Staples Delivers Free Points Again!

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This deal is good until March 31.

A few days ago I posted “Sorry, an error has occurred“. In that post I explained my disappointment that the Staples site only allowed one copy of Trend Micro Antivirus to be purchased even though the rebate terms allowed 10 per household. It turns out that they’ve now opened it up and allow multiple copies in the cart at once. If you buy all 10, you’ll get a nice haul of points:

The idea here is to go through the Ultimate Rewards Mall to Staples.com. Once there, buy 10 copies of this “Free After Rebate” downloadable software product for $35 each. You will get 4 points per dollar from the Ultimate Rewards Mall and another 5 points per dollar if you pay with your Chase Ink card or another 1 point per dollar if you pay with a standard point earning credit card. This means that you will earn 3,150 Free Ultimate Rewards points with your Ink card or 1,750 points with another card. See Preparing for Miles for more info about the Ink and other cards.

Staples has an amazingly easy “Easy Rebate” system. Once you purchase the software, they send you a rebate link via email. You click the link, fill out a little bit of info and you’re done. Note that you will have to wait a while, though. It may take as much as 6 to 8 weeks to receive your check.

Here are the steps to follow:

Step 1: Go to Staples via the Ultimate Rewards Mall:

a screenshot of a website

Step 2: Add up to ten copies of “Trend Micro Titanium Antivirus + 2012 (1-User)” for Windows or Mac to your cart:

TIP: Search for item 368658

a screenshot of a computer

IF YOU BOUGHT ONE COPY EARLIER IN THE WEEK, THEN ONLY BUY 9 NOW!!!

Step 3: Check out

TIP 1: If you have a Chase Ink card that gives 5X for office supplies, use it!

TIP 2: Your state may charge sales tax. If you know someone in a state that doesn’t charge sales tax for downloadable internet orders (CA, NH, etc.), then set their address as the delivery address and no tax will be charged. This is a download only purchase anyway, so nothing will really be delivered. I picked “deliver to store” and picked a store in New Hampshire. Of course, there won’t really be anything to pick up.

a close-up of a card

Step 4: Submit Easy Rebates

You will receive an email from Staples with a link in it for submitting the rebate form. It’s easy!

TIP 1: Even though you bought 10 copies, you only have to fill out one rebate form. Note that it can take 6 to 8 weeks (or longer) to get your rebate.

TIP 2: The software rebate can be changed from a Visa gift card to a check! See screen shots (taken from a prior order):

a close-up of a credit card

a screenshot of a computer

Q&A:

Per Household Limit

  • Q: How do you know that we can buy 10? I don’t see that restriction anywhere
  • A: See “Can I really buy 10” for a walkthrough of how to find that information.

Per Household Limit, Question 2

  • Q: Can I buy 10 copies for every friend I know?
  • A: I don’t recommend it. I know at least one person who tried to buy two sets of 10 that way, but Staples did not approve the second set of rebates. I don’t know how they figured it out.

Status = Researching

  • Q: The status of my order says “researching”. What’s up with that?
  • A: Staples needs to verify your order. Sometimes this happens if you have the wrong email address or phone number on file. Simply give them a call or do an online chat with them to verify the information they need. Once that is done, they’ll confirm the order.

Promotional Items

  • Q: The Staples’ Terms and Conditions in the Ultimate Rewards Mall says that promotional items are excluded. Aren’t these free after rebate items “promotional”?
  • A: I’ve done this many times now, and my Ultimate Rewards points posted quickly each time.  So, either these items are not considered promotional, or Staples doesn’t enforce that restriction.

Number of Rebate Forms

  • Q: I bought 10 copies of the software. Does that mean I have to fill out the rebate form 10 times.
  • A: Nope. If you buy multiple copies of a single item in one transaction, you only need to fill out the rebate form once.  Really.  I promise.

Rebate Time

  • Q: How long will it take for my rebate to arrive?
  • A: The Staples web site says to expect 6 to 8 weeks.  My first rebates arrived after about 5 weeks so it looks like Staples’ estimate is fairly accurate.

Number of Checks

  • Q: I bought 10 copies of the software.  Will I receive 10 small checks or one big check?
  • A: One big check.

Download

  • Q: Do I have to download this software so that I can qualify for the rebate?
  • A: No!  I didn’t download any of the software I bought, but the first rebates processed successfully. 
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