[shifuimam]

eBay and PayPal have a sweet deal going on with Live.com search right now. You can get 30% cashback on any auction that uses Buy It Now and PayPal. The only catch is that you have to wait 60 days after you buy an item to get the cashback deposited into your PayPal account (to prevent people from frauding the system).

It's good if you want to buy a used Mac (or just want to save some money)...30% off adds up fast. You can get a maximum of $2500 a year, and a max of $200 per item back. I got $120 back on the Acer Aspire One I got a month ago, and $90 back on the Acer HTPC I bought a few weeks ago.

Just go to Live.com. search for something like "eee pc" or "wii fit" (although pretty much anything works), and click the eBay 30% cashback sponsored link at the top of the search results. Sure it means you're giving Microsoft an ad click, but free money is free money.

[KeyLimePi]

I think you pay more when you choose 'Buy it Now.' To me it defeats the whole idea of an auction.

[turtle777]

Last time I did something like that PayPal failed to deposit the money.
When I researched it, I found that this promotion was basically a PayPal scam.

Fortunately, I used a reputable seller (I think it was Newegg), they refunded me "lost" PayPal rebate.

If I had bought from a seller not as accomodating as Newegg, I would have never gotten my money back. Forget about PayPal trying to make things right for you.

Bottom line: DON'T TRUST PAYPAL !!!1!1oneoneeleventy

-t

[shifuimam]

I can't say I've ever had any problems with PayPal. Ever. In the 6 years I've been buying and selling on eBay.

If you go to the FatWallet.com forums, Live.com has been doing this cashback thing for awhile now. It is indeed legit.

And, WRT buy it now prices, it's not always more expensive to buy BIN vs an auction, depending on the item. I've gotten some pretty great deals through BIN.

[turtle777]

The problem is not live.com. It's Paypal.

And if you search for Paypal and problems, you'll find plenty of people who got sufficiently screwed by Paypal.

I would NOT buy anything with a PayPal rebate if I didn't think the purchase w/o the rebate is still something I'd do. Just consider the PayPal rebate like a raffle. But don't be mad if you're not a winner.

-t

[shifuimam]

The rebate isn't coming from PayPal. It's a deposit from Microsoft into your PayPal account.

I know that there are lots of things online about how much PayPal sucks. There are lots of things online about how much anything sucks, because the angriest customers generally have the loudest voice, particularly on the Internet.

There's no reason to not use the cashback. A good number of people have already taken advantage of this without any problem, so why not try it? You don't have anything to lose. If I don't get my $120 deposited (it's coming in about eight days, I believe) from my Aspire One, then I ended up paying the normal list price for it. If I do get the cashback, then I got a great deal on it.

[turtle777]

Originally Posted by shifuimam 

The rebate isn't coming from PayPal. It's a deposit from Microsoft into your PayPal account.

It's Paypal depositing the money on M$'s behalf. If PP screws it up, you'll deal with PayPal, not M$.

The T&C's say

"PayPal in its discretion may decide to pay your Cashback Rewards more quickly on a case by case basis. "

Just read through the T&C's. It screams "You will be screwed" all over the place.

-t

[shifuimam]

Okay. So don't use it. However, please don't crap all over it until you've tried and actually seen it fail for you.

PayPal occasionally deposits the cashback immediately instead of after the standard 60-day waiting period. If you return the item in order to scam Microsoft and keep the cashback, they take back the cashback (which is completely fair).

One of my friends turned me on to this; he's already gotten cash back. As in, he bought something, got money in his PayPal account after 60 days, and transferred it right into his checking account. So, yes. It is legitimate and it does work.

[Rumor]

[turtle777]

Originally Posted by shifuimam 

Okay. So don't use it. However, please don't crap all over it until you've tried and actually seen it fail for you.

WTF

So I can't comment, just because you are too naive to think that PayPal could not be trusted ?

I HAVE tried a promotion like this last year through PayPal, and they DID screw me. What else do you want ?

Go ahead, and try. And if you get screwed, please don't start a thread saying OMGWTFBBQ, PayPal is teh eveel.

-t

[torsoboy]

I have never had any trouble with PayPal. And neither have the vast majority of anyone that has ever used it for anything. I have had hundreds of thousands of dollars go in and out through my PayPal account and there has never been a single problem. I would trust PayPal with their promotional offers without even thinking twice about it. I think turtle777 might have been reading too many PayPal hate sites.

[shifuimam]

Originally Posted by turtle777 

WTF

So I can't comment, just because you are too naive to think that PayPal could not be trusted ?

I HAVE tried a promotion like this last year through PayPal, and they DID screw me. What else do you want ?

Go ahead, and try. And if you get screwed, please don't start a thread saying OMGWTFBBQ, PayPal is teh eveel.

-t

I'm not saying that other promotions are necessarily not scams.

I am, however, saying that this particular promotion is not a scam, and has been reliably used by a relatively large group of consumers.

I actually contacted eBay tonight regarding one of the specifics of the promotion, and they directed me to Microsoft's Live.com support. This is not a PayPal promotion. PayPal is merely serving as the vehicle by which the cashback is transferred - and not only that, but non-eBay live.com cashback options can be sent via direct deposit to your bank account. PayPal has zero influence or directive on when the money is received, or if it's revoked. It's 100% coming from Microsoft.

[64stang06]

I used it earlier this summer when it was at 35% and I received my cash back in 60 days. Right now, I have about $345 due in about 55 days.

[adamfishercox]

Just sold my iPod touch G1 for $175. Then I bought a new sealed iPod touch G2 for $165 after 25% cashback. FANTASTIC! I made ten dollars by getting the latest technology

[ghporter]

I've looked into the live.com cashback thing. It's legit but... The items you can take advantage of are not necessarily useful for everyone. The best deal I found was a camera I'd decided to get for my wife, and the price wasn't such a great deal... So it can work, but it will take quite a lot of purchases to make it worth your time. And while you're gathering pennies, MS is collecting both YOUR purchasing preferences and ADVERTISERS' success rates. I don't know about anyone else, but if I'm doing the work, I'd sure want to be paid better than a few pennies here and there...

[shifuimam]

True, if you're only buying through the normal cashback stuff (although Zappos has 5% back and Piperlime, which is Gap Inc's online shoe store, has 10% back). With eBay and 30% off, however, it applies to any Buy It Now purchase paid with PayPal.

I've saved $250 in the last month because of cashback on two computers, a gift for my mother, and a new vacuum cleaner.

I don't really have a problem with my shopping preferences being tracked. That is publicly available by looking at things like my eBay feedback (and what items I purchased), my Amazon wishlist, and the product reviews I write for epinions. I'm not one to be paranoid about anonymous (or not) usage statistics being tracked online, because I know how important those statistics can be to companies, advertisers, and even web developers (it's pretty important to gather statistics that show whether or not your navigation is clear or your site design is intelligible).

[scaught]

Originally Posted by torsoboy 

I have never had any trouble with PayPal. And neither have the vast majority of anyone that has ever used it for anything. I have had hundreds of thousands of dollars go in and out through my PayPal account and there has never been a single problem. I would trust PayPal with their promotional offers without even thinking twice about it. I think turtle777 might have been reading too many PayPal hate sites.

I've had tens of thousands of dollars a year go through a paypal account. Never any issues.

[turtle777]

Originally Posted by torsoboy 

I think turtle777 might have been reading too many PayPal hate sites.

I think you conveniently skipped the part of my post where I said that PayPal DID NOT honor a credit promotion on my account last year.

I even called them and asked, and all they gave me was stupid excuses.

-t

[64stang06]

Originally Posted by ghporter 

I've looked into the live.com cashback thing. It's legit but... The items you can take advantage of are not necessarily useful for everyone. The best deal I found was a camera I'd decided to get for my wife, and the price wasn't such a great deal... So it can work, but it will take quite a lot of purchases to make it worth your time. And while you're gathering pennies, MS is collecting both YOUR purchasing preferences and ADVERTISERS' success rates. I don't know about anyone else, but if I'm doing the work, I'd sure want to be paid better than a few pennies here and there...

Most sellers on eBay are aware of the discount and therefore, will mark up their prices to reflect that.

[adamfishercox]

Yeah, I noticed that all iPod touches went up to the $250 area. Luckily, I found a $220 auction right after it started and snagged it before the seller was any wiser. It pays to be a miser

[brassplayersrock²]

thanks for the new word adam

[adamfishercox]

what new word? miser? it's someone who is stingy with their money.

[turtle777]

Cashback is now down to 20%.

-t

[adamfishercox]

Get Emailed when cashback hits a certain point;
http://www.abevoelker.com/livesearch/

[Rumor]

Originally Posted by shifuimam 

True, if you're only buying through the normal cashback stuff (although Zappos has 5% back and Piperlime, which is Gap Inc's online shoe store, has 10% back). With eBay and 30% off, however, it applies to any Buy It Now purchase paid with PayPal.

I've saved $250 in the last month because of cashback on two computers, a gift for my mother, and a new vacuum cleaner.

I don't really have a problem with my shopping preferences being tracked. That is publicly available by looking at things like my eBay feedback (and what items I purchased), my Amazon wishlist, and the product reviews I write for epinions. I'm not one to be paranoid about anonymous (or not) usage statistics being tracked online, because I know how important those statistics can be to companies, advertisers, and even web developers (it's pretty important to gather statistics that show whether or not your navigation is clear or your site design is intelligible).

In theory you saved that much.

In theory you could have saved that much or more by using auctions, Craigslist, discount retailers, etc.

[shifuimam]

Not necessarily.

I bought a brand new, in the box 160GB HDD/1GB RAM/6-cell battery Acer Aspire One for $399 shipped on eBay. This is the exact same price everywhere else, and the product is new enough that I'd be unlikely to find it on craiglist in my area (northern Indiana). It was a little over $300 after the 30% cashback, which is cheaper than you'll find this model anywhere.

The Acer Aspire L310 mini HTPC I got was also the same kind of thing - it was upgraded and on a one-day sale on eBay at 10% off, in addition to the 25% off through live.com.

I bought a brand new vacuum with the discount. It was already $40 plus $14.99 shipping (it's $60 on Amazon, $85 on Overstock, etc.); with the 30% cashback it was knocked down to $42.99 shipped. MSRP is over $100.

I got the fourth season of The Office at $24.99 shipped with 25% cashback, which is cheaper than anywhere else I've seen (brand new; still shrink wrapped).

Finally, I got a very unique and cool piece of jewelry for my mother for Christmas, at 25% off.

So, no. I got four brand new products at significant discounts, and one used computer that, for the specs and included accessories, was an amazing deal. I'd say I came out the winner here.

[NO_NAU_SPP]

Hi, Guys my first post on this forum. How is everybody today?
I am building a new Intel i7 920 rig & have bought almost everything off ebay & getting cash back on it...with the buy it now feature I have saved more money on high end latest computer equipment then I could have ever manged with anything else other then "fell from the back off da truck deals"

Still not convinced>? Lets take a look @ the goodies!
eBay
$85.20 Pending
* Date of purchaseecember 2, 2008
Your cashback reward will be deposited or sent in 54 days. You won't need to request it.
XFX GX260NADBF Geforce GTX 260
Unit price:$283.99
cashback (%):30.00 %
Quantity:1
$85.20



November 29, 2008
eBay
$9.97
* Date of purchase:November 29, 2008
Your cashback reward will be deposited or sent in 51 days. You won't need to request it.
NEW Razer Destructor Gaming Mouse Pad
Unit price:$33.24
cashback (%):30.00 %
quantity:1
$18.56 Pending

* Date of purchase:November 29, 2008
NEW Razer Lachesis Gaming Mouse RZ01-00170100-R3M1
Unit price:$61.88
cashback (%):30.00 %
Quantity:1
$18.56



November 28, 2008
eBay
$97.20 Pending
Your cashback reward will be deposited or sent in 50 days. You won't need to request it.
Corsair 6GB PC3-12800+ (DDR3-1600+) DDR3 Memory Kit
Unit price:$324.00
cashback (%):30.00 %
Quantity:1
$97.20
November 27, 2008

eBa
47.99 Pending
* Date of purchase:November 27, 2008
Your cashback reward will be deposited or sent in 49 days. You won't need to request it.
NEW Fujitsu MBA3 RC Hard Drive MBA3147RC
Unit price:$191.95
cashback (%):25.00 %
Quantity:1
$47.99




eBay
$65.50 Pending
Your cashback reward will be deposited or sent in 48 days. You won't need to request it.
NEW PC Power & Cooling Turbo-Cool 860 ATX12 & EPS12V...
Unit price:$261.99
cashback (%):25.00 %
Quantity:1
$65.50



November 26, 2008
eBay
$72.50 Pending
INTEL Core i7 i7-920 (BX80601920) 2.66ghz w@ fan Retail
Unit price:$289.99
cashback (%):25.00 %
Quantity:1


Total cashback: $474.42!

[ghporter]

But you had to spend over $1400 to start. And when will these "savings" actually be credited to you? Basically, you're "lending" these vendors this "savings" for some undetermined period, which could be 90 days or more. You are effectively financing the vendors to some extent, and on much better terms than commercial credit provides (typically Net 30 terms). So unless it's stuff you MUST have, I'd think that it's only marginally to your benefit. Plus, what sort of prices do these vendors' competitors offer? Are the "discounted/rebated" prices really good deals, or do they just look that way?

[brassplayersrock²]

"Are the "discounted/rebated" prices really good deals, or do they just look that way?"

$35 for a mouse pad looks like they marked up the prices where ever he bought it from.

[Atheist]

Originally Posted by brassplayersrock² 

"Are the "discounted/rebated" prices really good deals, or do they just look that way?"

$35 for a mouse pad looks like they marked up the prices where ever he bought it from.

A quick google search will show that the unit prices that NO_NAU_SPP listed are about as low as you'll find on the internet. So these aren't marked up prices.

Healthy skepticism is a good thing but I'm not sure why everyone wants to crap all over this thread. The 30% off is a great deal. It's a win for everybody. So what they keep your rebate for 60 days before you see it. Yeah they made a few cents off your money. It's still a better deal than if you kept the money in the bank for 60 days and then paid full price for the item.

[shifuimam]

Indeed. Depending on what you buy, it can end up being pretty substantial savings.

Both Acers I bought (the laptop and the desktop) would have cost quite a bit more had I found them elsewhere. I'd rather pay up front and wait 60 days to get a big chunk of cash than not get any cash back at all.

When you look at that other guy's machine, sure he spent $1400 up front. But he got $475 back, so he paid $925 for a $1400 computer...I'd say that's a pretty good deal in the end.

It's irrelevant at this point - the cashback has dropped to 8%. If you're still interested, just check back every few days to see what it's at. It fluctuates pretty regularly, so I imagine it will be back up to at least 20% before Christmas.

[brassplayersrock²]

What part of "$35 for a mousepad" makes sense to you?

[shifuimam]

It's not just a regular mouse pad. It's specifically designed for gaming, to provide the biggest area and the most responsive optical tracking.

This stuff can make a difference if you're a big gamer. It's be like comparing an MX518 gaming mouse to a $5 Fry's special - it's just a whole different class of equipment.

[ghporter]

Originally Posted by Atheist 

Healthy skepticism is a good thing but I'm not sure why everyone wants to crap all over this thread. The 30% off is a great deal. It's a win for everybody. So what they keep your rebate for 60 days before you see it. Yeah they made a few cents off your money. It's still a better deal than if you kept the money in the bank for 60 days and then paid full price for the item.

I really don't want to sound like I'm crapping on the thread-or the whole idea. It's the implementation that bothers me. This isn't like a "buyers club" or Costco, it's all a big promotion. And its mastermind is Microsoft, which bothers me from the start.

Yes, it's a win for everyone. Everyone with the money on hand and willing to wait for the savings/rebates to be credited that is. But it's not all sweetness and light either, and I'll bet that there are plenty of vendors, particularly eBay vendors, who are gouging the heck out of customers on all sorts of products because they can.

Maybe I'm just wary of "unwarranted enthusiasm" for something that is presented as being "too good to be true-but it is!!"

[shifuimam]

Originally Posted by ghporter 

I really don't want to sound like I'm crapping on the thread-or the whole idea. It's the implementation that bothers me. This isn't like a "buyers club" or Costco, it's all a big promotion. And its mastermind is Microsoft, which bothers me from the start.

Why? Is MS somehow banned from engaging in partnerships that help get customers and web traffic, simply because it's Microsoft?

It's a pretty brilliant idea, when you stop and think about it. MS gets additional traffic to live.com, and eBay gets additional traffic and sales. The 30% off means people are more likely to buy more expensive items, which means eBay gets even more by way of final value fees.

What if another company did it? Would it be more acceptable then?

Yes, it's a win for everyone. Everyone with the money on hand and willing to wait for the savings/rebates to be credited that is.

Yes - just like any other post-purchase rebate. Cell phones frequently come with mail-in rebates as high as $70. There's not much difference between this and those, except that mail-in rebates require effort on your part, whereas this cashback program requires little to no effort on the consumer's end.

But it's not all sweetness and light either, and I'll bet that there are plenty of vendors, particularly eBay vendors, who are gouging the heck out of customers on all sorts of products because they can.

Yep, and that's been happening since before this cashback promotion started. If you're dumb enough to buy something above retail, it doesn't matter what promotions are at hand; you're still going to voluntarily screw yourself. How do you think HSN and QVC stay in business?

Maybe I'm just wary of "unwarranted enthusiasm" for something that is presented as being "too good to be true-but it is!!"

That may be. Unless you have some kind of moral objection to Microsoft ever getting a dime out of you (in which case you should also stop watching any TV stations that air their commercials), it really is as sweet of a deal as it sounds. You get huge savings on products you'd still otherwise buy, Microsoft gets advertising revenue, and eBay gets extra traffic and PayPal business. Indeed, everyone wins.

[ghporter]

I guess I'm being crusty. I don't trust Microsoft to follow through with something like this-sort of like I expect them to handle things like pirates from "Pirates of the Caribbean." And sure, lots of phones have rebates-either from your carrier or the manufacturer, not some third party (that may or may not be reliable), and not through a fourth of fifth party (that also may or may not be reliable).

I've been burned by situations similar to this, where it wasn't the original source of the product that was supposed to provide the benefit and completely failed to live up to the bargain, so I feel vulnerable to "other parties" being in charge. And every time it was "what could possibly go wrong?" that wound up being the issue...and it did go wrong.

[NO_NAU_SPP]

Originally Posted by brassplayersrock² 

What part of "$35 for a mousepad" makes sense to you?

Its not a computer for the average joe...that mouse pad is especially designed for gamers. I got it for about 20 bucks with Live.com...

http://www.amazon.com/Razer-Destruct.../dp/B0015I0NYY