OK, what is the logic behind offering rebates?

[ldinternet]

It seems to be a primarily American thing... I've never seen any stores (even online ones) offering rebates over here.

Are they simply hoping that a % of people will forget to mail in their rebate forms?

Educate.

[Lycanthrope]

You nailed it on the head. The rebate offer itself attracts more buyers... and it is proven that most won't send the rebate form in, or will not do so in time. For the few that save money, they more than make up on w/ increased sales.

[crockett]

gets people to buy things and yes a large % are too lazy or forget to send in the rebates.. On top of that some companies play the rebate game and make it hard to get your money, they try to send you around in circles to avoid paying. However some are legit and do send the checks.

[Vitasoy]

Rebates are a marketing tool used by manufacturers to increase sales, by lowering the cost of a product in the eyes of a customer, without actually dropping the price on the shelf.

[crockett]

Originally posted by Vitasoy
Rebates are a marketing tool used by manufacturers to increase sales, by lowering the cost of a product in the eyes of a customer, without actually dropping the price on the shelf.

na quite a few of them do lower the price.. it used to be pretty common to find rebate on 50 packs of CD roms for free after rebates.. sad to say thse days seem to be gone.

[serious]

this reminds me i never got a $100 rebate from a laptop i bought last year.

kind of gay how they can just not send the money out

[Illicit]

I work for a company that offers rebates. if everyone used them we would lose money, but hardly anyone does.

[mahoney]

yup, capitalizing on the laziness of people. Pretty genius actually

[ibuydomains]

Plus they get your contact info which they sell

[Doctor Dre]

its canadian too ... futureshop offers rebate online too

[FlyingIguana]

Originally posted by ldinternet
It seems to be a primarily American thing... I've never seen any stores (even online ones) offering rebates over here.

Are they simply hoping that a % of people will forget to mail in their rebate forms?

Educate.

rebates piss me off. unless its an unbelieveable deal or something i really want i don't go for it.

did i mention rebates piss me off?

[Pornwolf]

Originally posted by FlyingIguana
rebates piss me off. unless its an unbelieveable deal or something i really want i don't go for it.

did i mention rebates piss me off?

I'm confused, are you saying that rebates piss you off? Or, am I just misunderstanding your post?

[Ash@phpFX]

they are used in australia too

[FlyingIguana]

Originally posted by Pornwolf
I'm confused, are you saying that rebates piss you off? Or, am I just misunderstanding your post?

sorry, didn't make it clear enough

rebates piss me the fuck off! go fuck yourself rebates

[Horny Dude]

Hate fucking rebates! Seems like everything in Best Buy has a rebate, even a candy bar! And how the fuck does it take 8-10 weeks to mail out a rebate check. They need to crack down on the rebate program.

[Rick Latona]

One major reason to offer rebates is to insure that the savings get passed on to the consumer thus making your product more competitive on the shelf. Otherwise, droping your wholesale price often just puts more money in the retailer's pocket.

[brizzad]

the coupon thing is to get more customers to come buy products that are in bulk.. the customer thinks "oh im getting a good deal on this" when the store his profiting like a mofo

******s

[FlyingIguana]

Originally posted by Rick Latona
One major reason to offer rebates is to insure that the savings get passed on to the consumer thus making your product more competitive on the shelf. Otherwise, droping your wholesale price often just puts more money in the retailer's pocket.

companies where you buy the product from should just take the rebate off the purchase price and send the rebate form in.

[KRL]

I forget the exact stat, but the majority of people don't remember to send in for their rebates.

Another way to save is to avoid the bogus extended warranties. That's an even bigger ripoff.

[Steen2]

Originally posted by FlyingIguana
companies where you buy the product from should just take the rebate off the purchase price and send the rebate form in.

That would defeat the purpose.

Dell rebates piss me off.

15 months later no $300 rebate.

6 phone calls and 2 faxes, they are horrible!

[FlyingIguana]

Originally posted by Steen2
That would defeat the purpose.

Dell rebates piss me off.

15 months later no $300 rebate.

6 phone calls and 2 faxes, they are horrible!

defeat the purpose? i rarely consider a rebate when making a purchase because i know it can be nothing more than bullshit.

dell is a bunch of assholes. i paid 200 bux for a 3 year warranty and they said i didn't have any record of it. i'll never buy shit from dell

[B40]

Rebates are offered as a revenue sharing strategy in order to increase total supply chain profit, increasing profits for all parties involved.

If you really want to know...read here
http://opim.wharton.upenn.edu/~cacho...e_rsharev3.pdf

[EviLGuY]

Originally posted by ldinternet
It seems to be a primarily American thing... I've never seen any stores (even online ones) offering rebates over here.

Are they simply hoping that a % of people will forget to mail in their rebate forms?

Educate.

A LOT of people dont mail those rebates in.. the numbers I hear are 30% ish do.