10% off everything and 7% off everything else

72

As I reported yesterday, it is now possible to get 10% cash back when buying OfficeMax gift cards.  The trick is to use an American Express business credit card with OPEN Savings.  The OPEN Savings program automatically gives 10% back for online OfficeMax purchases of more than $250.

I also reported yesterday that it is possible to upgrade OfficeMax gift cards in-store by using them to buy other gift cards.  For example, I had no problem at all using a $25 OfficeMax gift card to buy a $25 Amazon gift card.  Whether this works at your local OfficeMax may depend upon store policies and individual teller assumptions. 

So, to get 10% off almost anything, the trick is to buy more than $250 worth of OfficeMax gift cards online, pay with your business Amex, and then use the OfficeMax gift cards to get what you really want.

What can I get for 10% off?

At my local OfficeMax, here are a few of the gift cards I found:

  • Travel: Southwest Airlines
  • Booksellers: Amazon, Barnes & Noble
  • Hardware: Home Depot, Lowes
  • Department stores: Kohl’s, Nordstrom, Macy’s, JC Penney, …
  • Food: Starbucks, PF Changs, Red Lobster, …
  • Movies: AMC, Regal
  • Miscellaneous: iTunes, ToysRUs, PetSmart, Various phone reload cards (unlike merchant gift cards, these will likely incur sales tax), …

To see the full selection, take a look at the photos below.

7% off everything else

My next OfficeMax experiment will be to try to buy a $200 Visa gift card with OfficeMax gift cards.  The $200 Visa gift cards sell at OfficeMax for $206.96.  If the gift card trick works, my final cost will be almost 7% less:

  • Purchase price: $206.95
  • 10% of $206.95 = $20.70
  • Final cost: $206.95 – $20.70 = $186.25
  • Discount: 6.875%

The discount when buying Visa gift cards this way is just shy of 7%.  That’s a fantastic savings for a card that can be used almost anywhere!  Let’s hope this experiment works!

2012-07-09 12.57.292012-07-09 12.57.14

2012-07-09 12.57.48

 

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