Taking Chase Sapphire Reserve Into Account

In a previous post, I came out in favor of the American Express Business Gold and Platinum Schwab (Personal) over the Chase Ink Business card for my particular spending habits. 

I spend about $35,000 a year on shipping.  The business gold earns 4x and the Schwab makes that worth 5% cash back.  Chase Ink earns 3x on shipping which turns into 3.75% towards travel but it's annual fee is far lower.

Well, it turns out that I neglected to take the Chase Sapphire Reserve into account. 🤦

The Chase Sapphire Reserve has a very high annual fee of $450 but it means the 3x earned from INK turns into 4.5% towards travel and it comes with a very generous $300 airline reimbursement which many people consider to be almost as good as cash since it is pretty easy to activate.

Summary of Last Post Calculation

Here is how the original math shook out

American Express combo:

Annual fees - $295 and $550 = -$845
Travel reimbursement - ~$160
$35,000 of shipping expenses = 140,000 Membership Rewards Points = $1,750
Tax deduction at marginal rate of 30% of annual fee = $253.50


That's $1318.50 of value (3.767% on $35k of spending).

It's another $70 if you have $250k with Schwab ($100 off annual fee but lose the 30% tax deduction so only gain $70) and another $70 if you have $1 million+ with Schwab.



Chase INK

Annual fee = -$95
Travel reimbursement = $0
$35,000 of shipping expenses = 105,000 Ultimate Rewards points = $1,312.50 towards travel.
Tax deduction at marginal rate of 30% of annual fee = $28.50

That's $1246 of value towards travel (3.56%)

I pointed out that as I continue to spend more money on shipping, the benefit of the amex combination would increase and I also get the extra benefits of platinum like lounge access and credit to Saks Fifth Avenue, Uber Credits and Status at certain hotels and rents a cars so it made sense to go with American Express.

$1318.50 cash vs. $1246 for travel and Platinum has more benefits.  It was easy to choose American Express over Chase


The problem is that I completely ignored the Chase Sapphire Reserve in this calculation. 

Adding in Chase Sapphire Reserve 

Here is the Calculation of the Chase Ink and Sapphire Reserve combo



Annual fee = -$545
Travel Reimbursement = $300, let's give it full value for simplicity sake since most people can get full value out of it
$35,000 of shipping expenses = $105,000 Ultimate Rewards = $1,575 towards travel.
Tax deduction at marginal rate of 30% of annual fee = $163.50

That's $1493.50 of value towards travel  (4.267%) vs. the $1318.50 of cash

Conclusion

The Chase combination actually provides more value for me.  I had already applies for the Schwab Platinum which I don't regret since it will unlock all my Membership Rewards but going forward I am considering going the Chase route instead of American Express.  My only question is whether Chase will approve me for multiple cards. 

I want 3 Chase cards in total.  The Sapphire Reserve, Ink Business Preferred and Ink Business Cash (5x office supplies with no annual fee - limit of $25k of spending for 5x).  We will see what I can get!

Waited to be Under 5/24 but I'm Applying for More American Express Instead of Chase

Forgive me here, this is a bit of a ramble, I'm out of the blogging habits!



In general I'm a big cashback person for my needs since I don't travel a ton.  I earn 250,000 points from spending on my Chase INK yearly and that is usually enough for my families needs for the whole year.  Occasionally it is not and then I need to dip into other points balances that I have which I earn through sign up bonuses and promotions (shopping portal or retention spending bonuses, etc.).  I do a lot of spending for the business besides that so instead of bulking up my points reserves more I usually look for cashback.  If will receive more points than cash (assuming I value the points at 1 cent per points) I will take the points but everything being equal I prefer cash.

The other caveat is that if I can turn my points into cash at 1 cent per point, I will value those points exactly as cash (as a minimum).  I can turn every Ultimate Rewards point into 1 cent so I value them at 1 cent and consider it like earning cash.  I can then use them for travel at 1.25 cents (don't have a reserve) so it's even better than cash but it is at least as good as cash.

5/24

For years, I have never been anywhere close to applying for Chase cards since I was way over 5/24.  The last couple of years I have mostly been applying for business cards that don't affect 5/24 and a very small number of personal cards that were worth more to me than any Chase cards would be (Discover with Discover Deals - RIP! - and cashback match).  I am finally at the point where next month I will be under 5/24. Crazy!!

Chase INK to the Rescue?

I've been eyeing the Chase INK Business Preferred card for quite some time.  I spend a lot of money on shipping since my prep service is considered a shipping purchase and I've started to do a lot of merchant fulfillment which requires me to purchase shipping.  Last year the two combined came out to almost $35,000.  My default until now was the American Express Business Rewards Gold card (can't apply for it anymore).  It earns 3x Membership Rewards points with an annual fee of $195.  I've been trying to replace this card with the Chase INK Business Preferred since it earns 3x Ultimate Rewards points with an annual fee of $95.  I also value the points more since I should be able to get 1.25 cents per point so it's like $.0375 per dollar spent for a lower annual fee.


Before I fully decided to switch over I looked into other options.  I found out that a new version of the American Express Business Gold card came out and it's very interesting for me.  Instead of 3x MR on shipping, it now earns 4x on shipping (doesn't have to be shipping - can be airfare, advertising, certain technology purchases, restaurants or gas - those are not relevant to me but may be relevant to you). It also costs an extra $100 a year.  There are other benefits as well like 25% of your points back when you use the points to book airfare but it's pretty restrictive and I'm not likely to use it.


Is it worth the extra $100 compared to the old business gold card? For me, for sure.  If I'm spending $35,000+ on shipping that means that I'm earning an extra 35,000+ MR points so that's without a doubt.  Is it worth an extra $200 compared to the Chase INK?  On it's own, no.

Here is the math:

Chase INK earns 105,000 points on $35,000 of shipping purchases.  That's $1,050 of cash or $1,312.50 of cash towards airfare.  Take away $95 for the annual fee and the card is worth $1,217.50  per year, to me.  Just for comparison, a 2% cashback card would earn $700 on the same $35,000 of purchases, a huge difference).

American Express Gold earns 140,000 points for the same $35,000 of shipping purchases.  That's $1,400 towards airfare but when you take away the $295 annual fee it's only $1105 of value.  That's $112.50 less than Chase even though it earns an extra point!

You can and should make the argument that the annual fee is a business expense and is tax deductible so if your marginal tax rate is 30% you are really only paying 70% of the annual fee.  That's fair.  Even still, 30% off of the Chase card saves you $28.50 and 30% of AmEx saves you $88.50.  Give another $60 of value to the AmEx and you still fall and Chase still wins by $52.50.


But wait, there's more to this equation!!!!

Bring in the American Express Platinum Charles Schwab (Personal Platinum)!

I theoretically knew about the Charles Schwab American Express Platinum card but I made myself forget about it because I already had a platinum card (business) and the fee is $550. I hate paying $550 for a credit card but hear me out, at least for my situation.


There are two huge benefits in getting the Charles Schwab card which both come from the same rewards payout structure.  When you have the Charles Schwab American Express Platinum every Membership Rewards point is now worth $.0125 to be deposited into a Charles Schwab account.


1) I have a few hundred thousand Membership Rewards points that can now be cashed out at $.0125 per point instead of waiting for an opportunity that may not arrive.  There have been times when I was tempted to use Membership Rewards points at a rate of $0.01 for travel just to use them up since they were in the account doing nothing for me.  This puts more cash in my account and frees me up to exclusively use Ultimate Rewards points for travel expenses at the higher $0.0125 rate.

That is worth about $660 to me since I have 267,000 points besides the $2,600 which I can immediately put in my Schwab account.  The $660 is a one time benefit so it covers the annual fee and more for the first year but wouldn't be a reason to keep the card.


2)  The rewards from the Business Gold are now worth more.  The 140,000 points turns into $1,750 cash.  $350 more than previously and it's cash now instead of something that can only be used for travel expenses.  Before this, Chase won out by $52.50.  Now the Membership Rewards points from American Express are ahead by $297.50.  While true, we have to account for the extra $550 annual fee so American Express is actually behind by $252.50 per year.

Other Benefits of the Charles Schwab Platinum

1) $200 airline incidental credit. The american express $200 credit is not as expansive as other credits but you can still buy certain gift cards for it and I've always been able to get at least 80% of value by selling those gift cards.  That makes this $200 credit worth $160 to me.  Sometimes I've gotten 85% but let's stick with 80% for now.  American Express is now down $92.50 instead of $252.50

2)  If you have $250,000 with Charles Schwab they will take $100 off the annual fee.  I don't have that but I hope to at some point.  That would already make the combination better.  If you have $1million or more at Schwab you get $200 off the annual fee.  For most people that will forever be out of reach but for some that is a possible added benefit in the short or long term horizons.

3) Annual fee might be tax deductible.  Again, if your marginal tax rate is 30% that will save you $165 in taxes so annual fee effectively went down to $385.  (You should consult with a tax professional to make sure you can deduct an annual fee of a personal credit card that is used for your business.)  American Express is now beating Chase on a tax benefit!

4) I didn't even realize this until Frequent Miler posted about it.  You get $100 a year towards Saks 5th avenue (in 2 $50 chunks).  I have never bought anything there but there is a chance it will make my wife happy if she finds something.  That's worth at least $10, right?

5) $200 worth of Uber credits.  I don't ever use Uber currently but I'm sure I will now whenever possible.  I'd be surprised if I can't get $30 of value out of that but not sure, I might get nothing.
Edit: as pointed out in the comments, can use the credits for Uber eats as well.  I live out of the USA and there is no Uber here for now so will only help me the months I come to visit but will make it easier to use the credits.

6) Lounge access - I wouldn't pay for lounge access but if the card comes with it and I want the card for other reasons, I'm happy to use the lounge. It comes with Priority Pass for you and two guests, Delta Sky lounges when you are flying Delta, Centurion, Escape Lounges and Airspace lounges.

7) Status at hotel brands and rent a cars.  Same deal, not going to pay for it but happy to use it once I have it.

8) Boingo and Gogo internet passes - see 6 and 7.

9) 60k Membership rewards sign up bonus.  That's worth $750 into your Schwab account.  That's a lot of money but obviously it's only a one time benefit.
Edit: Chase INK has an 80k ultimate rewards sign up bonus so this is less significant relative to Chase both are very good sign up bonuses.

Conclusion

It turns out that for my situation, sticking with American Express is the way to go.  I also get the added benefit of lounge access and status.  The short term benefits are off the charts (sign up bonus and cashing out existing MR balance) to the point that I would go for the card without the long term spending structure but the long term benefits mean that I will be using the American Expression business gold and Charles Schwab platinum as a nice combination.  If my business continues to grow, the benefits will only increase with time!

Up to 6.66x + 5x On $1,500 of Purchases at Staples

Disclaimer: I receive a referral commission for the following link(s) and I greatly appreciate supporting the site:  Staples


The United Shopping portal is currently offering 4x miles per $1 spent at Staples.

There is also a United Shopping portal bonus.  If you spend $1,500 at any store, you will earn 4,000 miles.

If you combine the two, you will earn 6,000 united miles + 4,000 bonus united miles for spending exactly $1,500 at Staples.  That's a combined 6.66 miles per $1 spent

Use a Chase Ink to pay and you will earn 5x Ultimate Rewards points.


So you can earn 10,000 United miles and 7,500 UR points (which can be transferred to United) for spending $1,500 at Staples.

Remember that portals don't give out bonuses for tax so the base price needs to be $1,500 before tax.  Chase Ink does give out 5x for the tax as well.



You could always buy $1,500 of eBay Gift Cards or other eGift Cards in anticipation of the next sale (no clue when that will be) or you can buy a $100 Lowe's eGift Card for $90 (HT - Frequent Miler).  No reselling action but if you need to make a purchase at Lowe's this is a good discount.



Have a reselling idea?  Put it in the comments?

Please note that the terms and conditions explicitly exclude gift cards from earning miles through United. That being said, reports have been positive lately and portals have been paying out for eGift Cards purchases at Staples.  If it doesn't track properly, they won't credit you because of the terms.  That is a risk of the deal.

Gift Cards on Sale at eBay

Disclaimer: I receive a referral commission for the following link(s) and I greatly appreciate supporting the site:    Top Cashback, eBay


HT - Frequent Miler Quick Deals

Paypal Digital Gifts is offering $15 off $100 purchases of certain gift cards on eBay.  Check it out on Frequent Miler's page.  There is a nice list there, including Best Buy eGift Cards which can be sold for a small profit at SaveYa.

Make sure to use either you eBay Bucks, eBay Gift cards or Chase Ink as that should give you 5x Ultimate Rewards points.

Also, start your purchases from Top Cashback and you will earn an additional 1.21% on top of everything.  Just search for the name of the gift card "$50 Best Buy eGift Card" after you visit the portal.

Raise Now Sells eBay Gift Cards - You Probably Won't Want to Buy Them

Disclaimer: I receive a referral commission for the following link(s) and I greatly appreciate supporting the site: Staples



Raise recently started selling eBay gift cards.  This is great.  The more gift cards that are available the better.  That being said, I can't see a reason I will be buying them for now.

When you look at the Raise site, the discount has been steady at 3% since they were added.

$10 off $200 Visa Gift Cards Online at Staples!

HT - Doctor of Credit

Update: sold out! 

Staples is offering $200 Visa gift cards for $196.95 online.  $10 off. Limit of 3 per account.  These will go fast!

Use a Chase INK card for 5x Ultimate Rewards points.

Unload onto Redbird at Target or Serve at Family Dollar or just spend them for extra savings.

Happy shopping

Updates on Groupon iPad Deal

Disclaimer: I receive a referral commission for the following link(s) and I greatly appreciate supporting the site:  Mr. Rebates, Be Frugal, Ebates, Top Cashback

On Friday, I wrote about a Groupon deal to resell iPads minis (first generation).  Here are a couple of updates:

• The deal was extended for another 10 days!
• I'm not sure why, but my order was cancelled.  I'll have to rebuy today

$100 eBay Gift Card for $95 on eBay - Limit of 2

Disclaimer: I receive a referral commission for the following link(s) and I greatly appreciate supporting the site: Top Cashback and eBay

HT -  Slickdeals

PayPal Digital Gifts is selling $100 eBay Gift Cards for $95 each.  That's 5% off.

These gift cards can be used to buy other gift cards. When you purchase non eBay gift cards you will also get eBay Bucks.  eBay gift cards are not eligible for eBay Bucks.

Start your purchase at Top Cashback and you may get an extra 1.1% cashback.  Terms and conditions exclude eBay gift cards from 1.1%.  One time I didn't get the 1.1%, but lately I have been getting it.

Use a Chase Ink Business Credit Card and you might get 5x points per dollar spent at eBay on items sold by PayPal Digital Gifts.

There is a limit of $5,000 in eBay gift cards that can be used in 180 day period.

Hurry! $75 Staples eGift Cards for $60 - Limit of 3 - 20% off + More!

Disclaimer: I receive a referral commission for the following link(s) and I greatly appreciate supporting the site:   Ebates and eBay and Top Cashback

Update: I originally wrote that the gift cards cost $65 (13.33% off) because that was the price last week.  The price is actually $60 which is even better (20% off!)


eBay is selling a $75 Staples eGift Card for $60 from PayPal Digital gifts.  Limit of 3 gift cards per person.  The gift cards will be emailed to you within 24hrs.

This is 20% off!

Use Chase Ink and you should get 5x points

Ebates is currently offering 4% 1% cashback for gift card purchases on eBay. You can use my referral link.  Use Top Cashback for 1.1% cashback instead.

You should also receive eBay Bucks (a minimum of 2%) towards a future purpose.

This is a monster deal!  The last one ran out in a couple hours so buy it quick!

Missed Out on Chase Bonus? Send a Secure Message

This is not new information, in fact I even talked about it myself back in 2013, but it is always worth a reminder.


If you signed up for a Chase credit card in the last 90 days and the sign up bonus increased, you can send a secure message to Chase and they will match the new bonus.

Recently, the bonus for the Chase Ink Plus increased from 50,000 Ultimate Rewards points to 60,000 points as long as you applied in a Chase branch (online offer had an annual fee the first year).




I signed up for this card for my brother (shhh!) before the new bonus started so I sent a secure message that read the following:

Hello,
I recently signed up for the Chase Ink Plus card with a 50,000 Ultimate Rewards sign up bonus. Very soon after that, a few friends of mine told me that they were offered the same care with 60,000 Ultimate rewards as a sign up bonus when they signed up in a branch I also see that it is 60,000 online now . Can I please be matched the extra 10,000 ultimate rewards? Thank you.

I received a message the following day that said:

Dear *******,
Thank you for your contacting Chase with the recent inquiry regarding the 60,000 point enrollment bonus offer.
I am pleased to inform you that we will be honoring the 60,000 bonus rewards offer as long as you meet the eligibility requirement for your original offer which is to earn 50,000 reward points after spending $5,000.00 within the first 3 months following account opening. 
Once you meet the $5,000.00 spend threshold, I request youto please reply to this email via the secure message center or call us at the customer service number listed below we will add the additional 10,000 reward points to your account to match the 60,000 new account offer.
If you have any further questions, please reply using the Secure Message Center. 
Thank you,
********Customer Service Specialist

Success!

Up to 2,500 Bonus Points from United Shopping Portal - Up to 11.5 United Miles for a $700 Purchase

HT - Mommy Points via Doctor of Credit

The United Shopping Portal is offering bonus points for using their portal before you shop elsewhere.



The bonus is tiered in the following way:

• Spend $150, you will earn 500 bonus miles
• Spend $350, you will earn 1,000 bonus miles
• Spend $700, earn 2,500 bonus miles

$20 off $20 purchase at Sam's Club with American Express and $20 off $300 purchase of Visa Gift Cards at Office Depot and Office Max

HT - Frequent Miler Quick Deal #1 and #2


If you don't already get quick deals directly to your inbox, sign up now and you will get great deals as they occur.








1)  American Express has a $20 off $20 purchase at Sam's Club through American Express "Offers for you".  Open each of your cards in different tabs before you add the offer to any card so that you can add the offer to all of your accounts.  Once you add one the offer to one card, it will disappear from the other accounts unless they are already open elsewhere.


Once the offer is added, you have until 9/30/2015 to spend the money!


Update: online purchases only.  I've added the offers to 26 of my cards so far!  Only about 20 more to go!












2) Office Depot and Office Max are discounting $300 worth of Visa Gift Cards by $20 instantly.
Offer valid from 5/3/2015 until 5/16/2015.


Buy it with a Chase Ink card for 5x points at office supply stores.

Lowe's, Cabella and TGIF Gift Card Reselling Opportunity from eBay

Disclaimer: I receive a referral commission for the following link(s) and I greatly appreciate supporting the site:  Top Cashback and eBay

Update: Well, unfortunately that died about 2 minutes after I posted. That's pretty annoying.  Though Cabella's Gift Cards can be sold at a slightly higher margin (1.5%) than Lowe's and TGIF Gift Cards can also be sold at the same 1% margin so there is still stuff to buy.  Limit of 5 for each.

Via Doctor of Credit and Dan'sDeals

eBay (via Gift Card Mall) is selling $50 Lowe's gift cards for $40 which is 20% off.  Limit of 3.  These will sell fast!

There are a bunch of others on sale as well, you can check out Doctor of Credit for the full list.  Lowe's was by far the most interesting that is still in stock.

According to Gift Card Granny, you can sell the cards for up to 81%.

So, here goes the math.

1% for reselling
1.5% from Top Cashback
2% in eBay Bucks towards a future deal
Up to 5% in credit card rewards (Chase Ink)

This is great for some extra cash or to hit a credit card minimum.

This is even better if you need to spend money at Lowe's or if your local Lowe's allows you to buy Amazon Gift Cards with them.

Use your existing eBay gift cards to buy them as well.

Doctor of Credit also reports that cash advance fees that have been charged on eBay gift card purchases from Gift Card mall have been solved.

Staples - $30 off $150 Purchase with Visa Checkout until 4/28/2015

Staples is offering $30 off a $150 full price purchase if you use Visa Checkout until 4/28/2015.

Limit 1 per person.  I don't think this is targeted, but make sure you see it on the Staples homepage before you buy.

United Mileage Plus shopping is offering 5x miles per dollar spent at Staples which should be able to be combined.  Check out all the possibilities on Cashback Monitor.

You should still get Staples Rewards money as well.

I don't know how Visa checkout at different stores are categorized so you may not get 5x points for using a Chase Ink card.

eBay Gift Cards from Paypal Coding as Cash Advance for Barclays and No More 5x Points from Chase Ink

Doctor of Credit is reporting that digital eBay Gift Cards bought from Paypal are being coded as Cash Advances by Barclays (fees and no miles) and that you will no longer earn 5x Points from Chase Ink for buying the gift cards.

Check out his post for more details.

5% off $100 eBay Gift Cards

Disclaimer: I receive a referral commission for the following link(s) and I greatly appreciate supporting the site: Top Cashback and eBay

Via Frequent Miler's Quick Deals

 

eBay is selling $100 Gift Card for $95

These gift cards can be used to buy other gift cards. When you purchase non eBay gift cards you will also get eBay Bucks.

Start your purchase at Top Cashback and you will may get an extra 1.5% cashback.  Terms and conditions exclude eBay gift cards from 1.5% and I have not received cashback for it in the past.  Frequent Miler however reports that he received 1.5% for buying eBay gift cards last week so it is worth trying.

Use a Chase Ink Business Credit Card and you might get 5x points per dollar spent at Ebay.

5% off eBay Gift Cards

Disclaimer: I receive a referral commission for the following link(s) and I greatly appreciate supporting the site: Top Cashback

Gift Card Mall is selling $100 eBay Gift Cards for $95.

These gift cards can be used to buy other gift cards.  When you purchase non eBay gift cards you will also get eBay Bucks.

Start your purchase at Top Cashback and you will get an extra 1.5% cashback. 

Use a Chase Ink Business Credit Card and you will get 5x points per dollar spent at Ebay.

HT - Frequent Miler Quick Deals

My Ideal Wallet - Q1 2015

Disclaimer: I receive a referral commission for the following link(s) and I greatly appreciate supporting the site: Credit Sesame

These are the Credit and Debit cards that will either be in my wallet from January 1st until the end of March 2015


Make sure to sign up for Credit Sesame and/or Credit Karma to monitor any changes in your credit history for free (I have both).

• American Express Blue Preferred – 6% cash-back at groceries (up to 6k a year), 3% at gas and 1% everywhere else.  There is a $75 annual fee so it is only for those who spend a lot of money on groceries or for those who have a close Supermarket that sells $500 Visa Gift Cards.
• $150 sign up bonus for spending $1,000 in the first 3 months - email me for a referral, public link is for $100 only.
• You get 6% on gift cards you buy at the grocery store as well.
• Not as important this quarter because of Chase Freedom.

• Chase Freedom – 5% cash-back at grocery stores, movie theaters and Starbucks. 
• $75 maximum cash back per quarter.  You need to activate the 5%.
• Chase Freedom 2015 5% categories
• $100 sign up bonus for spending $500 in 90 days, you will get another $25 bonus if you add an authorized user who makes one purchase in the first 90 days.

• Discover it® - 5% cash-back on Gas and Ground Transportation.
• 5% cashback for Discover is actually more than 5%
• Must be activated before purchase to qualify for cashback bonus
• Most 7-11 Stores are considered Gas Stations and sell $500 Vanilla One Visa Gift Cards and Paypal Reload Cards.  Your particular cashier/manager may not allow for credit cards to be used for the purchase.

• Citi Dividend - 5% cashback on Macy's and other Home Furnishing stores.
• Up to $6,000 of purchases a year instead of $1,500 a quarter (up to $300 cashback for the year).
• Unfortunately, unlike last year, pharmacies are not a category at any point.  I likely won't use this card much until July when Airlines are one of the categories.

• Chase Ink Classic (Business Card) - 5% cashback at Office Supply Stores, Cable, Phone (Landline or cell) and Internet bills.
• 20,000 Ultimate Rewards for spending $3,000 in 3 months.
• No annual Fee

• Bank of America Better Balance Rewards - $25 back for every quarter that you pay your full bill or more than the minimum balance in every month.  Another $5 if you have a Bank of America Checking account.
• Best Usage - Set up a monthly bill on this card and auto pay the full balance. You never have to think about it and then every three months you will get $30.
• You can try to get multiple of these cards as well.

• Bank of America Cash Rewards - 3.3% on Gas into a Bank of America Checking account - 5.25% on gas if you have preferred rewards

• Fidelity American Express Investment Rewards – 2% cash-back everywhere else.
•  This card is always in my wallet

• Charles Schwab Check Card – Unlimited Free ATMs Withdrawals at every ATM in the world
• This card is always in my wallet

$15 off $150 of American Express Gift Cards at Office Max This Week - Manufactured Spend Opportunity

Office Max is offering $15 off $150 of American Express Gift Cards from 6-8 to 6/14.

$200 or variable load gift cards are eligible for the fee reduction so you will need to buy a $100 (if it is available)  and a $50 gift card to qualify.  Ad says one per household, in the past that rule has been store to store.

I don't know how much the fees are but if I remember correctly the $100 is probably $5.95 and the $50 one is probably $4.95 that means that your total fees will be $10.90.  You will get $15 off so you will make $3.10!

If they don't have any $100 gift gift cards you will be forced to buy 3 $50 gift cards and your will come out to $14.85 so your net would be $0.15 after fees.  In my option, $0.15 is not worth the points since this probably cannot be scaled




- Buy with a Chase Ink card (whichever flavor you have) and you will 5x the points for office supply purchases, which will be on top of any savings.


- You may be able to add the balance of these American Express gift cards onto an existing American Express Gift card that has a higher balance.  For example, if you bought a $3,000 gift card and you have used $500 of it and now have a balance of $2,500, you can add the $150 to that and your balance will now be $2,650.  If you still have $3,000 on that card you can't go above the set limit.  You have to call the number on the back of the American Express Gift Card to try it.  I've never done it myself, but I've read reports of it working.   If you try it, let me know in the comments if it works

Staples is Selling $200 Visa Gift Cards Online -The Best and Easiest Cashback Available!

Since CVS stopped allowing Vanilla Reloads to be bought with credit cards, a lot of people have been scrambling to find easy and cost effective alternatives of manufactured spending on credit card.

One alternative is American Express Gift Cards, which can bought for a 3.8% or even up to 6.4% profit!  I thought that was the best available, but I guess I was wrong.


As pointed out by Frequent Miler and DansDeals today, Staples has begun to sell $200 Visa Gift Cards online.  They come with the same $7 fee that the $100 cards come with so your cashback percentages will be much better.


The real way to maximize your cashback is to buy Staples Gift Cards first (I've already outlined this here, the only thing that has changed is that you now get more cashback).  I'll give you a little preview, you will get more than 10% cashback if you follow all the steps!


Remember to read all the steps before you start:


1) Start your shopping from Shop Discover and from there go to Staples website.  You need a Discover it® Card to access it ($750 sign up bonus when you spend $750 in the first 3 months).  Discover will give you 5% cashback for anything you buy at Staples.  At Staples you buy 2 $100 Staples gift cards for a cost of $203.98.  Pay for the purchase with your Chase Ink card.
     -  You will get 5% cashback, or $10.20, into your Discover account even though you didn't pay with a Discover card.  You will also get about 1,020 Ultimate Rewards points from Chase.  This picture is from a $75 Staples gift card I bought with my Chase Ink.

2) After your Staples Gift Cards comes in the mail, go back to Shop Discover and then on again to Staples.  Use your Staples Gift Card to buy a $200 Visa Gift Cards.  The final price for the Visa Gift cards is $206.95 so you you still need to pay $6.95 on your Chase Ink Card.

     - You will get another 5% cashback on the entire order, or $10.35, into your Discover account.  You will get another 35 Chase Points.

3) If your Chase Ink is a Visa Card, you can sign up for Visa Savings Edge.  You will get another 1% cashback for anything you buy at Staples on that card with a minimum purchase of $200 purchase.

 - If you are buying four $100 Staples gift cards, you will get $2.04 cents.

4)  You will now have more than $20 of rewards in your Discover account.  $20 of Discover rewards can be redeemed for a $25 Staples gift card, a discount of 25%!  You will now have an extra $5 towards your next purchase of Visa Gift Cards from Staples.

 

The Bottom Line

Here is the final math of one Visa Gift Card at a time.

You come out with a $200 Visa Gift Cards

Fees - $10.93 (1.99 x 2 and 6.95)

Shop Discover Money - $20.55 ($10.35 + $10.20)

Visa Business Edge - $2.04

Chase Ultimate Rewards = 1,055 points, which is worth a minimum of $10.55 because it can be cashed out for $10.90.

$20.55 + $2.04 - $10.93 = $11.66

Your Haul = $11.66/$200 = 5.83% + 1,055 points.  If you count the points as $10.55 you are getting

22.21/200 = 11.1% cashback.  Not too shabby at all.  If only we could still get $3 in Plink money!

In addition, you will get $5 towards your next Visa Gift Card purchase from Staples via Discover so the real final calculation is 27.21/200 = 13.6% cashback all from the cozyness of your couch.  That's pretty staggering.  We are still living in the golden times for manufactured spending!

Barriers

1) Ink has either a $25,000 or $50,000 yearly limit on 5% cashback at office supply stores, depending on which card you have.

2) You have to be able to do something with the $100 Visa Gift Cards.  You can put them on Bluebird at Walmart without Fees.  You can pay someone on Amazon Payments without fees.   You can pay bills with Evolve Money. You can use them to pay for things, but then you aren't earning other points.  Lastly, you can cash them out with Square, Google Wallet or another service that will charge you upwards of 3% to send money to a friend.

3)  You don't want Chase shutting you down if you are putting $4,000 a month on your card.  I think this is a low possibility in this scenario as it is not so crazy for a business to spend that much.  I would start slower and then ramp up the spending.  I also don't think it's possible to do that much in one month because of #4.

4) Staples has cancelled some orders in the past for buying Visa Gift Cards with Staples gift cards.  They are also known to ban people from ordering online.