The record for people actually collecting on small "rebates" is pretty dismal. Most never get the rebate. For "reputable" dealers/distributors and for relatively major items, the record is somewhat better, but far from 100 per cent. Generally, if you are reasonably careful about "following all the rules" you can expect, eventually, to receive most rebates of about $30 or greater (just a guess) but smaller rebates are just too easy for the "rebater" to weasel out on, and apparently too profitable on large volumes for many of them to resist.

Aside from the "never paids," the rebate also works in favor of the seller's cash flow. You give him additional money (more than the product is worth). He gets the money in his account almost immediately. Rebates are NEVER paid less than 30 days after submitted, and some companies openly state that it will be 90 days. The company gets the free use of your "extra" money for whatever "float" time is incorporated in their "agreement" or on their "office practice" for delaying the processing. In other words, an interest free loan. If, in fact, you paid with a credit card - and particularly if you have a running balance, YOU pay the interest on his loan, until he pays it back by sending you the rebate check. Even if you don't use a credit card, it's still money you could have used to kick in a little on the mortgage so IT HAS AN INTEREST COST TO YOU when you allow someone to deprive you of your own use of your money.

So we have a fair market value for the product, but in order to buy it you have to give him "a little extra" to use interest free for however long he decides to take to give it back? Isn't that called extortion?

John