May 21-27: Buy $300+ in VISA Gift Card, Get $20 Staples Gift Card via EasyRebate

This recurring promotion is coming back at Staples brick and mortar stores for the shopping week of May 21-27 in 2017. The terms are as before, if you buy $300 or more in prepaid VISA gift cards (in a single transaction), the cash register will spit out (or email if you have email-only receipts) an EasyRebate offer that will get you a $20 Staples Gift Card after a few weeks. EasyRebates can be submitted online using data from the cash register receipt. You don’t have to mail anything or make any photocopies. Very easy.

As usual, this is profitable if you can get to $300+ with two gift cards (or in very rare cases if you can find one). That’s because each card has an activation fee which eats up your $20 bonus.

This offer is particularly good if you have a credit card that gives you 5% cashback on office supplies, such as some of the Chase Ink cards.

Staples 300/20 VISA offer returns March 12-18 in 2017

The VISA gift card promotion is making a comeback at Staples brick and mortar stores during the shopping week of March 12-18 in 2017. The terms are the same as before. You have to buy $300+ in VISA gift cards. Then you file an Easy Rebate (can be submitted online; nothing to mail in physically) and a few weeks later you will receive a $20 Staples gift card by mail. The rebate using data from your cash register receipt, so it’s easy to do (and works well for them too, since they can verify the purchase directly from the cash register data).

The strategy is the same as before, you have to get to the $300 amount using two or one gift cards. $300 gift cards are unicorns (hard to find), so the most realistic way is using one $200 and $100 VISA gift card. This will get you about $7 of profit, which is not bad for a $213 investment and a one month vesting period.

Plus, if you pay with a Chase INK credit card, you will receive 5% cashback on your credit card. Then you can use the VISA gift cards on items that would otherwise only get 1% credit card rewards.

TIP: sometimes they have gift cards throughout the store, hanging from the shelves – in addition to the gift card section. If you can’t find them in the gift card section, you may want to take a mini walk around the store for a little bit of a treasure hunt. Or ask the employees 🙂

November 6-12: the Staples VISA Easy Rebate $300+/$20 via EzR returns

The VISA Easy Rebate promotion returns at Staples stores for the Brick and Mortar shopping week of November 6-12 in 2016. The terms are as before, buy $300+ in prepaid VISA gift cards, and receive a $20 prepaid VISA gift card via Easy Rebate. As usual, the trick is to get to $300+ with two cards, so your activate fees ($7 for $200 and $6 for $100 gift card) are less than the $20 Easy Rebate. So with two gift cards, you are making a $7 profit on a $213 investment. That’s a 3.3% return on investment with a 4-6 week vesting period. Your Savings account can’t beat that 🙂

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PS: this offer is even better if your credit card has higher cashback rewards on office supplies purchases. For example, Chase Ink gets you 5% cashback on office supplies. You buy these gift cards with the 5% cashback, and then spend them on places that normally yield a lower cashback percentage. A 3% boost from a $200 purchase is $6, so add that to your “return” 🙂

Buy $300+ VISA Gift Cards, Get $20 Staples Gift Card via Easy Rebate

If you are fond of the VISA Rebate offers at Staples, you are in good luck! The promotion returns at their stores for the week of Sunday October 23 until the close of business on Saturday October 29 in 2016. The terms are the same, you buy $300+ in prepaid VISA gift cards, and you receive a $20 prepaid VISA gift card via EasyRebate. So for this to be profitable, you need to get to $300 with two (or one) VISA prepaid gift cards. The activation fees for the gift cards are $6 for the $100 and $7 for the $200, so with two cards, you pay $213, and receive a $200 gift card and $20 gift card (via Easy Rebate), making it a $7 profit on a $213 investment with about a 1 to 1.5 month “vesting period”.

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October 2-8 (2016): $15 back on $300+ Mastercard Gift Cards at Staples

The offer is back at Staples for the week of October 2-8 in 2016 at their brick and mortar stores. Buy $300+ of Mastercard gift cards, and receive a $15 Staples Gift Card via Easy Rebate (in about 4-6 weeks). You can submit the rebate online, you don’t have to mail anything in. All you need is your cash register receipt (online or printed, as long as it has the offer ID and the transaction ID which are needed to process the online rebate).

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The strategy is the same whether they offer a $20 or $15 gift card back. You need to get to the $300 amount with two or one gift cards. Since $300+ gift cards are unicorns (for the most part), you’d have to get there with two of them, eg $200 and $100. The activation fees make it very close, $7 for the $200 and $6 for the $100, so you are squeezing a $2 profit on a $300 investment. It’s a 0.64% return on investment with a one-month vesting period, so it beats checking and savings accounts 🙂

This becomes a better deal if you have a credit card that gives you cashback rewards on office supplies that are higher than your everyday purchases. So for example if you have the Chase Ink that gets you 5% on office supplies, you can buy the Mastercards with these offer, and then use them to purchase items that get you 1% cashback rewards. So just like that, you earned $12 in cashback rewards with this offer (4% of $300), in addition to the $2 “profit” 🙂

The AMEX Gift Card Offer returns at Staples stores on August 28

If you are a fan of doing the Staples Easy Rebate Gift Card Easy Rebate promotions, set your alarm clock to wake you up on Sunday August 28 in 2016 because the weekly promotion is back for American Express Gift Cards.

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July 17-23 at Staples B&M: Buy $300+ Mastercard Gift Cards, Get $15 via Easy Rebate

If you are a fan of the Staples Gift Card offers, good news for you! Per the teaser of their Weekly Ad for the week of Sunday July 17 until the close of business on Saturday 23, 2016, at their brick and mortar stores, it is the return of the Mastercard Prepaid Gift Card offer. It’s similar style, buy $300+ in prepaid Mastercard gift cards, and receive a $15 Staples Gift Card via Easy Rebate. Easy Rebate means you can submit the offer online, you don’t have to mail or photocopy anything, you just need the numbers from your receipt.

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The usual strategy applies here, if you can get to $300 with two or one gift card, then this is a money maker deal worth doing. The activation fee of a $200 gift card is $7, while a $100 has a $6 activation fee. So with this combination, you make a $2 profit on a $300 investment. Not as sexy as back when the Easy Rebate was $20.

Now if you can find a single $300+ gift card, then that would be awesome, but those are about as rare as unicorns 🙁

June 5-11: Buy $300+ AMEX Gift Cards, Get $20 back via Easy Rebate

If you are a fan of the Staples gift card EasyRebate promotions, we have good news for you! For the shopping week of June 5-11 in 2016, at participating Staples brick and mortar stores, you can get a $20 Staples Gift Card via EasyRebate (can be submitted online, no need to mail anything in) when you purchase $300+ in American Express gift cards.

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These have activation fees, so generally they are best if you can get to $300 with either one or two (most likely) gift cards. These offers have a small but very loyal following so you may need to be there Sunday AM if you want to guarantee finding the gift cards in-stock for this promotion.

May 22-28: $20 VISA Gift Card via EzRebate with $300+ prepaid VISA Gift Card purchase

If you are a fan of doing the Staples gift card rebate promotions, we have good news for you! The VISA promotion is returning at Staples brick and mortar stores for the week of May 22-28 in 2016. The terms are as before, you buy $300+ in prepaid VISA gift cards, and you will receive a $20 prepaid VISA gift card by Easy Rebate (you can submit it online, no need to mail anything in).

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The gift cards you buy have an activation fee, so to make this a money-maker deal, you have to get to $300+ by buying two or one gift cards. Finding $300+ unicorn gift cards is near impossible, so most people do this with a $200 + $100. You then submit the Easy Rebate at the Staples rebates website, and wait for 4-6 weeks for the rebate to arrive in the mail. Assuming you spend your $20 prepaid VISA gift card bonus wisely, it’s about a 2% return on investment ($20 gift card minus $13 in activation fees = $7). Not a bad return considering today’s interest rates 🙂

PS: three gift cards (eg three $100) are technically also a money-maker, but a profit of $2 on a $318 investment might be too small for many people to consider it worth their time.

April 24-30: Mastercard $300+ Gift Card, Get $20 back promotion returns to Staples

You have until Saturday night (4/23/16) to take advantage of the Staples Rewards promotion (best if you buy items in multiples of $20 to maximize your rewards), but there’s more action at Staples next week.

Per the weekly ad teaser posted on their own website, for the week of April 24-30 in 2016, the Mastercard Easy Rebate promotion is back. You buy $300 or more in Mastercard gift cards and you get $20 back via Easy Rebate. This promotion is a money maker if you can get to $300 with two gift cards. The activation fees of three gift cards are too close to $20, making it a wash. Now if you can find a $300 gift card (a bit of a unicorn), that’s even better.

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These offers have their dedicated repeat buyers, so if you want to get it, you may have to be there Sunday as close to opening time as possible. Note also that sometimes they hang gift cards at various parts of the store, so even if the gift card area is out of them, there is still hope ~ assuming you don’t mind walking all around the store (if nothing else it’s a good exercise).

[DEAD] March 20-26: Buy $300+ Mastercard Gift Cards, Get $20 Staples GC via Easy Rebate

This is another cyclical promotion that returns every few weeks. Keep checking their Weekly Ad to see when it comes back again. Keep in mind these have their dedicated fans, so your best bet is to get there as early on Sunday as possible…

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[DEAD] VISA Gift Card Promotion Returns at Staples (March 13-18)

This offer ended…

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Dec 6-12: Buy $300+ in Gift Cards, Get $20 Staples Gift Card via Easy Rebate

There’s a new twist in the Staples Gift Card Easy rebate promotion that will run from December 6-12 in 2015 at their brick and mortar stores. The buy $300+ in Gift cards and a get a $20 Staples Gift Card via Easy Rebate is back and this time all three major credit cards are participating: VISA, Mastercard and American Express.

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I don’t recall seeing this offer before, so I don’t know if you have to get to $300+ with one kind (eg only VISA gift cards) or any combination. This offer is a money-maker if you can get to $300+ with two or one gift cards because of the unavoidable activation fees. With two gift cards ($200 + $100), you pay $13 activation fee but you receive a $20 gift card, so you end up with a $7 return on a $313 investment with a 1-month vesting period. Can your investment adviser guarantee such a return? 🙂

TIP #1: these sell out fairly quickly, so if you want a good chance of finding them, you may have to be there as early on Sunday as you can. There are some “professional shoppers” who buy multiple of these, even though it is limit one per customer. Grandma and Grandpa becomes very popular when extreme couponers want to use them as mail-in rebate participants!

TIP #2: Gift cards are not refundable, so make sure the items you get are eligible for the promotion and you won’t change your mind. While other rebate items (eg the various copy paper offers) can be returned if you change your mind or you accidentally get the wrong items, gift cards are not returnable. So pay extra attention to the terms and eligible options!

Oct 25-31: Buy $300+ VISA Gift Cards, Get $20 VISA GC via Easy Rebate

Better wake up early on Sunday if you don’t want to miss this. The VISA Easy Rebate promotion is back at Staples brick and mortar stores for the week of October 25-31 in 2015. Its the usual offer, you buy $300 or more in prepaid VISA Gift Cards, and you receive $20 back via an Easy Rebate (submitted online). This time the $20 is a prepaid VISA gift card, not a Staples Gift Card, so you have more flexibility in where to spend it. This is limit one per household during this promotion week.

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As before, this is a money maker deal if you can get to $300 with two or one VISA gift cards. The $300 unicorn is hard to find (although I saw it once!), so for most people, it’s gonna be a $200 + $100. The activation fees for these are $7 and $6 respectively. So you pay $300 + $13 at checkout, you go home, submit the Easy Rebate online, and 4-6 weeks later, you get a $20 prepaid VISA gift card by mail. So you make $7. That’s a 2.2% return on investment ($7 on a $313 investment) with a 1-month vesting period. Can your investment adviser beat this? 🙂

Oct 4-10: The Staples Mastercard MoneyMaker offer is back

The Mastercard offer is back at Staples, running October 4-10 in 2015. You buy $300 or more in Mastercard gift cards, and receive a $20 Staples Gift Card via Easy Rebate. This is a moneymaker if you are able to get to $300 with two (or one) Mastercard gift cards.

The activation fee is $7 for the $200 and $6 for the $100. So you pay $313 at checkout, then submit the EasyRebate, and about 4-5 weeks later, you receive a $20 Staples plastic gift card. That’s a 2.33% return on investment with a one month vesting period. Can your investment adviser guarantee that? 🙂

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With Staples tightening the screws on how you can use Staples Rewards (cannot be used on sale/rebate/promotional items, but thankfully can still be used on clearance items), Gift Cards, either of the plastic variety or of the eBay/PayPal or CashStar variety become a more versatile tool for the Staples aficionado 🙂