My recent column identifying the companies readers feel are worst at fulfilling rebates, led to an interesting discussion on the value of playing the rebate game.
Many feel it's a losing game for the customer. "For sellers, the point of rebates is not to give the buyer a discount on the price of an item," wrote one reader. "It's to give the buyer an incentive to buy an over-priced item with the promise of a later return of part of the purchase price. The seller knows that a certain percentage of the buyers will not bother to turn in the paperwork or will forget to do it or will do it incorrectly so the rebate will be refused. The result is a lower total discount on all the items sold and higher sales because of the incentive. Rebates are not going to go away."
Others believe they do quite well by filing for rebates. "It can be enormously profitable, if played correctly and diligently," wrote another reader. "I printed out my 'rebates' budget category last night, and over the last 3-1/2 years, I've submitted 60 rebates with a total value of $1,500. There were only three that I had to do any followup on, and only two of those took more than one phone call to resolve. Even if I'd given those up, I'm still way ahead. If I only count half the rebate amount as true value (ex: $100 item w/$40 rebate that can be had for $80 elsewhere w/o rebate, so my real savings is only $20), and figure I spend, say 10 minutes of my time for each one, that's a payback of $80/hour - not bad. Of course, the manufacturers count on the fact that not everyone will send in the rebate, or they won't fill out the forms properly, or they won't get it in on time - that's why it's a game."
Some believe that you may pay a hidden price for rebates in loss of privacy. "I'm surprised so many people focus on the problems of rebate deadbeats," wrote a reader. "You ought to worry more about what the rebate houses do with your personal information. Every time you send your name, home address, email address, and phone number, you help update their databases. That information is sold to marketers of all sorts -- spammers, those suppertime telemarketers, bulk mailers, vendors, legitimate manufacturers -- as well as insurance companies and law enforcement agencies from time to time. The value of your current personal information (including the buying habits you reveal through rebate applications) far outweighs any profit losses that retailers and manufacturers incur through rebate offers."
12:53:59 PM 
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