Update 2/20/25: Deal is back from 2/23-3/1
Update 1/24/25: Deal is back from Sunday, 1/26/25 through Saturday, 2/1/25 (ht FM)
Update 11/28/24: Deal is back from 12/1 – 12/7
Update 10/31/24: Deal is coming back for 11/3 through 11/9 (ht kawnipi)
The Offer
- Staples stores will be selling $200 Mastercard gift cards with the $6.95 activation fee waived.
The Fine Print
- Limit 9 per customer per day; check with your local store to see their rules
- 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 $20 office supply credit.
Update History:
- Update 10/3/24: Deal is back from 10/6 – 10/12. Hat tip to FM
- Update 9/5/24: Deal is coming back for 9/8 through 9/14. The new limit now is 9 per customer per day. (ht kawnipi)
- Update 8/8/24: Deal is coming back for 8/11 through 8/17. Limit 8. (ht kawnipi)
- Update 7/11/24: Deal is back from 7/14 – 7/20
- Update 6/14/24: Deal is back from 6/16 – 6/22.
- Update 5/16/24: Deal is coming back for 5/19-5/25. Limit 5 this time. (ht kawnipi)
- Update 4/18/24: Deal is coming back for 4/21 – 4/27 (ht GC Galore)
- Update 3/21/24: Deal is back from 3/24 – 3/30 (ht GC Galore)
- Update 2/22/24: Deal is back from 2/25 – 3/2
- Update 1/25/24: Deal is coming back for 1/28 – 2/3 (ht GCGalore)
- Update 12/28/23: Deal is coming back soon for 12/31 – 1/6. Limit 8. (ht kawnipi)
- Update 12/3/23: Deal is back this week 12/3 – 12/9. Limit 8. (ht Emi S)
- Update 11/2/23: Deal is coming back for the week of 11/5 – 11/11. Limit 8. (ht kawnipi)
- Update 10/5/23: Deal is back 10/8 – 10/14
- Update 9/7/23: Deal is back for 9/10 – 9/16. Limit 8 this time. (ht captduk)
- Update 8/10/23: Deal is coming back soon for 8/13 – 8/19. Back down to a maximum of 5 cards this time. (ht kawnipi)
- Update 7/13/23: Deal is back from 7/16 – 7/22
- Update 6/18/21: Deal is back and valid 6/18 – 6/24 (ht GCG). Stack with Chase Offer for 10% back.
- Update 5/18/21: Deal is back and valid 5/21 – 5/27
- Update 4/20/23: Deal is back and valid 4/23 – 4/29.
- Update 3/23/23: Deal is back and valid until 3/26 – 4/1.
- Update 2/23/23: Back until 2/26 – 3/4.
- Update 1/26/23: Deal will be back and valid until 1/29 – 2/4 with a max of 8 this time. (ht kawnipi)
- Update 7/14/22: Deal is back, valid from 7/17 until 7/23
- Update 12/1/22: Deal is back and valid until 12/4 – 12/10. Hat tip to GC Galore
I went to a Walmart yesterday, successfully bought to 199$ ones. Today I went to the same one, but 3 of my cards were declined. All errored out printing no debit access. But the mcgift site says there is full 200$ balance on all of them. The Walmart rep even looked at the card and said giftcards are fine.
Anybody have the same problem, i.e. no debit access?
All out by about 12 noon on Monday.
I am glad I have better credit card offers now that I can use on $500 VGC / MCGC.
Is the success to convert to MO specific to different Walmart locations? I have tried with a Visa and MC gc’s at a Walmart in my area with no luck.
Need D/L and phone #
Everything I find online back to 2018 says that Walmart won’t take gift cards as payment for money orders. But you’ve done it without any problems? This gives me hope
I did not purchase MO at Walmart. because it was too complicated need register your information even $199 MO.
By “register your information” do you mean that they wanted to enter your driver’s license info into their system?
Yes.
where did you purchase?
Any grocery store with WU sign.
Do grocery stores also need DL? What is the downside of DL?
No.
Has anyone had success depositing walmart mo into fidelity cma?
Should I get trouble if I purchased too many MO each month and deposited to bank?
Different banks have different sensitivity limits.
Thanks! Do you know different banks limits?
you need to check it out. But 200.00 in MO is baby stuff!! Most banks would allow you to deposit a bunch, but not a new acct. The 500.00 and 1k MO are the big boy’s game!!
It is an idealism for money order.
Yes. All $199 to $200 MO. But multiple less $200 deposited to bank in one time.
How do you deposit them in your bank?
deposited like a bank personal check.
Open up a business checking account as a sole proprietorship for depositing MOs. Banks care less what business checking accounts do.
Thanks!
Can I do MO pay myself? I deposited $3k currently to my business checking account to myself now.
Yes, that is allowed.
I understand that some cards are compromised where the funds can be drained after purchase. But what if I register the card right after purchase with my name and address? Wouldn’t this prevent fraudsters where online purchases will fail without the right name and address?
It might, also if they do drain it somehow it’s very easy for them to replace it. But it’s such a hassle
since I buy so many, if the card is compromised, just call the # on the back of the card and explain. They will mail you a new card. EZ! Vanilla Gift has gotten 1000% better in the past few months with their new security protocols, so they seem good to go. No trouble in the past 6 months at least. They were very good sending me new cards after calling. last year I had 3 cards at 1x drained. They make good for it.
How the heck did this happen? I’ve read about people going to Google to search for the registration website then getting conned on the wrong site. what happened in your case?
A CVS worker told me several months ago that a lot of it was an inside job where it was done in the factory and then they repackaged the GCs. That was before the new $7.95 cards came out though.
Can anyone try to pay mortgage and home insurance with those gift card?
Mortgage=no, home/rental/car insurance=yes
Thanks! Is there a fee to pay insurance?
I have never paid any fees with any insurance (car, home, rental, medical). Property tax has fees though. Most insurance agencies will happily split payment over phone if no provision online. Except State Farm. State Farm refused to split payment once for me. I didn’t pursue further. But people may have different experience with State Farm.
I don’t have much bill to pay but I want to make 5% Chase INK cash back to purchase those gift card. How did you liquidate all gift card when you purchase $1800 every other week? Thanks!
I have legit expenses unfortunately, so don’t need to liquidate
Thanks! I am not lucky as you.
you need to read up. Flyer talk is a good way to learn.
What is Flyer talk ? I am new here.
http://www.flyertalk.com
Thanks!
I have about $15,000 in charges per year to my electric, gas, cable, phone and I can pre-pay them. My electric company charges $3.50 for up to $600 in charges, but unfortunately I can’t find VISA/MC gift cards for >$200, so I end up paying $196.50 to the bill +$3.50=$200. I still come out at over 2 cents per point for the electric bill. The others don’t charge a fee to make payments with the gift cards, so I just pre-pay about $2000-$3000 on all of those bills and don’t worry about it again until the balance gets low. I have almost $20,000 in insurance payments per year, and if I’m not working on a credit card sign up bonus, I will pay them with gift cards.
Thanks!
I split payment all the time at my agents office (Close to where I live.). Got the girls trained on how to do it! Just don’t do it online. Pay both auto & homeowner’s.
Got the “girls”? What are they 8 years-old?
Travelers accepts VGC for 500.00 every 2 days online. Might take a week or 8 days to pay in full this way, but heck, points from Citi and AMEX are worth it. (HO and 3 cars)
I pay State Farm with multiple cards at once without any issues via phone.
it depends on your insurance and insurance plan. you have to look into the specific company you work with and what they allow and don’t allow.
I have paid mortgage and extra principle payment each month by sending $498*12 money orders in a single envelope for last 36 months with no issues. Money order is as good as check so should not be a problem
Thank you very much! You sent MO orders total less than $500. Right?
Anyone had any issues liquidating these $200 MC’s recently? I bought 18 in the last promotion…4 of them seem to coded to not work for money services.
The other 14 worked? Which store
I changed the pin again…made a small purchase at a different store, and then tried again at money services. Worked just fine.
I had one and took purchase receipt sent back to store and exchanged a new one.
for some reason yes. I have gotten VGC and MCGC both from staples, both distributed from BHN. Liquidiated 1000s of VGS, and as soon as I got 2 $200 MCGCs, neither worked. Both got locked for fraud 2 times, they eventually just sent me a myprepaidcenter.com visa giftcard that I just used for organic spend cuz i wasn’t ready to have it locked for the 3rd time and wait another 2 weeks
liquidating 200.00 is baby stuff. Waste of time IMO. Just use for stuff like restaurants, take out, DDonuts, etc. You still got 5% back if you used the right card to buy these. Plus no fee.
What is liquidating mean here?
Converting to cash
I have a screen shot of a list of past and FUTURE promotions but have no idea where the data comes from. When I try to look for Office Depot advertisement/circulars, it just takes me to the office depot web site, and I can never find indications for the promotion.
How DO people find out the right promotion. And which of the gift cards (fixed, variable) actually count?
Office Depot doesn’t advertise in ads, instead a sign is usually up in store, but not always. I rely on the sign or a report here that the sale is on. For Office Depot, variable do count.
Made a purchase using affirm and attempted to use a registered staples/pathward $200 mcgc to make a partial loan payment but if failed. Has anyone had recent success using these gift cards with affirm?