Staples Mastercard Gift Card Rebate Deal
The gift card deals keep coming as Staples is releasing yet another negative cost deal this coming weekend. This time, Mastercards will again be on sale.
The Deal
- Get a $15 Staples gift card after easy rebate when you buy $300 in Mastercard Gift Cards.
Key Terms
- Deal valid from 9/17/17 through 9/23/17.
- In-store only.
- Limit 1 rebate per household.
If you would like to see the full terms, the deal is advertised in next week’s ad.
Maximizing the Deal
This deal is best maximized by using a card that earns 5X at office supply stores like the Chase Ink Plus or Chase Ink Cash. You can also use an Amex SimplyCash Plus which earns 5% cashback at office supply stores.
Using the Chase Ink, the optimal strategy is to purchase 2 of the $200 cards which cost $206.95 each. Here is the math:
- Cost: $413.90
- Minus Rebate: $15
- Final Cost: -$1.10
- UR Points Earned: 2,070
You could also purchase a $200 card and a $100 card, but the savings of $1 on fees doesn’t justify the loss of 500 Ultimate Rewards points on the extra $100 in spend.
About the Mastercard Gift Cards
Mastercard gift cards sold by Staples are issued by U.S. Bank and the PIN is in the packaging. You can also reset the PIN by calling the number on the back. These can be used as PIN-enabled debit cards at various grocery stores, etc., but using them at Walmart can be tricky since the POS system recognizes them as credit. To get around that you need to quickly change the payment type on the POS screen, but newer versions of the system make it difficult. If you plan to use them at Walmart, YMMV.
Liquidate the Staples Gift Card
The rebate comes in the form of a Staples store gift card. This can be used to purchase merchandise (but not other gift cards) at Staples. It can also be sold to various gift card resellers for 84-85% of face value ($12.60-$12.75), but not all of them accept $15 denominations.
Conclusion
These Mastercard gift card deals are not the best offers from Staples but could still be useful if you have a way to liquidate the cards and have a Staples nearby that has a good stock. Usually these don’t go as fast as Visa gift cards, but I would still suggest to visit your local store early in the week.
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Had too much trouble with MC and not much need for Staples GC so will pass on this one.
[…] H/T: Miles to Memories […]
As Mark just wrote, the Mastercards are much more prone to hacking. Also, the Visa cards have no fee to replace them if they get lost while the Mastercards do. (As long as you have the original receipt, you can call up and have the card replaced with the visa cards for free – as long as no one found them and used them in the interim.)
They also sometimes work at USPS – but it is very YMMV
There is a lot of fraud when dealing with MasterCard gift cards too so drain them quickly.
[…] Hat tip to Milestomemories […]