posted on April 29, 2004 10:29:31 AM new
As buyers of home appliances, technical books, computer gear, and who-knows-what-all, we frequently run into manufacturer's rebates. Sometimes the retailer throws in a rebate on the same item. We wondered why they offer rebates, then figured out it's because some large percentage of people put off sending in the required proofs of purchase until it is too late. (Fry's in particular has very short due dates on rebates. The last one I sent in for was due only a few days after the purchase.)
Rebates are good for product suppliers or retailers because they can charge full freight on the item and only give a discount to a self-selected few, yet they get to advertise a rebate. "Your final cost is....FREE!" (Fry's, again, loves to do this.)
Got an automated email this morning notifying me that my latest rebate has been approved and I'll be seeing it in 8 weeks. Given that I mailed it in a month ago, someone will have had the use of the full purchase price monies I paid for three months when all is said and done.
I'd sure like to have a big pool of money to invest for three months.
And this doesn't even count the inevitable lost or never-cashed rebate checks.
Oh, those clever boys.
So, have you considered offering a rebate on your auction items? Maybe it isn't as crazy as it sounds. Could you start your auctions higher than you normally would?
A search for "rebate" turned up 729 listings, a spot check indicated this are mostly or all manufacturer's rebates.
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Answers to Questions Nobody Asked, #50:
It's not true that aspiring pitcher Fidel Castro once tried out with a Major League team.
posted on April 29, 2004 10:57:11 AM new
That's a good idea. How would you promote it and what length of time would the rebate be valid?
I had an idea recently. I was thinking of a win 10 of my auctions in xx amount of time and pick two free patterns from my store. I haven't decided on free shipping on the free patterns or not.
posted on April 29, 2004 11:06:02 AM new
This is the reverse of high shipping fees. Sounds like a lot of work for a small business. I recommend that YOU try it, because you may have sufficient market penetration and can manage the record keeping. Keep us posted on the results, especially how many people just subtract it from the total due. What a money maker! Not only can you show a net lower price and possibly not have to meet it, but then a sales price can be a steep mark down. Fifty percent off today only, actual shipping, and we pay the sales tax. You go, fluffy.
posted on April 29, 2004 02:02:48 PM new
It's actually an interesting idea Fluffy - For me, I would consider doing a customer loyalty program. If someone purchases X number of auctions (say 10) I would give them some sort of rebate, say a cash payment, or preferably credit for a future auction. I do have customers who do buy from me again, with this sort of program that might entice them to buy even more. I will have to give it some thought. I used to do something similar before ebay when I ran auctions, I had a frequent bidder club, where people got one point for every dollar spent. They could cash in points for items. That would be too hard to keep track of with ebay, where I have a lot more bidders than a club of 50 or so. What I would have to do to make this work is put the burden on responsibility on the buyer - They would have to mail back all the invoices to me to get whatever it is they would get...
posted on April 29, 2004 02:09:34 PM new
Got one on the fire right now, Thanks Fluff...jacked up the price $10.00. they gotta send a copy , snail mail, of the auction, 7days max. I'll pay pal the rebate back to them.
posted on April 29, 2004 04:35:47 PM new
I guess I'm 180 degrees out from that program. I believe that allowing any customer to use PayPal to pay is enough of a bennie...I should give them a further discount?
Nah.
I might send freebies to folks who pay by check, though.
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Answers to Questions Nobody Asked, #50:
It's not true that aspiring pitcher Fidel Castro once tried out with a Major League team.
posted on April 30, 2004 04:01:07 AM new
We upsell our eBay customers with the offer of FREE shipping if they buy from our website, either now or in the future...
As a customer I know that rebates suck big time - I'm still waiting for a PNG memory rebate from 1998...
posted on April 30, 2004 05:15:29 AM new
Isn't eBay's point system kinda doing that?
The way I understand the points program is a participating seller offers points to buyers. The buyer then use those points toward their next purchase/auction. Supposeldy there is no charge to the seller or buyer.
I don't know any details like how many per $1.00 to takes to earn them or to spend them. Is there a minimum purchase? etc.
I have only seen them mentioned in eBay's ads and not inside any auction or item listing.
A lot of what we sell are totally unrelated collectibles therefore we have very few repeat customers. So the question in my mind then is - Would we be better offering the rebate and making shipping a little higher, or keeping it simple and just offer basic shipping with some handling thrown in? For a seller who specializes and has a lot of repeat customers, a rebate might just be the way to get ahead of the competition.
posted on April 30, 2004 06:46:56 AM new
This thread got me thinking....dangerous this time of day!
I am thinking about offering a "Purchase 4 items and your 5th item is free" kind of deal. Conditions would be that all items must be purchased within the same week and paid at the same time and of course the "free item" would be the least expensive one. This should bring me some more store sales and more store "lookers".
I wanted to make this a "Summer Special" but the trouble with this is that once I change my Vendio custom listing text it will appear in all of my auctions and will be rather hard to catch when I relist. But then again, why not make it a permanent feature??
