Update 4/24/25: This deal is coming back next week, 4/27 – 5/3. (That’s in addition to the Mastercard deal running the week of 4/20-4/26.)
The Offer
Direct link to offer (search Visa; not yet live)
- Staples stores will be offering fee-free Visa gift cards this week.
The Fine Print
- Limit 8 per customer per day.
- Offer valid in store only.
Our Verdict
As always remember to use a card that earns at a high rate on office supply store purchases. Or stack with a Chase Offer or use your Amex Business Gold for the $20 office supply credit.
Deal History:
- Update 3/27/25: This deal is back for the week of 3/30 – 4/5
- Update 2/28/25: Deal will come back for 3/2/25 – 3/8/25 (there’s a separate deal on Mastercard that’s live through 3/1/25)
- Update 1/31/25: Deal is coming back for 2/2/25 – 2/8/25. Hat tip to FM
- Update 1/2/25: Deal is coming back for 1/5/25 – 1/11/25. Hat tip to FM (there’s a separate deal that’s live through 1/4/25)
- Update 12/5/24: Deal is back and valid until 12/8 – 12/20. Hat tip to FM
- Update 11/14/24: Offer is being extended for another week through 11/23 (ht kawnipi)
- Update 11/7/24: Offer is coming back for the week of November 10 – 16 (ht kawnipi)
- Update 10/10/24: Offer is coming back 10/13-10/26 (ht Lost-Combination734)
- Update 9/12/24: Deal is back for 9/15 – 9/21. New limit of 9 now. (ht kawnipi)
- Update 8/16/24: Deal is coming back for 8/18 – 8/24. Limit 8. (ht kawnipi)
- Update 7/18/24: Deal is coming back for July 21 – July 28 (ht GC Galore)
- Update 6/20/24: Deal is coming back for June 23 – June 29th (ht GC Galore)
- Update 5/23/24: Deal is back from 5/26 – 6/1. Limit 8. (ht kawnipi)
- Update 4/25/24: Deal is back from 4/28-5/4
- Update 3/28/24: Deal is back from 3/31 – 4/6 (ht kawnipi)
- Update 2/29/24: Deal is back from 3/3-3/9.
- Update 2/1/24: Deal is coming back for 2/4 – 2/10; limit 8 (ht gcgalore)
- Update 1/4/24: Deal is coming back for 1/7 – 1/13; limit 8 (ht kawnipi)
- Update 12/7/23: Deal is back from 12/10 – 12/16
- Update 11/9/23: Deal is coming back for the week of 11/12 – 11/18; limit 8 (ht kawnipi)
- Update 10/12/23: Deal is coming back for the week of 10/15 – 10/21 (ht kawnipi)
- Update 9/14/23: Deal is coming back for the week of 9/17 – 9/23 (ht kawnipi)
- Update 8/17/23: Deal is back for 8/20 – 8/26 (ht kawnipi)
- Update 7/20/23: Deal is back 7/23 – 7/29
- Update 6/22/23: Deal is back 6/25 – 7/1
- Update 5/25/23: Deal is back and valid 5/28 – 6/3
- Update 4/27/23: Deal is back and valid 4/30 – 5/6. (ht kawnipi) This begins after the Mastercard deal ends on Saturday.
- Update 3/30/23; Deal is back and valid until 4/2 – 4/8.
- Update 3/2/23: Deal is back 3/5 – 3/11. Hat tip to GC Galore
- Update 1/5/23: Deal is back and valid 1/8 – 1/14
- Update 9/22/22: Deal is coming back *begins* September 25th, valid through October 1st. Limit 8. (ht kawnipi)
- Update 9/1/22: Deal is coming back for September 4th through September 10th. Higher limit of 8 this time. (ht kawnipi)
- Update 2/24/22: Deal is back and valid from 2/27 – 3/5
- Update 5/5/22: Deal is coming back for May 8th through May 14th.
- Update 8/4/22: Deal is back and valid 8/7 – 8/13
I was thinking about buying these as gifts/bonus for employee. Is that a bad idea, should I just write them a check? I just wonder if theres any tax issue with doing this? Anybody have any input?
Depends on the person giving them to. I am the one in my family everyone trades the prepaid cards to because they hate them. Tax-wise I believe it’s technically income for the employee (P2’s Christmas and employee bonuses are always added to W-2).
Ok. I was thinking maybe if I gave these to them that it would be tax free gift for them v. writing a check out to them. I guess you are saying that I would need to report these as income.
It could be if you don’t deduct it on your side but that’s asking a bit much. There might be a small gift exception, like $25 or something. Would have to ask your accountant.
They’re going to be frustrated using them. Just give them the check.
Appreciate any quick DP’s.. trying to stack/combine 5 to10 visa cards to make it single card, so that i can pay rent with just $9,99 fee. Tried kasheesh and paypal. first one not working anoy more and PP charges are 3%.. trying to see less fees to convert stacked gc’s to pay utility bill one shot.
Very very very very hard to combine them in the quantities you are talking about.
Hunh? Is this really “Expired”? Since when are they “expiring” their deals on Thursdays? Is this just a garbled mess of copy-paste cruft here…?
that’s copied from the last time this was ran – will will fix it
So, to clarify – I’m just guessing but I *think* this is what was intended:
Nothing really new here, just regular thing. Probably someone was busy and got distracted while doing routine posts resulting in some confusion (on my part – admittedly, I’m easily confused).
I’ll update that the deal is confirmed (I hadn’t been aware it’s showing already in the circulars).
The reason I kept ‘expired’ is because whenever we post about future deals and then they don’t materialize, people complain that the title makes it sound like it’s live already. So I kept it as ‘expired’ and just put out the info at the top of the post for someone who wants the headsup to plan their spend.
How about saying [Upcoming] ?
We need something that leaves room for it not to actual ‘come up’. We always stipulate that in the header of the post, but people complain that the title sounds too definitive, I guess if someone doesn’t read the full update at top of the post.
What do you mean “This deal is reportedly slated to come back for next week, 4/27 – 5/3. We’ll update when this gets confirmed.”
It is on page 5 of next week’s circular. Confirmed.
Next week’s ad doesn’t seem to be on Staples.com yet. Perhaps that’s why that was said.
If you shop at Winco, these gift cards work as debit card.
I usually use those vgc at Costco to reload in a new cash card for future usage. So far no issue
Why load a cash card? You can just directly use these to buy merchandise at Costco. The only reason I could see to load a cash card with these is to make a large purchase off of Costco’s website.
The real question is, are people using VGCs to buy gold bars at Costco and then profit a short time later?
You never have to pay for a membership if you pay using a Costco GiftCard.
Short term gain for gold makes sense the way gold value has risen. Or the simple fact if its easy to unload, great way to generate spend for rewards on a cc.
They stopped shopping with only a Cash Card at my club.
I load the Costco cards with cards I don’t offload quickly just to keep from sitting around and vulnerable to hacking.
Official corporate policy is to allow Shop Card only.. if you care to argue 😉
“Non-members as well as members may use Costco Shop Cards to shop at any Costco location in the U.S., Canada, or Puerto Rico,”
I do believe they make you pay any amount in excess of the balance in Cash or Debit though.
I buy Costco cash cards for use at their gas stations. That way I’m getting 5x on gas and a good price.
The Costco VISA also gets 5% at Costco gas and less hassle. Good card to have in a churners wallet: 4% all other gas, 3% restaurants/travel, 2% Costco.
You would need to load a Costco cash card as a workaround if you want to use it at Costco gas. Costco gas does not accept VGCs due to the weird “pre authorize” hold that has never been user friendly.
So i just get a $25 Costco cash card then it can be reloaded with the VGC $200 from Staples? Is there a limit on that cash card?
Costco Cash cards are not reloadable. You purchase a new one with the VGC.
So you get 2 $100 ones, using the VGC?
If you have membership, go to any Costco, ask to load 1000$ to a shopcard, tell them you will split payment into 5 200$ cards, they will do it and now you have 1000$ costco shop card, no need to worry about unauthorized draining (except by your better half)
LOL
ignorant question to ask but im curious to ask. How do you convert GC to MO, and does it have to be a specific GC, like VGC?
you just take it to your store and spend it. At my local grocery chain either of the two ones they sell at staples on the promos work – VGC or MGC $200s. you just go to the store and say you want a MO for $X. the tricky thing is AFAIK blackhawk still has limits on these. I stick with using no more than 2x $200 GC per transaction. if you happen to have a $500 VGC, I think you still can’t spend more than $475 on a MO (I rarely use those for MO so not sure if that’s still right). The easy way to do it – calculate out the fee and ask for a money order that will be equal to $400 with the fee. so my store charges $0.99. So in that case I ask for a money order for $399.01, tell them you are splitting the payment on two cards for $200 each.
wondering are there any stores are really supporting MO with GCs. Always here they stopped it long back..
yes I go a couple times a week. I will make you even more jealous – I can pay with CC at my store…
Which store and where are you able to do that?
as he said, must be just rambling to make every one jealous.. or probably some random remote ghost town with made up groceries store..!!
I’m not killing the golden goose lol by naming it lol. But it’s a large chain in the south. I have a $30k capital one venture cc min spend I am chasing mostly by buying mo
hum.. lucky u ..cheers!!
It is really dependent on store manager and employee who is working on duty at customer service for purchasing MO.
agree, but is it same for any store like walmart, safeway etc?
Yes.
I’m in the south and I think I know what you’re talking about. Everything you said on how to buy the MOs I found it on my own lol. Trial and error and it took me some time to make stable conclusions.
On another note, so the venture CC works as such store to purchase MOs? Lets connect if you want and I can share more DPs.
sure yeah [email protected]. on cap1 I mispoke it’s the spark I’m working on, but I would assume venture is the same.
Sent you an email
Can you share your information for “Trial and error and it took me some time to make stable conclusions.”
Can you purchase one MO $399.01 with 2 x $200 GC? if so, save 0.99.
My local store can do one transaction for $199.01 plus a fee 0.99.
Yes you can purchase one mo with two GC. You have to tell them you are splitting the transaction so they can or it in for $200. Otherwise it will decline. Some stores/ cashiers don’t like you splitting the transaction. If you run into those say thanks and try somewhere else
Thanks for your information. I just did this morning and asked the cashier to splitting the payment on two cards for $200 each. but she didn’t know how to do it and asked me to pay two of 0.99 fee. first $200 GC went fine and second card declined then she had to void the transaction. then my card got blocked and I need to contact GC customer service to unblock. She is very nice person but does not know how to slit the payment.
I did $200X2 GC from her without any problem yesterday.
Used to do 4 x 200 per MO. Now the velocity limits are in general 2 x 200 per MO. Some stores are a no-go for MOs. Good luck !!!
Yes, Do $200×2 for 2 MO no problem. but I just did Peter’s method tried to do a $399.01 for one MO then declined.
Successfully did two of $399 MO with $200×2 but other stores declined but still working for $199 MO.
bad info. The Staples 200’s issued by Pathward do NOT work for MO at grocery stores, at least in the northeast. They do work to pay elect bills (NYSEG) and Xfinity.
they definitely work for MO some places, basically anywhere the VGC have worked the MGC work too
It works any store with WU sign and dependent on cashier.
My local staples is always cleaned out.
Can’t believe my comment got deleted. This place is a joke, just like these gift cards and money orders.
Don’t be so quick to blame others for what may have been a mistake on your own part. The fool repeats his mistakes and identifies as a victim while the humble man accepts being beaten down and how he can learn.
It is very likely that the comment that
Vince is referring to is actually right here: #2035985 . I figured that out because both “user accounts” only have 1 comment and all of those comments go to moderation. Therefore, Vince was simply mistaken, IMO!
No point in EVER getting this to churn EVER again. You CANNOT do money orders. I’ve been everywhere and NO ONE will take these. Thanks to the many people who have capitalized and ruined such a good thing. I’m now stuck with $5,400 in Mastercard debit gift cards where some places won’t even accept them for merchandise.
Hey Vince, Lesson learned: always have a plan B. Try spending them by prepaying utilities and taxes, etc…Good luck!!!
Keep us updated on how this goes
Try to out of your town and it may work at other location.
seems easy way.. buy few costco shopper cards like $1000 and buy gold online with execute membership. worse case u will not gain any profit but surely cash out those Monster MGC’s.
Why would you spend 5400 without confirming the liquidation avenue exists!!!
I pay my electricity & water bills with my gift cards; I also pay my Medicare bills (on-line) with my gift cards; I pay for my groceries & household items with gift cards; I just bought $300 of clothes at Dillard’s & paid with a gift card. I use them at Home Depot (spring yard items) and Lowe’s also. I sometimes load one to Amazon. Monthly, I can spend about a couple thousand – on just bills. If you want to just “unload” them – try Ebay – that should work.