In my post a few days ago about spending $75 at Staples and getting a $25 statement credit, I mentioned that come Sunday (today) there will be an opportunity to maximize this deal as Staples is offering a $20 Staples gift card when you purchase $300 in MasterCard gift cards (after rebate).
While Staples doesn’t offer a $300 MasterCard gift card you can purchase a $100 and $200 one to get to the $300 amount needed. The $100 gift card costs $5.95 and the $200 gift card costs $6.95 as activation fees. While this will cost you $12.90 you will get a $20 Staples gift card which you can then use to purchase any item in store or another merchant gift card to use elsewhere.
To to take advantage:
- Sync your American Express card with the $25 statement credit after spending $75 offer (you must have an American Express, sync you card, and have the offer appear in your account)
- Sync either your American Express or Chase Ink Bold/Plus card with Plink (you can read more about Plink and their partnership with Staples here)
- Purchase a $100 MasterCard gift card with your synced Amex credit card – this will cost you $105.95
- Purchase a $200 MasterCard gift card with your Chase Ink Bold or Chase Ink Plus credit card – this will cost you $206.95Â (update: I will be going to Staples tomorrow to ensure you can split your transaction into two different purchases – I suggest seeing instead if you can just split your transaction using two different credit cards)
- You will then get a statement credit of $25 and a Staples gift card worth $20
I will end up with… $300 in MasterCard cards (which I will then cash out via Amazon payments) + $20 Staples gift card + $25 statement credit + $3 in Plink points = $345
And I spent…. $312.90
So ultimately I am walking away with… profit of $35.10 and an extra 1,035 Ultimate Reward points (valued at $20ish), and 106 points from whatever Amex card you use (valued at about $2).
UPDATE:Â As a reader mentioned, you are best off paying for the $300 in one transaction and just do a split payment – $75 on the Amex card and the remaining amount of $237.90 on your Chase Ink Bold/Plus card. This will give you an extra 154 Chase Ultimate Reward points.
Not too bad for 10 minutes spent at Staples!Â
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Makes more sense to buy 2 $200 cards.
Hi, I just have a quick question. How do you split the payment to pay with two credit cards? Or does the $300 don’t have to be in the same transaction to get the rebate?
Thanks
Would make more sense to buy 2 $200 cards, no? Incremental fee of $1 but you get an additional 500 UR points for 0.2 CPM. I did a split tender to put exactly $75 on the Amex, rest on Ink to maximize UR points.
It’s OK to “split transactions” into two while still fulfilling just one Staples rebate? Referring to the separate transactions $100 + $200 to meet the $300 purchase requirement..Thanks.
Scott S is right. IF you can split one purchase between two credit cards, you do the following:
Purchase 2 x $200 MC GCs = $413.90
Use AMEX for $75, Ink for $338.90
Returns $25 AMEX statement credit + $20 Staples GC + $400 GCs + plink points = approx $445
Total profit = approx $31.10 + 50 AMEX points + 1,695 UR points
It’s well worth the extra $1 for 500 additional UR points IMO.
And can you load the money to blue bird?
@Wj – The easiest way to unload them is using Amazon Payments.
I had these types of gc before, and it failed to load at WM. In fact it froze their register. Just my experience …I’m staying away for BB and using these for regular spend.
Yikes, looks like I may have blown it. I bought 2 $200 MC gift cards in two separate transactions. I got the Plink and the Amex parts down, but no rebate receipt. Any ideas on how to put this back together to salvage my $20 Staples gift card?? Thanks all for any advice!!
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How is Staples offering $20 GC? I get the Amex credit part and also the Plink points, but don’t see a $20 Staples GC offer anywhere. Is this an in store promo?
Thanks for the detailed instructions! Staples cashier did not believe she could split the transaction, but I got a supervisor and it was no problem.
Agree with Scott S, but I need a $100 gift card for an actually gift. Will have my husband purchase 2-$200 cards.
I saved my amex hilton card linked to staples $25 statement credit.
how can I get $20 staples gift card? should I ask receptionist at check out? today is Wed 10/16/2013. is it too late for me to get the $20 staples gift card if I go to Staples this week to make $300 mastercard gift card purchase? thanks a lot in advance.