April 13, 2009 | Comments Comments

Poll: Computer Systems: Should I include Mail-in rebates in the price?

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The poll for the next two weeks (Up to Sunday the 26th) is:
[poll id="8"]

Here’s how I got the idea for this poll:
RatFink, a commenter on the $500 Gaming PC , asked me to stop including mail-in rebates into the price of parts for the computer systems.

Right now, I DO include such rebates in prices. It’s an interesting question and I’d like to have your opinion on it. As for myself, I’ve heard of a few people having problems with mail-in rebates, but the vast majority get them with no problem, when the form is properly filled. Thus, the price is what you pay minus what you get back.

What do you think? Should I include Mail-in rebates in the price?
Tell me what you want by voting and then by commenting below!

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  • Mathieu
    Thank you everyone for your feedback, it's much appreciated! You can take a look at the results of the poll over here:
    http://www.hardware-revolution.com/poll-results...
  • I never consider rebates when buying parts. They are just too much of a hassle and gamble to be worth their while. I don't think I'm alone in that, and based on the comments, I'm clearly not alone. Listing build prices including MIRs doesn't realistically capture tech-savvy buyers' behavior, and therefore doesn't give accurate pricing.

    I would rather buy the part on sale for a mere $10 off than the same part at full price with a $30 rebate.
  • Rob
    I friggin hate rebates, and Tigerdirect is the worst!, to be fair they actually don't process their own rebates they instead farm that out to a 3rd party company called OnRebate. I once sent them three rebates in one envelope as all three items were on the same invoice, they approved 2 and denied 1 because they claim they never received the invoice, huh? I'm still scratching my head in how they managed to do that.
  • Everett
    When I come back three months from now (that's when I'll actually get around to building the --whatever-- computer the prices with rebates aren't going to be available to me. The actual prices may be better than your price, but I'll find that out soon enough.

    Then, of course, I'll have to spend my savings by going to look at your $1000. gaming rig. Where, by-the-way, I won't want to see the price with rebate either.

    ~weatherguy
  • Marlin
    No, I think it's better just to state the price before rebate, some manufacturers nit-pick and look for any reason not to issue a rebate check. I once received a refusal letter because the cashier where I bought the part misspelled my last name on the invoice. In addition to the hassle of filling out forms, photocopying receipts, cutting out UPC's and running to the post office you sometimes end up waiting months to get your money.
    also, most retailers (including Newegg)will not accept returns without the UPC. to me, this fact alone makes it not worth the hassle.
  • MIRs and sales are often fleeting things, and people using the guides to build their on equivalent machines may or may not be able to get such prices. With these special prices included the "$500 Gaming PC" is really a $600 market value machine.

    If someone follows you guide step by step they should be able to build a machine at exactly the same price (or less if part costs have gone down since publishing of the original guide), which is not guaranteed if when sales and MIRs may change or expire at any moment.
  • specialk
    Mail-in rebates suck a*s. Please do not use those!
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