Pic Of The Day

Wowowowee

Dan your so cool

I have a hard time getting gift cards in brooklyn. Either nobody has them or they don’t want to take credit cards.

@Dan – so not fair that NONE of the OM in my area have the 200 dollar cards. The 100 dollar cards come to a small 2 dollars for 1000 points – but still – your dill – KILLS!

i saw today a visa gift card, it sad vanilla on it, is this the one were all talking here?

In office max you can buy as many 200$ gift cards as you want with the same cc as long as its separate swipes?

Dan let’s see a pic with 50! lol

@ mechel there are countless threads on here that answer your question.

I never understood how to use these gift cards. How do you make sure your purchase(s) will be exactly $200?

Not to sound so noobieish
But how does $1000 in gc’s from cvs give you $1500 points?

@emceeME can u give me a yes or no, pls

@ Mobile When you have a credit card that gives you 1.5 points per dollar spent.

@EmceeME:
Like the United Club Card?

dan whats with onevanilla?

Just curious…how often does Office Max, or any of the other “office supply” stores, do something like this discount or a free activation fee?

@Dan- Haha, I should have figured that you were probably the reason why OfficeMax was out of $200 GCs :-)… mind telling me which one you cleaned out? I came up empty on Mayfield, across from Costco near the 271. And yes, I had the employee open the rack and check the inside of the gift card display too 🙂

Dan. 2000 worth of GC, loading them to 2 BB in Walmart, takes a very long time, going through the process (answering all the questions of the money machine). besides the fact that the MC from staples, you need to call and setup PIN #. after doing a few times, i get tired of the game. besides, staples is very often out of the $200

Daniel,
Thanks for a wonderful post

Hey Dan, was that you at the library at around 6:30 this evening? I thought I spotted your accord in the parking lot. Hey, Gggrreeaaatt site! I enjoy just reading about all of the deals and especially the $150 I saved on the laptop I bought. Keep up the good work.

is it safe to use american express cards on these purchases or will I get blocked or fr’d.

Got $2000.00 total yesterday also. Now Dan, how do I load them to my bluebird? Thanks

Dans which card did you use for the transactions?

Is there a coupon I need to print out to get the $10.00 of of $200? If so can anyone give a link to the coupon?

The walmart s in Lakewood will not fund a bluebird account with a gift card.I tried many cashiers and was told I can t use gift cards!

@Chani – yes it is safe to buy with Amex – but why? There is no bonus there. If you need it for hitting ur minimum – then sure you can do it.

@Kevin – THESE are OfficeMax Visa cards – so call 888-524-1283 and enter your GC number and then press wait for them to give you the main menu – then press 5 and you can set the PIN (I think it is 5). Once you have a PIN – you are set to go. Go to WalMart, slap in your BB card and then slide the GC and enter the PIN you chose.

@YT – I am sure Dan used a Ink card – which gives you 5x at ofice stores

@Newbie – there is NO coupon. This MUST be done at the store. Ask them for the 10 dollar off scan that is in the binder and they will scan it for you and it will take the 10 dollars of.

To help make the transaction “free”, buy 1 visa ($4.95 fee) and 1 HI gift card (no fee), get $5 CVS extra bucks. Mixing gift card works, I just tried it.

@David Raccah:
Thanks David, Maybe the dumb question but do I have to add a PIN to each card if I have registered them online or when all have been entered, select add PIN and that takes care of all? Thanks again

How did you buy $1000 worth of cards for $1004.90 at CVS? Looks like you bought two cards worth $500 each. The additional fee for each was just $2.45? I have never seen gift cards with such a low fee.

I tried to buy Vanilla Reload cards at CVS last week, and the lady said they are no longer accepting credit cards for them. She said corporate had sent a circular to that effect to prevent people with stolen credit cards from buying them. I told her that I have ID to prove I am not using a stolen card. She said it doesn’t matter and she could lose her job if she let me use my credit card to buy it.

Does it make sense to buy $200 Visa GCs at office supply store with an INK Bold card even though the fee is $6.95?

FYI- The Visa Vanilla ($20-500) gift cards (gold/silver) which I have bought at CVS and 7/11, can be loaded to Bluebird at Walmart with any PIN you make up and enter into the keypad at checkout counter/customer service counter. No need to call Visa and get specific PIN.

@kevin: Yes all cards must have a PIN assigned or else the deposit into BB will not work!

@A S: Dan used his United Club card to get 1.5 back on all purchases. I too have found resistance from CVS to use my CC to buy VR or Moneypak. You can use CC to buy the 500 dollar Visa GC – but that requires going to WM to deposit the money into BB

@Yossi: That is your call

@Gary – that is for the Vanilla Visa Cards – not for the OM, Chase, or other Visa GC

@Yossi: if you are getting 5 points per dollar you are getting 1007 points for $6.95 thats a great deal as the points are worth approx $18.00.

@A S: cvs has a special this week where you get $5 extra bucks when you buy 2 visa GCs which makes the fee only 4.90 instead of 9.90

@MichaelP: can you cash out the H1 gift card?

Dan, Very basic question What happens if one purchases $5000 worth of clothes in Nordstrom and returns it 1/2 yr from now in order to reach spending limit. Does the credit card company take back the extra earned mileage bonus retroactively? Thanx in advance

just called a staples store upstate ,where i plan to be this weekend, and the guy told me that he have no idea about 10 dollars off, any advise?

Just left OfficeMax in Hempstead NY (Near JFK airport). They have plenty $200 Visa MetaBank cards inside the gift-card rack. All you have to do is ask for them.
They are willing to do separate transactions for each card but at some point your CC may not go thru.

Since Walmart uses MetaBank for their ATM transactions, never had any problems getting them onto BB.

@eli:
Yes CVS has a deal this week – but that is a coupon for use in CVS – which sucks for me as I have to buy something in CVS to get my money. The GREAT deal with OM is that it is off the purchase price of the GC – no extra purchase required!

@eli:
HI cards cannot be chased out. You need to buy sears cards or lowes cards or HD cards and then buy an item at sears or lowes or HD – the triple dip approach – but you must BUY something to get the money back – or sell them for a 5 to 7% hit to someone else.

@mendy:
This is a deal at OfficeMax – NOT Staples! Calling Staples will not help here.

@Chaim:
Jealous! Now, did you not have to set the PIN on the OM Visa GC (metaBank) before depositing into BB? The Vanilla Visa GC let you use any 4 digits you want – but I found that for the OM and Chase Visa GC – that you had to call a number and set the PIN, then you could deposit into BB.

@David Raccah: I did have to set a PIN. Takes less than 30 seconds. The OfficeMax $200 MetaBank Visa is exactly the same one that Staples sells.

too much work for the miles. will pay for my next ticket.

just way too much…

FYI in Chicago just we to office max next to jewel on Howard they gave me $1,000 limit on MasterCard gift cards

@Noach: If you have an Ink card then it’s really worth it

@CtownBin (aka ANA Surcharges):
Harvard Park 😀

@Joe s:
Yup, but I drive an Altima 🙂
Was actually on the way back from OM, CVS, and TJs.
Picked up some travel books from the library for inspiration for my next trip.

@kvetcher:
So get Visa.
And load 3 at a time with a cashier.

@Yossi:
Of course.
1,035 miles is worth wayyy more than $6.95.

@Chaim:
You shouldn’t need to set a pin with the Metabank Visa or Vanilla Visa.
Just try the last 4 digits of the card number.

@Noach:
Excellent. More award availability for me.
You do realize that by opening a single card ad doing this you can make 75K miles at a net profit, don’t you?

Had to buy 100g/c @om. Ink card allowed me to buy 34 cards. Total cost 3400 + 32.30 charge. Registers them adding a PIN number. Went t Walmart and bought money orders for 3400. Cost was 6.30. So it cost me 38.60 for 17000 points which ill transfer to ual.total time spent traveling and registering cards was about 4 hours.at .02 per mile,I made 85 an hour .

Dan: staples is often out of the visa. MC is more available. is there a round about way to setup the pin on them (the last 4 numbers in card dont work)?

Does anyone know if there is a max to the amount of money i can use for GC? for example can i go every day and buy 1,000 worth at CVS on my united club card, then drive to walmart and pay it straight back using BB? Is there a limit to this madness. (cvs and walmart are next to each other and its on my way to work so i can technically do this every morning…) This would not be to meet a spending threshold…

In addition, what if i just circulated, using a different chase card every day, as i have 5, i could hit each one once a week? would chase shut me down, or would they not notice since its across all my cards

Just had my wife stop after work and she told me they’re ringing up at 201.90. Is this the price that shows up after the first 35 cards are sold?…..Just trying to figure out why it didn’t price correctly.

@Yisroel and everyone else;

Am I the only one that realizes that you do not need to go to Wal-Mart to load your Vanilla Reload? You can simply call Bluebird and give them your account number and then give them the Vanilla card number and TADA! Am I the only one to realize this? I don’t see any purpose in a trip to Wal Mart.

@Jack: Wow i did not know that, thanks for the info! and can i do $1,000 a day with them or is it limited to $100?? and what about the rest of my question??? THANKS!

@Jack: And if a Vanilla reload and Vanilla Visa Gift Card the same thing?

dan since there are so many gc out there im not sure which one works and which do not can u please post a clear picture of all the gc that work to load bb and write if you need to set a pin or if it is the last four numbers etc…. thanks so much!

Already opened 2 cards, got signing bonus, a hugh hassle, not gloing to open 20 cards.

so in order to get new 25,000 miles, for each 1000 miles will need to do the following:

go to staples, hope they have enough cards and they will sell me as many as I would like.

then, use cards for everyday purchases I dont need potential docs after. takes a long time…

and then pay $180 in fees.

so when I pay for many RT tickets about $320, and earn miles for them, doing all this work to get a $140 savings, and putting in days of work, and tracking small expenses on cards?

I can earn $140 days in over time at my desk much easier…

less hours to put in. really.

so all of you, enjoy the cards I dont buy. all for you to enjoy!

Chicagoans beware… office max on Howard wouldn’t allow more than 1 transaction tonight, despite offer not being limited to 1/customer or household. Recourse?

they have the right to choose limits.

@Noach:
Before we get started, it would be classier if you apologized for your accusations in both of the ebay posts for being dead wrong.

And you’re wrong here too.

What exactly are $180 in fees that you speak of? You turn a profit on every $200 card that you purchase for $196.95 not counting the 1,000 bonus miles per card and not counting a signup bonus.

And you don’t need to wait to spend it on everyday purchases, you can put them onto your Bluebird checking account for free right away,

And who ever mentioned Staples??

@benny:
Almost any MC or Visa can be transferred.

Dan, you are correct. (ebay)

Yes, not staples, which reminds me, there are no OM in my area…

another issue that makes deal hard to reach.

and do not have a bb account, nor walmart in my town.

Some deals are just a lot of work…

I am confused. Dan says he got 2000 worth, yet in an earlier post he says there is a limit of 1 per transaction. I called some OM stores, they all said there is a limit of 1 or 2 (depending on the store) per person.

What do you do? Do multiple transactions? Are they o.k. with that?

Someone please??

My husband and I went in to do 5 and we were quizzed by store manager about why we wanted them, and said she had to check the rules on money laundering. She did let us get 5, with separate transactions. I think she told cashier if we got any more that week, she’d need to file a report??

There is an official limit of 35 transactions, meaning 7000 dollars of GC! By buying 200 GC (either 1 200 GC or 2 100 GC) * 35 = 7000.

There is also a limit of only 1 discount per transaction. They want you to make 35 transactions to get to 7000.

Now, some stores can limit want they want. I just bought 1K of 100 dollar GC, as there are NO 200 dollar GC here in California (but there is GREAT weather), and the cashier was practically begging me to buy more – I was afraid INK would freak out – though to b honest they probably do know what I am buying, by the price, but they do not “know” what I am buying – and who cares if they do. Just too many purchases for a day – will stretch it out over the week, maybe 600 to a 1K a day.

@eli: No, I used it at HD and Lowes.

@yehuda:

This post states “You can get $10 off for every $200 purchased per transaction at Office Max and there’s no per person limit.”

June 9th post states “There is a limit of 1 discounted card per transaction.”

Dos that mean you did multiple transactions? They didnt get uptight? Or do they allow more at a shot?

When does the offer of $10 off expire?

Dan, Bought 10 two days ago with the ink card. Yesterday went back to get 10 more and a man was at the register buying the last 10. The manager noticed me from the day before and offered to see the American Express $200.00 GC for the same deal. He felt so good with the offer, I took it anyway. (harder to use, Target AM. Express only way) but heading to Target today to add those, I called them back and he said guess what, I found more. I went to buy 10 more and after that, I asked him if he wanted to see the last 12. He said as long as I use a different CC. Funny huh, Different CC, which one there sir! I chose my SPG due to a upcoming 3000 a night stay. Well so far made $106.50, 2200 SPG and 29,475 UR. Not a bad deal. Both CC companies called making sure it was me. Cameras on clearance, huh!

I’m a new guy at office Max, but the clerk said I should join the OM reward program. $25 for every $500 spent, so $2000 in cards gets you 10,000 points and $100 reward. I always need ink. Am I missing something?

Does anyone know if the chase visa gift card can be loaded on to bluebird?

@Noach:
Where do you live that there is no OM or Wall mart these stores are everywhere? Mevermind I forgot about Brooklyn.

They told me I wouldn’t get rewards for gift cards at OM.
Yes, you can load chase gift cards onto bluebird.

@Dovid:
Yes, the Chase gift cards you buy online for free can be loaded on to bluebird. We bought $2000 online with no fees & no shipping & it arrived in about a week. We then went to Walmart & loaded 2 to each of our Bluebird cards with no problem at all, just had to call to add a pin first.

We did have one problem though: in 2 different Walmarts, we couldn’t find an ATM to use to load the BB cards so we went to cashiers who didn’t have a clue what we were talking about. We went to customer service & after waiting forever & getting the run around we finally went to the money center & they did it quickly with no problem. Next time we’ll go straight to the money center!

Has anyone here bought the Mastercard versions? I bought like 30 of them, called and set a pin for each, but when I go to Walmart to try to use them to buy money orders or reload my BB it always rings up as a credit card. ALWAYS. I don’t even have the option to use them as a debit, and hence, can’t unload them at all. HELP!!!

@Miles:
I had the same issue- I had 20 of the $50 OM Mastercards because of a deal back in January- luckily I hadn’t yet used them, because PINs only became available in April. 🙂
There are 2 solutions:
1) Use a MoneyCenter ATM- in my experience, for whatever reason, the ATMs read it as a regular Debit right away and you can unload them just like the Visas.
2) If you must use a register- after you swipe, wait 2 seconds and then hit the red cancel button. Then, a screen should come up asking you if you want to use “credit” or “ATM Debit” (along with a couple other options). Select “ATM Debit”, it asks for your PIN, and that’s it! The only small caveat is, you can’t use them this way if you’re using more than one card per transaction; you’ll have to do separate transactions for each card. IME the cashiers won’t be happy doing more than 2 in a row… that’s why the MoneyCenter ATM is by far your best option, if possible where you are.

Hopefully I get my citi bike key and can bike over brooklyn bridge this week and not spend $5 on subway. Darn citi bike

Has anybody had luck recently loading GC to bluebird at the Lakewood Walmart.

Dan,

That would mean you had (10)charges in a row on your Chase card? Did your card get locked up for so many consecutive charges at OM?

@noturbizniss: Does anybody know if the Paypal/Netspend deal is exactly $50 or a minimum of $50?

What are the open savings at office max with Starwood card?

Can the mastercards at OM be used for loading into Bluebird via WM?The OM near me is out of Visas.

Walmart only allows 4 swipes per transaction. I bought money orders for 70 cents

@CtownBin: Is it possible that some Walmarts dont have money center ATM’s. The one near me in NY doesn’t. Bluebird fun needs a cashier or cust. svce.

@Gary: This was just posted again on DDF

http://www.moneypass.com/atm-locator.aspx

Click the link, enter walmart and your location and it will show you all Walmart in that area with the bluebird kiosk. BEWARE – this does not tell you if it is broken or “closed”

@Gary:
It’s true that some don’t, but IME there is usually at least one WM in most given general areas that have an ATM, even if it’s not necessarily the closest one. And in Miles’ case with all those OM Mastercards, he would definitely save time going to an ATM, even if it means some extra driving

@Buckaroo:
It would help if you would read the other comments before posting 🙂
The exact same question was asked just 7 posts before, and the response is already there

The OM in Brooklyn atlantic ave. only have the $100 ones & only let you buy 2 of them per person per day….

The kiosk/atm at the WM near me has been “closed” for over a week. Does anyone know what that means? I guess I just have to wait for someone to come and fix it at some point.

Hello Dan,

Sorry if this is a repost of something you answered before – I hear the Netspend are a waste of time, but does the PayPal have a chance of working? I hear you need to call PayPal and tell them you want to turn it into a GC and then pay the fee and then it works? This MC is not a plain MC that I can call – activate, create a PIN, and I am done, or is it?

Thanks!

Dan!!! thanks so much!!!!! I was in Office Max in Brooklyn today and purchased $4000 in $200 Visa GC!!!! It came out to $3939 which is a $61 profit on the transaction alone!!! That’s besides the 19,695 UR Points!!!! It did take about 20 min though to ring up each one itself.

@Avi: dont even bother go there they make it out of order on purpose

4 of us have netspend card which got shut down after a week of loading and making purchase. paypal shuts down account for loading cards in short time and draining.

So this deal is a total WASTE OF TIME

@Thingywingy: You can get a statement credit of 5% of your officemax.com purchase if under $250 and 10% if over $250. This is for purchases on the web site, not in stores.

Shmuel, Great job!

CC didnt call to ask about hi $ purchase?

@Esti
After the first 5 purchases I called Chase and told them to put a notation on te account, but after the 15th card or so it got declined. I then proceeded to call them and they transferred me over to the fraud department who cleared everything and told me to swipe while on the phone. Then rest of the transactions went through with no prob. .

just tried loading visa GC onto BB in the Walmart in Howell rt 9 next to lakewood. Lady didn’t let me, saying it was illegal, it can only be cash or debit, and GC are considered credit .
this true?

OfficeMax in Levittown, LI is loaded with these debit gift cards.

@david:

Only 2 PER TRANSACTION!
I was there yesterday and they said its ok they just didn’t have the $200 only $100.

how do you do this ‘At CVS through 06/22 you can get $10 in Extra Bucks for spending $50 on Paypal Mastercard or Netspend Visa cards’?

@shmuel, what did you explain you were buying?

no concern of a review?

@Esti: The fraud department is concerned about someone else fraudulently using the cardholder’s account. They don’t care what you are buying. They just need to be sure it’s the cardholder who is shopping and not someone who stole the credit card.

Thank you David R.

David, would you have any concern about signing bonus and such large cards purchased? any questions raised?

I am confused as to what can be loaded onto BB through the vanilla reload website and what you have to go to walmart for. I have a VR that I just got today, logging onto vanillareload.com it seems I can load it from the home page. Am I missing something. If someone can clarify which cards can be loaded onto BB and for what you have to go to walmart I would appreciate it.

who hit up the office max by Barclays Center??? 🙁 lol.

I asked if they had anymore and dude at the counter says, “we had a sale on them and they were gone before we knew it”.

Da@Daniel: Try the Walmart in Brick. They have a machine you can swipe the card at (make sure to have your pin). No need to deal w/lady at the counter.

Can someone PLEASE explain to me why I can’t take a vanilla reload card I bought at CVS ($500), deposited into my BB account and just reload it again at the same CVS.

Please explain WHY this won’t work!

Just went to OM in Elmont, NY. All sold out of $200 denomination Master & Visa cards. Beware: MANY OM stores are sold out & have NOT replenished. Workers there are utterly clueless!

@Eli:

Where is “brick”

@elite: NJ