URrunner

Based on some research and laboratory work,

1. Using the UR Mall portal to earn 2x without using chase cards.
a. Will earn 2x with purchasing Staples Gift Card
b. Will earn 2x with purchasing Visa Gift Card

2. Staples do allow customers to use Staples gift card to purchase Visa Gift cards.
b. Split payment with Staples GC and Credit card will still earn 2x of total price.
ex. 206.95 Visa GC (using 100 Staples GC and 106.95 for Credit Card still getting 413.9 pts)

Here is the scenario.
Buy Staples GC with CC through Chase UR Mall (2x)
Using Staples GC to purchase Visa Gift Card through Chase UR Mall(2x)
So you will earn 5x(using Ink), 2x(purchase of Staples GC), 2x(purchase of Visa Gift), 1% back with Visa Savings Edge.

Will this scenario work?

Maximum amount of staples GC I have used, 100 staples GC per order.
I have big doubts about split payment. Higher ratio of staples GC than CC will be a red flag from staples and possibility of getting order cancelled.
This might cause infinite loop of Purchasing staples GC with Staples GC to earn 2x pts.

Please share your experiments and results.

(I am neglecting cash back portal. Point of MS is to earn miles or pts not making money out of it. If you want money, then buy AMEX GC with cash back portal and using AMEX GC to purchase staples GC will earn about 8% of total purchase.^)

cornellfOo

Good idea and good luck to you but you should read reports of shutdowns using Staples GC to buy GC.

ibleed0range

There has been like 5 of these threads started in the past week. come on...

learning2fly

You will just get banned, and Staples does not ship to PO Boxes so it is not that easy to make burner accounts. There are actually better, more lucrative plays with Staples not involving the VGCs so it's best not to get banned. I believe that VoyagingDoc also posted on one of the other 2 threads about this that Staples will no longer be offering cashback on portal gift card purchases.

PainCorp

You can do so much better than this if you want cash back instead of UR points. Especially if you want to diversify with UR.

ericdabbs

Correct me if I am wrong but I don't think you can use the UR portal and earn points if you use Staples GC to buy VGCs. You kinda have to be spending money on your Chase card in order for it to count. Just because you go through the portal doesn't guarantee points. Chase looks to see if you actually made a Staples purchase via one the specified Chase card you went through the UR portal.

healthnut

That's not always true. It's supposed to be that way, but you can often earn points by using the company's GC or another CC to earn only the amount of points additionally through the UR portal.

I often do this via other CC's. Chase rarely catches it.

Doctor of Credit

The problem is going to be buying Visa GCs with Staples GC, do you really want to get stuck holding a heap of staples GC if they shut you down or reverse orders? Not worth the risk IMO.

RFDMinnesota

Yea it sucks. I got away with it for 3 or 4 orders, but then I got a call on a simple 4x100 VGC purchase telling me I couldn't pay for it with a GC and that they were going to cancel it. I tried again with all the information of my SO, and using the GC again and that time they just cancelled both the order and drained the cards without notifying me and now I have $400 in staples GC value in limbo that they seem completely unwilling to help me locate

ericdabbs

That is just a poor system then. It should be verifying if you actually make a purchase with the specified credit card for the portal. I don't see how its any different than saying I could use the UR portal link and make purchases on my Amex card and expect to double dip in the Chase UR portal. The company GC and using another bank's CC shouldn't be any different.

healthnut

I use my BCP all of the time through the Chase portal with department stores. I often get 5+x at Bloomingdales in UR points, in addition to 3% back on BCP. I doubt I'm the only one...

highops

I've used the UR portal a couple times with one of those Amex discounts they offer. I got points and the Amex credit.