Update 8/26/18: They changed/fixed this so that now everything is just charging the face-value of the gift card without any additional charges or discounts.
Staples.com is a popular choice for purchasing gift cards and e-gift cards as a way to rack up 5x Ultimate Rewards points with the Chase INK card line. Physical gift cards typically come with a $1.99 delivery fee while electronic gift cards have always delivered free, so $100 eBay or Home Depot or Nordstrom or Whole Foods or Gap gift card has always cost exactly $100.
They’ve now began charging various fees on certain card brands. Home Depot electronic gift cards (affiliate link) have a consistent .8% fee tacked on, so $100 card costs $100.79, $200 card costs $201.59, etc. (though $25 Home Depot e-gift cards don’t have any fee). Target e-gift cards $100 and $200 denoms have a 1.9% fee tacked on, $50 cards have a 2% fee tacked on, and $25 cards have a 1.6% fee tacked on.
All fees are per card; buying multiple cards will result in multiple fees.
Aside from this, there seems to be some wacky pricing going on there. As an example, $100 Whole Foods e-gift card is selling for $112.49 while all other denomination Whole Foods e-gift cards don’t come with any fee. Another odd thing is that they are discounted numerous brands by $.01. For example, $100 eBay e-gift card is selling for $99.99. Many others too.
It’s all pretty weird, to be honest. Charging a fee on e-gift card delivery is not a common thing, the fees aren’t consistent, and they don’t even label it clearly as a delivery fee. I’m guessing we’ll see changes on this over time.
Hat tip to @giftcardtalk
