CA legislature passes anti-rebate bill

[rebound]

Ok, looks like you folks in California may not have to deal with rebates in the future:

HOT BUY: Laptop computer -- $699.

(After mail-in rebate.)

California legislators have passed a bill to ban such ads, which are common for products from cellular phones to home appliances.

Assemblyman Mike Feuer, D-Los Angeles, said his bill stems from a simple premise: "The consumer should pay the advertised price."

Customers are lured by bargain promises only to find in tiny type, often overlooked, that they'll have to pay more now but can file a rebate request later, Feuer said.

"This is fundamentally a truth-in-advertising bill," he said. "Fine print is fine print for a reason. If it were meant to be focused on, it would be in bold type."

SacBee Link

Ok, I've heard of people getting burned by rebate "deals" in the past, but must admit I've never been one of them.

While I certainly like the lower cost after the rebate, I agree that a lower cost up front is much preferred (by me, "Mr. Consumer" )

So, if signed into law, will this be good for consumers in California, or will it result in a dearth of sales on tech products (which I think make up the majority of "rebate" items?)?

[GUINNESS]

I'm a fan of stores that are doing away with "mail-in rebates" and taking the discount at the register. Best Buy did that with my parents' laptop a year ago when they bought it. Was one of those 399 or 499 deals after rebate, but the rebate was not mail-in. Instead, it was taken at the register. Kind of silly, but why not jsut call it a "sale"?

[Eric5273]

The reason they do rebates is because they know a certain percentage of the people will forget to send in the rebate form, or will fill it out incorrectly so that it can be denied, or some will send it in too late. So they get away with not paying all of the money that they promise.

If their intention was to pay all of the rebates they promise, then why not just give a discount at the register and save the time and costs of having to process all those forms and the postage of sending out the rebate checks.

[X5Jay]

Rebates are retarded...

[rebound]

Originally Posted by Eric5273

The reason they do rebates is because they know a certain percentage of the people will forget to send in the rebate form, or will fill it out incorrectly so that it can be denied, or some will send it in too late. So they get away with not paying all of the money that they promise.

If their intention was to pay all of the rebates they promise, then why not just give a discount at the register and save the time and costs of having to process all those forms and the postage of sending out the rebate checks.

Which is why I ask if this means an end to sales - if they just knock the price down to the "rebated" price, then 100% of the people that buy it get that price, as opposed to the percentage that send in for the rebate and don't screw it up.

So, I ask again, would this mean an end to sales?

[Krimson X]

IMO, they also offer rebates (from a manufacturer's perspective) to get valuable feedback and sales information such as customer demographics, buying trends/habits and the like.

[B-Line]

They give rebates because, if the major institution, Sony, GE, Etc. Can hold onto your money for a couple weeks, the money, in the long run, compounded on all the other monies that the company is holding for other products, they can sit on those monies and collect interest on it.

So, the interest on $100 is not much. But the interest on $30million is.
Even at a low percentage for a short time.

B

[MrLabGuy]

Originally Posted by Krimson X

IMO, they also offer rebates (from a manufacturer's perspective) to get valuable feedback and sales information such as customer demographics, buying trends/habits and the like.

Information is golden and anyone buying a particular product is sorted and cataloged as a future target market or sold to other companies who collect this information and sell it to others.
The fact that they save money on people not following through with their rebate is just icing on the cake.