Maybe you've run across sites that give you a percentage off of your purchases for shopping through them. Or you get points or credits, which you can redeem for goodies like gift certificates and other stuff.
If you don't know how these sites can make money — after all, they're giving you discounts and gift cards and you don't pay a dime to them! — then I'll explain.
It's a scratch-my-back, I'll-scratch-yours thing …
Most advertising that you see on websites is “pay for performance,” meaning that commissions are paid only when a sale is made. These are called affiliate programs. The merchant runs the affiliate program, and other webmasters (affiliates) that attract visitors that might buy the merchant's products display text ads, banners, etc., that direct the visitors to the merchant's site. If the visitor makes a purchase, the affiliate gets paid. Easy enough.
Websites can attract visitors with content (like I do), or with the possibility of prizes (which I don't) or with the offer of rebates.
Mr. Rebates is an example of a rebate site. (So are Ebates and FatWallet.) They are affiliates of all of the stores on the website (several hundred of them – even a thousand or more) and they get a commission every time someone purchases something through one of their affiliate links. They give most of what they get back to the members, but keep some of it for themselves. So they're counting on transaction volume to pay their bills.
… but scratch my back in this particular way!
The key here: In order to get the rebate, you have to sign up and click through to the store through their link. If they don't get the commission, you don't get the rebate. That's the way it has to work.
Why am I hammering on this point? Because I think that people don't understand this, and they're ticked when they spend money and didn't get their rebates as they expected.
A few general tips for not being blindsided with a rebate that didn't happen:
- Follow their rules. Rebate sites have rules in place. It's not so much that they make rules for the sake of making rules, but instead that they have to follow affiliate program rules themselves. They can lose their ability to make money in this way if they aren't following the rules.
- Look at the restrictions for the offers. The quoted rebate may be good only for certain kinds of purchases. Or only up to a certain purchase amount. These can affect whether or not your purchase qualifies for a rebate or not.
- Consider logging out of the store you're going to visit. When going from the rebate site to the store, the store records who sent them there and what, if anything, they bought. If you're shopping there and have stuff in your cart, and then go back to a rebate site to snag the rebate, there's a chance that the store didn't “catch” that you came from the rebate site, and may deny the commission.
- Don't dawdle. You don't have to rush through your purchase, but try to do the purchase in one sitting (not spread over a couple of days). The reason is that some affiliate programs have a short window that's commissionable (like a day).
