Talk:Rebate (marketing)

Price discrimination

A good example of why wikipedia sucks. Whoever wrote the lead sentence had no idea of what they are talking about (clue: it's not a civil rights issue) and puts in their made up idea of what PD is, and casts doubt on the real meaning of the economic term. 68.160.179.201 (talk) 16:54, 7 June 2008 (UTC)

hmm...it seems to be written in the same usage as the source (R. Avila and T. Avila "Rebates: An ethical issue?" Ball State University) which doesn't make any reference to any civil rights issue so I'm sure where your "clue" is coming from. I'd probably take your complaint up with the source and/or suggest prose with a different reliable source. Agne^Cheese/^Wine 03:06, 8 June 2008 (UTC)

Lead section

It seems a bit cumbersome to me. I'd like to do some work on it to help it conform to WP:LEAD but would like an extra set of ideas on the best way to trim it down. It seems like we could almost craft a new section from it but I'm not sure what to call it. Any other thoughts? Agne^Cheese/^Wine 00:57, 30 May 2007 (UTC)

North American centric?

A very relevant discussion took place in the archive, noting that mail in rebating may be common in the United States and Canada but is virtually absent in other parts of the world (e.g. Germany) and appears in Australia under the name of "cash back offer". See Talk:Rebate (marketing)/Archive 1#Very US-centric content. Since this doesn't seem to have been dealt with since then, I've tagged the article accordingly. Purgatorio 14:22, 20 September 2007 (UTC)

Unfortunately I could not find any reliable sources commenting on the virtual non-existence of rebates in other parts of the world. (I suppose it falls into the proving a negative trap). If you have any reliable sources in that regard, feel free to add them but it seems a little off to criticize an article for not focusing on the "nothingness" of rebates in other parts of the world. Should the Euro article be tagged as being Euro-centric for not commenting on the lack of use in the United States? Agne^Cheese/^Wine 16:27, 20 September 2007 (UTC)

I agree with the initial poster that the article could be less country-specific. Rebates in general are known elsewhere, just not the specific form of rebate that most space is dedicated to in the article. The claim that 'The mail-in rebate (MIR) is the most common' just does not hold for Germany (where I live), though this sort of rebate is known in the UK (where I grew up). Robin (talk) 13:09, 23 March 2009 (UTC)

Are there any reliable source speaking about the use of marketing rebates (in whatever form) outside the US? Agne^Cheese/^Wine 16:19, 23 March 2009 (UTC)

Hmmm let's see... Googling German language sites for "mail-in rebate"...

• Golem (major IT website) news article about the a manufacturer introducing them:

"Günstiger Einkaufen mit Mail-in-Rabatten ist in Amerika seit Jahren gang und gäbe. Als einer der ersten PC-Hersteller und -Händler führt Vobis das System hier in Deutschland ein, um Kaufanreize für Kunden zu schaffen." - "Mail-in rebates have been common in the US for years. Vobis is one of the first manufacturers/retailers to introduce this system to Germany." -- dated 2001

• rather anecdotal evidence of a German customer expressing his bafflement regarding what the heck a 'mail-in rebate' is, more anecdotal evidence
• website explaining the term, clearly intended for Germans

The first one is actually a reliable source and implies that mail-in rebates have been uncommon prior to 2001. Not exactly proof. The other websites clearly show that Germans are unfamiliar with the concept, but that's neither proof nor a reliable source.

That's all I could find... feel free to try for yourself, but as noted above: It's the attempt to prove a negative. 84.44.185.172 (talk) 20:03, 1 December 2009 (UTC)

Just as I wanted to close the tab I came across this: this appears to be a publication in a legit trade journal, the article's title is "Learning from the Americans" and once again implies that mail-in rebates are uncommon/unknown, even to salespeople.

That's all I got... 84.44.185.172 (talk) 20:03, 1 December 2009 (UTC)

Rebate cards

A new trend is for rebates to arrive in the form of a bank-issued gift card. I'd like to know more about these cards, as I've read several disturbing things. One is that the cards open up the cardholder to various kinds of fees that one would normally not associate with a gift card, such as a monthly account fee or the ability to overdraft. I'm also guessing that, since this is treated as cash, you're not able to mix a small remaining balance from the card in order to make a larger purchase. So if you have a couple of dollars left in the card, they're probably not going to be used (unless you force yourself to buy a candy bar or something). Ham Pastrami (talk) 03:44, 8 March 2009 (UTC)

Sounds like FUD to me. Please cite the sources where you "read several disturbing things". I have redeemed rebates that used these cards and encountered no problems at all. They are not "gift cards"; they are prepaid VISA debit cards. There are no fees and no overdrafts. When the balance reaches zero, the card is deactivated.

Using up the entire balance is not difficult. When I get one of these cards, I just use its entire value to make a payment on my mobile phone bill, then shred the card. Pat Berry (talk) 00:25, 14 April 2009 (UTC)

What are instant rebates for then?

The last section discusses instant rebates, which are I suppose, offered by the manufacturer to immediately lower the price of the item. But this could use some clarification, as to why they would do this, since obviously the advantages of the mail-in-rebate are lost. If everyone gets the same discount immediately, they can't hold on to the money during processing, there is no forgetting of rebate forms, etc. that are essentially free money for the manufacturer. What is the purpose of an instant rebate then, aside from being another way to say the price has been lowered? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.137.237.185 (talk) 16:00, 19 April 2009 (UTC)

Hoover Offer

I removed the Hoover offer reference: In 1992, mail in rebates were not usual in the UK, the so called 'Hoover Free Flights' perhaps giving evidence of its pitfalls.

This is because this is not a rebate but an offer for free flights that were worth more than the cost of the product. Therefore it is not relevant in this context as a pitfall or a reason why the UK does not use rebates. 207.145.86.2 (talk) 02:20, 11 September 2009 (UTC)