Do Europeans Mail-in Rebates?

July 17, 2009 7:43 PM

Outside of North America, how common are rebates?

Especially for electronics, it's common for products to be promoted with a mail-in-rebate, often for up to 30% of the sale price. I'm simply wondering whether a similar situation exists elsewhere (Europe in particular), or if it's an American peculiarity.

posted by unmake to shopping (25 comments total)

There's something similar in Australia, but it's called ''cashback''. So you buy, say a laptop advertised as $999 ''with $100 cashback!'', then you mail in a coupon to the manufacturer and they (eventually) mail you back a cheque for $100.
posted by t0astie at 8:39 PM on July 17, 2009

That's the gist of it, yes. Usually also includes sending a barcode/UPC and sales receipt. And waiting 3-6 months.
posted by unmake at 8:50 PM on July 17, 2009

Almost unheard of here in the UK. They do exist but are very uncommon.
posted by wackybrit at 8:56 PM on July 17, 2009

Highly uncommon in Austria.
posted by themel at 10:43 PM on July 17, 2009

They are reasonably common for technology products in New Zealand, although it tends to only be large corporations (Microsoft, Apple, Acer etc) that run them.
posted by fearthehat at 10:48 PM on July 17, 2009

For a while cashback mobile phones from online shops were popular in the UK. I had a couple of these. Certainly this sort of thing is not nearly as common as it is in the U.S. The protections against unfair trading in the EU will limit the fine print businesses use to avoid paying the rebates.
posted by grouse at 11:29 PM on July 17, 2009

In the Netherlands it is quite rare. The only thing I can think of are certain extra's you can get with a new mobile phone.
posted by PaulZ at 11:58 PM on July 17, 2009

wackybrit: Almost unheard of here in the UK. They do exist but are very uncommon.

Well, from the fact someone has said "almost unheard of" I think we can determine they are not usual but I myself would not call them unheard of. I've occasionally had rebates for electronics like printers and ink and large domestic appliances.

In the UK and in Ireland it is much more usual though to offer loyalty card points, like "buy Product X at Boots and get 100 points on your Boots card!" at large retailers like Boots and Tesco.

FWIW we also do not have US-style Sunday coupon supplements here so the retail culture is different when it comes to discounting.
posted by DarlingBri at 12:13 AM on July 18, 2009

A friend in Denmark tells me they're illegal; that their consumer protection laws consider them to be a way to take unfair advantage of the customers.
posted by reflecked at 12:50 AM on July 18, 2009

Yes, in the UK some companies offer mail-in rebates - Apple do, and Adobe do.

Of course, in the UK we have a tax called VAT applied on purchases (current rate 15%), so a discount applied before the customer reaches the till is 15% bigger than a mail-in rebate as the tax is on the price at the till or at least that's my understanding of tax law.
posted by Mike1024 at 1:25 AM on July 18, 2009

Nikon also do regular cashback offers in the UK - I got £50 off my D60.
posted by hibbersk at 2:03 AM on July 18, 2009

In Germany, the only company which offers them that I'm aware of is Apple.
posted by amf at 2:09 AM on July 18, 2009

never heard of them in Italy. Not even for Apple or Adobe.
posted by _dario at 2:35 AM on July 18, 2009

Cashback in the UK is most often associated with cars - though I think this is going out of vogue as an incentive, and free insurance is a more frequent "come buy this car now!" offer.
posted by Coobeastie at 2:50 AM on July 18, 2009

I don't know how common they are in the Netherlands overall, but I'm fairly sure that I've seen them on some big-ticket items.
posted by transporter accident amy at 2:57 AM on July 18, 2009

Never heard of them in Finland.
posted by keijo at 5:08 AM on July 18, 2009

Although your question said "outside of North America", you also wonder if this is an "American" peculiarity, which I usually interpret to mean "United States of American".

So, in Canada, these sort of rebate offers still seem to be pretty common. However, I've recently seen some indications that they might be on their way out. Most people don't actually send in for the rebate, and retailers rely on this in many cases. They can get the sales impact of a lower price, without taking much of a hit in the profit per item.

But people are now getting wise to their own psychology, and they know they won't write in because so many times in the past, they haven't. So now they mentally disregard the rebate amount, and it loses its impact on sales.

I've started seeing more "instant rebate" offers, where the rebate is applied as you're paying for the product rather than something you have to mail in for later. If this continues, and it doesn't happen in the USA, it looks like it might become a USA-ian peculiarity.
posted by FishBike at 6:18 AM on July 18, 2009

I know T0astie said they are about in Oz, but they are much, much less common than in the US, at least judging from my trips there. In Best Buy or whatever catalogs, I was surprised to see offers like "Norton Anti-Virus $49.95 with $40 rebate" or "Optical mouse $20.99 with $20.99 rebate". Dozens of offers like this in one catalog.
In Oz there are a few cashback or rebate deals, usually for laptops in particular for some reason (I even got $100 off my last Acer) but they are much less common than in the USA.
posted by bystander at 7:37 AM on July 18, 2009

Yeah so, Mexico is still part of North America...but I've never seen a promotion that includes a rebate here.
posted by CrazyLemonade at 9:44 AM on July 18, 2009

They do exist in Australia, but they are rarely worth applying for unless they're on an electronics item - waiting for a $30 cashback from Epson right now.

New products in the supermarket are often launched on a "try me for free" cashback promotion, but it's a lot of pissing around to get your two or three dollar cashback, so I doubt many people bother.

There's not really anything similar to the US coupon thing here where you can get a whole lot of things for near free if you are organised - more's the pity. I'm stunned by how much Americans can reduce their grocery bill with coupons and I'd be more than willing to invest the time it takes.
posted by Lolie at 10:11 AM on July 18, 2009

I've never seen them in Japan. Instead, instant discounts or store points (10% of the purchase price can be turned into points, and 1 point = 1 yen, for example) tend to be the norm.
posted by armage at 4:27 PM on July 18, 2009

Corollary question: Why are rebates unpopular outside of North America? If they work there, why not in other markets with similar consumer tastes (such as the UK, say)? Legalities?
posted by wackybrit at 7:09 PM on July 18, 2009

Thanks to everyone who has replied. Clearly this is an anomaly largely restricted to the US.

Feel free to tackle wackybrit's question.
posted by unmake at 9:10 PM on July 18, 2009

Pure speculation, but I suspect redemption rates are higher outside the USA because they are quite novel. This limits how attractive the offer can be, as it has a real cost. The anecdotal evidence I hear is that often US consumers never get around to claiming the rebate. If this is true, the actual cost to the manufacturer might be only a third or a quarter what it is in international markets, so the offers can appear more generous.
posted by bystander at 1:29 AM on July 21, 2009

Related article on cash backs in Australia
posted by bystander at 2:23 PM on July 27, 2009