A couple of weeks ago I highlighted that it was worth clicking through to Staples from RetailMeNot for certain types of purchases that are normally excluded from earning cashback.
The cashback rate for Staples has varied from 3% to 5% to 10% and then completely disappearing. The fact that they’re not currently offering cashback for Staples.com isn’t cause for concern as the ability to earn cashback on Staples purchases via RetailMeNot comes and goes.
I haven’t hit this opportunity hard, but there’s something that’s worth being aware of if you’ll be making a number of purchases each month. Reader EW reached out to give a heads up that RetailMeNot places limits on how many times you can earn cashback with any given retailer each month.
This isn’t a Staples-specific restriction they’ve added because their terms state the limit is in play for all merchants:
“Number of Rewards Offers per Person” means (a) for Online Cash Back Rewards, a limit of twenty (20) Rewards Offers in the aggregate under all RetailMeNot Promotions in any calendar month and a limit of seven (7) Rewards per Merchant in any calendar month and (b) for In-Store Cash Back Rewards, a limit of fifteen (15) Rewards Offers in the aggregate under all RetailMeNot Promotions in any calendar month, unless otherwise specified in the Promotion Landing Page.
As you can see, there’s a limit of seven rewards per merchant per calendar month. It’s therefore worth bearing this in mind if you’ll be making purchases regularly during the periods when RetailMeNot offers cashback on Staples.com purchases.
I disagree about it not being a cause for concern. As someone who has used RMN for Staples purchases “normally excluded from cashback” for several years, things have definitely changed at RMN this month. Yes, Staples cashback comes and goes, but it has been mostly gone since your referenced prior post. They pulled the 10% after 1 day when it was supposed to last 4 days. 10% for 4 days once per month has been fairly common, and it usually lasts the entire 4 days. Sometimes it’s pulled early after day 3 or during day 4, but never on day 1. Posting about portals paying 3-5-10% on purchases normally excluded is a mistake, especially at Staples where 5X UR is standard to begin with. And then it got referenced to a much larger audience over at FM. What a mistake.