All You Need to Know About Staples Easy Rebates

Staples Easy Rebates

Staples has a rebate system, called the Staples Easy Rebate, which allows us to get rebates on select items purchased from Staples by submitting the rebates online, without the need to mail in any UPC symbols, or anything at all for that matter.

It’s, well…easy. Once your Staples Rebate login is setup, all your personal info (name, address) is prefilled, and it takes minutes to submit a rebate online. It does, however, take a month or two until the rebate comes in the mail.

One of the more popular rebates is $20 back when purchasing $300 in Visa/Mastercard gift cards at Staples; this offer comes up many times over the course of a year. There are many other rebates offered by Staples as well.

Rebate Options

Rebates are commonly issued in two forms. At times, Staples will offer a prepaid Visa card which can be used anywhere Visa is accepted. Other times they’ll offer a Staples gift card which can only be used at a Staples store or Staples.com. There used to be a check rebate as well, but we haven’t seen that recently.

The prepaid Visa cards get hit with a $3 monthly fee after the first 6-months, so be sure to use it up before then. On the other hand,  Staples gift cards never expire.

Frequentmiler noted that even when the advertised rebate is for a prepaid Visa, they’ll some times offer a choice to get a Staples gift card rebate (of the same value) instead. Choose this option if you prefer the non-expiring Staples card over the soon-expiring Visa card.

Miscellaneous Facts about Staples Rebates

• Submit a rebate here. Track a rebate here. Search for a rebate here. Check the balance on your rebate card here.
• For support, contact Staples Easy Rebates here; there is a chat option and an email option.
• You usually have 60-days from the purchase date to submit a rebate (purchase date + 59 days).
• All rebates have a limit per name/address/household. If you can get someone else at a different address to submit it for you, or if they allow you to submit it under their name, it would be possible to double your limits. (More on this in a previous post.)
• Many rebates have a limit of one. For a rebate that has a limit of more than one, you’ll get one large prepaid card for all the rebates purchased in one order. For example, if you buy three items in one order (online or in-store), and the item has a $20 rebate with a limit of three, you’ll submit one rebate form, and you’ll get a single $60 rebate card for all three rebates combined.
• All rebates come in the mail, usually within a month or two. Cards come in the mail already active.
• Rebate offers typically run 7-days, from Sunday – Saturday, and they’ll show up in the weekly ad which can be viewed online at staples.com.
• You can choose to submit the rebate online or to mail it in; we recommend the former.
• For online (or kiosk) orders, you’ll need the following info to submit a rebate: the order number and the delivery zip code. The order number can be found in the confirmation email and on the packing slip that comes with the delivery.
• For in-store purchases, a special rebate receipt will print out automatically at the register, aside from the regular purchase receipt. To submit the rebate, you’ll need the Easy Rebate ID number, which is a long string of numbers that comes printed on the rebate receipt. From memory, the Rebate ID number can be found on the regular receipt as well, so don’t sweat it if the special Rebate receipt doesn’t print out (happens occasionally). Here’s an additional tip.

How to Liquidate Staples Gift Cards

Rebates that come in the form of a Staples gift card are regular Staples gift cards; they can be used at Staples or Staples.com, and they don’t expire. When using online, there is a limit of five Staples gift cards that can be applied to each order. In-store, you should be able to do more than that in one checkout.

If you don’t think you’ll need the Staples gift card, consider selling it to a gift card exchange. You can usually yield over 80% of the face value on Staples gift cards though the prices fluctuate. Also, bear in mind that some exchanges (Saveya and Cardpool) won’t accept gift cards with small values. See The Complete Guide to Selling your Unwanted Gift Cards for Cash for more details on selling gift cards.

How to Liquidate Prepaid Visa Cards

The prepaid Visa cards work anywhere Visa is accepted. For online transactions, your mailing address (the address that the card was sent to) is the default billing address. The card also comes with your name printed on the card.

It used to be possible to use the prepaid cards like PIN-enabled debit cards to buy money orders and the like, but this doesn’t seem to be working anymore.

Here are some tips for using up these prepaid cards:

Request a Check

Reader XP1 notes that you can request a check to cash out the prepaid Visa cards – at the cost of $2.50. After receiving the prepaid card, call customer service at 1-866-923-0052 to cancel the card, and you’ll get a mailed check with the card balance minus $2.50.

The fee will amount to a high fee for a $20 prepaid card (more than 10% of its value), and many will prefer other methods. But for a high-dollar prepaid Visa rebate card, this is a great, cheap way of liquidating. You may even be able to get away with one $2.50 fee for liquidating a bunch of prepaid rebate cards or they may not charge any fee at all.

If only all Visa gift cards had a check-liquidation option…

Drain them In-Store

The easiest way to use these up is to spend them down on regular in-store purchases. Many store registers are capable of detecting the balance of the prepaid card, draining it automatically, and leaving the balance to be paid with another payment method. For example, if you’re at a CVS store, and your shopping total amounts to $197.76, swipe the $20 prepaid Visa card first, and the system will use up the $20. The balance of $177.76 can then be paid with another card. You can even use up multiple small prepaid cards, drain them down, and pay the balance with your regular credit card.

The key here is to verify that the register is capable of automatically draining the card – not all registers can do that. Refer to DoC Payments Workshop for info on many stores, which registers auto-drain and which don’t.

Use on Staples.com

Staples.com has a unique checkout system which allows the use of five Staples Visa prepaid cards as payment for a regular staples.com purchase.

(They also have an option to use up one regular Visa prepaid/gift card – not received from a Staples rebate – which means you can actually use up six prepaid cards in one order. Combined, you can use a total of twelve different cards in one checkout on staples.com: five Staples gift cards, five Staple rebate Visa cards, one prepaid card, and one regular credit card.)

Some people won’t want to use this option since they prefer to use a credit card that gets bonus points at office supply stores.

Drain on Amazon

An old favorite is to drain small balances of prepaid Visa cards on Amazon. Amazon does not place a $1 hold on Visa cards when adding them into the system, and they allow you to buy an e-gift card or do a reload in any amount. So if the prepaid Visa card is $15, you can buy a $15 Amazon e-gift card or do a $15 Amazon reload; the $15 will then be combined with your Amazon balance.

Some people won’t want to use this option since they prefer to use a credit card that gets bonus points on Amazon.

Drain on Insurance or Utilities

Many people have success draining prepaid cards on their insurance or utility bills. Just add each card as a new payment method and enter the payment for the amount that’s on the card. Hopefully, they won’t put a $1 hold on the card, and they’ll just drain it down.

Some utilities earn bonus rewards on certain credit cards, like cell phone bill with INK, and it’s costly to give up those rewards. But health insurance, for example, won’t earn any bonus points on the credit card and is certainly an option to consider.

Any other important things to know about Staples Easy Rebates? We undoubtedly missed something – hit the comments!