of 10. Is that correct?
@Elizabeth, I have feeling Staples might cancel the orders that are priced incorrectly. Just a hunch. But might as well go and submit an order
Too risky for me. Gonna pass and not worth the hassle if they don’t pay up.
@Sweetsavage77 – The 1-user is only $29.99 per copy but it has $40 in rebates. Unless they cancel your order, you should earn $10.01 extra on each copy in addition to cash back/points earned. Same goes for the 3-user as it has $50 in rebates and you are only paying $49.99 so you earn a penny on each. 😛
The second item is listed as price $29.99, the rebate was $20*2=$40. is that mean you make $10 for each copy of Kaspersky Anti-Virus 2013 for Windows (1-User) [Download]???
Anyone else notice the 1-user is $30 with $40 in rebates, so you’ll actually make $100 if you buy 10 copies of it. Here’s hoping they don’t correct the mistake…
I think I see the answer to my question. The other two are boxed products, while the two you list are downloadable.
I am also seeing FAR for 957339 and 957340 in addition to the two you list (991094 and 982926). Is it possible to do 10 of each of the 4?
Yeah, that makes sense ($15 versus 75 points) – I wasn’t thinking that we’d be able to get the full amount before coupon back as a rebate.
so basically, this is like buying $400 worth of staples gift cards and getting software that you might never use as a mac owner? can you use visa gift cards and get points ala the double dip?
@Sweet, she is probably including the topcashback into the cslculations.
as far as you know, has anyone ever had this not work when they’re not using a coupon?
Full circle now FM, this is where I got on board with you last year in Feb/Mar. doing 4x/5x UR Staples Easy Rebates. Nice find.
Why only 10? Is there a limit on the number of rebates you can file? Any chance it’s only 1 per household?
Really hard to get everything to work properly on an iPhone. Will pass on this today and hope a similar offer comes around soon.
FM: I followed exactly as you did. I’m in Florida but I set up the pickup store in San Diego CA. Now my status shows “researching”, with a message saying “We’re sorry, but problems with your order may prevent us from delivering it on time.” Will this be a problem or will it be resolved by itself? Btw, no download link sent to me yet..
Thanks FM. In for 10+10. If this works out, should end up with $158.36 profit plus 3,924 UR points using $15 coupon, $900 in rebates, 5.5% TopCashBack and Ink Bold. Both orders are in Researching, so fingers crossed.
@elizabeth, how did you come up with $158.36?
900 in rebates VS actual price of 799.00? Will they pay you more in rebates then you actually spend? Thanks
Do you happen to know whether this requires submitting each rebate request 10 times (once per applicable item purchased)? Because that would result in 40 separate rebates to request and then track. If so, this is probably not worth the hassle (at least for me).
@Jerry, if for example, you spend 785 (800-15) and get 800 back in a check. Do you value 15×5=75 points more than $15?
I think SL’s question was, why bother applying a coupon if we’re not paying anything out of pocket? In other words, why decrease your spend?
Jerry: Ah, yes. The cash back is worth more than the points (as Grant said)
Jonathan: Just submit each rebate once. You’ll get one check per rebate.
lol, people need to read carefully before asking stupid questions. most of the answers are all in the post.
Update: Just checked order status. Says “Researching”. I didn’t use the Coupon but i did set my order to ship to a store in NH with a billing address in MI. We’ll see what happens.
How does one use Staples gift cards on this order? Am I stupid in not being able to find a spot to enter the gift card info?
I did both. Didnt use coupon. Thanks!
Why not buy 1500 of these, earn your 600,000 points, add them to the 400k you got on 3/1 for CC signup, and declare the March Madness complete on Day 3?
hobo13: LOL. I’m crazy, but not that crazy
Gabriel: Sadly, Staples gift cards can’t be used online.
@Dan – it’s probably a fat finger mistake. There are two eligible rebates, one of which ends today and one which begins today. The first one was probably supposed to end yesterday, but it was entered incorrectly.
don’t like why you suggested using the $15 rebate. I don’t pay anything for it and the charge is now $15 less
SL: Sorry, but I don’t understand your comment.
I’m in. Thx miler
I did both and used only one coupon. My order is in research mode now and fingers crossed till i get my download confirmation email .
Nice catch if it all works, why today only, the offer says good until 3/9/13? Thanks.
Thanks FM. Question though –
You say “I took the risk and did one order with the coupon and one without”
How did you make two orders? Isn’t there is a limit of one per household?
2 questions, why 10 copies? Why not as many as you could afford to go 6 weeks without?
Could your wife with different card different portal and different email do this also to help meet minimum spend on an additional card? Also my two adult children who each have their own business copy of my Amex business gold card. Could they do this with all different info same as wife above EXCEPT all have same living address? Thanks a bunch.
Sweetsavage77: The rebate T&C say limit 10 per household. If friends/family live in different households then yes, of course they can apply for these rebates too.
AsanteSana: I bought 10 copies of one product in one order and 10 copies of the other product in another order. The “one per household” limit is for using the coupon. You’re only supposed to use it once
Dan: One of the two rebates expire end of day today. It will be interesting to see what happens tomorrow. Will they add a new rebate? Possibly, but I wouldn’t risk waiting.