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One of the absolute best deals going right now is the 11x deal buying Visa gift cards at Staples as I have talked about in the past. Readers have asked how things went and how did I get 11x? First what you need:
- An INK card
- VisaEdgeSavings
- A Discover card
With these 3 (card links here btw) you are good to go. Since we all should know by now that INK cards pay you 5x for shopping at office supply stores, like Staples, it is a great place to shop for all sorts of things.
Next, one of the reasons I love my Discover IT card is that it also pays you 5% cash back via ShopDiscover for shopping at Staples and the really neat thing is you don’t have to pay for what you are shopping for with your Discover card. However, you do have to have a card to get the cash back.
Lastly we have VisaEdgeSavings that gives you 1% back in the form of a statement credit for shopping at Staples.
The simple results are 11x but I do have to take off the fee for the cards that is $69.50 or as a percentage or “X” of the deal a little over 3x. So net almost 8x for a few clicks. Not to mention the fact that the over 10,000 in UR points I will get if I choose to spend them on Delta tickets gets me 1.25 cents each making them worth even more to me!
Gosh I love all things points and miles – don’t you? – René
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Editorial Note: Any opinions, analyses, reviews or recommendations expressed in this article are those of the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any card issuer.
➲ Barclaycard Arrival™
World MasterCard®
Earn 2x miles
on All Purchases
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Advertiser Disclosure: Eye of the Flyer, a division of Chatterbox Entertainment, Inc., is part of an affiliate sales network and receives compensation for sending traffic to partner sites, such as CreditCards.com. Some or all of the card offers that appear on the website are from advertisers. Compensation may impact how and where card products appear on the site. This site does not include all card companies or all available card offers. Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed, or approved by any of these entities. Some of the links on this page are affiliate or referral links. We may receive a commission or referral bonus for purchases or successful applications made during shopping sessions or signups initiated from clicking those links.
Responses are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.
do you have confirmation of getting paid from Discover for Visa GC purchases through portal?
@hdawg – uh, click the photo in the post? 😉
When did you last make a staples purchase? There have been report that portals have stopped paying CB on GC, so you may want to include this as a caveat to your readers.
@Keith – a few weeks back. placed another order today. will advise any changes. things do change from time to time but also a reason to mix things up with this, with AMEX gift cards from Arrival portal, TopCashBack etc. All-in in one spot is never good when there is so much choice to spread the spend around.
My last purchase via ShopDiscover didn’t pay out.
@Robert – clearly mine did and as already mentioned and shown in post and I placed another order today 5/20/14 and will update when/if those points post as well.
how long does it usually take to know if purchase/points will go through?
@hdawg – 3-8 weeks has been what I have seem for almost ALL portals not just these mentioned.
I was just asking for discover in particular. I dont have one and was looking to sign up on my next AOR
@hdawg – varies but about 4 weeks.
Reports from all over have been that since early May (exact date has varied) Staples is not paying out to any cashback portal or giving extra points through UR portal. Seems that Edge is still good and the normal Ink 5x good but haven’t seen a single person confirm they’ve received anything since Staples sent out the memo which has been widely circulated.
@David – I will be sure to report back from my latest round today!
I can confirm that swagbucks has started limiting it as well. My order from last week for visa GCs from Staples yielded 0 points. The terms at SB now explicitly mention that GCs are excluded.
@Praveen – yes I avoid Swagbucks for that and other reasons.
Given the uncertainty surrounding portal payouts, your readers ought to be afforded a prominent warning/word of caution, no?
@Jake – if one is in the points game one knows YMMV. In fact, in the disclaimer I post in EVERY POST, it says just that. The reality is very few readers are even willing to buy AMEX gift cards and use those for every day spending locking in not just the points but also the whatever “X” Arrival or TopCashBack is offering and that has been reliable time and again.
Rene,
I know you have mentioned before getting points on Amex Gift Cards through the Barclay RewardsBoost portal even when using your Amex Delta card to purchase. How long did it take for your points to post? I purchased a couple weeks ago using a British Airways Visa and my Arrival statement hit but I didn’t get any points. I messaged them and they said you have to use your Arrival card to purchase.
@justin – They are wrong. It takes just about spot on 4 weeks but can take 5 some times. Just wait! I will say TopCashBack has never EVER not paid out in full. I did get a ZERO with Big Crumbs and avoid them now. Another word of warning you don’t want to draw to much attention to yourself with Barclay’s. They can be persnickety. Be patient and mix up spend and enjoy the rewards.
Rene,
Thanks; I guess it will just take a couple weeks longer. I figured that was the case because I looked all over and nowhere did it say you have to actually use your Barclay card to make the purchase. This was my first time using the RewardsBoost portal mostly because like you said, TopCashBack has been extremely reliable for me. But I wanted to try RewardsBoost.
@Justin – I have 2 paid out with an “other” card and one with and Arrival. All were in that 4-ish week range.
René, I clicked on the VIsa Edge Savings link but it does not list Staples as a partner. Are they still partners?
@Chris – think so 😉 http://deltapoints.boardingarea.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/staples-part-of-visaedgesavings.jpg