Rebates – Reward Or Rip Off?

Rebates have become ever more popular in the last few years on a lot of items and certainly on electronic items and computers. Rebates of $20, $50 or $100 are pretty common.

I’ve even seen items pushed as “free after rebate”. Do these rebates come under the heading of “too good to be true”? A lot of them of them do and there are “catches” to watch out for but if you are careful, rebates can help you get some really good deals.

The way a rabbet works is that you pay the listed price for an item then mail in a form and the bar code to the fabricant and they give you a back a percentage of the purchase price thus reducing the price of what you paid for the item, only with a time delay of several weeks.

Rule #1. rebates from reputable companies are usually just fine.

You can be very sure you will get the promised rebate from Best Buy, Amazon or Dell but you should not necessarily count on getting one from a company you’ve never heard of. If you really want to purchase the product and are OK with paying the full price that's listed then buy it but don’t count on actually getting the refund.

Rule #2. Watch rebate expiration dates.

Many times products will stay on the shelf of a retailer after the date for sending in the rebate offer has expired so check that date carefully.

Rule #3. Make sure you have all the forms required to file for the rebate before you leave the store.

Rebates will nearly always need a form to be filled out, a receipt for the purchase and a bar code.

Rule #4. Back up your rebate claim.

Make copies of all the things you send in to get your rabbet - including the bar code. Mailings get lost in the mail all the time and if the rabbet is for $50 it’s worth the trouble to back up your claim.