I made three purchase beginning in February of 2000. The first was small to see if there were any glitches and only included items I wanted at close to normal retail prices and with 100% rebates. 4 months later, I got all the rebates back and placed two larger orders of planned gifts and nice-to-have stuff. Each order was about $1,500. The orders were about a week apart to give me time to process all the rebate forms for the 1st before the 2nd hit and to put them on separate CC cycles. There were a few items that were not 100% rebates but the total was such that eBates canceled any final out-of-pocket. None of the items were much more than full retail. I received all the rebates at the end of October. Interestingly the rebates for the last order came before the rebates for the prior order. Four or five items in the three orders did not come and I had to contact Customer Support to get reimbursed for two; the other item they credited automatically. Customer Support was fast and friendly. Apparently they were not aware they did not ship everything. The missing items did have a handwritten note by them on the packing slip.
So I have had excellent luck with them. Still, I will not order again until the rediculous before-rebate prices of late dissapear. In my mind they mean the company may be in trouble and even if its not, I don't plan to pay 4-10 times retail up front.
Contrary to the CNN interview, the rebate process is NOT easy and you can NOT track it each step of the way.
The tracking only has a few different statuses and they are very slow to update them. For instance, they may not show that they have recieved your rebate forms for a month or more after they get them.
The rebates are not easy to submit. There are numerous codes you must get right on the rebate forms along with pointless information like your date of birth and credit card expiration date as well as a bunch of other stuff. Each rebate form is a full 8.5x11 inch form. There is also a second 8.5x11 inch survey form, which if you wade through a lot of links you can discover is optional. You must also put a special code under the return address on the envelope. In addition the mailing address also contains codes and the longest address I have ever seen. So writer's cramps and mistakes are probably common. I actually wrote a small system to fill out the forms and print the envelopes based on order info on their web-site.
On the plus side they will provide a form (you have to request it) to allow you to submit a rebate with a copy of the UPC rather than original. The form is a signed statement from you saying you are giving the item as a gift. As with the rebate forms it asks for more info than should be necessary. Some (very few) items they sell are eligable for manufacture rebates, so if you make them a gift ;-) you...I mean the recipeant... can claim that rebate as well.
Interestingly, with the codes in the address and return address, they have everything they need to process the rebate. I wonder if they even bother to open them. If I ever order again, I'll do a test on an inexpensive item.
Most items I ordered were of name brand (indicated on their site) of known quality. Some were last years/discontinued models which I suspect they get cheaply. Other items I suspect are ways for manufactures to sell at different price points. For example, I ordered Adaptec CD Creator deluxe version 4 and what I received included a floppy with an upate that had only been released a few weeks before. So this was not an overstock from somewhere. This was also one of the items that was also eligable for a manufacturer rebate, so it was a good thing I gave it to my wife for our aniversary and thus didn't have to send the original UPC to Cyberrebates ;-) Still other items turned out to be excellent products that I had not seen or heard of elsewhere. I suspect these are either from failed companies or ones that want to get some products out for word of mouth referrals.
But as of late the before-rebate prices are getting outrageous for many if not most free-after-rebate items. I'm not sure why they are doing this. If they make some of their money from messed up or unsubmitted rebates, the higher prices will make everyone more careful and absolutely nobody will fail to mail it in. Maybe they just don't want to do 100% rebates anymore and don't want customer culture shock by eliminating them overnight; your guess is as good as mine. It doesn't seem like a way to temporaily increase cash flow either. I mean the typical person who spends time searching for (eventually) free items probably doesn't have or want to tie up large amounts of money for 4 months; nor or they probably risk takers. I checked the items I bought that are still on their site and the prices have gone way up. If I apply the same rates to the items they no longer have, my $3,5xx past purchases would be nearly $7k today. And if they are healthy and stay in business, the skyhigh prices have to be killing them with the affiliate and eBate (et all) kickbacks.