Mike Rivers wrote:


If you buy something on line from Staples (and probably other similar
places) that has a rebate, there's a link to click on that will fill
out the rebate form for you and file it on line, so it's totally
painless.

Or from Costco you go to costco.com and enter the info from
the receipt you get at checkout. Not quite as painless but
sure beats the mail.


Bob
--

"Things should be described as simply as possible, but no
simpler."

A. Einstein

In article writes:

Or from Costco you go to costco.com and enter the info from
the receipt you get at checkout. Not quite as painless but
sure beats the mail.

Today I tried the Staples on-line rebate web page and it isn't (at
least for the Maxtor disk drive I bought) and it still wasn't
painless. It fills out the form for you, but if you bought at a store
(which I did) you still have to mail in a copy of the sales receipt
and UPC label to prove that you actually bought (and didn't return)
the item. About the only benefit (other than to type on the computer
rather than fill in the form by hand) is that you get a tracking
number so you can track the progress of your rebate. And they e-mail
you when they receive your paperwork.

If you buy on-line line from Staples, however, they know you bought it
and they know (when) they shipped it to you, so in that case, you can
process the rebate totally on line.




--
I'm really Mike Rivers - )

(Mike Rivers) wrote:

|It really annoys me that I can buy a disk drive for $40, but I have to
|spend $70 to do it, and wait a month for the $30 rebate to come back.

And you pay sales tax on the $70! Doesn't seem quite right to me.

Phil

In article ,
says...
(Mike Rivers) wrote:

|It really annoys me that I can buy a disk drive for $40, but I have to
|spend $70 to do it, and wait a month for the $30 rebate to come back.

And you pay sales tax on the $70! Doesn't seem quite right to me.

Thank you!

No, as you suggest, it isn't quite right. It is UNETHICAL and all
companies that do it are exactly that.

--
Nick
http://www.cultv.com Fine arts & more
http://www.ironia.net My last band

NJD wrote in message t...
In article znr1056915714k@trad, says...

OK, so they get your name and address. Anything other reason?

It really annoys me snip

Yeah me too. I absolutely hate rebates because I always forget to send
them in.

I guess I would have to say that I hate the "idea" of 'em; so much in
fact, that I have never bought anything that offered a rebate. Give me
a straight up honest discount, no discount at all if I deem the
price/prod good or I'll simply look for another deal... I don't do
rebates...

In article writes:

I guess I would have to say that I hate the "idea" of 'em; so much in
fact, that I have never bought anything that offered a rebate. Give me
a straight up honest discount, no discount at all if I deem the
price/prod good or I'll simply look for another deal... I don't do
rebates...

Unfortunately, some rebates are just too good to pass up if it's on
something that I need. How else are you going to get a brand new
30 GB disk drive for $30 (a recent Maxtor rebate)? The lost interest
on $30 for a month or two (about a nickel) isn't significant to me. If
I needed the $30 to buy food, that would be different, but I don't.

I often ignore the $1 rebate on a $4.50 bag of Cowboy charcoal, though
I've started saving receipts and coupons, and when I can put four (the
maximum number of rebates to a single addres) in one envelope, I'll
take the $3.50 (after postage and envelope) and buy myself a cup of
coffee.



--
I'm really Mike Rivers - )

NJD wrote:

|No, as you suggest, it isn't quite right. It is UNETHICAL and all
|companies that do it are exactly that.

How about the $3500 rebate on some new cars! The tax is figured
before the rebate. I have always assumed that it was state law, not
the unethical behavior of the seller (as if states could not be
unethical).

Phil

How about the $3500 rebate on some new cars! The tax is figured
before the rebate.

Not if you have them apply the rebate to your trade-in value... in the case of
any trade-in you only pay tax on the difference between the trade-in and the
final selling price of the new car (the reason being: you've already paid the
sales tax on your trade-in when you orginally bought it).

Unless your state is weird in that regard.

Neil

On Tue, 01 Jul 2003 16:17:24 GMT, wrote:

How about the $3500 rebate on some new cars! The tax is figured
before the rebate. I have always assumed that it was state law, not
the unethical behavior of the seller (as if states could not be
unethical).

AND THEN, you have to pay income tax on the rebate.

Gotcha.

Willie K. Yee, M.D. http://www.bestweb.net/~wkyee
Developer of Problem Knowledge Couplers for Psychiatry http://www.pkc.com
Webmaster and Guitarist for the Big Blue Big Band http://www.bigbluebigband.org

On 30 Jun 2003 21:13:33 -0400, (Mike Rivers)
wrote:

Today I tried the Staples on-line rebate web page and it isn't (at
least for the Maxtor disk drive I bought) and it still wasn't
painless. It fills out the form for you, but if you bought at a store
(which I did) you still have to mail in a copy of the sales receipt
and UPC label to prove that you actually bought (and didn't return)
the item.

Which means in some cases, that if you send in the rebate, you can no
longer use the #ty day return policy, which requires you to return the
item with all the packaging intact.

Or if you wait that long, the chances that you'll forget or screw up
the application process increase.

Willie K. Yee, M.D. http://www.bestweb.net/~wkyee
Developer of Problem Knowledge Couplers for Psychiatry http://www.pkc.com
Webmaster and Guitarist for the Big Blue Big Band http://www.bigbluebigband.org

In article wkyeeATbestwebDOTnet writes:

Which means in some cases, that if you send in the rebate, you can no
longer use the #ty day return policy, which requires you to return the
item with all the packaging intact.

If it's something I think I might want to return, I'll hold off on
sending in the rebate paperwork. I don't usually need 30 days to
decide, though. Either it does it or it doesn't, and usually I'll
return it the next day. (just like the three different laptop bags
over the last couple of weeks, but no rebates on those)

Or if you wait that long, the chances that you'll forget or screw up
the application process increase.

That's what they're counting on, I suppose. But I think they make a
genuine effort to give the rebate. Once I sent a copy of the sales
receipt instead of the original, and kept the original in my files.
That's usually OK, but for some reason, this one wanted the original.
They sent me a letter asking for the original, which I sent after
making a copy for my file, and I got the check about a week later. I
don't even remember what it was or for how much, but given that it
cost another stamp and envelope plus going out to make a copy (you
guys who work in offices where there's a copying machine got it made)
either it was really worth while or just a matter of principle.




--
I'm really Mike Rivers - )