Retailers putting stop to rebate madness

Monday, August 21, 2006 Best Buy, OfficeMax and Dell are leading the charge. MCCLATCHY NEWSPAPERS Good riddance rebates. The maze of rebate forms is rapidly disappearing as more retailers are deciding to hang up the hassle. In the past month, OfficeMax and Dell have taken the lead in ending rebate offers and just applying the discount at the time of purchase. Retailers have long used rebates to make a sale with the promise of a partial refund, but growing time sensitivity with consumers caused the strategy to backfire as shoppers became angry with the wait, the hassle with forms and copying receipts and the refusals because the instructions weren't followed exactly. Retailers loved rebates because they usually made more money; less than half of shoppers sent in for the check. With increased price competition these days, consumers now have more choices and luck in finding a lower price on a similar product that doesn't require a rebate. Leaders OfficeMax, Dell and Best Buy are leading the way in ending rebates. Best Buy said it will phase them out by next summer. By having leaders, pressure is beginning to mount on other retailers. "By simply reflecting a discount in the purchase price for computers, printers, digital cameras, and other products at OfficeMax stores, we are giving customers what they really want without subjecting them to a complicated and often confusing rebate process," said Ryan Vero, chief merchandising officer for Itasca, Ill.-based OfficeMax, in a news release. The anti-rebate crusade is also spreading on the Internet. AntiRebate.com scours the Internet daily for special offers, coupon codes, instant rebates, free stuff and other great deals and posts them on its site. AntiRebate founder Jerry Wang remarks, "Too many times I have been lured in by the 'low prices' after mail-in rebates. After performing everything exactly as required by the rebates, the rebate checks never came. In the end, I actually paid a higher price than normal because of the unpaid rebates. After all, what good is a $20 rebate when the rebate check never comes?"