Free Cobra Laser Radar Detector (CyberRebate)

[Terrymc]

Cyberrebate currently has a Cobra 6 Band Radar/Laser Detector for Free after rebate. Yes, it is way over priced at $329 before the rebate. These things usually go for around $75 in the stores I've seen.

Link shortened by AnandTech Moderator

 

[reicherb]

pretty hefty rebate.

 

[SmiZ]

CyberRebate is suck. Remember the deal they had on the "who wants to be a millionaire" PC Game? They were selling it for free after rebate, but initial cost was $250. I ordered ten of them.

 

[Souka]

Say one of those 3d jigsaw puzzles (it's actually not a puzzle) that was in the shape of a dinosaur. Only $180....$180 for something you can buy down the street for $6......

Wonder when Cyberreeabe is going out of business?

 

[freebee]

It is a good deal on a fairly good radar detector. But, if rebate doesn't come, it is a horrible deal. If anyone sees a similar deal on a V1, that would be much better. However, I don't think private companies like that offers rebates.

 

[Megadon]

Has anybody ever actually done this. Do you get the rebate, and how long does it take?

 

[CouponCollect]

i've done it -- takes 12-14 weeks -- i also know lots of others who've done it.. you need to make sure that you follow their instructions exactly and you should receive your rebates every time

 

[Lex Luthor]

ok..every time i see one of these cyberrebate posts, I ask the same thing.

Terrymc, maybe you can be the one to answer me.

Why did you pick this item and think we might be interested in this particular item? Why didn't you just start a thread for ALL of the free items on cyberrebate? We could have hundreds of cyberrebate threads going on. Don't you think someone else might want the $100 mouse of the $150 NIC? and so on? So why THIS item? It it's such a great deal, why don't you think the rest of the items are worth reporting to us on?

These all seem so suspicious to be, it's just so obvious.

Lex

 

[Terrymc]

Lex Luther-

I picked that item because its new and people who don't go there often might be interested in it. Sure there are tons of other items, but this one is new, a nice radar detector and will probably sell out fast. Isn't the purpose of this forum to "report" hot deals? Maybe one thread should be started for cyber-rebate items, I don't know, I'm not the mod here.

 

[Fritzo]

I bet what they do it take your money, invest it, and make a profit on the interest (and making enough for your rebate).

 

[Healey]

Fritzo,

I'll take you up on your bet. I'll bet that they don't make their profit from the interest. Proof?

Let's assume they make 12% annual interest on their investments. They hold your money for three months, so they make roughly 3% of the purchase price in interest. Most retailers pay their banks about a 3% merchant fee for all credit card transactions. So no, they're not making goobs of profit from the interest.

 

[Terrymc]

Healey-

I think that they make some of their money from the interest. Not enough to pay for the products, advertising, hosting, employees, shipping, affiliates, etc. I'm sure that most of there money comes from people who don't follow through with the rebates. Most of the items they sell are closeouts, discontinued items, etc.

Another way they could make their money is by actually receiving a rebate from the manufacturer or a "kickback" on each item they sell from the manufacturer. For instance, if they sell an item for $150. Straight off the top, theres about 2% to the credit card company. Ok, you "loan" cyber-rebate the $150 for 12-14 weeks, lets say at best they receive 6% on their money. (($150 * 6% Annually)/52 weeks) * 14 Weeks = $2.38. Ok, basically the interest pays for the credit card fees ($150x2%) = $3.00. Lets say the manufacturer has a $15 rebate and you could normally buy this item in the store for $35. Cyber-rebate then sends in the $15 rebate to the manufacturer and they get $15 back. That $15 should pay for the cost of the item. In the end, they send you your $150 back, they still have the $15 from the manufacturer's rebate that they received. All in all, you have a free product, they get their manufacturer's rebate PLUS all the people who don't fill out the rebate forms. When you multiply this by the number of items that they sell, it adds up.

Thoughts?

 

[cejay]

I went to this link and it comes up with 0 items ..
did it sell out already?
cj

 

[rahvin]

Ok people, I'm not going to go into this again other than to say they make their money on people that forget to submit the rebate. Normal retail rebate return rate is 1 in 3.

 

[Shang]

yeah, BUT, you'de have to be a fo0kin maro0n to pay buy an item from cyber rebate not knowing you were gonna do the rebate. i mean, the stuff is all at least 3-5 times what it should cost (some stuff more than that) and DOES cost at other equally convenient places...

even if only 1 in 3 normal rebates gets done, i'de bet the number of people that try to do cyberrebates is prolly closer to 90%. inevitably though, there are probably a number of these that get done incorrectly, which from their perspective is as good as that person not trying at all.

this is all purely speculative, obviously -- but i don't see how you could conceivably pay $300 something for a ~ $100 radar detector and just not even bother to TRY the rebate. my real fear with this wouldn't be that i would make a mistake or they wouldn't pay up, my real fear would be that the company goes out of business in the 12-14 weeks they have my money and i'm screwed :frown:

Shang

 

[mcdull]

It might be hot if you trust cyberrebate, since radar detector has never been free after rebate at cyberrebate yet. However, when I checked it, it's sold out or they pulled it out already.

I've received rebates of 11 out of 15 orders (more than 60 items) promptly, though who knows when they will be out of business.

 

[Seattle]

It doesn't seem that everyone realizes that people loan money, legally, for as high as 30% on some credit cards. I know of people who charge 22% and 7 to 10 points, and find suckers with lots of assets but no brains to loan out money to on that basis constantly. There is no way of knowing how much they make, you can be sure it is not a measley 6%.

 

[Danzilla]

McDull,
So, what happened in the other 4/15 orders you placed?

D.

 

[Revenge786]

Cyberrebate needs to go out of business !!
isnt there any check on there stupid prices ???

 

[Healey]

Seattle:

True we don't know what they make in interest. However it's safe to assume that if they were making much over prime that they wouldn't need to be selling crap on the net to make their fortune.

There are plenty of people who would gladly invest with anyone who could return a solid 12%.

Put my vote down for them making the vast majority of their profit, if they're making any, from people who don't follow up on the rebate submission.

 

[BChico]

Would be good...

 

[mcdull]

Danzilla: the other 4 orders were placed in these 2 months.

BTW, I hate those people who never have bad experience with them but said they should be out of business. If you don't like this place, simply don't order anything. Lots of other people are enjoying shopping there and knowing there is a risk.

 

[Pardus]

I got a nice pair of binoculars and a compass for free from cyberebates.com - yes, the rebates take 12-15 weeks, but what do you want for free?

Regarding the radar detector, i dont see it as free.

it says

"Cobra 9 Band Radar/Laser Detector with Voice Alert
Only $99.99 After Rebate"

for $99, you can buy a better brand than cobra

 

[Bob61]

All the people who complain about how long Cyberrebates takes... my experience (10 orders / more than 200 items) has been that Cyberrebates is MUCH more reliable than most other rebate offers. The 12-14 weeks isn't really that much different than most other places actually take to pay the rebate (they may say 6-8 weeks, but I've rarely found that to be true). I've got a couple of Western Digital rebates now passing the 14 week mark. WD says the rebate has been entered into their system (the date they gave was 6 weeks after I mailed it) and said it takes 8-10 weeks after that to receive the check.

I've never not had a rebate paid and it's always been within their advertised rebate window. I can track my rebate online and they include a date when the check will be issued and then update again after the check has been issued.

I don't really care about the jacked up prices -- it works to my advantage. I get some great extra rebates/rewards on my credit card (GM Card, Discover, AMEX). I also use Ebates to get 5% cash back (used to be 7%).

With all the .com's going bust lately, I have some concerns about the longevity of Cyberrebate, but I don't have any facts (and I don't think anyone else does either) to say how they are doing financially.

I've been reading "Cyberrebate is SUCK" messages for more than a year. All the messages almost caused me to take a pass on them. I'm glad I didn't as I've been VERY PLEASED with their service. I've also been able to make some nice donations to local community groups for raffle prizes. Nothing like giving them 15-20 items, I look like a real nice guy -- didn't cost me a dime


For all those who keep questioning how they make money, I don't think it matters. Let's look at the traditional business plan .com's who've gone bust this past year (PointClick -- how much did everyone lose there, Onvia, MobShop, Pets.com, etc.). These "big" players are gone and Cyberrebates is still here, using a plan that people say just doesn't make sense

 

[SST]

My rebate took a total of 5 months as they never received my submission. This is weird as they did receive my other 4 submissions which I sent at the same time. So I had to resubmit the copy, and after another month, it finally came.