Earn a Profit on MasterCard Gift Cards at Office Depot/Office Max

That’s right – a PROFIT!

Ok, so it is not much profit, but it is still making money!

What’s the deal?

Office Depot and Office Max are currently running a sale on MasterCard gift cards! For every $300 in gift cards you will receive an instant $15 rebate (taken at the register).

When is the deal valid?

The deal is set to run 9/4/2016 through 9/10/2016 (this Saturday!)

How many times can I grab this deal?

There is a deal limit of two per household (which is pretty common with these type of deals). That means that you can purchase any number of MasterCard gift cards to reach $600 total and earn the two $15 instant rebates!

My advice: Maximize the earnings and minimize the fees by purchasing the highest denomination MasterCard offered (typically this is $200).

 

The $200 MasterCard gift cards have a $6.95 fee each, so here is the profit breakdown:

Gift card value 3x$200.00 = $600.00 (profit goes down incrementally after reaching the $600 threshold)

Gift card fees 3x$6.95 = $20.85

Total Price (pre-discount) = $620.85

Instant Rebate = $30.00 (2x$15.00)

Final Price = $590.85

Total Profit = $9.15 (I know – not a huge chunk of change. But the point is to meet minimum spends and earn points, not to become a millionaire!)

What can I do with MasterCard gift cards?

These cards are accepted anywhere MasterCard is accepted. The cards can be run as credit or debit (using the PIN # that comes in the package). Normally I use these cards for every day expenditures or give them as gifts (generous, eh!?) for birthdays and Christmas.

There are other, more complicated ways to use these gift cards… Some people load these cards to prepaid debit cards like Bluebird and Serve in order to pay bills, and some people have had success purchasing money orders with these cards in order to pay others or themselves. I am not a big fan of these methods and have not done much with them so do not have more information for you!

What card should I use to purchase?

Chase Ink Plus would be my card of choice to earn 5x Ultimate Rewards (or a 5% cash back card like the Amex SimplyCash Plus), but if you do not have the Ink Plus then this would still be a good deal for those looking to meet minimum spend (for that Chase Sapphire Reserved you were just approved for!) in a short time frame, since these gift cards can be bought now and used at a later date. Additionally, there is a current Amex Offer for $20 off a $100 purchase at Office Depot/Office Max that you can stack on top of this instant rebate for even more savings!

Plenty of $200 cards on the rack!

 

Anything else I should be considering?

There should be a PIN inside the package so you can use the card for debit transactions (call the phone number in the back of the gift card if you do not receive a PIN). Also, you can head to mygiftcardsite.com to register your card and set the home address (good for use at gas stations that require a zip code to process the transaction).

These gift cards are valuable, so don’t lose them! If you are the type of person that has the tendency to “misplace things”, it’s a wise idea to take pictures of the cards, just in case!

Final Thought

Office Depot/Office Max has MasterCard gift cards on sale – and you can make an easy $9 profit and work towards meeting a minimum spend by purchasing $600 worth of gift cards, not to mention the additional value of points/miles/cashback earned during the purchase!

Will you be getting in on the deal this week?

Happy Travels!

DW