The Holidays continue to give gifts here at Points, Miles & Martinis. First, it was the 100,000 American Express Membership Rewards point offer. Now, we’ve received an offer for a free $25 coupon at staples that we used for free money and 175 Chase Ultimate Rewards points.
We’ll share how you can redeem this coupon online for a free $25 gift card and earn points while doing it.
The $25 Off Staples Gift Card
I checked the mail yesterday and this the first thing that caught my attention was a giant candy cane coupon card made out of staples. Then my eyes were quickly drawn to the $25 off coupon at Staples for online purchases. What a deal I thought, until I saw the card terms and conditions:
- Valid online at staples website or by phone 800-333-3330; Not valid in store
- Limit one per customer, nontransferable
- Minimum purchase requirement of $75 must be met with purchases to which no other coupon or instant savings offer applies
- May not be combined with any other coupon
- No cash/credit back
- Not valid on any desktop, laptop, netbooks, tablets, eReaders including Amazon Kindle, Nook, Beats Audio, Epson ink and toner, custom printing orders, services, promotional products, GIFT CARDS, staples industrial purchases, prior purchases or any purchases on other provider web sites
- Tax and shipping not included in calculating minimum purchase
- Offer expires 1/28/13
Each coupon card comes with a valid one-time use coupon code on the back. This is the code that gets entered at checkout online. So I figured I’d give it a whirl and try to purchase gift cards online through the Chase Ultimate Rewards shopping portal to earn free points and essentially get a free $25 gift card using this coupon. The stage was set for a Saturday morning showdown with the Staples website to see if I could use this coupon.
Experiment To See Coupon Worked With Gift Cards Worked
First, I navigated to Staples through the Chase Ultimate Rewards Shopping portal. I would receive 2 extra points per dollar by going through the shopping portal and 5 points per dollar if I used my Chase Ink Plus card. The Chase Ultimate Rewards mall and the AAdvantage shopping portal are my usual first stops for online shopping along with the usual suspects of cash back sites.
The next thing I did was select gift cards that I actually needed or could give out as stocking stuffers. I knew I needed to spend a total of $75 in order to receive the free $25 off from the coupon so I added two gift cards totaling $76.99.
Everything was going as planned so far. The first gift card for American Eagle was an e-gift card so there was no extra charge. But the T-J Maxx gift card included $1.99 charge for secure shipping since this was a physical gift card that would be sent in the mail.
Next, I added the coupon code from the back of the coupon card I received in the mail. The coupon reflected that $25 would be taken off the order of gift cards.
Lastly, I refreshed my cart and viewed the $25 coupon came off the top of my gift card order.
Bottom Line
By using a coupon code that Staples sent in the mail, I was able to take $25 off a gift card purchase I made online. In addition, I earned a total of 7 Chase Ultimate Rewards points per dollar spent. I earned 2 Chase Ultimate Rewards points for going through the Chase Ultimate Rewards shopping portal. Then I will earn another 5 points for using my Chase Ink Plus card at Staples.
Interested to hear if any of you have received this offer. I believe I received it because I have a business Staples Rewards membership account that I haven’t used in a while. If you’ve received this offer, it would be great if you could leave a comment sharing why you believe you received it and detailing any differences in the Staples coupon offer.
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The Weekly Flyer writes about travel from a business traveler perspective. He travels the world every week accumulating points and miles along the way.
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I have been doing this for a few months now, every time I receive a Staples coupon. Because I get the mail at my office, I get quite a few of them (that my office doesn’t use as we order from Quill). Just the other day I rec’d 2 $25/$75 and one $20 off $50. Helpful to bump up minimum spend on my husband’s new Ink Bold. 🙂
I have used this coupon for a Kohls gift card in the past. It is great deal!
One more thing – the $20/$50 coupon I received says good on “cleaning and breakroom supplies,” but I have had no problems redeeming it on a strictly $50 giftcard order.
I got a $10 off of $50 card in the mail and used it – GASP! – in store today. A few weeks ago I got a $10 card with no minimum. That was sweet
Tread lightly. Reports are you will eventually get blacklisted by Staples if you use coupons for excluded items.
That candy cane is made of some highly unusual staples. 😉
Thanks for the post!
Wow, I’ve just been tossing these coupons for months now! I guess it’s a lesson not to take fine print at face value until you at least test it out. Thx for sharing.
Staples, blacklist you? Why would I care if I were blacklisted?
If Staples blacklist you, no more online orders. It is not easy to bypass blacklist. They do matches on household, names, credit card numbers, etc… Everyone in household may be blacklisted.