Office Max Instant Rebate on Visa Gift Cards

5

Starting today and scheduled to end on Saturday, June 10th, 2017, Office Max and Office Depot will be offering a $10 instant rebate on Visa Gift Card purchases of $300 or more. That’s not as good as past promotions and will not completely eliminate the activation fees, but you can still come out ahead of using a card that earns a good category bonus.

staples-old-new-vgc.jpg

The Offer

  • $10 instant rebate on $300 or more in Visa Gift Cards

Key Details

  • One instant rebate per transaction
  • One transaction limit
  • Valid in-store only
  • Expires Saturday, June 10th, 2017

The Math

This deal is best maximized by paying with a card that earns 5x/5% at office supply stores (which remember includes the BBVA NBA card as the NBA Finals are on). To maximize rewards and minimize activation fees as a percentage of cost, you would want to buy two $200 Visa Gift cards. Alternatively, you could buy one $100 gift card and one $200 gift card (or any other combination to reach $300 in gift cards), but activation fees will cumulatively make up a higher percentage of your purchase price. In other words, your “cost” will be the same, so you might as well earn some more rewards at 5X/5%.

$413.90 (2x $200 Visa Gift Card + activation)
-$10.00
$403.90 + 2019.5 Ultimate Rewards OR $20.20 cash back

These Visa gift cards should be PIN-enabled, with the PIN being the last four digits of the card. For more information on these cards, see our Beginner’s Guide to Buying & Liquidating Visa and Mastercard Gift Cards.

The lower instant rebate (past instant rebates have been $15 or $20) is disappointing. However, I’m hopeful that this is a move to avoid pulling the promotion early. I’d rather see negative-cost gift cards, but this is better than paying the full fees and remains a useful sale for some. The official terms state that the limit is one rebate per customer, but YMMV on a cashier allowing more than one.

H/T: Doctor of Credit

Want to learn more about miles and points? Subscribe to email updates or check out our podcast on your favorite podcast platform.
Subscribe
Notify of
guest

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

5 Comments
newest
oldest most voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments