Rebate (marketing) - Recent Trends

Recent Trends

Some retailers have taken a step forward with offering consumers new ways to submit their rebates easily over the Internet, completely or partially removing any mail-in requirements. Staples, Sears, Tiger Direct and Rite Aid currently offer an online submission option for all or some of the rebates they offer. These special rebates are usually identified as such and have instructions for full or partial online submissions. This is touted as a more accurate processing of the rebate, reducing the potential for human or mechanical error and in many cases eliminating the postage costs associated with traditional mail-in rebates, although some require the UPC or Proof Of Purchase to be mailed in. Most of these retailers still let consumers submit rebates by mail.

In 2006 OfficeMax stores announced that they were eliminating mail-in rebates from their sales promotion in favor of instant rebates for their sale prices. The decision came after a year of working with rebate vendors and manufacturers to improve the rebate process and receiving "overwhelmingly negative feedback" from their customers about their rebate program.

Instead of checks, prepaid gift cards are being given by many stores. Merchants like these cards, as they cannot be redeemed for cash and must be spent. However, some states require that retailers redeem the card value for cash if it falls below a certain level, such as $5 in Washington state. Many sales people are not aware of this and will deny giving the refund. Consumers must be careful of expiration dates and read the fine print.

The typical American household that takes advantage of consumer rebates saves an average of $150 annually. More than $8 billion dollars were issued back to American households last year alone by rebate programs.