Recently named, “Best of the Worst Internet Business Ideas” by the Wall Street Journal, Cyberrebate was no mensch during the 90’s web boom.
rebates
Shopping in the Valley of the Amazons
By 4.28.06
Amazon Marketplace is awesome but perils lurk among the shadows of the the merchant’s stalls…
UPDATE: Where’s My Ebate?
By 4.19.06
David said he had tried to get his Ebate for months upon months and hadn’t heard any response to his multiple inquries by email, web sumbissions and phone. Thanks to a tip by Anne-Marie, we got the name and email of Ebate’s customer care manager. We pointed out David’s plight and our post on the matter. The manager responded and we forwarded his response to David, who just sent us this email:
The Business of Rebates
By 4.19.06
Rebate deals are often conspicuously absent from our Morning Deals Round-Up. Why? Because 60% of deals never go through — either the customer forgets about them or the rebate house rejects the application upon a technicality. Rebates are bonuses, not the sort of thing you should make a purchasing decision based upon.
Why Rebates Suck: TigerDirect and OnRebate
By 3.16.06
Look, you guys are all savvy, so there’s no need to remind you: never buy anything because it is on rebate. Don’t even factor a rebate into your purchasing equation: nine times out of ten, rebates are scams.
CircuitCity Practices Deceptive Rebate Marketing
By 3.13.06
It all depends on what your definition of, “is a receipt,” is.
Amazon Trades You $30 for $99 of Diapers
By 2.16.06
Until Feb. 28 you can get a $30 Amazon.com gift certificate after making a $99-and-up Amazon.com order of Huggies brand products.
Shophacks: Don’t Give Up on Rebates
By 1.16.06
Matt W. writes us with this handy admonishment for those tempted to the evil of rebates:
I purchased a new HP Pavilion m7250n Media Center PC at Circuit City on Nov. 26. One of the reasons I did so was that they had an incredible deal if you factored in the rebates: The PC was $1069.99, then there was a $50 HP MIR, plus a whopping $120 Circuit City MIR. Which made the PC $899.99 after rebates. Like I said, a fabulous deal. The rebate window was ending in 24 hours after I saw the price, and you hade to make the purchase on-line. With Circuit City, that’s no big deal, since I could specify in-store pickup as the delivery method, and the closest one is 1.5 miles from my house. There would be no delayed gratification for me.
Rebate-Tracker.com: Making Evil Work for You
By 12.5.05
If you’ve got a few minutes to burn, this Slashdot thread is full of great information about the pitfalls of the rebate machine—despite the linked blog post on ComputerWorld that attempts to apologize for the fell retail process.
Shophackery: Never Forget to Mail a Rebate Again
By 11.30.05
Mail-in rebates are a chump’s game, and on the whole, we recommend against them. (That’s one of the reason you’ll so few MIR offers in our Deals Rounds Ups; The other is that half the time they just don’t work.)
