Are Rebates Truly Rewarding ?

Rebates and discounts have become more and more popular in the past few years on many items and certainly on electronic items and computers. Rebates of $20, $50 or $100 aren’t something which is uncommon.

Some items have even been advertised as “free after rebate”. The question that arises then is do these rebates go under the “too good to be true” label? Some of them do indeed and there are “catches” you should look out for but if you are cautious, rebates can contribute to help you get some really good deals.

The way a rebate functions is that you pay the listed price for an item then you mail it in a form along with the bar code to the manufacturer and they send you a refund which thus reduces the price of what you paid for, except that this deal is carried out within a delay of several weeks.

1st Rule. Rebates from reputable companies are usually quite good.

You can be quite sure that you will get the promised rebate from Best Buy, Amazon or Dell but you shouldn’t put your hopes in getting one from a company you’ve never heard of. If the product is really wanted and you don’t mind paying the price listed, then you should buy it but don’t count on actually getting the refund.

2nd Rule. Verify rebate expiry dates.

Quite often, products will remain on the retailer’s shelf following the expiry date for the rebate offer, so make sure you check that date quite carefully.

3rd Rule. Make sure that you have all the forms needed to file for the rebate before you leave the store.

Rebates almost always require the filling out of a form, a receipt for the purchase as well as a bar code.

4th Rule. Always back up your rebate claim.

Try to always make copies of everything you send in, in order to obtain your rebate. This includes the bar code. Things often get lost in the mail all the time and if the rebate is for $50 it will be well worth your trouble to back up the claim properly.

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