Are Mail In Rebates Worth It?

I’m a pretty good shopper. By that I mean I usually take the time to look for a good price on things I have to purchase anyway. To find the best prices and save the most money, I use a combination of price comparison and price matching, shopping store sales, using manufacturer and store coupons, and even sending in mail in rebates.

Yes, I do actually fill out and mail in my rebate forms.

Mail in rebates are a form of advertising and promotion used by manufacturers, and some retailers, and they can be kind of tricky.

Rebates are most often offered on big-ticket items, like new pieces of technology, home appliances, car tires, and other major purchases that are not everyday items. Occasionally rebates are also available for smaller purchases and grocery or baby items, but generally speaking those are not quite as common.

How Does a Rebate Program Work?

Usually, a manufacturer rebate program requires you to purchase a certain product, or a certain dollar’s worth of products, in order to quality for a cash back by mail rebate program. Most stores participating in the rebate program will have the forms available on a tear pad by the checkout, so you can easily grab one as you walk by.

But most manufacturers bank on you forgetting to take a form during checkout, forgetting to fill it out and mail it in (or not taking the time to do it), filling out a form incorrectly or forgetting a minor detail from the fine print, and forgetting about your checking coming the mail and never following up on it. When you make one of these mistakes, the manufacturer doesn’t have to spend as much money fulfilling the rebate program and their profit is higher. Manufacturers also hope that seeing a rebate offer will get you to do one of following:

• buy something you weren’t planning on buying in the first place
• buy more of something than you were planning on buying
• buy a more expensive version of something than you were planning on buying

How To Use the Program to Save

Too bad for them, I always take advantage of rebate programs when I’m eligible so I can save money on products I was going to purchase any way. For example, I always take my dogs to the vet for their annual checkup and vaccinations during at the end of January (man vet care is expensive!). At that time I also purchase their heart worm medication.

Heart worm medication can be purchased in 6 month increments, but you can’t buy more than a one year’s supply due to your dog needing an annual checkup appointment to continue on the medication.

Because I know I’m going to need a one year’s supply for each of my 3 dogs anyway, I like to buy the whole year’s supply up front so I can submit a rebate form to the manufacturer. Therefore, I’m not spending any extra money by buying something I hadn’t planned on, I’m not buying more than what I need, and I’m not buying a more expensive version than what I would’ve purchased anyhow.

By buying a whole year’s supply at once for each dog, I truly am saving money!

Here are a few extra steps I take to make sure I get my full-rebate amount each year:

• Double check to make sure the form is filled out correctly. Mistakes are easy to make, so take an extra form in case you make a mistake and need to start over.
• Read the fine print. Most rebates require you to send in an original receipt and some require UPCs from the products you purchased. Make sure you send in everything it asks for. If you’re not sure, sent it anyway!
• Make a copy of the filled out rebate form and your receipt before you mail it in. Even better, ask for a second receipt at the store so you can mail one in and keep one for yourself. Having a copy of my rebate forms recently helped me get a rebate issue solved when one of my checks was missing.
• Watch for the check in the mail. Keep in mind when the check should be arriving so you will not accidently throw it away. Lots of rebate checks look like junk mail!
• Call customer service if you check hasn’t arrived within the stated time frame, or if your check is for a smaller amount than what you were expecting. When I called about my rebate issue, the representative was very nice and told me when to expect my missing check. After I got off the phone, I recorded the date that I talked to them and when my check should arrive so I can be watching for it.

 Do you use mail in rebates? Why or why not.

photo courtesy of: philosophygeek