I’ll be honest; I’ve always had a problem with rebates. I’m a consumer aware of price I’m paying, constantly wondering if my purchase is legitimate or there’s some hidden agenda motivating seller. Rebates seem to fit bill of a scam. After all, who wants to give something away for free, and how can you make money on that? While rebates can seem promising on surface, they rarely pan out. According to Peter Kastner, executive vice president of Aberdeen Group, only 40% of consumers submit rebates they are entitled to, 40% submit rebate and successfully get a check, and 20% have problems. You think they want you to redeem that rebate? Think again.

But despite difficulties of rebates and burden to redeem, they do offer an opportunity at great savings impossible to find elsewhere. A couple items of due diligence are required when using these cheap discounts. But first let’s explain some of deception involved.

At outset, merchants hope you won’t bother. It takes a lot of work to redeem a rebate, so be prepared. In addition, redemption process is made to be complicated. Who owes you your rebate, retailer or manufacturer? And tediousness in process will make you so fed up you’ll forget about your savings or give up in process, taking loss as a learning experience.

It happens over and over again. It has happened for many years with store-front businesses and mail-order opportunities. And it seems to be even worse with internet companies.

What is it? The “here today and gone tomorrow” syndrome! Now you see it … and doesn’t it look good? Now it’s gone … it flat disappeared, just like magic! What happened?

Possibly our “instant-thinking society” is largely to blame, along with a mixture of need and greed. We want fast foods, quick lubes, and instant cash!

And when it comes to making money on internet, we sure want to believe promises of instant success. Its easier to jump in with both feet and think we will get rich with no recruiting and no work, than it is to do our “homework” and dig into facts about offer. Hmmm….maybe some of these “opportunities” actually resemble a lottery.

In reality, what all too often happens, is that so-called “opportunity” was hype and company fails. As people begin to realize that they are not making money, and, perhaps, products are pretty much worthless, they start dropping out. Its like a domino effect…the people on bottom quit, then next group that is now on bottom quit, and this continues until so few people are left, that company can’t stay in business. If you happen to be an affiliate for that short-term company, you get burned!

What do you need to know to prevent this from happening to you?

You should start by finding out about company that you hope will pay you “nice bonus checks” some day. If info is not in their literature, ask questions.

I. How long has company been in business? Well over 90% of new companies will not survive even first two years! You need to acknowledge fact that if you choose to join one of “hot new ground floor” opportunities, no matter how good a promoter you have been, if company fails, you fail, too! Here’s a warning sign to heed: if a promoter tells you that you “need to get in early” or you will lose out, don’t even take a second look!