

A startup idea - lisper

Maybe this already exists... I know there are gift card trading sites, there ought to be a rebate trading site.  I just bought a gadget at Fry's that has a $25 rebate that I don't want to redeem because it requires filling out a form and providing personal information that I don't want to hand over.  But I should be able to give the rebate receipt and the UPC code to someone for, say, $10 and they can redeem the rebate and pocket the $15 difference.
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Skywing
Why wouldn't you want the $15 rebate, though? I'm not calling the idea bad,
I'm just playing devil's advocate. You cited personal information as the
reason, but you'd have to give personal information to the rebate trading
site, too.

Also, how would you confirm the UPC code was valid prior to the buyer sending
their money over? Or even the rebate - most rebates have like a 30 day policy.
How could you prevent people from using expired rebates, etc?

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gdl
I like the concept. A lot of people ignore rebates entirely because they're so
often not worth the time, frustration, and hassle. If a site like this could
be set up to be a quick and easy process, at least on the seller's end, I
could a lot of people going for it. On the other end you've got easy money for
stay-at-home moms or others with time on their hands.

I see it more as a logistical and maybe legal problem. Will companies honor
rebates not submitted by the original buyer? If not, how easy would it be for
them to find out that it's happening, and how big of a fuss might they make
over the site? And as the parent brought up, what about fraud? Or not
realizing some clause in a given rebate and not sending some vital piece of
information with it?

It might all work out, or there might be some catch that renders it totally
impractical, but I think it's worth looking into.

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RobGR
Those mail-in rebates are bad; they depend upon a minority of people being
able to successfully redeem them. They hide from the market the information
that should be encapsulated in a price that reflects cost and demand.

If a manufacturer's product is not moving, instead of a mail in rebate, they
should pay the retailer directly to lower the price. This forces manufacturers
to face the music when they make something that no one wants or is overpriced;
they will be more careful next time, or the bad ones will go out of business;
that is the way the market is supposed to work.

Tolerating these rebates is like allowing bad manufacturers to cover their
loses by offering gullible consumers a game of three card monte.

The way to make it honest, is to setup a table outside the door to Fry's or
Best Buy, and offer a dollar, a cup of coffee and a donut, or some other small
reward to every shopper will agree to sit down right there, fill out the
rebate, apply the stamp you will supply, and mail it. With any kind of
reasonable rate of return the rebates would vanish.

The reason why your idea will fail, is that it is too hard to transmit all the
purposefully burdensome documentation required to retrieve the rebate.

