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You know how rebates work, right? You get a certain amount off whatever it is you're buying but you don't get it at the till. You need to submit some paperwork and then you'll be sent a cheque for whatever the amount was. The basic premise behind it is that most people will not bother, forget to send it in before the disqualification date or not fill in the paperwork properly meaning that all of the money in the rebate becomes profit.
Now that's not the only way to make money off it. The other is far less effective but given enough outstanding rebates, it's not neglible. Example 1:
We are pleased to inform you that your rebate, with the Basic service level you selected has been processed and approved on Jan 30 2009 12:56AM.
Your Check will be mailed within 8-10 weeks . Please contact us if you have any additional questions.
It seriously takes two and a half months *after* the notification has been issued before the rebate will arrive? Keep in mind that this is already a month after the item was purchased and the refund submitted. Interest on $60 isn't huge for that period but have enough of them and it's worth it in someone's books.
Here you are onto something.
The time and trouble involved in making a rebate and then tracking it is never worth the rebate itself.
Many rebate offers are booby-trapped (you can’t possibly send them the correct documentation within the correct dates).
Basically, any rebate offers beyond instant rebate at the till should be ignored. They don’t really exist. Usually you can get within 5% of the best rebate price from a straight over the counter dealer in any case.