One of my favorite deals is back! Staples is selling $200 Visa gift cards without any purchase fees. These gift cards act like debit and credit cards, and you can use them anywhere Visa is accepted.
Ninja Update 1/14/21: Deal offered again from 1/17/21 to 1/23/21 with a limit of 5 cards per visit.
Fee-Free Visa Gift Cards Offer
It seems like Staples is promoting Visa and Mastercard gift cards every other week. Not complaining, it’s a BIG positive.
For the week of January 17 to January 23, Staples is offering the $200 Visa gift cards with no purchase fees. This is an in-store offer only. Typically, these $200 gift cards come with a $6.95 activation fee per card.
Related:
Hot Deal Angle
You might be thinking, “Kinda cool I guess, but why are you capitalizing, bolding, and italicizing BIG for?
Well, this is one of the ways I earn millions of points every year for FREE.
By using a category bonus credit card (I use the Chase Ink Plus for 5X points at office supply stores like Staples), you can earn a ton of points for really no cost.
Ninja Note: You can no longer get the Chase Ink Plus, but the Chase Ink Cash is similar.
For example, if I buy 1 of these Visa gift cards, I’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 Visa gift card like cash and use it anywhere. Yes, the more gift cards you buy, the longer it will take to use them all. However, if you’re creative, you can really liquidate your gift cards quickly.
For example, you can pay your mortgage or utility bill with these cards. Another angle is pre-paying your taxes – you can do this twice a quarter. Others have somewhat secretive ways of burning through these in no time at all.
Again, be creative.
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 “AMEX Offers” and “Chase Offers” program.
If you don’t know what these are, it’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 – on the main page, there’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:
With the current Staples deal, you can buy 3 $200 gift cards for a total of $600. By doing so, you’ll be saving $50 by using this AMEX offer.
That’s a $50 profit (spending $550 to get $600 worth of gift cards) right off the bat. Plus, you’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.
Because it’s 20% off, you’d max this offer out by buying just 1 $200 Visa gift card.
That’s a $34 profit (spending $167 to get a $200 gift card). And if it’s on a Chase card that gives you 5X points at office supply stores, you’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. It’s like spending cash, but with all those free credit card points you’re going to generate by doing this deal!
I wonder when the Chase 20% statement credit will show up again.
It takes a few days after the transaction date for the credit to post.
The Staples near me has a 1 card per customer per visit restriction. I can buy them every day, but they’re limiting people to 1 per visit. Sad.
I would point to the sale sign that’s usually on top of the gift card rack. It mentions the limit of 5. The limit of 1 is an old rule they had previously.