Staples: Fee-Free $200 Mastercard Gift Cards

One of my favorite deals is back! Staples is selling $200 Mastercard gift cards without any purchase fees. These gift cards act like debit and credit cards, and you can use them anywhere Mastercard is accepted.

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Staples Fee-Free Mastercard Gift Cards Offer

It seems like Staples is promoting Visa and Mastercard gift cards every other week. Iโ€™m not complaining, I consider this a BIG positive which Iโ€™ll explain in detail below.

For the week of October 3 to October 9, 2024, Staples is offering the $200 Mastercard gift cards with no purchase fees. Typically, these $200 gift cards come with $6.95 activation fee. This is an in-store offer only and thereโ€™s a limit of nine cards per customer (limit was originally 5, then bumped to 8, and now 9).

Staples $200 Mastercard gift cards with no purchase fee
(Image from Staples.com)

Related:

Hot Deal Angle

You might be thinking, โ€œKinda cool I guess, but why are you capitalizing, bolding, and italicizing BIG for?

Well, this is one of the ways how I earn millions of points every year for free. By using a category bonus credit card (I use the Chase Ink Plus that earns 5x points at office supply stores like Staples), you can get a a lot of points at minimal cost.

Ninja Note: The Chase Ink Plus is no longer available, but the Chase Ink Business Cash also provides 5 points per dollar at Staples and offers a $750 welcome bonus with no annual fee. You can also check out my Top 10 Credit Cards list.

For example, if I buy one of these $200 Mastercard gift cards, Iโ€™ll earn 1,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points ($200 x 5 points per dollar spent) by spending it on my Chase Ink Plus card. If I buy 100 of these cards, I would get 100,000 Chase points ($20,000 x 5 points per dollar spent).

100,000 Chase points is enough to redeem for $1,500 worth of travel or even get $1,000 cash straight up.

You can treat the Mastercard gift card like cash and use it anywhere. Yes, the more gift cards you buy, the longer it will take to use them all. But by being creative, you can liquidate your gift cards quickly.

For example, most people can pay their mortgage or utility bill with a debit or credit cards. Another angle is pre-paying your taxes โ€“ you can pre-pay twice a quarter for a total of 8x a year.

Stack With AMEX Offers or Chase Offers

As you know it, the stars are aligned. Currently, both American Express and Chase have promotions at Staples through their โ€œAMEX Offersโ€ and โ€œChase Offersโ€ program.

If you donโ€™t know what these are, itโ€™s basically additional savings that American Express and Chase provides to their card holders. You just have to activate (add) the offers to your account.

You can find all of the current offers by logging into your account on your desktop or mobile device โ€“ on the main page, thereโ€™s a section that dedicated to these deals.

AMEX Offers

On some AMEX cards, customers are getting offered a 10% statement credit back at Staples, up to a maximum of $50:

AMEX Offers - 10% back at Staples
(Image from American Express)

With the current Staples deal, you can buy 3 $200 gift cards for a total of $600. By doing so, youโ€™ll be saving $50 by using this AMEX offer.

Thatโ€™s a $50 profit (spending $550 to get $600 worth of gift cards) right off the bat. Plus, youโ€™ll get all the points on top of that!

Chase Offers

Similar to AMEX, Chase is offering card holders a 20% statement credit back at Staples, up to a maximum statement credit of $34.

Chase Offers - 20% back at Staples
(Image from Chase)

Because itโ€™s 20% off, youโ€™d max this offer out by buying just 1 $200 Mastercard gift card.

Thatโ€™s a $34 profit (spending $167 to get a $200 gift card). And if itโ€™s on a Chase card that gives you 5X points at office supply stores, youโ€™d also earn 1,000 points.

The Bottom Line

Even without the AMEX Offers or Chase Offers, this is a hot deal. I buy these at every chance I get and use them for everyday purchases. Itโ€™s like spending cash, but with all those free credit card points youโ€™re going to generate by doing this deal!

About John Pham

John Pham is a personal finance expert, serial entrepreneur, and founder of The Money Ninja. He has also been fortunate enough to have appeared in the New York Times, Boston Globe, and U.S. News & World Report. John has a B.S. in Entrepreneurship and a Masters in Business Administration, both from the University of New Hampshire.

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John
John
3 months ago

7/10/2024 I am trying to make an online purchase at Nordstrom and M/C gift card keeps getting declined. I called the number on the back of the gift card and the representative says the transaction looks like a re-occurring payment plan. I am NOT making a 3-payment plan. I am paying the entire balance. Rep says nothing he can do about it. Does anyone paying online have this problem? Now I am stuck with all these $200 gift cards and I can’t make any purchases online using them.

I do not want to drive to the store to make payment because I do not live near by. I even called Nordstrom to see if the employee can make online payment for me and it still got declined. Any advice?

Randi Chang
Randi Chang
1 year ago

How can I liquidate a Metabank prepaid Mastercard gift card with $2,555.

alec
alec
2 years ago

How did u get notified about this? are you on the staples marketing list?

Timothy B
Timothy B
3 years ago

I tried all of kinds of methods. How can I liquidate a Metabank prepaid Mastercard gift card with $2,555.

timothy b
timothy b
3 years ago
Reply to  John Pham

one card from a settlement. i been reading all the methods online.

Amanda
Amanda
2 years ago
Reply to  timothy b

Do you use Apple Cash? Many prepaid cards can be added to your wallet balance and then withdrawn to your bank account. The other way is to pay yourself via friends and family on PayPal using a second email address, then withdraw to your bank. Of course, bear in mind that using a debit card even with friends & family on PayPal will charge approx. 3% of the total sent.