Deal has expired, view more Staples deals by clicking here.
The Offer
- Staples is offering $5 off $200 Visa gift cards in Staples stores.
The Fine Print
- Valid 4/7/19–4/13/19
- Limit 1 per household
Our Verdict
Reader R. sent in an image from the store which advertises “$5 off” and “no purchase fee”. The purchase fee on the $200 card is $6.95 so the “no purchase fee” offer would be better, but I assume it’s the $5 one that’s correct as that’s what shows in the ad.
As always, how much you can buy will depend on the store/cashier. Last deal, they sent out in mid-deal a corporate memo limiting us to 1 (it hadn’t been there initially in the terms). This time it’s back in the terms, as usual, which might end up better since cashiers/stores often don’t enforce it.
Make sure to use a card that earns at a high rate at office supply stores. Stack with the 10% amex offer or the 10% Chase Offer/BofA or the 1% Wells Fargo deal. Staples is also offering 20% off select gift cards this week, including Panera, Petco, Xbox, Subway & Buffalo Wild Wings.
Hat tip again to reader R.
I got a $200 in blue packaging just like the meta bank one, but it’s a sunrise bank one, administrative by metabank, bin 403446. Check balance just fine but couldn’t load serve with it. Walmart terminal keep saying debit tender not allowed or reenter pin. I did change pin but couldn’t solve the problem. Must be careful next time.
I see no transaction online except the initial load transaction. With metabank one, if i enter wrong pin or something wrong happen, there will be two more transactions, 1 took money out and one reversal same amount.
Does anybody have experience on this?
I bought 2 yesterday and I assumed they were metabank but noticed they were sunnies when I opened them. I had no issues unloading at Walmart today for a MO. I heard sunnies can take a couple hours to activate, so maybe that was your problem?
Thanks but it’s already 2 days. I bought it on Sunday. Is your have same BIN as mine?
is it still possible to get Serve? I was shut down long ago… but can I reapply?
Thanks.
Some of my friends got banned January 2017 and applied 2 days ago and approved. Go try, no hard pull.
I got banned in oct or nov 2017. Just do register to green serve and still blacklisted.
Did anyone try to unload this to BB?
How do you guys get BB? Please do tell…
thanks.
I ordered my BB card via their website. But I didn’t have a BB/Serve when mass shutdowns happened in 2016-2017 if you mean that.
Just got back from WM and had no issues loading to BB. Cards at my store were Metabank and not Sunrise. Only bought 2 and now I know they work w BB, need to load up since the 300 VGC online are still showing Out of Stock
Tried to unload these cards (sunrise) to BB last week with no luck. Everything as usual but “transaction cancelled” notice instead of a receipt in the end.
No transactions are showed online except the initial $200 load.
Upd: Was able to unload one of these cards on the next visit. Maybe it’s 2 hours issue mentioned above.
was limited to 1 by the manager.
Me too, waste a trip
They limited me to 2 by cashier
So was it $5 off or No fee?
$5 off, so you pay $1.95 fee still.
this happened to me in the past, but yesterday I bought 9 no questions asked
Anyone has tried if it also works with Everywhere cards?
Staples generally does not carry the Everywhere cards.
They normally do carry them, but with smaller denomination like $100 which makes the liquid PITA.
My go to Staples don’t carry the everywhere cards so I’ll pass on this deal.
No one has said the deal works for Everywhere cards. I suspect it just works for plain VGCs.
With United having just gutted their program, I’m a lot less inclined to invest any time in these kind of shenanigans. URs were great, and still have some value, but are greatly devalued as a result of United’s recent program destruction.
The UA situation is unfortunate — especially for folks saving up hundreds of thousands of points for expensive premium class awards — but the best “real world” Chase redemption is with Hyatt. So unless you don’t stay at hotels, Chase points are still incredibly useful.
I’m really not interested in using Chase points for Hyatt hotels. I do stay in hotels, but prefer to avoid big mega chains.
Hyatt points can now also be used at the Small Luxury Hotels chain. You avoid those, too? Like you use boatloads of UA miles to only stay at airbnb properties?
Never stay in a hotel when I can help it. Hostel/Airbnb all the way. The ONLY hotel I’ve actually planned to stay at in recent memory was the Marina Bay Sands in Singapore, and it was worth it IMO. At least for two nights. On that same trip we stayed ~$50 in hostels and Airbnbs, and I sprung for the MBS at $400 a night x 2 because it was my wife’s birthday. I did the booking. When we checked in they looked at our passports, and without saying anything put a chocolate mousse with gold flake plus a birthday card in the room, this is in between when we were at the desk and being escorted to the room. She must have like a red button birthday set up. That really impressed me, they had no way of knowing her DOB until she showed her ID, and we were in the room less than ten minutes later and there was already the mousse and the card. Thats slick I think. ALSO I FORGOT ABOUT THIS UNTIL JUST NOW we went to the casino and I hit hard on blackjack twice and paid for both nights! Know when to walk with your money!
Fascinating that you can go from MBS to hostel. I don’t get the hostel/airbnb fascination. Even my college age kids want hotels over hostels (they’ll stay at QUALITY airbnbs, too). Even highly rated hostels tend to be pretty sucky from a cleanliness/comfort/value proposition. Honestly, I think they’re the kind of places people stay at who don’t know how to get deals on better accommodations.
Exactly, unless you are there for the social aspect. It can work if you are going to a town alone and want folks to do things with, but nowadays there are AirBNB experiences as well for the solo traveler.
Same as that guy, I’ve done MBS once, but usually prefer hostels. Love the $5-20/night price of hostels.
Its a combination of price and social aspect. I’m perfectly comfortable with shared bathrooms etc. I dont do the dorm at a hostel I do the privates with shared bathroom. I really enjoy meeting all the people that are staying there and you can’t beat $30 a night. I travel on the tightest budget I can and still enjoy myself, so I get to travel more. Went to europe 3 times last year lol, didnt spend more than probably $700 each time. This year going to EU twice and S America and N Africa once each. Private hostel room in Lima is $35 a night at a nice place. Can’t beat that plus I get to talk to all the other people traveling AND get closer to the local culture IMO. The big chain hotels are about keeping things as familiar as possible, I want it to be unfamiliar.
As long as you have a CSP, CSR, or CIP you can transfer any Chase UR points 1 to 1 to Hyatt program and get a very high value out of your UR points.
Right. I think most people will be very happy to use their Chase points at Hyatt. It’s very good value. The only downside is that Hyatt doesn’t make it easy to earn high elite status via the credit card route (and therefore get free perks when you stay). This doesn’t really matter when you stay at Hyatt Houses or Places, but can be slightly annoying at their premium brands.
I just stayed at Hyatt this week, and was pretty annoyed at the status aspect. I have good status at other hotels (Hilton, Marriott, IHG), but Hyatt gave me two bottles of water. Yay. I hadn’t considered transferring; that seems like a SUPER cheap way to get a nice room with Hyatt instead of UR portal. I have a new offer on my Hyatt card for 2,000 bonus points on $4k spend; sounds like I won’t be doing that then.
What are the best ways to get status with Hyatt without spending on Hyatt stays?
There’s a trick to get status matched to Hyatt Explorist at the Borgata in Atlantic City, but I don’t know of any easier way to do it.
if you have CSR, URs are very useful for times and destinations for which no one has award space. They can also be transferred to other partners besides United, e.g. BA Avios. I recently used Avios to book an AA flight and avoid the close in fee.
Yup, and when you use Avios points on AA, you don’t have to deal with the limitations of Basic Economy, either. A truly excellent way to fly AA when award seats are available. Of course, it’s sometimes better to transfer AMEX points to Avios since they tend to have promos and AMEX points are generally less valuable than Chase points (aka, no Hyatt).
Interesting. Obviously, the recently expired “fee free” Staples deal on Mastercards was better. $200 GCs are a PITA to get rid of, so it’s obviously better when they’re free instead of (effectively) costing $2 each. Any other ideas, like in-store cashback, to make that $2 go away?
Everywhere Visas might get discounted to a $0.95 fee. Unfortunately, only $50 and $100 were available, so I didn’t try.
Deleted.
Confusingly it says “No purchase fee when you buy a $200 visa gift card”. But it also says “$5.00 off”. The terms don’t clarify. But the online weekly ad is definitely $5.00 off
Noted in the post 🙂