The Staples gift card deals are coming out weekly now. Last week we had Sephora and Gap, this week it’s Nike…
The Offer
Direct Link (ad page 11)
- Purchase a $100 Nike gift card from Staples or staples.com and receive a $20 Visa Prepaid rebate card using Staples Easy Rebates.
The Fine Print
- Valid 5/10/15 – 5/16/15
- In-store or online
- Limit 1 per household
Our Verdict
Of course, this is great for Nike purchases, but it could also be good for reselling purposes since they can be resold for ~$85.
At first blush I thought this was too much time for too little effort since you aren’t getting $20 instantly off the purchase. While Staples Easy Rebates really are easy, it’s still a hassle and wait.
But after adding it up, I think this churn really could make sense since the deal can be done online. This limits the hassle of going to the store and it adds the possibility of getting cashback from the portal (though gift cards are officially excluded). Aside from the $5 profit and the 100 credit card points/500 INK points, there’s also the ~5% you can get back from the portal. Add it up and it’s really not bad.
The big limitation here: 1 per household. And since the rebate is mailed to you, the limit is real. (Yeah, yeah…Â some people find ways around it.) Oh… and these Staples Rebate cards can’t be loaded to REDbird.
HT: mistercheap on Fatwallet
There’s also a Lowe’s gift card deal at Staples this week.
Heads up for anybody else who got in on this deal – I along with a number of others on Slickdeals received a denial for “invalid UPC number” even though there isn’t a specific number specified in the offer details. I chatted with a Staples Easy Rebate agent and thankfully they quickly acknowledged I did indeed meet the terms of the rebate and approved it manually in less than 5 min. I wish every rebate hiccup was this easy to resolve, though it’s definitely concerning that it’s appearing many who submitted for this one were denied knowing some people won’t end up following through on getting Staples to fix their error…
Oh my God — Staples is so stupid! I purchased this on the 10th and have been trying ever since to get my rebate. First I submitted online and many days later they emailed me to tell me that the rebate was invalid. Then I chatted with some guy online. He admitted that their system made a mistake and just didn’t process the rebate correctly, so he said he could do it manually. Unfortunately, the same thing happened. But of course they didn’t notify me for four days. I submitted it one more time and it failed again, claiming there wasn’t any such rebate.I called them today and they claim they are going to process it. I should have just demanded a refund. I quadruple-checked everything and I am sure I submitted it all correctly. This is the worst customer service I have experienced in my entire life. Granted, it is just over $20, but what a joke. The last guy I talked to was belligerent because he claimed I had only submitted the thing today, even though their website shows I submitted it on May 10.
Tried to buy $100 of Nike gift cards at in-store Staples. Tried 2 times with different Nike gift cards. Nike gift cards did not activate. Manager had to return money back to credit card.
Weird.
How did you know that the cards weren’t activating?
The cashier’s screen probably said something like “CARD ACTIVATION ERROR”, and the receipt did not print unless cashier/manager accepted the error.
Which portal gives 5% for staples gift card purchase？
http://www.cashbackmonitor.com/Cashback-Store/Staples/
There have been many reports of success with third-party gift cards on various portals. I had success with SavingStar and Upromise a few months ago.
Searching staples.com, you can get the $20 rebate on a $50 Nike gift card also.
Scratch that, it’s kind of deceptive, rebate terms still say you need to buy at least $100 of Nike gift cards