I’m looking at two Staples “Easy Rebate” giftcards right now, each of them for $350, and wondering what can I do with them? They expire in just under six months, and have lots of interesting fees and conditions attached, so I am eager to use them up sooner rather than later. However, they are surprisingly hard to use. In spite of being a “debit” card, they tell you always run the transaction as credit, and specify that “ATMs cannot be used to withdraw cash.” I’ve tried:

• Getting a cash advance at the bank for the full amount (declined)
• Charging an Amazon giftcard for the full $350 (declined)
• Talking to a Staples store manager (spent 15m on the phone, no luck)
• Buying Kindle giftcards at an in-store Best Buy (declined)

After I ran the first Amazon attempt, a “test” pre-authorization charge of $1 went through and apparently will stick there for 7 days, so I now have $349 on each card to figure out how to extract:

The cards think they have money. They decline everything!

My next test will be to titrate up Amazon giftcards, starting at $10 and working my way up, and seeing if they will let smaller charges through. 10 minutes later, it worked. So, Staples won’t let you use the card all at once–weird! I’m charging $100 now … success! $200 would make life easier, so trying that now … DECLINED. Alas. Also don’t submit orders > $100 in a row until the first one clears–major yuck.

My advice to you if you go the Staples “Easy” Rebate route is to take the cheque option. It’s far more painless. Check out FrequentMiler’s Staples keeps on giving post where it’s all explained. Just select “I would like to see other options for my reward” when filling out your rebate form, then choose “Select Rebate Check” for the best option.

This entry was posted on Monday, April 2nd, 2012 at 9:15 pm and is tagged with visa debit cards, amazon giftcard, staples store, best buy, rebate check, debit card, cash advance, spite, six months, money. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback.