Update: DEAD!
————————————————————-
Use the following code for $5 off $50: 51520
That drops the cost of the gift card down from $206.95 to $201.95.
The code only works once per Staples account, but I had no problem ordering more via Staples guest checkout.
Additionally if your Visa business card is registered on visasavingsedge.com you’ll get 1% cash back via statement credit. That drop the cost of the $200 gift card to $199.93.
The 1% cash back offer ends 12/31/14.
Of course it’s not the 7 cent profit that makes the deal, it’s the 5 points per dollar you’ll earn for paying with a card like Ink Plus or Ink Cash. That’s over 1,000 points per $200 Visa card purchased. Points transfer to United, British Airways, Singapore, Southwest, Virgin Atlantic, Hyatt, Marriott, Ritz-Carlton, IHG, Amtrak and will transfer to Korean once again next month.
You can use these Visa gift cards to effectively earn 5 points per dollar on your purchases from any store.
Want to just cash out the gift card instead of using it for everyday purchases?
The pin on the Visa gift card is the last 4 digits of the card number, no need to set anything, so Visa gift cards are the best way to go.
-You can load up to $5,000 per month onto a Target AMEX REDCard for free.
-You can cash out the Visa cards using EvolveMoney to pay bills like your mortgage, property tax, auto loan, health insurance, store charge card (Gap, Macy’s, Target, etc). There is no fee for this but you can only make 1 payment per biller per month month.
-You can load Visa cards to your Serve card with a Family Dollar cashier for no fee (though some stores won’t do this)
-You can load Visa cards to your Bluebird or Serve card at a WalMart ATM machine for no fee.
-You can load Visa cards to your Bluebird or Serve card with a WalMart cashier or customer service for no fee. Just say you want to use your debit card, no need to mention that it’s a gift card.
-You can buy a money order with the Visa card at any store that accepts debit cards as payment (except the post office). Such stores exist even in manufactured spend deserts like NYC.
-You can pay your credit card bill at WalMart with BillPay at Customer Service.
-You can swipe the card on an Amazon card reader for a 1.75% fee.
-You can gift a Visa gift card as a wedding gift instead of giving a check.
-You can… 
last time they had a coupon they tried to ban me after i used it on gift cards. I convinced them not to. Will that happen again?
Where is the HT credit for stingypolisher
Thanks Dan!
You can load to Amex for Target also.
Valid 12/23/14-12/24/14 online at staples.com® only. Not valid in store. Discount applies to total transaction. Excludes Daily Deals. Limit one coupon per customer, nontransferable. May not be combined with any other coupon. No cash/credit back. Not valid on Amazon Kindle®, Apple® products, Beats™ products, Bose® products, Canon® ink, Epson® ink and toner, HP ink and toner, Roku® products, SquareTrade® warranties, Staples Industrial purchases, Steelcase® products, custom printing orders placed online, services, promotional products, >>>>>>>gift cards,<<<<<<<< prior purchases or any purchases on other provider Web sites.
Also the $20 off $100 at staples with Amex
Dont forget about Amex offer of $20 off $100
how many were you able to get with guest checkout?
dan all those ideas of where to use them are good for those living in the usa, but as a DD fan for years which is now out of the country and still keeps up and wants to take advantage of this anything we can use the GC for ?
Can do what ;)?
@sb:
I’ve ordered lots of these with coupons in the past and never had an issue.
@Moshe:
Didn’t see it on DDF, though I see it there now, HT added. Hate those master threads.
@Trevor Gere:
Yup.
@D:
Yup, no 5x with that though.
@eli:
To buy things with?
@😉:
Dozens of ways to do this stuff.
if you use visa checkout will you still get the 5 points per dollar and 1% cash back visa savings edge
How much is to much to order under an email address or street address don’t want to get banned over ordering over a daily limit if there is such a thing dan your insight would be useful thank you before hand.
Minor issue probably. Using the same email and submitting a 2nd order on the same machine in the same browser window resulted in Staples indicating that the code can only be used once. Probably easy to circumvent by using a different browser, clearing your cache and restarting your current browser, and/or using a different email.
No way I am doing it. Got in major trouble with staples over using coupons for visa cards last year.
Can we cash these VISA gift cards out for cash at a Giant Eagle no-fee ATM like we can do with AMEX gift cards?
Thanks Dan I bought two! Tried buying a third in an incognito window and it said sorry this code has already been used.
@Dan,
Is there reason to be concerned about the Visa Edge ending before the charge posts?
I ordered cards yesterday, u think if i call them they will refund me the $5?? also if i order more today using guest checkout,, does that raise any red flags??
How long does it take to ship to a store instead of my home?
I just bought 10. Is there any reason for me to be concerned about buying to many? Will it raise any red flags? If not, I would just max out my CC on this deal… don’t see why not…
I never receive an activation code for vgc purchased through Staples online. Staples csr always says “the code is being mailed separately.” It never comes! Them I call a “special number” at gift card mall and they activate it for me. What is going wrong? Happens all three times.
@Retired: Is your Billing and Shipping address same?
It will be shipped to your billing address.
@Anonymous, DONT CALL!!
@ Retired Same thing happens to me. Not worth the hassle
@david תפשת מרובה ×œ× ×ª×¤×©×ª
anyway to get the $20 off staples from amex via twitter if i wasnt targeted on my amex offers
In placing multiple orders (clearing the cache in between each one), I made sure to click “submit” on the coupon before clicking “done,” and that I saw the $5 off with new $201.95 total. Yet several of my order confirmation emails (and pending activity on my credit card website) show charges of $206.95.
Any thoughts?
i feel like a kid in a candy shop!! when do i stop!! 🙂 prob at midnight when the code won’t be valid anymore!!
@Sola
That has happened to me before, but seemingly not this time (yet?). Not sure what causes it. Chalk it up as a risk to doing this, I guess?
Worst case, you max out your UR + VSE MS before VSE for Staples goes away, without the additional $5 savings. Is that so bad?
@Sola: Use a private window and you’re set. All my charges are showing 201.95!
anyone know if I use visa checkout will you still get the 5 points per dollar and will I get 1% cash back visa savings edge, it makes it much easier and no need for email
@HDS: Not too bad, and it only happened to 3 of my orders. I was just wondering. It’s still possible it was my own error in the repetitive process of multiple orders (e.g., when I had to re-do the CAPTCHA and maybe pressed “done” instead of “add coupon”.
@HDS: It is hard to stop (especially on the Bold with no spending limit)! I could have gone on and on, but decided to allow myself to be human and get back to my life.
If I put it on my Amex SPG is it still worthwhile for the starpoints and to hit the required spend for the bonus? I already used my amex offers…
@eli
Why not buy (at least) enough cards to fly in and process them through Serve/Redcard…? Even just flying saver on United, no special hacks, you’d need 4 Serve/Redcards, or two if your trip could include at least two days in two months.
@Sola
I think even Bold still has the $50k/year 5x UR limit.
Staples blocked IP last time a coupon applied to a GC.
Took forever to remove. against t&c. if you want it be your last purchase at staples, go for it.
@David
I would think yes, worth it (free SPG points).
Except, keep in mind you will still need to process the GCs somehow, which, depending on your capacity, may backlog your future MS.
Maybe you should buy enough to buy a house?
@<a href="http://www.dansdeals.com/archives/58594/comment-page-1#comment-1211770"
It would be 2 dollars for 200 points roughly. 1cpp. Worth it, but not amazing.
Ditto to all those saying not to do it… I’ve done this in the past and Staples cancels the orders. Band Accts…. Etc…
And even if they ship, they can withhold the activation code papers
@Idea
You’d be amazed at the things people have paid for with MS….
@BURUCH
You are right, SPG would be $1.95 per 200. No VSE.
Does it work on the $100 gift card as well?
IP (and anyone else claiming Staples “banned” you) – that is the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard. Staples programmed this coupon code. If it works, that’s their problem. They can cancel orders if they figure it out, but there is no reason to “ban” you as a customer from Staples. And if they really did BAN your IP address (which they would never do) – why did that stop you from ordering anything from staples after that? You can easily get around IP blocks…
Done and done.
Not sure yet if I want a second one, but woohoo!
Thanks!
I placed multiple orders after deleting cookies and cash but didn’t get any email confirmations
add another 400 points via chase portal
@Chosid:
Not for gift cards.
Even though I’m checking out as a guest, it keeps saying the code was already used
the question is will they take punitive action if you are mailing them to different addresses? I have a bunch of addresses I use for rebates.
Browse incognito!
Bought after going through a private VPN, clearing cache and Google Incognito window. As I was going for #3, got back-to-back calls to my home number stating the coupon code was not valid on gift cards and they would hold my order for 3 days. Yikes!
Needless to say, I won’t be calling and I’ll just let the orders go since their system is obviously smart enough to figure this out.
C’est la vie!
@Anil: Thanks for reply. All addresses are the same. Neither staples nor gcm can explain it.
@Curtis:
U may not want to believe it but staples does ban customers for coupon abuse… U can say it’s their fault but at the end of the day they do have the ability and do actually ban…
Not to say there are no work arounds… But they do ban
Talking from experience
can i buy visa gift card with a staples gift card
I bought 3 using different browsers. Thanks for the post!!
@Yitz: I’ll take 1 and be sated
@dan,:
dont think that works anymore
@Sola: INK BOLD does have a pending limit, being a charge card does not mean there is no spending limit!! Call Chase and youll see that it is a variable spending limit card , transactions will be declined without any explanation , sometimes I charge $5000 and it goes through, and other times $1000 gets declined, I have 3 of them .
dan, what’s that last bullet point with the you can… Smiley face?
@Retired: I have just gotten a separate piece of mail with activation code. Had no issues.
Staples is famous for banning people for coupon use and specially on GC. They don’t even like you using the coupons they send you in email or mail. once banned, you will never be able to order again online with any email, CC or different address.
@Work-for-ur-muny:
U BOUGHT WITH A DISCOUNT CODE AND GOT IT ALREADY…. FAST SHIPPING!!
I max my ink out at office max oh well!
@Anonymous: No, I placed this order last week.
Just got a call from Staples… blood rushed up into my head… uh oh… did they ban me…?
Rep asked if I placed any orders today. With honesty being the best policy I replied in the positive. I also gave all the info he asked for, such as email, delivery address etc. He then tells me “I see you placed an order for 1…2…3…4…5…6…7…8… gift cards today, I just wanted to confirm…” Again (same policy) in the positive. He tells me “ok I just wanted to verify this with you and THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH YOUR ORDER (oh! wish I’d recorded this call… or maybe Staples did…) I will now go ahead and make sure your orders are placed”. I told him to look out for more cuz I’m planning on ordering a total of 10 GCs, he agreed. He then told me for informational purposes that federal guidelines place a limit of $2,000 per order and $10,000 per day on GCs etc. for money laundering precautions.
Hope this is helpful to anyone out there who may be paranoid…
🙂
@Work-for-ur-muny: with a coupon code?
thanks as always Dan!!!you’re the BEST!!!!! followed your instructions checked out as guest used different email addresses and got a few thanks
@jim:
And I call bull 😀
Curtis: call bull all you want. It happened to me and many other people. I was able to get the ban pulled but others were not so lucky.
@Anonymous: YUP!!! 🙂
Staples gift cards usually past on my credit card over a week after ordering, so I would assume that you went be getting the 1% visa savings since the charge will past after 12/31/14
And by the way, I bought all these GCs not with guest checkout but with Visa Checkout and used the same browser and same email address for all orders. The only thing I did was clear the cache between orders. Worked like a piece of cake. Long live Visa Checkout!!! It expedited the process many times over. 😀
Moreover, I checked my Chase acct online and saw “10 pending charges of… …yes! $201.95
@curtis: staples does ban. Im living proof.
Dan – i’m really desperate! is there anyone that can help me get a saver award ticket to israel from ny area (preferably ewr) with no more than one stop? If i’m happy with the flight i’d be happy to pay a reward. I have miles with united, chase and amex. i know this is the wrong place to post this, but i dont know where to look. i want to leave dec 27th after shabbos and be back for work on sun afternoon jan 3. If anyone can help me find hidden tickets or give me tips i would really appreciate it.
@Work-for-ur-muny: with coupon codes?!?!
ordered a few cards. nothing better then being moderate. my hands got tired from all the retyping of the info.
Does the ink business bold get the 5x?
@Bk:
And you haven’t figured out a way around their ban…?? What was the exact reason they said they banned you? Also, the banning I’ve read about had to do with habitual returns and using e-junky coupons. This coupon is right on their home page. Additionally, as a programmer myself, there is ZERO excuse for Staples to not have validation of coupon terms before allowing someone to check out with something that conflicts. ZERO. This is all on them. If they decide to ban my address or account, pretty darn easy to get around all of that. I expect that they could cancel orders if they want, but maybe with the holidays and a large amount of orders, most of mine will get through ok if there is some automation in the order process at all. We’ll see.
Can someone simplify this for me? You buy the $200 visa card but how does that get you five points per dollar spent? Do you have to have some sort of business visa account to link it to?
@Chanie:
Oh, come on……. Do most of you even read any of what is posted?
@Chanie:
the “INK” business credit card from chase guves you 5 points per dollar spent on office supplies, in other words all your orders by staples using the ink card would earn you 5 points per dollar
@Anonymous: YUP!!! 🙂
@bob: That’s what Visa Checkout is all about, as I wrote in comment #72
Dead
Dead. Thought staples goes by PST. Didn’t get my last few in 🙁
Here’s the math if you want to cash out from the comfort of your home with Amazon local register. I believe the other options require either flying to Baltimore or making a trip to Walmart or actually spending the money somehow. So sticking with amazon which is now 2.5 percent. That’s 5 per 200 swipe. So you get the gift card for 199.93-5= 194.93. Each card gets you 1009.75 points which if you sell for 1.5 gets u 15.14 add that to 194.93= 215.07 that’s a net gain of 15.07.
Now on a regular day without the coupon and without the 1 percent. You pay 206.95. And with the 1 percent u pay 204.89. Plus 5 $ for the swipe leaves u paying either 209.89 or 211.95 so with your points sold at roughly 215.07 you gain either 3 or 5 dollars. Nisht geferlich but not so great. But if you use anything other than an ink card u get only 200 points which leaves u with a loss unless u cash out with the other options that don’t cost u anything.
If the 1 percent is ongoing and u can cash out with a free option that leaves u with a net of 10 per gift card and u have no problem getting banned so thats almost like small business Saturday.
So the question is. Is there a real simple way to cash out for free from home?
@shmiel: You may have taken off your shoes and socks to make this calculation; but, with all due respect… I don’t know who taught you how to use your toes…
You pay (after the coupon) $201.95 for the card. The Visa Savings Edge puts the price down to $199.93;
You paid: $199.93
You have in your pocket: $200
Amazon checkout charges 2.5% to cash out;
You paid: $204.93
You have in your pocket: $200 (-$4.93)
Say, you earn $0.015, or 1.5 cents per point on 1,009.75 points, this will give you a return of $15.14
You paid: $204.93
You have in your pocket: $215.14 (Subtract the cost of $204.93)
You will have a total net gain of $10.21.
Now, wouldn’t it be a waste of such valuable points to pay 2.5% to cash out the card like that?! Would it have been worth taking the chance of being stapled from Staples for this amount of money?!! Even storing the GCs on your local dust-collecting shelf for future everyday purchases would be a better idea than that.
@Work-for-ur-muny: Ok you got me on the calculation there. Net gain is 10 instead of 15.
So since with all due respect you know how toes better than me. What are you planning to do with the points?
I don’t think cashing out through Amazon is what gets u banned. It’s used the gift code multiple times.
So actually my calculation shows that buying the gift cards without the coupon is still a great way to rack up points for free even if u need to cash out with amazon. Especially if you have a bonus offer with a spending threshold. So I’m not sure what got you so ticked off?
This coupon seems to have expired
@dan you need to stop putting the 1.75% thing–its 2.5%
@@dan:
It’s 1.75% until 2016 for anyone who listened to me and got this before that offer ended.
coupon is dead!
@Dan: so bottom line dan is it worth to do this without the coupon code?
@Shmiel If points sell at 1.5 cents each, so do the math –
206.95 x 5 = 1034.75 points which = 15.52
minus 6.95 = 8.57
save 1% Visa Savings Edge (2.07) and you now have net $10.64 per card.
Thank you
wow deal over so fast,, are you sure its dead?
deal is dead > are you positive ,?
the deal is not working, dan, can u confirm that its dead???
@sam:
Read the very first line of this post in the bold bright red…
Dan, Is there a reason why its dead? I thought it would work till new years?
@sam:
The coupon is dead.
You can still get the 1% cash back until 12/31.
i got $25 off a $75 visa with the coupon i got in mail her in Canada
@shmiel: Agreed. For meeting spending thresholds the buy is worthwhile even without the coupons and the mess. For points and/or points values it may very little be worth the hassle; unless you cash out with maximum offers, such as VSE, coupon codes and spending the cards without any fees be it 1.75% or 2.5%….
I just got email confirmation of shipping of 1 of the visa gc I bought. I bought total 9 using coworkers’ accounts in-private mode as guest. All the purchases that were pending on my ink account have dissappeared. I don’t know if they dissappear automatically after a while and then reappear or if the purchases have been canceled. So….either glory or doom.
@luchex:
I bought 37 cards. The same exact thing happened to me. I just received email confirmation that 6 of them have shipped, but all of the pending purchases have disappeared from my credit card.
@Don:
same here
all my pending charges have disappeared
@ Don&jay123
and here too. Anybody know what’s going to be?
@Don: And the shipping confirmations come rolling in! My pending charges have also disappeared, but this has happened before – they come back listed on card activity.
Same here…. Shopping notices cane in on all 11 orders, but no pending charges. Hopefully they will be included by Dec 31 for the extra 1%back. Even without that thought so a great way to help meet the minimum spend on my Chase Ink.
Just got my first batch in the mail yesterday.
On a side note, this deal is paying for over 1/3 of my Joburg trip!! You’re awesome Dan, thanks for teaching and sharing with us!
Guys, I got 18 out of 25 orders Thur/Fri last week. Non so far after. How do I go about’s getting the remaining 8 resent/etc? Not sure if USPS lost it or what went wrong.
I also didnt get activation codes for any. Will call in to activate all.
Let me know if anyone else experience the same.
I received all my orders last week and just activated them all over the phone with a very nice woman over there in Reno. She said it’s a busy day with lots of people calling to activate over the phone.
All but 3 of my orders placed on Dec. 24 show up on my statement as 12/30/14 transaction date and 12/31/14 post date. Three have 12/31/14 transaction date and 1/1/15 post date – are those considered eligible to earn 1% VSE?
Hi Dan, finally got all my visa cards. Took them to Walmart to load up bluebird via cashier and used debit action, though they said its giving an error debit unavailable. This is my first venture to bluebird reload at Walmart. Read the posts prepared with code 70 and change option to debit payment method. What am I missing?
Anyone know why the activation codes are not being sent on these? I don’t really want to call and activate 25 cards over the phone with someone. Usually my activation codes arrive before the cards even get here.
I got one of the gift cards in the mail like 2 weeks ago and I did not get the pin in the mail, so i finally called up card mall today and they told me staples canceled the card after it was shipped and the card is not active, did anyone get these, did you get your pin in the mail?
You have to call up GiftCardMall.com at (877) 426-2551 and tell them that even after 3 weeks ,you have not received the activation code. Keep pressing 0 till you reach customer service. Then they will ask you for order number, etc and they will activate it within 24 hours.
Dan, have you heard about this?
Dear Valued Customer,
Evolve Money is dedicated to giving you the power to pay your bills whenever, wherever and however you like. We know that having the ability to pay by debit cards is important to many of our users.
Beginning next week, certain debit cards from smaller banks, as well as prepaid debit cards and gift cards will be subject to a 3 percent Bill Pay Fee on each payment.
This Bill Pay Fee will be waived for most major debit cards, cash load packs and Evolve Money credits. You can continue to use these payment methods free-of-charge.
Note: In the payment summary you will see the new fee amount when using a debit card for which the Bill Pay Fee has not been waived. If the debit card you are attempting to use has a fee, you will have the option to change your payment method before you complete a payment. We will send you a reminder before this change takes place.
We apologize for this inconvenience. We will continue to enhance Evolve Money with the features you request, such as the recent addition of payment by VISA, MasterCard and Discover credit cards. Plus, we have some more big changes we think you will like coming very soon.
If you have any questions, please contact Customer Support at support@evolvemoney.com. As always, thanks for your continued support of Evolve Money.
The Evolve Money team