Update: 5/21/21: At some point in the last couple of months Staples.com returned to Dosh, so you can earn 2% cashback on online purchases again.
Update 3/11/21: Staples seems to have been removed from Dosh again. It’s returned in the past, so hopefully its removal isn’t a permanent adjustment. h/t EW
Update 10/24/20: Staples had disappeared from the Dosh app for the past week, but it’s back again at 2%. h/t EW
Update 9/25/20: EW has pointed out that the cashback rate has been reduced to 2%. While that’s obviously bad news, this is apparently still a better option than trying a shopping portal for certain purchases.
Update 9/11/20: Reader EW has spotted a negative change in the terms of Dosh’s offer for Staples. In the past, you only had to pay with a card linked in the app. The terms now state that you have to tap the ‘Shop’ button in the app and pay with a Dosh-linked card.
EW has confirmed that a transaction didn’t track where he paid with a Dosh-linked card and didn’t click through from the app. A subsequent transaction where he did click through from the app did track.
That therefore makes Dosh far less useful because it means you can no longer stack it with earnings from a shopping portal and Dosh has a limit of $5 cashback per day from Staples. It could still be your best option, but that’ll depend on how much other portals are offering and how much you’ll be spending.
For example, the best cashback rate through a shopping portal at the time of updating this post is 3% via TopCashback. If you were to spend less than $166.67, you’d do better clicking through from Dosh. Spending more than that would mean you’d do better clicking through from TopCashback as you wouldn’t be capped at $5 cashback.
Update 7/24/20: Back to 6%.
Update 7/23/20: Dosh has increased the rate to 15% for July 23, 2020 only. The cashback limit is sadly still only $5 per day, so that means you’ll max this out when spending $33.33.
Update 7/19/20: The rate has been increased to 6%. The cashback limit is still $5 per day, so you’ll max it out when spending $83.33.
Update 6/30/20: The cashback rate has been increased to 4%. With a cashback limit of $5 per day, you’ll max this out when spending $125.
Update 5/19/20: The rate has been reduced further to 2%.
Update 4/7/20: Dosh has also added terms excluding gift card purchases from cashback; whether or not that’s enforced is another matter. I had a gift card purchase track earlier, but we’ll have to wait and see if that becomes payable. h/t reader Paul.
Update 4/7/20: Cashback rate has been lowered from 5% to 3%, with the maximum amount reduced from $20 per day to $5 per day.
The Deal
- Earn
5%3%2%6%2% cashback at Staples.com when using the Shop button in the Dosh app and paying with a card linked in the app. - My Dosh referral link (we’ll both get $5 if you use it).
Key Terms
- Maximum cashback of
$20$5 per day. - Valid only when you use the Shop button to open Staples from Dosh and checkout using your Dosh-connected card.
- Gift cards are excluded from cash back offer.
- Cashback will be deposited to your account within 30 days.
Tips & Ideas
Well hello there! This has the potential to be a sweet deal provided gift card purchases track correctly. With a limit of $20 per day, you’ll max this out when spending $400 with a card linked in the Dosh app.
Pay with a Chase Ink Plus or Ink Cash card to earn 5x/5%, or with a card that has the Staples Amex Offer loaded to it.
Staples sells $300 Visa gift cards with an $8.95 activation fee. That’s too high for my tastes normally, but if you buy a couple of those every day you’d make a $2.10 profit per day while racking up 3,090 Ultimate Rewards or $30.90 per order on top.
I can’t imagine this will last long; if it does, I’m sure Dosh will have to put in place some kind of tracking as to whether gift cards were purchased as this could get costly. For now though, have at it.
Thanks for the heads up on this. Great promotion.
[…] off Petco gift cards is a fairly good deal. You can stack this with a card linked in the Dosh app and by paying with a card that earns more at office supply stores or one that has the Staples Amex […]
[…] account with Uber Cash, so 10% off Uber gift cards is a better deal than it once was. You can earn $5 back from Dosh and either pay with a Chase Ink Cash or Ink Plus card for 5%/5x back or with a card with the […]
I just wish I’d acted on my own advice!
Thanks for your help Stephen – I got 4 orders in at the higher 5% rate. Hopefully they will go from pending status soon.
Thanks again!
Great, good luck!
Stephen- what is your main sources for earning miles/points?
In no particular order: signup bonuses, MS, gift card reselling, using category bonuses for organic spend, hotel stays (we live in hotels & Airbnbs, so we have more paid stays that your average person).
Stephen –
Isn’t gift card reselling a lot more work and risk then MS? Why would a person do reselling versus putting more time into MS?
I have never tried reselling. Just curious and wanting to learn..
It depends on the person, their risk tolerance, availability of deals, etc. In many cases, MS costs money. For example, let’s say you buy Visa gift cards from grocery stores on the Amex Gold card. You’re earning 4x Membership Rewards, but you’re also paying $5.95 for each $500 VGC and then however much it costs you to liquidate the gift card.
There are some lower cost options like clicking through to GiftCards.com or GiftCardMall from a shopping portal, but even that is rarely free (although that partly depends on if you’re earning Membership Rewards with Rakuten and how you value those).
Gift card reselling on the other hand can be profitable. For example, I posted about the Zola Amex Offer earlier today. https://gcgalore.com/zola-amex-offer-spend-100-get-20-back-buy-gift-cards-for-home-depot-uber-delta-more/
That offer means you can buy a $100 gift card for $80. Some people can resell Home Depot gift cards for $90+, so that’s an immediate $10 profit. If you can find deals that can be scaled, it makes it even better, especially if you can pay with a card that earns in a bonus category.
For example, H-E-B (a grocery store chain in Texas) used to run gift card deals every week. Usually it was “Buy $50 gift card for x retailer and get $10 H-E-B gift card free”. If you value the H-E-B gift card as good as cash, that’s a 20% discount. Some of those deals were unlimited, so you could buy as many as you wanted. You could then pay with a card that earns more at grocery stores to really rack up the points.
There’s definitely risk involved, but the same goes for MS too. With gift card reselling, one risk you aren’t likely to have is the risk of shutdowns from your bank either due to MS or depositing too many money orders.
That’s not to say that gift card reselling is better than MS, just that they each have their pros and cons. It can be easier to rack up points and miles with MS, but it can be easier to make a profit while still generating a decent number of points and miles with gift card reselling.
If you’re interested in learning more about reselling, check out this guide I created: https://gcgalore.com/20-beginner-tips-for-successful-gift-card-reselling/
It gives more information about how it works, while also listing a number of risks that are important to be aware of.
Looking at my cashback balance this morning, I found that a pending $20 credit from Sunday (before the change in TOC for Staples) was clawed back, “failed” due to inability to verify purchase. (The purchase was for VISA gift cards.) Disappointing. I will likely delete my account and the bloody app.
I had $85 rejected. Very disappointing. 🙁
It might be worth raising a support ticket seeing as there wasn’t a gift card exclusion when it first went live.
Did you happen to take a screenshot of the 5% cash back, no GC exclusion offer when it was alive? Would love to have the screenshot when putting in a ticket because we know they will just deny
I didn’t take one, but Nick’s added one to the post he wrote on Frequent Miler https://frequentmiler.boardingarea.com/5-back-at-staples-com-via-dosh-max-20-per-day/
[…] this with 3% back from Dosh (limit $5 per day) and pay with a card earning more at office supply stores or one that has the […]
[…] Update 5/19/20: Rate further reduced to 2%. Hat tip to GC Galore […]
[…] that out. It’s also worth linking whatever card you pay with to Dosh seeing as the app offers 2% cashback on Staples purchases. Gift card purchases are excluded, so don’t be surprised if it doesn’t track/pay out, […]
[…] Check the Dosh app to see if Staples is still an option – I don’t have a Staples store near me this week to be able to check. Even if it says it’s online only, it’s worth linking just in case it tracks anyway; even if it does track, it might not then pay out due to a gift card exclusion. If it does track and pay out though, it’s an easy $5 per day. […]
There’s a Staples two miles from me but I don’t see Staples in the app. Must be targeted in another way than proximity to a store.