Rebate site review: Mr. Rebates

I use rebate sites for as many of my online purchases as I can.  After getting a free account, it's only a small amount of extra work to save a few dollars — or even more than a few! — on thousands of online stores.

Mr. Rebates is one of a number of rebate sites available.  Using Mr. Rebates is simple:

• Sign up for a Mr. Rebates account, which is completely free.
• Log into Mr. Rebates before you shop online.
• If Mr. Rebates offers cash back on purchases from your favorite stores, go through the links on Mr. Rebates to get to the store instead of typing it into your browser.

It really is just about that easy to start accumulating your rebates!

How it works under the hood

Mr. Rebates has to get their money from somewhere in order to pay you your rebates.  They wouldn't stay in business very long if it came out of the website owner's pocket, right?

The quick answer is that the store you bought from awards a commission to Mr. Rebates for sending them your business.  What Mr. Rebates then does is share part of that commission you. The part they retain is their profit, which keeps the lights on and puts food on the table.

Features of Mr. Rebates

Mr. Rebates has been around for quite a while — since 2002.  They hit the market early, but now there are quite a few other competing sites. But, like other sites, Mr. Rebates has unique features that make it different:

• Reasonable minimum payout. The minimum amount required to receive a quarterly payment from Mr. Rebates is $10.00.
• Monthly pay-out with PayPal.  My rebate money goes in to my PayPal account as long as I request it before the month changes.  It's very reliable.
• Sign-up Bonus.  There's a $5 bonus that comes with your first purchase.  Ka-ching!
• Store of the Week.  This Mr. Rebates feature is a store that has higher-than-normal rebates for a full week.
• Weekly Deals.  The front page features extra store-specific incentives, like a flat percentage off any order, free shipping, etc.
• Seasonal extra rebates. Depending on the time of year, a group of stores will qualify for extra rebates.  So whether it's back to school, Valentine's Day, or the holiday season, expect that the places you'll shop to have extra rebates.
• Favorites List.  You can consolidate the stores you shop at most in a list for quick access to the rebate links.

This rebate-site has been around for over a decade  You don't stay in business that by not paying your rebates, so I see Mr. Rebates staying around for some time to come!