Easy Money on EBay
I was asked recently about rebates and in formulating an answer it came to me that perhaps a blogpost would be an appropriate way to answer, so here is my first blog post:
I notice that some sellers on eBay have bought Logitech Wireless Headphones for iPod on buy.com for $39.00 [after a $50.00 mail-in rebate] and are selling them for $60 and more. The giveaway is that in the description of the item it is mentioned that the UPC code is missing.
Interestingly, there seem to be scads of items selling for more on eBay than in online stores. I'm certain one could make a decent living just buying items with rebates and selling them on eBay.
Although the Internet was supposed to make everyone more informed, it turns out one can turn a buck on those too lazy to use it properly.
If you buy an item with a rebate, watch for these scams:
Ecost.com rebates usually will require you to have your letter stamped within 10 days of purchase. If you don't pay for 2nd day delivery and UPS doesn't come in time, the rebate becomes invalid. Delivery delay is not their problem.
Buy.com will send you a postcard that the receipt you sent was not the correct item. Not all the time, but often enough to make a difference to their bottom line.
Some companies require you to include a packing list hoping that you threw it away before carefully reading the rebate form instructions.
Then there companies that simply don't send the rebate unless you notice that 6 months have passed and you didn't get anything back. Not all the time, but often enough to make a difference to their bottom line. Many people simply forget.
How many of us are anal enough to make a file folder with copies of all the rebate forms, receipts, UPC barcodes, shipping/packing lists and then set an alarm 8-12 weeks later to remind us to expect money from the ACME Instant Feather Company?
Over $500 million in rebates go unfilled (1) every year, many due to deceptive practices on the part of the companies or their "promotions companies."
If you got scammed contact thesqueakywheel
ENDNOTES
(1):
Consumer Affairs, How To Defend Yourself Against Ruthless Rebate Scams
Why are rebates so terrible?
The traditional answer is that rebates are actually intended to be a hassle to discourage customers from redeeming them. After all, the more customers who forget or give up on rebates, the more dollars the manufacturer retains.
Rebate redemption rates never hit 100 percent. They rates generally range from 5 percent to 80 percent, depending on the value of the rebate. While vendors have accelerated nearly every other aspect of the purchasing process in recent years -- from overnight shipping to 24/7 instant chat support -- rebates are still stuck in the stone age to discourage redemption.
This is hardly a secret in the business world. In fact, it's discussed openly in the trade press. "Rebates are a good business plan only when consumers fail to claim them," ARS analyst Gary Peterson recently told The Wall Street Journal.
