eBay suspending all cash back programs.......
Manorcourtman
Posts: 8,189 ✭✭✭✭✭
I know several of us coin buyers use eBates, Mr. Rebates, ie.. I rec'd this email from eBates claiming eBay is suspending their cashback program as well as all others. I recently switched to Mr. Rebates to get the better rate of 3% cashback. It would be a real shame if eBay shut all the rebates down! Anyone hear anything else about this eBay move? Here's the email:
Dear Chris,
We are sorry to inform you that eBay is temporarily suspending cash back shopping with Ebates.com (and all other rewards-based programs) on June 16.
Because we know cash back is important to you, we want you to have the chance to make any eBay purchases by June 15 and still earn cash back from Ebates.
We plan to bring eBay back to Ebates.com by October 1 this year.
In the meantime, don't worry... Ebates continues to offer the world's best cash back shopping experience and will be sending out a series of special offers at your other favorite stores.
Thanks for starting at Ebates.com every time you shop online!
Sincerely,
The Ebates Team
Ebates
Dear Chris,
We are sorry to inform you that eBay is temporarily suspending cash back shopping with Ebates.com (and all other rewards-based programs) on June 16.
Because we know cash back is important to you, we want you to have the chance to make any eBay purchases by June 15 and still earn cash back from Ebates.
We plan to bring eBay back to Ebates.com by October 1 this year.
In the meantime, don't worry... Ebates continues to offer the world's best cash back shopping experience and will be sending out a series of special offers at your other favorite stores.
Thanks for starting at Ebates.com every time you shop online!
Sincerely,
The Ebates Team
Ebates
0
Comments
<< <i>I use bigcrumbs and no such notice from them. Still 36% of sellers fees. >>
Ditto here.
PS> I never received any such notification from ebay?
<< <i>So will we still be able to use the money we have already in our ebay bucks account? I've got $15 and I'd like to be able to use it because I earned it IMO.
PS> I never received any such notification from ebay? >>
This has nothing to do with eBay Bucks. Your Bucks are safe till they expire. eBates, Mr. Rebates ie., are websites that pay you rebates when you buy at participating sites such as eBay.
<< <i>Looks like mrrebates has added a $30 max rebate per purchase. That means they will pay the 3% for up to a $1000 purchase. Otherwise, looks like they are still in business with ebay.... >>
That's been in place for at least the last few months.
<< <i>
<< <i>Looks like mrrebates has added a $30 max rebate per purchase. That means they will pay the 3% for up to a $1000 purchase. Otherwise, looks like they are still in business with ebay.... >>
That's been in place for at least the last few months. >>
That's been in place for more than few months - at least a year or more.
"We are writing to inform you that, at eBay’s request, cash back at eBay.com will no longer be available on BigCrumbs.com or any other rewards website for purchases made on eBay.com from June 16, 2011 at 12:00 AM PST through October 1, 2011 at 12:01 AM PST.
During the suspension period, eBay plans to re-evaluate the current pricing model for loyalty partnerships and possibly make adjustments to that model when the program resumes."
-Paul
<< <i>I sure miss BING... >>
Definately. I cashed in but really should have cashed in a lot more than I did.
<< <i>I sure miss BING... >>
Same here...In the tune of over $2k
Use it while you still can.
No Way Out: Stimulus and Money Printing Are the Only Path Left
I only purchase bullion items on ebay since I get a combined 5% back with ebay bucks and Mr. Rebates. If total rebates are reduced to 2% I'll do better patronizing my local coin shop.
https://www.pcgs.com/setregistry/gold/liberty-head-2-1-gold-major-sets/liberty-head-2-1-gold-basic-set-circulation-strikes-1840-1907-cac/alltimeset/268163
I've been told I tolerate fools poorly...that may explain things if I have a problem with you. Current ebay items - Nothing at the moment
"At eBay’s request, in accord with a test they are currently conducting, cash-back rebates for eBay has been temporarily suspended. This means cash-back will not be available on Mr. Rebates (or any other site on the Internet) for any purchases made on eBay on or after 6/16/11.
While we are sorry for any short-term inconvenience this may cause you, we feel it is important for Mr. Rebates to be good partners to its merchants and advertisers in order to maintain the best long-term loyalty program available anywhere in the world.
We will let you know as soon eBay completes their internal test and eBay cash-back resumes at Mr. Rebates."
Wondercoin
Someone pointed out that since the 3% rebate is no longer in play, that prices will likely drop some, since people won't be counting on it when bidding. Half a dozen of one, six of the other.
This does make sense for Ebay. Ebay may save (less fees on sales price, but they save a rebate fee), buyers probably save. The sellers are the ones who definitely take a hit on revenues. Less buyers and lower selling prices. Remember that Ebay now charges fees on shipping. Offsets the rebate cost.
Some little vice president has apparently put together an excel spreadsheet that shows a net gain for Ebay. Hope he's wrong.
Went over the ebates (desperate, looking for a 1% fix), same...
Spree...? it doesn't say how much the ebay % is... not worth it...
Nothing good lasts forever.
Add me to the "I miss BING" list. But I did make the most of it, no regrets...
There is a workaround. eBay suspended all the cashback programs on eBay.com (it had nothing to do with fraud), but the programs that deal with eBay.ca still work (and, in addition, you can get eBay bucks).
You just need to register on a canadian cashback program. The best one I have found is:
http://www.GreatCanadianRebates.ca/register/134429/ *you can delete the referral number if you want*
They give a cashback of 2%, the minimum payment is 2 CAD, the sign up gift is 2 CAD and, as you may already think, the balance is maintained in canadian dollars (payments by PayPal).
To make it work you need to:
1.- Browse eBay.com as normal
2.- Add the item to your wish list
3.- Go to Great Canadian Rebates and open eBay.ca
4.- Retrieve and buy the item from your wish list
5.- Profit!
<< <i>Just a tip
There is a workaround. eBay suspended all the cashback programs on eBay.com (it had nothing to do with fraud), but the programs that deal with eBay.ca still work (and, in addition, you can get eBay bucks).
You just need to register on a canadian cashback program. The best one I have found is:
http://www.GreatCanadianRebates.ca/
They give a cashback of 2%, the minimum payment is 2 CAD, the sign up gift is 2 CAD and, as you may already think, the balance is maintained in canadian dollars (payments by PayPal).
To make it work you need to:
1.- Browse eBay.com as normal
2.- Add the item to your wish list
3.- Go to Great Canadian Rebates and open eBay.ca
4.- Retrieve and buy the item from your wish list
5.- Profit! >>
Your message is spam, since you deliberately are promoting YOUR OWN account by making the link go to
http://www.GreatCanadianRebates.ca/register/134429/ while showing http://www.GreatCanadianRebates.ca
<< <i>This is why I NEVER bid/buy anything based on the "extra rebates". To me, anything that comes back to me after I pay the winning bid is a bonus and not to be counted on. >>
Couple of years ago a buyer try to return some bullion related gold coins AFTER gold dropped because Bing would not
pay the guy the rebate he thought he was getting, because the fine print on the terms of Bing's offer
was that items bought for resale are not included in the program, and he had a nice racket going of
immediately flipping his purchases to local dealers.
message from the buyer:
I realize that you do not except returns on boullion items but you must also understand that
these coins are no good to me now if bing wont honer the rebate.
<< <i>Your message is spam, since you deliberately are promoting YOUR OWN account by making the link go to
http://www.GreatCanadianRebates.ca/register/134429/ while showing http://www.GreatCanadianRebates.ca >>
Ok, fair enough.
I just didn't understand very well the text editor on this forum and ended up with a mambojambo of tags and had to edit it by hand.
<< <i>
<< <i>Your message is spam, since you deliberately are promoting YOUR OWN account by making the link go to
http://www.GreatCanadianRebates.ca/register/134429/ while showing http://www.GreatCanadianRebates.ca >>
Ok, fair enough.
I just didn't understand very well the text editor on this forum and ended up with a mambojambo of tags and had to edit it by hand. >>
Just put the link in your sigline. For some reason spam in your sigline isn't spam at CU.
<< <i>eBay is not suspending ALL cash back programs (their own) just the ones that have high click fraud rates. Companies such as eBay are getting better at detecting referral fraud, when an item was actually found using eBay, then the potential buyer logs in trhough the referral company just to get the undeserved commission rebate. >>
Your statement applies partially to the old Bing cashback program which was designed to award rebates to buyers who ended up at ebay via a Bing search. Many buyers soon found if they accessed Ebay through a quick Bing search and then bought, they could receive the cashback. This was not fraud as all required steps to obtain a rebate were properly met. It really amounted to abuse and Microsoft (Bing) knew this but didn't frown upon it because it still generated the Bing hits they were looking for to increase their website advertising sales.
However, other rebate programs such as big crumbs and mr. rebates are designed to have the buyer first log into the associated home page to access the store where a rebate is to be generated. This is a required step to obtain a rebate and is not fraud. Ebay has suspended them, probably in order to get an accurate snapshot of how the cost (they actually pay the rebate) affects their bottom line.
I believe eliminating the rebates will hurt ebay's bottom line because a lot of bullion buyers and resellers of all categories take advantage of cashback to cut their cost to increase their profit margin. While I was averaging $7K monthly ebay bullion purchases with the rebate programs, I haven't bought bullion on ebay since rebates ended. My listings of high dollar coin and bullion items have been reduced drastically since a sharp decline in buyers appeared at the same time ebay eliminated the rebate programs. I predict we will see rebates reappear, maybe with lesser payouts.
No Way Out: Stimulus and Money Printing Are the Only Path Left