Day 19 – Rebate Card
Yesterday, I found the reply to a mail-in rebate in my mailbox. Mail-in rebates are as common in the US as they are silly. Instead of somehow bundling the rebate processing at the point of sale, every consumer contacts the manufacturer separately and then gets their rebate back in the mail. Of course, the US is infamous for both making everything regarding money incredibly complicated — and then finding elaborate workarounds to make things go faster instead of actually fixing the system.
Anyhow, what struck me as interesting is that the rebate was not paid out as a check, let alone direct deposit or the like, but as a prepaid visa card. I can use it at the store like any other debit card, and once it’s empty I can dispose of it. That’s kind of neat, but honestly is more inconvenient for me than a check: I could deposit a check and forget about it. For the card, I need to keep track of how much is still on there if I don’t use it all at once. If my bill is more than the amount on the card, I need to make sure the merchant can handle several payment methods at once (so, no using it on Amazon in that case). All in all, I am not too impressed.
The pic is a macro shot from my cell phone. Not too bad. On a white piece of paper, the colors were relatively acceptable this time.
There’s a reason for this.
1. Released statistics vary, but generally only half of rebates are even filed. That means even though they are offering $20 back, they are really averaging $10. Good marketing with half the cost.
2. Gift cards also often go unused. When they are used, often they aren’t finished with a dollar or two remaining. That’s money in their pocket.
Overall, that means they may only be paying out 20-30% of the promotions value. Hence it will likely never go away.
On the flip side, if you’re smart and diligent you’ll get them every time. Just make sure to follow directions exactly, and to make a copy of your submission, often when rejected a call and being able to tell them what you submitted is enough for them to “reprocess” (meaning: finally pay you).
Ah, Robert, that makes a lot of sense. Sneaky people these rebate marketers. I do try to always send in my mail-in rebates, because often it is really only a good deal with the rebate, not without. And then I usually have to deal with a check (sigh) or, it seems, with a prepaid debit card now (double sigh).
For the debit card if it’s just a generic card (usable anywhere) best place to use them is a gas station, or mass transit where you can buy ___ in dollar increments vs. product units. I’ve done that with my Metrocard before (just add $20 to the Metrocard assuming the rebate was $20). That way I use every penny. The harder ones are the debit cards which are really gift cards for the retailer (Staples does this). I second guess those purchases.
Not really extra work for me, just requires a little thought.
Checks aren’t so bad, just need to take it to the bank next time you go. Normally they are good for 90 days.
For electronics, rebates are *very* popular especially online, so for us geeks, that means we deal with lots of them.
Very good idea. Yes, it’s a generic one, so I will make an effort to use it all. Unfortunately they don’t work at an ATM, otherwise you could just go, get the money, then dispose of the card. But of course they don’t want that.
I found another suggestion on the Interwebs:
“Purchase an Amazon gift card and email it to yourself for the balance of the Visa. Credit your account with the gift card, make your purchase, use the Amazon credit, and then pay the rest with the debit card.”
That seems like a great way to use the entire card — if you somewhat regularly order on Amazon anyway.
I just tried that with an AmEx gift card I had lying around. Amazon explicitly states you can’t use a gift card to order an Amazon gift card (you can use it for other orders however). I tried it anyway and the order completed and I got a Amazon gift card that I was able to apply to my account.
Cool. I order enough from Amazon that I can now clear this card. It was sitting around since it’s a little larger than most rebates, I would have had to break it in half since I don’t like so much money on my Metrocard, and my car doesn’t take that much gas, even at these gas prices.
Nice trick!
Agreed! I also don’t think this is violating Amazon policy: By “gift cards” that you can’t use to purchase Amazon gift cards I am pretty sure they mean their own. Prepaid debit/credit cards might be given as a gift, but otherwise work like any other credit card.
Great that it worked.
I don’t think it’s their own, it specifically says:
“Please note that American Express Gift Cards cannot be used as a payment method. All other American Express cards are accepted.”
It worked however. I beat the system.
What I have found works best for me with these rebate cards is to immediately use to pay my cable or electric bill for the full amount on the card. I can always pay extra on one of those bills, and the key is to use the full amount of the rebate card immediately.
In the past, I have been one of those poor schmucks who failed to mail in the rebate in time and lost out on $50 or $100..stupid.
AND I have also had instances where I have been on top of it, mailed in my rebate form, gotten the card and then forgotten to use it before it expires…even worse-that’s like throwing away cash!
So now as soon as I get a rebate-I just put the full amount on a utility bill of some sort and toss the card!
[...] 100 days ago, today’s mail-in rebate (of a whopping 5 dollars) came with as this ancient technology known [...]