1,650 free-ish Ultimate Rewards points from Office Depot

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A couple of Free After Rebate (FAR) deals at Office Depot can be a nice point bonanza for those with Chase Ink cards. 

As I reported earlier this month, Office Depot is currently offering 10 bonus points per dollar for Chase Ink customers who shop through the Ultimate Rewards Mall.  When you add on the 5 points per dollar that the Ink gets for office supply purchases, that leads to an awesome 15 points per dollar for Office Depot purchases!

If you’re not interested in any products at Office Depot, you can still benefit by buying Free After Rebate (FAR) items.  That way, you get the points, but also get all (or mostly all) of your money back.

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FAR Deals

Office Depot is currently advertising two FAR deals that are good through tomorrow (July 7th):

  • McAfee Total Protection 2012, For 3 Users, Traditional Disc: $65
  • Kaspersky Anti-virus 2012: $45

Each rebate is good for just one copy per household.  If you buy both, you will spend $110 and get $110 back in rebates.  Unfortunately, unlike Staples’ easy rebates, these are mail-in rebates.

Ultimate Rewards

By going through the Ultimate Rewards mall and paying with a Chase Ink card, you will earn 15 points per dollar, or approximately 1650 points.  I say “approximately” because you should earn a few extra points for the sales tax portion of the bill.  Usually, you will not get mall points from sales tax, but you should get the Ink’s automatic 5X points.

Sales Tax

If you live in a state that charges sales tax, then you won’t really get this software for free.  Still, it’s not a bad deal.  Suppose, for example, you pay 10% sales tax.  In that case, you will be out $11.  In other words, you will have paid $11 for slightly over 1650 points: about 2/3 of a penny per point. Not too bad.  You might even be able to recover your $11 loss by selling the items on EBay.

McAfee

People have reported that McAfee does not pay rebates to people who have received rebates for the same product in the past, even if the rebate form itself was different.  Make sure you don’t fall into that category before buying.

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Kaspersky

For some reason, the “add to cart” page for this item doesn’t advertise the rebate:

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If that makes you nervous, note that the rebate is shown in the Office Depot ad:

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Also, you can click here to see the rebate for yourself:

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Not for me

This is a good solid pair of FAR deals, but I’m not going to buy them.  I’m the guy that rebate companies love: I tend to get lazy and then forget to mail in the rebates.  I’m not willing to bet $110 on my habits changing in the next few weeks Smile.

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