What gift cards can you buy at office supply stores?

For those not familiar, the Chase Ink and Bold line of business credit and charge cards offer 5x the rewards at office supply stores. These purchases can add up quickly, and Ultimate Rewards points are one of the most valuable points currencies out there.

Being a savvy consumer, many of you won’t necessarily have a need to buy true office supplies – your reams of paper, pens, binders, etc., etc. on a routine heavy basis. However, many of us frequent hotels, restaurants and other businesses on a much more regular basis. In order to reap the 5x rewards from your Chase Ink or Bold cards, I recommend purchasing gift cards to other merchants.

I went in to my local Staple’s, Office Max and Office Depot (the 3 major office suppliers) and noted the types of gift cards they sell:

Office Max:

• -Prepaid AMEX (Fee applies)
• -Prepaid Mastercard (Fee applies)
• -Prepaid Visa (Fee applies)
• -Amazon
• -American Eagle
• -AMC Theaters
• -AT&T GoPhone
• -Babies R Us/Toys R Us
• -Baja Fresh
• -Barnes & Noble
• -Bass Pro Shop
• -Bed Bath & Beyond/Buy Buy Baby
• -Boost Mobile
• -Build-A-Bear
• -Cabela’s
• -Catherine’s
• -Cheesecake Factory
• -Chili’s
• -Claire’s
• -Coldstone Creamery
• -Cracker Barrel
• -Disney
• -Express
• -Fandango
• -Foot Locker
• -Home Depot
• -Ihop
• -iTunes
• -JCPenney
• -Jo-Ann Fabric
• -Justice
• -Kindle
• -Kohl’s
• -Lowe’s
• -Macy’s
• -Michael’s
• -Nike
• -Nook
• -Nordstrom
• -Olive Garden
• -Outback Steakhouse
• -Outdoor Adventure Gift Card
• -Panera
• -PFChang’s
• -Pizza Hut
• -Prepaid phone cards
• -Red Lobster
• -Red Robin
• -Regal Cinemas
• -Ruby Tuesday
• -Sephora
• -Southwest
• -SpaFinder
• -Starbucks
• -Subway
• -TGIFriday
• -TJMaxx
• -T-Mobile Prepaid
• -Verizon Prepaid
• -Virgin Mobile

Staples:

• -Prepaid AMEX (Fee applies)
• -Prepaid Mastercard (Fee applies)
• -Prepaid Visa (Fee applies)
• -Aeropastle
• -Amazon
• -American Eagle
• -AMC Theaters
• -Applebees
• -Babies R Us/Toys R Us
• -Barnes & Noble
• -Bath & Body Works
• -Bass Pro Shop
• -Bed Bath & Beyond/Buy Buy Baby
• -Bloomingdale’s
• -Cheesecake Factory
• -Chili’s
• -Coldstone Creamery
• -CPK
• -Express
• -Fandango
• -Foot Locker
• -Gap Inc (Gap, Banana, Old Navy, Athleta, Piperlime)
• -Google Play
• -Groupon
• -Home Depot
• -Hulu Plus
• -iTunes
• -JCPenney
• -Jiffy Lube
• -Kindle
• -Kohl’s
• -Lowe’s
• -Macy’s
• -Marriott
• -Marshalls
• -Michael’s
• -Nintendo eShop
• -Nook
• -Nordstrom
• -Olive Garden
• -Outback Steakhouse
• -Red Lobster
• -Regal Cinemas
• -Ruby Tuesday
• -Panera
• -Petco
• -PFChang’s
• -Pottery Barn
• -Prepaid AMEX
• -Sephora
• -Shell
• -Southwest
• -SpaFinder
• -Starbucks
• -Subway
• -TJMaxx
• -Whole Foods

Office Depot:

• -Prepaid AMEX (Fee applies)
• -Prepaid Visa (Fee applies)
• -Prepaid Vanilla Gift Card (Fee applies)
• -Prepaid OneVanilla Gift Card (Fee applies)
• -AMC Theaters
• -American Eagle
• -Applebees
• -AT&T GoPhone
• -Barnes & Noble
• -Bass Pro Shop
• -Bath & Body Works
• -Bed Bath & Beyond/Buy Buy Baby
• -Bloomingdale’s
• -Burger King
• -Burlington
• -Chili’s
• -Express
• -Exxon/Mobil
• -Fandango
• -Foot Locker
• -Game Stop
• -Gap Inc (Gap, Banana, Old Navy, Athleta, Piperlime)
• -Ihop
• -iTunes
• -Macy’s
• -Marshalls
• -McAfee
• -Olive Garden
• -Panera
• -Pier 1 Imports
• -Pizza Hut
• -Red Lobster
• -Sephora
• -Shell
• -Starbucks
• -TJMaxx
• -T-Mobile Prepaid
• -Verizon Prepaid
• -Virgin Mobile
• -Wendy’s
• -Whole Foods
• -Xbox

I purchase songs, movies and tv shows on iTunes frequently, so it’s nice to see each of these merchants offer the purchase of Apple iTunes Store gift cards. For your average 99 cent song, you’re receiving close to 5 points! That’s a fairly decent earning ration for that “gotta have” song on the radio.

If you plan on having dinner with friends, pick up a gift card to the restaurant you intend on eating at. Or maybe you’re going shopping for a new pair of pants – pick up a gift card to your favorite clothier. You can also buy Visa Gift Cards, which are the same as cash – though note, these do carry some type of purchase fee.

Gift cards to direct merchants do not incur any purchase tax on the original gift card, and usually have no purchase fee, which is nice. This might be a great way to meet minimum spending requirements, or just to simply rack of points for that dream trip to Paris!