Office Max/Office Depot, no longer allowing us to buy any gift cards with CC

This is a huge blow. We've been making a lot of purchases at Lowe's and Home Depot, buying siding, new front door, new storm doors, etc., all in the process of painting our house's exterior.

Went to Office Max to buy $1,000 in Lowe's Gift Cards with our Chase Ink 5X at office supply stores, and we were told we are both hard-coded into the register that we can no longer buy gift cards of any type through Lowe's.

We went to Staples and no problem at all. We also bought $1,000 at our local Kroger for 4X Fuel Points.

I am so tired of being treated like a criminal because we take advantage of our credit card benefits.

Makes perfect sense to me. Who do you think actually pays for those Chase Ink 5X points? Office Max, through their CC usage fees negotiated with Chase. Then you go and spend that money at a different store (Lowes). The point of Office Max giving you those CC points (indirectly through Chase) is to incentivize their customers to spend money on items with a profit margin in their store. Gift cards do not have a high enough profit margin to pay for those CC fees the store has to pay.

Kurt

Thanks for the info. I do not like it but agree with it. Very high chance of fraud in these purchases as well with little to gain for the store.

Yes, I am sure, Kurt, but we also have two business and frequent that store regularly for printing and office supplies.

Staples is still allowing it, and online is easier, too, with Staples.

If Office Max is not making any money and is bitter about gift cards, perhaps they should stop carrying gift cards. Gift Card Mall does provide stores with gift cards at a discount to entice them to sell the cards. Most people don't buy store and restaurant gift cards with cash, not that I have seen.

And the conversation about Visa Gift Cards only with cash comes up on Flyertalk all of the time. Stores require cash to buy those, and I cannot help but wonder if that is not really money laundering, especially here in our state, Kurt, where pot is sold and grown and cannot be paid for on any level with anything BUT cash.

Very high chance of fraud

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Really? With a valid driver's license and a credit card that goes through right away, how is that a high chance of fraud?

rickandcindy23 said:

Really? With a valid driver's license and a credit card that goes through right away, how is that a high chance of fraud?

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You can burying your head in the sand if you want but it is true. Sometimes I am not even asked for ID.

I don't think TUGgers understand the issue at all.

King Soopers (Kroger store) sells us gift cards for 4X fuel points, and we pay via credit card and show our DL, and we can buy $2k easily, no issues, and we buy all kinds of restaurant and store gift cards, then we get $35 off on gas for our $250 purchase.

King Soopers would not do that if they were losing money. They run this deal about once a month. I never pay regular price for gas, because I buy Disney cards and pay Disney MF's and pay for our AP's and dining. I buy lots of gift cards, and never has Kings told us we cannot use a credit card.

That's $70 value in gas with $500 in gift card purchases.

rickandcindy23 said:

I think TUGgers understand the issue at all.

King Soopers (Kroger store) sells us gift cards for 4X fuel points, and we pay via credit card and show our DL, and we can buy $2k easily, no issues, and we buy all kinds of restaurant and store gift cards, then we get $35 off on gas for our $250 purchase.

King Soopers would not do that if they were losing money. They run this deal about once a month. I never pay regular price for gas, because I buy Disney cards and pay Disney MF's and pay for our AP's and dining. I buy lots of gift cards, and never has Kings told us we cannot use a credit card.

That's $70 value in gas with $500 in gift card purchases.

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It is done to get people into the store. Where hopefully they spend money on other items as well.

So the woman at Office Max had no idea what she was talking about. We just went into Office Max and bought an Amazon Gift Card for our son's birthday gift, and our credit card payment went through just fine.

On the other hand, my manufactured spending days are coming to an end. My entire method of building points and miles is going kaput. I say this in jest; however, I am really hurting over it. My local grocery store no longer allows us to buy money orders with our Visa Gift Cards. It's the end of an era. Good thing we found it and did it while we could. I will still do my best to continue the process of getting money orders, but not $1,000 at a time. We will see if a little less works better. You never know.

Apparently the issue is that old style swipe credit cards have been very easy to counterfeit. Bad guys could make up a batch of them. When used to buy a gift card they have effectively turned the fake card into a real, and untraceable, card that they could use or sell for cash.

This has led to an assortment of retailers no longer accepting credit cards for gift card purchases.

rickandcindy23 said:

So the woman at Office Max had no idea what she was talking about. We just went into Office Max and bought an Amazon Gift Card for our son's birthday gift, and our credit card payment went through just fine.

On the other hand, my manufactured spending days are coming to an end. My entire method of building points and miles is going kaput. I say this in jest; however, I am really hurting over it. My local grocery store no longer allows us to buy money orders with our Visa Gift Cards. It's the end of an era. Good thing we found it and did it while we could. I will still do my best to continue the process of getting money orders, but not $1,000 at a time. We will see if a little less works better. You never know.

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Just have to be innovative.