Fee-Free AMEX And Discounted iTunes Cards At Office Depot This Week

ByEdward Pizzarello
a sign on a counter

Thanks to reader Rdover1 for pointing this out to me.  He clued me in to a promotion at Office Depot this week where you can get American Express gift cards with no fees.  I was interested in this for the potential leverage opportunities at Costco so I went to do a bit of research.

The path here would be to use a credit card that awards bonus points for office supply purchases (like Chase Ink Plus, with Ultimate Rewards).  You purchase the gift cards at Office Depot and use them to pay for purchases at Costco that you’d normally use an American Express card for.

Most people don’t end up flying a couple hundred thousand miles a year like me, so maximizing bonus categories and extra opportunities is the best way to increase your balance for the average points hoarder.

I stopped by a local Office Depot during my travels and actually found a second offer that’s worth noting, along with the fee-free American Express cards, available through Saturday, November 21, 2015:

Office Depot

Office Depot

Technically, a 25% discount on the second card is roughly equivalent to some of the 10-15% iTunes offers I’ve seen at Costco and other places.  Again, though, when leveraging credit card bonus categories it could make this offer more lucrative.

Happy hunting!

My goal in life is to fill my family’s passports with stamps, creating buckets of memories along the way. You’ll find me writing about realistic ways for normal people to travel the world, whether you’re on a budget or enjoy luxury. I also enjoy taking us on the occasional detour to explore the inner workings of the travel industry.

9 Comments

  1. I bought $1400 of Amex gift cards from an Office Depot in NOVA and $1000 of them were not activated. Went back to Office Depot today, Amex insisted all sorts of copies be faxed to them, and Office Depot would not refund my money. So a warning if anyone has any sitting around… the $200s did not activate, the $100s did. No promises from anyone as to when this will be resolved. Thank goodness I had the receipt, plus they even wanted the packaging copied and faxed!

    Reply

    1. Kate, thanks for the color here. I don’t do a ton of manufactured spending but I do buy gift cards situationally when it makes sense. I’ve encountered a few frustrating spots like the one you detail above which is probably why I don’t do more.

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    2. Yes! Office Max offers the same. Picked up $2,200 of the $200 variety and $800 of the $100 variety in separate trips and all seem to have activated just fine. Toledo, OH suburb area.

      Reply

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