The Offer
Direct Link (next weeks ad, page 6)
In next weeks Staples ad there are some merchant gift card deals. Valid from Sunday 5/3/15 through Saturday 5/9/15.
The three options are:
- $50 Gap gift card for $40
- $50 Sephora gift card for $40
- $50 Spafinder gift card for $40
The Fine Print
- “Limit 1 per transaction/customer”.
I’m not sure if we’ll be able to buy all of the cards in one transaction and get $10 off each (i.e. buy 1 Sephora, 1 Gap, and one Spa in one transaction and pay $120 total) or if it’s limited to one of the three. [UPDATE: It’s now live and it appears to be limited to one $10 discount per transaction, even if you have 2 separate cards in your cart.]
It’s also a little fuzzy by me what “1 per customer/transaction” means. Does that mean that you can only do one per transaction but you can do multiple transactions or does it mean you can only do one transaction.
For online purchases it’s a little riskier to try churning this since Staples is known to make problems for people who abuse such deals. In-store shouldn’t be any risk.
- Valid online or in-store
Reselling
As for reselling the cards: Both Gap and Sephora can be resold at break-even rates.
Currently, the SKUs mentioned in the ad are not showing on the Staples site. We had a similar thing happen with last week’s similar offer and the SKUs ended up being added for the sale (with even better limits than had been originally advertised). I’m assuming we’ll see the same thing happen coming this Sunday.
Note that in-store you’ll be able to buy the physical gift card which is easier to resell. Online you’ll only be able to get the e-gift card version of the Gap gift card. You can get the physical version of the Sephora gift card online but it comes with a $1.99 shipping fee tacked on.
Note that with online orders, many have been successful at getting portal points/cashback for the orders though it’s officially excluded in the Terms. This is an advantage in online orders.
We’ll try to get the direct links for the deals when they become available next week.
HT: mistercheap on Fatwallet
I bought 3 B&M $50 gap cards without a problem . Assistant manager checked me out and didn’t bat an eye.
Great!
Buying any multiple of 2X $25 Sephora GCs automatically codes as $20 each. Bought 8 x $25 for example and paid $160 rather than $200.
Good to hear. Thanks
Good info, Glenn!
Shan,
I was able to buy 2 $ 50 sephora card in one transaction for $80 and interesting was I able to use my staples rebate card. no code is needed in the register.. it automatically deducts the money.
Thanks for that!
FYI. Just bought 2 $50 GAP cards in a single transaction in-store and walked out with an $80 charge.
Very interesting. If that’s true, I’d head over to Staples store myself.
The system automatically took off the $40 from the original $100 without the cashier needing to do anything?
Yep!
Correction: It was $20 off in total not $40 ($50 less $10 per card x 2).
Awesome!
Doesn’t look like these have been loaded to staples.com today…
Found them: http://www.staples.com/cat_BI967735
Thanks
I wished we could Staples GC to buy GCs… I have so many of Staple GCs I can unload there.. Lol
Yeah…those were the days…
Do you know how long it typically takes Staples to email you your e-gift card? Thanks!
I think it comes the next day usually. Not sure.
Thanks!
in the past the Limit 1 per transaction/customer was not enforced by the register, only some hyperactive cashiers. also, we were able to buy two $25 gift cards and still get the discount after they ran out of $50 ones.
Thanks. Yup, the terms sounded like you can combine IIRC.