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OfficeMax is currently offering a free $25 OfficeMax gift card with any online purchase of $200 or more. Enter promo code GIFTCARD at checkout. Limit 1 per customer.
With most promotions like these, OfficeMax excludes technology and gift cards, but they have no such exclusions this time. I was able to order OfficeMax and Lands’ End gift cards, and I successfully used the promo code:
If you spend $250 or less, pay with any credit card that offers bonus points at Office Supply stores (see “Best Category Bonuses“). If you spend more than $250, your best option is to pay with an American Express business card that offers OPEN Savings. With orders over $250, you’ll get a 10% refund as a statement credit from American Express (but only a 5% refund if you spend $250 or less). The best deal of all is if you use the American Express Simply Cash card which offers both an office supply category bonus (5%) and OPEN Savings! Keep in mind that OfficeMax OPEN Savings apply only to online orders.
What’s the best deal?
For this analysis, I’ll assume you have an American Express business card, but not the Simply Cash card. Let’s look at some scenarios:
Scenario 1: Buy $200 in OfficeMax gift cards
OfficeMax does not charge any fees with their own gift cards, so the total would come to $200 exactly. If you pay with an Amex business card, you’ll get 5% back, and if you use the promo code, GIFTCARD, you’ll get $25 additional value:
- Total Cost: $200 – 5% (OPEN Savings) = $190
- Value: $200 + $25 = $225
- Cost as % of Value = $190 / $225 = 84.4%
- Savings = 15.6%
Scenario 2: Buy $200 in OfficeMax gift cards & $50 in merchant gift cards
OfficeMax charges a 99 cent fee for each merchant gift card they sell. If you pay with an Amex business card and spend more than $250, you’ll get 10% back. So, a good way to get just over $250 is to buy $200 worth of OfficeMax gift cards and $50 worth of merchant gift cards (Home Depot, Nordstrom, Lands End, etc.):
- Total Cost: $250.99 – 10% (OPEN Savings) = $225.89
- Value: $250 + $25 = $275
- Cost as % of Value = $225.89 / $275 = 82.1%
- Savings = 17.9%
Scenario 3: Buy $275 in OfficeMax gift cards
If you pay with an Amex business card and spend more than $250, you’ll get 10% back. So, let’s look at the numbers if you buy only OfficeMax gift cards:
- Total Cost: $275 – 10% (OPEN Savings) = $247.50
- Value: $275 + $25 = $300
- Cost as % of Value = $247.50 / $300 = 82.5%
- Savings = 17.5%
Scenario 4: Buy $200 OfficeMax gift cards without Amex OPEN Savings
I realize that not all readers have American Express business cards, so let’s look at the optimal savings that can be achieved without OPEN Savings. Buy $200 worth of OfficeMax gift cards:
- Total Cost: $200
- Value: $200 + $25 = $225
- Cost as % of Value = $200 / $225 = 88.9%
- Savings = 11.1%
Still pretty good, especially if you earn 5 points per dollar from your credit card at office supply stores!
Merchant Gift Cards
Here is a list of merchant gift cards sold online by OfficeMax (quoted from this SlickDeals post):
Applebee’s, Bass Pro, Bed Bath & Beyond, BJ’s Restaurants, Black Angus, Brinker / Multi-Brand Design Gift Card, Buca Di Beppo, Build A Bear, Cabela’s, Catherines Gift Card, Chili’s Gift Card, Claire’s, Cold Stone, Cracker Barrel, Express, Fandango, IHOP, iTunes, JCPenney Gift Card, Jiffy Lube, Justice / Limited Too Gift Card, Kohls, Lands’ End, Lane Bryant Gift Card, Macaroni Grill Gift Card, Maggiano’s Gift Card, Michaels, Nike, Nordstrom, OfficeMax, Omaha Steaks, On the Border Gift Card, Outback Steakhouse, PF Chang’s, Pizza Hut, Red Robin, Regal Entertainment, REI Gift Card, Ruby Tuesday, Sephora, SpaFinder, Starbucks, TGI Fridays, The Home Depot, TJ Maxx
From a resale perspective, the best options are probably Nordstrom and Home Depot. For gift card churning I like Lands’ End since their gift cards can be used at Sears and Kmart (see “the mysterious gift card rack“).
OfficeMax gift cards
Yes, OfficeMax gift cards can be used in-store to buy other gift cards, but only if the cashier / store manager allows it. I’ve never had any trouble, but many readers have said they have been turned away. One good option may be to go to an OfficeMax store to buy $200 Visa gift cards and pay $200 of each gift card with a credit card and pay the $6.95 fee with OfficeMax gift cards. I haven’t tried this, but it might work.
I do not think that OfficeMax.com would allow you to use OfficeMax gift cards online to buy other gift cards, but if you try it please let me know.
Portal Shopping
Don’t bother trying to go through an online portal to OfficeMax to get additional points or cash back when buying gift cards. Numerous experiments have shown that OfficeMax doesn’t pay out for these.
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[…] suspicion from that error message was the Office Max gift card mistake. I believe it was the large volume of Home Depot cards that were coming in and caused a fraud alert […]
Unclesam: it depends on the store manager / cashier whether they would allow it or not. Some do, some don’t.
Can you buy Visa GC with Officemax GC in store? If so, it may be great deal to buy Office max GC online with a simply cash card and earn 15% cash back and then buy the $200 Visa GC in store with Office max GC.
Wikipedia:
SKU refers to a stock-keeping unit, a unique identifier for each distinct product and service that can be purchased in business.
What’s an SKU?
Gift cards are removed when they are out of stock.
There is a limit 5 SKUs per customer, after that Office Max will automatically cancel your order.
It appears the gift cards have been removed from the website.
Thank you so much for posting this.
Credit card was charged. However, when I track the order online it says I should call the number to find out more info and information on the order is not available. Anyone have this? What’s going on with these orders?
@miles professor: Thanks, and please let me know if it works. I agree that most times it makes sense to buy the gift card from an office store, but UR is giving 8X pts for Sephora this month. That’s a nice little bonus, especially if you can double dip.
ps. I read your blog post on Sephora. It was helpful, and good to know you still get points even after using promo codes.
@ajshin: Apologies for the misunderstanding. I have not. I get 7 points per dollar from Staples (2 for UR Mall + 5 for Ink Bold) and have found that to be a safer better offer than most months at UR Mall Sephora. I may try that, though, on a $25 gift card and see what happens. I’ll try to use one of the Visa gift cards I bought at OM and the Chase Card.
@miles professor: Thanks for the response. But more specifically, have you tried buying the gift card directly from Sephora and getting UR pts?
@Diane – you could try buying something such as toner, getting the gift card, and then returning the toner. But that would make you a pathetic scumbag. Do you think FrequentMiler would appreciate it if you bought one of his items he resells online, broke it, and then returned it to him saying it never worked?
hell, the numbers still add up buying office max cards if gift card granny can be trusted and i finagle the 4% from cardpool…..
dag nab it! I waited too long! All the resellable cards are gone.