[Trust]

Connie, any info on these guys? Just got an email from them asking me to join their affiliate program and your site was 1 of 3 mentioned using them.

"Nothing focuses the mind better than the constant sight of a competitor who wants to wipe you off the map."
--Wayne Calloway

[josephmonuit]

* $0.25 for every visitor from your site who subscribes to our newsletter.
* $0.03 every time a visitor from your site clicks-through to one of our merchant listings.

Not worth losing my traffic to...

----
-J
The neighbors complain about the noises above ...

[flamingoworld]

I have been testing them, but no real luck with them.
They did give me a small percentage of commissions with the co-branded site, I believe it is 25% of the commissions they collect, so not much.
I really don't like their co-branding. Would be happier to have a datafeed that I could incorporate into my site to fit my look more.
I do better listing rebates offered by my merchants directly.

Connie Berg
http://www.flamingoworld.com

[RebatePlace.com]

Connie! Now I know the best way to get in touch with you: this forum!

You obviously didn't get my email last week about the new tools we have (including a rebate data feed!!!) to help you promote rebates to your visitors.

And let's be fair, you know no one goes to your "rebates" page, and now you buried a link to us at the bottom. http://abw.infopop.cc/smilies/cry.gif

And what's wrong with the co-branding? We even changed the colors of the slogan for you. OK, so that's not much, but if you think something should be different, just let me know.

As for a full feed of rebate data, we can do that too. We provide rebate data to DealTime.com, NexTag.com, PCUniverse.com, TechSavings.com, and many other sites in exchange for a monthly licensing fee. Then you can do whatever you want with the data. You could match the rebate product SKUs to the SKUs in a merchandiser feed from Buy.com and 4Sure.com and link to all those rebate products directly!


RE: "Not worth losing my traffic to..."
You don't lose your traffic when we set up a private label rebate center - shoppers keep coming back to find rebates at YOUR site. BTW, what would be worth it?


Thanks for the feedback/conversation and I hope it keeps going. We just launched our affiliate program so we're still learning - any feedback helps. If we suck, please tell us. Of course, if you're that harsh, I hope you offer a suggestion as well.

Thanks again and I hope you're all willing to give us a try and work with us!!! Rebates have gotten a bad rap in the past, but they really are a good way to get a good deal.

Clark
RebatePlace.com

[This message was edited by RebatePlace.com on April 30, 2003 at 12:46 AM.]

[RebatePlace.com]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Not worth losing my traffic to...<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I'd like to get this topic active again so we know what everyone thinks about our program. I'm glad this thread was started here since I know we can get some good feedback. We're having a difficult time signing up many coupon/bargain sites and I'm not sure why.

<UL TYPE=SQUARE>
<LI>Do you not want to provide manufacturer rebates to your shoppers?
<LI>Do you not understand how our site works?
<LI>Is our commission structure not good enough?
<LI>What type of payout would you expect/hope to get? (within reason) http://www.abestweb.com/smilies/crazy.gif
[/list]

Hopefully some of our current affiliates will chip in with some feedback as well. Those that have used the tools we provide to promote manufacturer rebates on their sites are doing well!

One thing we have decided based on the results of our first 2 months of our program is to increase our payout to $0.05 per click-through to a merchant listing. This is nearly double the original payout. For any current or new affiliates reading this, please contact us for the rate increase.

Please help us out with some feedback!

Thanks,

Clark
RebatePlace.com (http://www.rebateplace.com) - Find rebates. Compare prices. Save money.

[Kcedit]

Clark,

How can I find out more about your rebate feed? Also is there any way to plug-in rebate details and forms directly in our site without visiting rebateplace?

[RebatePlace.com]

You can find out more about the feed at http://affiliates.rebateplace.com

Enter "Share-a-Sale" as the program and either your SAS userid or "123" - this will give you access to all our special tools, including the feeds. The feeds however are basic, just the top 10 new or most popular rebates with product names, image URLs, offer details, etc.

If you're interested in getting ALL our rebate data, we do that as well. Visit http://www.forepoint.com to learn about our company's Promotion Data Services. We license manufacturer promotion data (the same that's on the RebatePlace.com site) for varying monthly fees to online merchants and shopping sites such as DealTime.com, NexTag.com, PCUniverse.com, CompSource.net, TechSavings.com, and many others.

Contact us through the Forepoint, inc. site for more information.

Thanks,

Clark
RebatePlace.com (http://www.rebateplace.com) - Find rebates. Compare prices. Save money.

[Kcedit]

Thanks, Clark. I'll check it out.

[bigchuck]

Do you have a search form through shareasale get links? I think I could generate some traffic/revenue with this.

Big Chuck
If you can't run with the big dogs, then stay on the porch!

[RebatePlace.com]

re: search form/box

That's another thing we're working on. But we're not quite sure of the value so we've put it on hold. The reason is that there's only about 1200 or so products at a time that have rebates available, so the vast majority of searches will return no results - which isn't useful. You're better off driving shoppers to certain product/rebate categories.

Clark
RebatePlace.com (http://www.rebateplace.com) - Find rebates. Compare prices. Save money.

[flamingoworld]

I would love to have the data feed, but don't really want to pay a couple of hundred bucks a month to get it. Heck, I get datafeeds from Linkshare for a single $250 bucks and that includes several merchants.
I would think the increase in sales for you guys would more than pay for giving a free data feed.

Connie Berg
http://www.flamingoworld.com

[RebatePlace.com]

Our Promotion Data Services are completely different from the Linkshare feeds.

With our feeds, you never link to RebatePlace.com. You have all the rebate data to display on your site however you like - including offer details and the PDF rebate form. Other than the monthly fee, we make no other money from this arrangement. You're licensing our content in order to generate revenue from it however you see fit.

The rebate feed I've described previously is a service that we sell, not a feature for our affiliate program. We never intended these services to be used by coupon/bargain sites - they're intended for online merchants and comparison shopping sites.

Of course we can always explore other arrangements with a rebate data feed. If you have ideas on how you could integrate rebate data in your site using a data feed, let me know and we can discuss it.

Thanks,

Clark
RebatePlace.com (http://www.rebateplace.com) - Find rebates. Compare prices. Save money.

[josephmonuit]

Whats the average cost of one of those feeds? I'm guessing you can't answer that here. http://abw.infopop.cc/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif

I doubt your feed is complete enough for what I'm looking for, but, it could be useful.

----
-JM
When you're down It's a long way up
When you're up It's a long way down

[flamingoworld]

I would just like to have a site like the cobranded site, with revenue sharing between me and rebateplace like it is now, but with more control over the colors and look of the site.
I hate the green! I don't want it to say rebateplace all over the place.
I want people to think it is my site. When it says rebateplace all over they know it isn't so I don't promote it as much.

Connie Berg
http://www.flamingoworld.com

[josephmonuit]

BTW, I also noticed these people spammed the domain contact address on at least one of my domains with the "Hello Future Affiliate!" e-mail.

Another negative. :|

----
-JM
Banana Free in 2003. (and 2004, 2005, 2006, ...)

[RebatePlace.com]

Connie: We can work on that. Green is good! Green is money! (But I understand) Email me directly and give me a list of what you want customized.


Joseph: the feed is 100% complete - it contains every piece of data that you see on RebatePlace.com, plus more detailed backend data. A single site license is $1000/month - this includes daily updates of the data and PDF rebate forms. Our other packages are as low as $250 - but that's only for merchants.

Also, regarding the email you received: we put together a list of about 300 coupon and bargain sites that we thought might want to give their shoppers access to manufacturer rebates. We then went through the list checking the sites for contact addresses, adding them to a list and contacting some through web forms or checking the WHOIS when we found no other way to make contact. We're obviously not going to keep sending these out and we really didn't think anyone would be upset. It was just an invitation to join our program. I hope no one else perceived that as a negative.

Thanks,

Clark
RebatePlace.com (http://www.rebateplace.com) - Find rebates. Compare prices. Save money.

[RebatePlace.com]

BTW...

Our affiliate "hot rebates" and "new rebates" plugins can now be further customized with a custom width and all our plugins can now have a custom color to match your site!

We're also increasing the payout from $0.03 per click-through to $0.05 CPCC when you sign-up AND start promoting rebates. Just contact me when you've placed links and I'll increase your payout.

Thanks,

Clark
RebatePlace.com (http://www.rebateplace.com) - Find rebates. Compare prices. Save money.

[josephmonuit]

Clark,

Thanks for that info. Will keep it in mind.

I do hope that others perceived the email as a negative. Its spam. How about: "I collected a list of 1500000 people I thought might like viagra, and mailed them to offer them some" Your argument is valid, its just that it doesn't scale well, when everyone thinks that way. OK, perhaps it isn't quite fair, if you only targeted a select group of sites that may be interested. Some may disagree with my opinion. http://abw.infopop.cc/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif

Anyway, again thanks for the info about the feed.

----
-JM
ABW Chief Whiner. Sir Bitchalot.

[ecomcity]

I'm kinda confused as to how this program benefits affiliates of those merchants selling products with rebates. Like your site and simple download PDF rebate forms plus the comparision shopping feature. My problem is sending my shoppers to a rebate site knowing they become your shoppers, bypassing my product links and cookie, feeding you sales commissions after I do this.

TigerDirect has included all Mfgr rebates inside the qualifying product boxes I installed. They are listed with you as a merchant and I assume interface their downloadable rebate forms where applicable. Rebates, like coupons have NO VALUE other than an enticement if they aren't honored by the issuing party. Some rebate operators like CyberRebates played upon greed and ran it like a PONZI scheme.

Manufacturers and the rebate agents know the stats on unclaimed or dishonored rebates. It becomes a cheap advertising vehicle when they devise the hurdles to getting a rebate check.


Sat June 28, 2003 03:26 PM ET
By Daniel Sorid
NEW YORK (Reuters) - The discounts appear irresistible, but Web shoppers should think twice before clicking on bargains based on mail-in rebates.

The pitch is simple enough: Pay full price for a product, mail in a coupon, and wait until a rebate check arrives in the mail, refunding most, if not all, of the original cost.

The catch is that some shoppers never get their checks, and those who do wait months for reimbursement.

Retailers and manufacturers, who pocket the unclaimed cash whenever a check is lost in the mail or a rebate form is rejected for one reason or another, don't seem to mind.

In fact, keeping many shoppers apart from their rebate checks is a selling point of the companies that administer rebate promotions for retailers and manufacturers.

TCA Fulfillment Inc. (http://www.tcarebates.com) -- which handles rebates for top retailers and dozens of computer hardware and software makers -- states on its Web site that its new customers will pay out up to 25 percent fewer rebate checks due to its "advanced verification processes."

Verification, while screening out shoppers who never bought a qualifying product, also disqualifies less savvy shoppers who may forget to cut out and attach a label from a product box or fill in a product serial number on a rebate form.

An estimated 70 percent and 90 percent of shoppers never get the money they were promised from $10-to-$30 rebate promotions, said Norman Fong, the proprietor of techbargains.com (http://www.techbargains.com), a popular "hot deals" Web site that has a message board for shoppers to discuss rebates........" for more
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=WG4UFXBUVRN2ACRBAELCFFA?type=internetNews&storyID=3006187

Mike & Charlie ... http://abw.infopop.cc/smilies/parrot.gif

If they won't adopt and feed a bird ..flip them one! BBQ some Gator and remember to flush WhenU..

[RebatePlace.com]

First of all, please don't confuse us with the con artists at CyberRebate. We work with mostly manufacturer rebates and some merchant rebates.

The reason that you or any site would want to link to us is that rebates are another savings opportunity besides coupons and sales that help consumers save money. Like it or not, rebates are a common marketing strategy and will be around for a long time, if not forever.

We started our site back in 1999 simply because mail-in rebates ARE a pain in the butt. We realized the forms were hard to find and tracking down the fulfillment company was next to impossible, so we worked hard to gather all the information about as many rebates as possible so that no one else would have to. In the past couple years we began providing merchant listings on the site because without revenue, we couldn't run the site anymore. The primary purpose of the RebatePlace.com site though is still to help consumers find and track down rebate information. This is a service that I would think your visitors would like to know about.

As for redemption rates on rebates...

My philosophy is that everyone who buys a product with a rebate and REALLY wants/needs the rebate, should get it without a hassle. This does not mean that there should be a 100% redemption rate for rebates. If that were the case, rebates would not be a valuable marketing tool - either for the manufacturers OR consumers. This is because consumers who REALLY want a rebate and take the time to claim the rebate correctly actually benefit from those consumers who don't care about the rebate enough to redeem the rebate or follow-up when they don'f fill out the rebate correctly. Low redemption rates allow manufacturers to offer increased rebate amounts because they know that on average, the rebate per product sold is going to be very small.

For (a very simplified) example, let's say a product costs $25 to make and is sold at retail for $30 allowing for a $5 profit for the manufacturer. The mfr wants to increase sales so they offer a $10 rebate. Since redemption rates are usually around 30%, they know that on average they'll only be paying out $3 per product sold, which makes an avg after rebate price of $27 and a profit of $2 per product so they're still in business. So you, being a good shopper, were careful and got the $10 rebate and paid an after rebate price of $20, or $5 less than what it cost the mfr to make and sell the product - now that's a good deal. While the people who didn't care enough about a $10 rebate to fill it out correctly or at all or follow-up paid full price. So you and all the other shoppers who got rebates benefit from those who didn't. And rebates can be a GREAT deal because of this. You and everyone who got the rebate effectively burned the mfr because they expected to only pay out $3 per product on avg, but you got $10. This is how it's worked into mfr's marketing budgets and this is how rebates benefit diligent shoppers.

As I stated earlier, our goal is to make sure that everyone who wants a rebate, gets it.

RE: "My problem is sending my shoppers to a rebate site knowing they become your shoppers, bypassing my product links and cookie, feeding you sales commissions after I do this."

They don't become our shoppers. We just offer rebates, you offer coupons, bargains, forums, a shopping directory or whatever you and our other affiliate sites provide. If a visitor of yours wants to check for rebates, they link to us and find rebate information, and we pay our affiliates for clicks to our merchant listings. RebatePlace.com is not a replacement for any site on the web, and there is no other site like RebatePlace.com on the web.

I hope this addresses your concerns.

Thanks,

Clark
RebatePlace.com (http://www.rebateplace.com) - Find rebates. Compare prices. Save money.

[Hipnotiq]

Clark,

Is there a way to exclude the "Buy from these merchants..." section from the co-brand?

Thanks,
Manny

[RebatePlace.com]

Manny,

We can't remove the merchant links because that's the only way you and we generate revenue from the co-brand.

If you would like to use our rebate data on your site without linking to merchants, you may be interested in our Promotion Data Services. These are services we provide to online merchants and comparison shopping sites. Our basic level of service is $250 per month for a private label rebate center.

Clark
RebatePlace.com (http://www.rebateplace.com) - Find rebates. Compare prices. Save money.

[jasonco12]

Clark what is your conversion rate? I have sent you tons of traffic(targeted) and not a cent! tell me why I shouldn't drop you right now?

_________________________
Why am I doing this? when I could be wasting 40 years working for someone else?

[RebatePlace.com]

Jason,

After reviewing your site, I have a feeling your visitors aren't converting because it's the wrong audience. Your home page doesn't have a single offer related to computers and electronics - it's mostly general freebies and merchandise. The rebates on RebatePlace.com: 1) don't usually make a product free, and 2) are all computer and electronics products. I'm assuming that your visitors think they'll be finding free stuff on a wide range of products, so they go to RebatePlace.com, don't see what they want, and leave.

I noticed that you have a few sub-pages for computers and electronics. Although we like exposure on home pages - if it doesn't work, it doesn't work - so you need to target the visitors to this more specific computers and electronics section. It will be less visitors, but better conversions.

Thanks,

Clark
RebatePlace.com (http://www.rebateplace.com) - Find rebates. Compare prices. Save money.

[bcorso]

Clark,
Would I be able to participate with your site? I have an incentive site and we all know how merchants love to turn them down.

Please let me know!

Thanks!
Bonnie

http://www.clicktothemagic.com
Earn the Magic for Free!