There was a time in the not too distant past that rebates on electronics (especially computer accessories) were commonplace. Every Sunday when you looked at the ads in the paper you would find dozens of offers for dirt cheap computer parts, some even marked with the holy grail of the bargain hunter: "Free After Rebate!"
Electronics and Accessories for Free after Rebate: The Reason behind the Deals
Computer accessories are often sold in stores at a hefty markup. While your local grocery store might mark up their prices by 4 or 5 percent, big box electronics chains will mark up their goods as high as they can get away with.
In the case of some accessories, such as HDMI cables for the newer HDTV's, or headphones for your iPod, the markup can be as much as 100%. At the same time, retailers know that they have to compete with many other stores, so they have to find a way to entice you to spend your money with them instead of the other store down the block.
Rebates on computer accessories and other electronics are there simply to get you into the store. For many years this was painfully obvious on Black Friday (the day after Thanksgiving) when at 5am the line outside your local Best Buy or CompUSA would already stretch around to the loading dock at the back of the building.
These die hard shoppers (mostly males) were drawn to the sales because of the dirt cheap deals on hard drives, mice, monitors, and blank media that had shown up in the Thanksgiving morning newspaper. The ads would proclaim opportunities for a huge new hard drive or fancy new mouse for pennies or for free, after rebate.
So why are these awesome kinds of deals dying out? Too many people actually bothered to claim them.
The Death of "Free after Rebate"
Electronics stores that offer rebates often work under the assumption that a large percentage of people that buy a product will forget to send in the rebate form or simply decide that it is not worth the effort once they walk out of the store. Other, less admirable companies would actually make their rebate policies so difficult to follow that the slightest error or omission would invalidate the customer's claim.
As time went on and more people took advantage of these rebates, so too did the public get smarter and more deliberate about completing the claim forms. As the percentage of claims increased, the incentive for retailers to offer these huge rebates decreased. Ask yourself, when is the last time you saw a really good free after rebate offer at any time of the year, let alone during the holidays?
In the end, ironically, it is the public's fault that no one offers these great free after rebate deals any more. In the near future, shoppers are doomed to lackluster deals and a futile search for the elusive "free after rebate" holy grail.
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