http://www.treesandthings.com/story/2006/12/27/9582/6570 Most of us have been there.  You went out and purchased your wireless, Hi-Def, digital Ramalaminator and paid (US)$250 for it.  But wait, if you match up the receipts with the bar code, fill out the paperwork and mail it into Ramalaminator Inc. within the next two weeks, you'll get $100 back in a rebate!  Sounds like a deal, so you buy the thing with the best of intentions of taking advantage of the manufacturer's largesse.  But there's a dark side to the bright prospect of getting money en-us Thu, 28 Dec 2006 18:58:43 EST Sun, 31 Dec 2006 18:10:18 EST http://www.treesandthings.com/story/2006/12/27/9582/6570#7 Most people don't realize that rebates pay for themselves 100 fold.  This is because marketing companies that offer the rebates actually use the information you submit to them to sell to other marketers.  It's exactly like when you go to the mall Sun, 31 Dec 2006 18:10:18 EST http://www.treesandthings.com/story/2006/12/27/9582/6570#6 I don't usually shop for items with rebates, so it's kind of a surprise that I've sent in for as many as I have. Over the past two years, I've sent in for five, all from items purchased while traveling for business. (When the boss says, "we need this," we Fri, 29 Dec 2006 10:48:54 EST http://www.treesandthings.com/story/2006/12/27/9582/6570#5 After saying all that, I just checked the status of two rebates I submitted a few weeks ago (for a Netgear wireless router and a wireless network card) and found one of them was declined because I "sent a copy of the UPC code instead of the original." I w Fri, 29 Dec 2006 09:28:31 EST http://www.treesandthings.com/story/2006/12/27/9582/6570#4 Ever since I lost my first rebate battle some twenty years ago over a stereo system that promised $50 back from the $500 sticker price, I have never even bothered in factoring "there's a rebate" into my buying decision.  I certainly never bothered was Thu, 28 Dec 2006 22:29:05 EST http://www.treesandthings.com/story/2006/12/27/9582/6570#3 I used to work for a rebate processing center, and we new every little trick to keep from sending you the check. The biggest issue we had with many rebates was not on our side, however, but on the manufacturers or 'rebate suppliers' side. Almost all rebate Thu, 28 Dec 2006 21:12:22 EST http://www.treesandthings.com/story/2006/12/27/9582/6570#2 I'd like to see a law (since we clearly can't trust businesses to regulate themselves, duh) saying that the rebate price cannot be printed in a font that is larger than the up-front costs.  Ideally, the ad should have to list the rebates as well. &nbs Thu, 28 Dec 2006 19:44:13 EST http://www.treesandthings.com/story/2006/12/27/9582/6570#1 Staples has a very nice rebate system - you don't even have to mail anything in, you can do it all online by entering the UPC code into their website. I don't mind rebates like this, or even ones that require you to send in a form - as long as it's fairly Thu, 28 Dec 2006 19:02:59 EST string http://www.treesandthings.com/search/