I am excited about the coming black Friday sales at Staples.  I have to fight the strong desire to order as many $150 off iPads as I can.  The problem with that of course is that Staples may shut me down.  See Big Habitat for issues about that.  So if I cannot take advantage via volume what else can I do?

First there are the typical culprits.

• Staples Rewards
• Chase Ink
• Shopping Portals

Typically, by combining these three you can leverage an additional 15%.  Staples Rewards will give you 2%, 3%, or 5% back depending on how much you have previously spent at Staples. 5% triggers after you have spent $1,000 so it is pretty easy to obtain.

Chase Ink gives you 5x UR points at Staples.  If the Ultimate Rewards Mall is offering a portal bonus you can add on to the 5x.  Although, this would mean potentially missing out on other portal bonuses.

Portal bonuses are a resellers best friend and uPromise runs 5% cash back as its standard offer for Staples.  A helpful website to monitor portal bonuses is Cash Back Monitor.  This website allows you to see what the various portal bonuses are for a particular store.  I will be keeping an eye on this as we approach Black Friday to see if anyone can beat uPromise.

These are the typical three deals and I have mentioned them before but are there are options out there to leverage these deals?

A big one is the 15% discount on Staples gift cards currently for sale on eBay.  You should also get 5x UR points when you buy these with an Ink card.  The limit is usually 3 and this will add $90 to your bottom line.

I am going to try and increase my volume but only slightly.  I signed my wife up for Staples Rewards and I added her as an authorized user on my Ink card.  Once the sale hits I will buy 4 between both accounts.  Not a huge volume but I don’t want to get shut down.  I have to remind myself that pigs get fat and hogs get slaughtered.