RebateKey is an excellent marketing tool that provides companies on a website platform like Walmart or Amazon ways to offer thousands of rebates and rewards on their products and brands for a chance to attract more customers.
The buyers benefit from the reduced cost of the products they purchase, while the seller benefits from the boost to their full-price sales numbers which help increase their rankings. This guide will help you discover if RebateKey can work for your business.
What is RebateKey?
One huge difference between RebateKey and the thousands of traditional rebate services is that RebateKey does not require physical coupons or the mailing in of a Universal Product Code.
It allows shoppers to register their claim online and then simply wait for their rebate check, overall creating a much better experience with its discount offer.
RebateKey was started in 2018 by over 30 eCommerce sellers who took the chance to join forces to develop a better way to promote their best and latest products with shoppers. It has since been growing at a rapid pace, mostly thanks to word of mouth.
What is a Rebate?
For anyone unfamiliar with the retail rebate process, they are a type of discount that is offered retrospectively after purchase rather than upfront like a normal discount.
So with a product offered with a rebate promotion, the customer will initially purchase the item at full price but on the promise that they can then claim the rebate later and receive a partial refund.
Ultimately it is an incentivizing marketing ploy to drum up interest in a product and get people to purchase the product originally at full price which then improves the shop and product’s rankings better than a standard discount sale would.
How does RebateKey work for Sellers?
Rebate Key handles the entire process for both the buyers and the sellers. Both sign-up to the Rebate Key platform, with the sellers informing Rebate Key of what products are offered with deals, and Rebate Key then manages everything else.
The seller’s Rebate Key process looks like this:
| Step | Description |
|---|---|
| 1. Sign-up | Sign-up to Rebate Key with your email and shop details. |
| 2. Receive URLs | They send URLs of products offering discounts. |
| 3. Product Promotion | Rebate Key promotes the products to registered buyers. |
| 4. Buyer's Purchase | Buyers make a purchase and enter their order number on Rebate Key. |
| 5. Process Rebate | Rebate Key proceeds with the rebate and sends an email confirmation. |
The rebate process begins after the buyer enters their name, email and order ID number. The rebate key money is then held for 30 days, after which the seller must approve or decline the rebate. Once approved, Rebate Key sends the money via check to the buyer.
Why Your Business Should Use RebateKey
There are a lot of fantastic features for sellers on Rebate Key which provide a better user experience and great value for money. You can create unique landing pages, communicate with buyers and integrate with Chrome Extension. Here’s a quick run through all the reasons why you should consider using Rebate Key.
User-Friendly Platform Providing a Better Experience
The Rebate Key platform is very intuitive and easy to navigate. You can quickly set up rebate offers and RebateKey manages the whole process from there.
Value for Money Customers will Appreciate
By being able to offer such easy rebate offers, your consumers will appreciate the great value for money you offer on your products. While RebateKey does not generate reviews itself, the goodwill and generous discounts provided by the good deals can only help increase positive feedback.
Useful Chrome Extension for Adding Rebates and Coupons
The Chrome Extension available with RebateKey makes it even easier to add rebates for your customers to claim their discounts in the future.
Landing Pages for User Conversions
To help drive up user conversions, RebateKey has a landing page creation feature that lets you create landing pages for your products. This gives more visibility to the rebate offer and the product itself and makes it easier for the customer to make the claim.
Multiple Online Marketplaces
RebateKey works with multiple online marketplaces, including two of the very biggest in Walmart and Amazon.
Ability to Contact Buyers Via Internal Messaging
Another brilliant feature of RebateKey is the ability for sellers to contact buyers via the special internal messaging service, whether they purchase through Amazon from Orlando or Walmart from San Diego.
Pre-Approval of Each Rebate Check on Auto
While RebateKey manages the entire rebate claim and money payment process, each seller still retains authority over each purchase rebate.
Support Via Facebook Messenger
Rebate Key also provides support with contact available through Facebook Messenger for quick and easy communication.
Access to Deals and Discounts for Your Customers
Every seller can use RebateKey as a one-stop-shop for all their special offers, which saves time and energy and keeps everything organized. This includes discounts for small business owners looking to save on everyday items.
RebateKey Pricing for Sellers – It’s Even Cheap at Full Price
Sellers only pay $2.95 to RebateKey per sale or rebate claim by buyers. This means if a single rebate campaign results in ten claimed refunds, then the total amount the seller pays to RebateKey is just $29.50.
Extrapolate that to a much more successful campaign that results in a hundred refunds, all of which are full price-paying sales that help improve the shop’s ranking for the product, and the total is still only $295.
Using RebateKey for Amazon
There is so much eCommerce website competition online these days, and that is doubly so for the bigger online markets like Amazon and Walmart. But while competition numbers are high, customer numbers are much, much higher. Amazon Prime alone has nearly 100 million subscribers, so giving your business a visibility boost with a service like RebateKey is absolutely worthwhile.
Setting up a RebateKey account for an Amazon ship is simple and you can do it from your browser. The very first step is to create a seller’s account by providing some details such as your company name, address and website, as well as your contact email address. You will also be asked to enter your average product sales volume and the sort of products you’d like to rebate.
The RebateKey dashboard then features all the options for submitting a rebate campaign. To set up the campaign, you must enter the following information:
- Name of the rebate product
- Brief description of the product and product category
- Images of products
- Unique product ID number
- Number of rebates in the campaign and campaign length
- Discount percentage offered in rebate
Is It Worth It? A Brief RebateKey Review
It is worth weighing up the pros and cons so here we will have a look at the primary benefits and compare them to less beneficial elements of working with this discount system for an Amazon store.
Perhaps the most reassuring aspect of RebateKey is that you know all your payments are covered and secured. The product rebate ID system also ensures customers cannot make the same purchase more than once.
Another pro is that all the external traffic generated by the product rebates will be diverted to your Amazon store. The Facebook Messenger contact point is also good, though more on this below when we go through some of the cons.
One more pro for this RebateKey review is the automated mail after every rebate check so you know exactly which discount tickets have been claimed and when.
And so to the cons. While the Messenger contact point is good, the lack of assistance via telephone feels limiting. A phone number for personal contact would greatly improve customer service.
There is also the oft-unspoken negative that is the majority of rebates being more likely to be claimed due to the ease of claiming them online. With the old mail-in rebates, many of them would have been forgotten about or lost, but it is now easier for the customer now as well as for the seller.
Alternatives to RebateKey for Sellers
RebateKey is not the only service available for Amazon to take advantage of. Here we go through a few of the alternative firms that provide similar features.
Snagshout
Snagshout offers cashback and price reduction codes for products bought online with the refunds paid directly into the customer’s PayPal account. This is an even more streamlined service than RebateKey’s check-sending method but does of course limit the number of customers to those that have a PayPal account.
Vipon
Vipon offers lots of cash savings on products you order on the Amazon or Walmart site. They also have a points system and instructions for regular customers to reward them for multiple purchases via their site.
Cashbackbase
Cashbackbase lets customers find 100% cashback products that they can buy and be fully refunded for if they are not happy. The site also offers coupons from Amazon and Walmart stores to help them build sales quickly.
Who owns RebateKey?
As previously mentioned, the site was started about three years ago by over 30 successful e-commerce people who were looking for a better way to promote their products to more target users via rebate campaigns.
One of the co-founders is the wonderfully named Ian Sells, and another Leo Limin, and together these two characters recruited more businesses to join them in creating an easy-to-use rebate and coupon experience for both customers and online shops.
They run the platform site from their headquarters in Sheridan, Wyoming.
How does an Amazon rebate work?
To submit an Amazon rebate order claim for an item, you must follow these instructions carefully.
First, you purchase an item that has a rebate offer available on it and ensures the rebate offer deadline has not passed. The product details and information will have the deadline for purchase. It will also have a postmark deadline, which is the deadline by which you must file the rebate claim.
Secondly, once you have received the package, go to the RebateKey website and click their option for Amazon rebate campaigns (you will need to set up your account first). Complete the rebate form by entering the order number or order ID for the products you purchase before the postmark deadline. And make sure to read all the fine print to see if there are any other conditions or changes to the rebate process.
Be aware that once you click to submit the rebate claim after entering the order ID for your products, you can no longer return the products for any reason.
Finally, you simply wait for the 30 day time period to pass, the seller will then approve the rebate and RebateKey will send out your check in the mail.
Is RebateKey against Amazon TOS?
No, it does not go against the content list of the Amazon and Amazon Prime ToS because it is not a review-generating service. The terms of the Amazon platform absolutely do allow price reduction on products. However, it explicitly states that you cannot reduce prices in exchange for a review. As a review is not offered, it is perfectly fine.
Of course, sellers will hope the increased sales that the rebates generate will organically lead to a review or two, but a review is not part of the service and a review that does arise out of the rebate campaign will be a genuine review from a genuine customer.
Is RebateKey allowed?
Again, it is 100% legitimate because it has nothing to do with creating a review. All the Amazon and Amazon Prime platform restrictions on such services relate to creating reviews, not offering reduced prices.
How do I sell on RebateKey?
To sum up, here is a step-by-step guide on how to sell on RebateKey:
- Create a RebateKey account, and set up the rebate campaign, including prices.
- Publish and promote your rebate campaign to increase purchases.
- Approve all legitimate rebates generated by RebateKey.
- RebateKey now does all the work and mails the checks out.
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