So, if one did wish to purchase those Metabank MCGC at Staples ( I think I read that Staples usually carries them), what is a safe card to use?
Are you referring to Amex cards? Technically, you can purchase it on any card and it's fine, you just won't earn any points from it. You should not purchase GCs from Staples/OD/OM during MSR period since they send level 3 data.
You’re fine for any card but not a good idea if you are meeting a MSR for an Amex. No points earned on Amex for gc purchases as well.
@DisneyMandC covered it!!
In addition to what
@DisneyMandC and
@wendow wrote, what I would caution is to make sure you're aware of the various time-limited deals and have a clear idea of how you'll liquidate the MCGC or VGC.
There was a lot of chatter last week about MCGCs at Staples because they were running a "fee free" deal on $200 denomination MCGCs between 7/21/19-7/27/19. A $200 MCGC will cost you only $200 on your credit card, and you get the spend and reward points. This deal has since expired. If you were to purchase one of these $200 MCGCs now, you'd be paying $200 + a $6.95 activation fee. The way to break even or even come out ahead of the fee is, buy it with no fee or a discounted fee, with a card on which you're working on MSR or earns a high category bonus for purchases at office supply stores. Occasionally there are Chase Offers and Amex Offers to Staples that you can stack. (Folks on the Disney Gift Card Deals thread will also stack shopping apps like Ebates -- which I wouldn't recommend at risk of shutdown -- or RMN.) So you don't want to be using an Amex card to buy gift cards of any type at an office supply store when working on an MSR (not a problem for you). You can use a CIP or Citi AA Biz and put that purchase towards your MSR, but neither card earns more than 1x at an office supply store. The CIC earns a 5x UR bonus at office supply stores, so some people find it worthwhile to use it to buy gift cards ($200 x 5x UR = 1,000 UR, and you still have your $200 in the form of a gift card and at least $10 in rewards). But in this example, you're "floating" $200 in the form of a gift card. If it's a third-party gift card, say to Disney, you'll liquidate it when you go to Disney; or say, a restaurant, you'll liquidate it when you eat at that restaurant. If it's in a VGC or MCGC, there are ways of liquidating and getting the funds back into your bank account to pay your credit card bill. That's MS, and there are some resources about it on our reddit. Or else, you're "floating" that money until you can spend the VGC or MCGC down organically,
Outside of these fee free and $ off deals on VGC/MCGC, Staples/OD/OM are not necessarily the best place to buy a prepaid gift card with the activation fee. In-store, VGC/MCGC top out at only $200 at Staples/OD/OM and come with a $6.95 fee. 6.95% represents a 3.475% fee on $200. By comparison, most grocery stores sell VGC/MCGC in a variable load denomination up to $500 for a $5.95 fee. That's just a 1.19% fee by comparison. Supermarket chains like Kroger frequently run fuel points on fixed denomination gift cards, including VGC/MCGC; and Safeway runs $10 off deals when buying 2x $50 VGC/MCGC or $100+ VGCs, or $15 off 2x $100 VGC/MCGC. Safeway has a deal on $50 and $100 VGC running until 8/2/19, and Kroger has a 4x fuel points deal on fixed denomination gift cards through 8/13/19.
But again, you need to do a little bit of math to see how the fees (if any), discounts, and credit card rewards work out, and always have a plan how to liquidate it!
Also, beware of tampered gift card packaging to avoid buying compromised gift cards that are at risk of getting drained.
This is a big topic, so let me know if there's anything unclear to you.
I usually skim over anything far East/Japan related so that's my only excuse!
