This is effin awesome. I'm going to be plunking down a nice hunk of change to upgrade to Adobe CS5 pretty soon. This will come in handy for sure!
Thanks!
What's the catch?
That's a rhetorical question, please don't answer it. If you can get 8% off of something you would have paid the full price for that's great. But 'they' have ulterior motives, so read the small print, ask yourself if you are being manipulated.
That's a rhetorical question, please don't answer it.
What's the catch?
That's a rhetorical question, please don't answer it. If you can get 8% off of something you would have paid the full price for that's great. But 'they' have ulterior motives, so read the small print, ask yourself if you are being manipulated.
What does the small print say??
No idea, I've just become very cynical over the years. I avoid schemes that try to manipulate me, even if it costs me money. When somebody offers me something for nothing, I suspect there's a catch until proven otherwise.
No idea, I've just become very cynical over the years. I avoid schemes that try to manipulate me, even if it costs me money. When somebody offers me something for nothing, I suspect there's a catch until proven otherwise.
I'm there with you. I usually would rather just pay a competitive fair price than have to work at finding the rock bottom price from a vendor that I have no history with. I didn't scour the Bing fine print and probably should have. I just figured that the catch was the followingDoes Microsoft pay the rebate enitrely or does the retailer have to chip in some as well?
- Gets you to use Bing
- Microsoft gets no bull**** hard data about your purchasing habits across the entire spectrum of marketplaces
- Your usage might pad some stats for Microsoft that they can leverage to get more favorable terms with retailers later
I bought a portable hard drive and I wasn't able to use my credit card on it through PayPal. Someone out there is probably claiming part of the fee that would normally go to the credit card company.
I know I'm probably going to pay for this eventually in some way whether directly or indirectly. The question is if I'll end up paying for this behavior even if I don't get the deal.
Also, if this hurts retailers that I favor, I'm not going to make it a habit.
Why weren't you able to use your credit card through Paypal?? Was it an Ebay purchase?
I think if Bing cashback hurt ebay sellers, it would be mentioned somewhere. So far after 100 or so purchases through Bing, I haven't heard anyone complain to me.I imagine eBay/PayPal are key partners of Microsoft in this so perhaps eBay is picking up the tab for your discount on eBay purchases, but you have to wonder what the terms are for the other retailers outside of eBay.
Just thought I'd share Bing cashback with fellow Geekhackers. It's not like it's a big scam or anything??
TigerDirect.com didn't seem to give me a credit card through PayPal option. Maybe it was there and PayPal hid it in a new place.
I imagine eBay/PayPal are key partners of Microsoft in this so perhaps eBay is picking up the tab for your discount on eBay purchases, but you have to wonder what the terms are for the other retailers outside of eBay.
I don't think anyone was suggesting it's a scam, but more of a buyer beware kind of situation in which you are likely to end up paying for your free lunch whether directly or indirectly in the long haul.
You have to admit, it does come close to sounding too good to be true and that's always a reason to move ahead with caution.
Google searching bing scam I found this:
http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/is_bing_cashback_costing_users_money_sometimes_yes.php (http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/is_bing_cashback_costing_users_money_sometimes_yes.php)
Also saw some complaints about people using the service and it not functioning so they didn't get the rebate. There is also the obligatory http://bingcashbackscam.com/ (http://bingcashbackscam.com/). Looking through it I couldn't even see why it was set up in the first place, just looks like someone needed a domain to hate the service in. I USED BING CASH BACK AND IT LEFT THE NEXT MORNING AND NEVER RETURNED MY CALLS.
How is the discount applied? A PayPal coupon code, adjusted total in checkout, or a separate payment back to your PayPal account after checking out?
Don't use your cashback rewards on small purchases though, because you're limited to 100 on Ebay. I used all of mine up without realizing there was a limit.
Didn't know that. Thanks for the info. I probably have 30 this year so far on ebay. Mostly keyboards LOL.
The question is whether this is simply a very aggressive way for Microsoft to gain marketshare for their search engine and place a check on the growth of Google Checkout at the same time or is the data being collected going to end up toward some sinister end somewhere down the road?
Or perhaps Microsoft already understands something about the people who would be attracted to this that the rest of us don't. For example, when I buy something through a discount program, they're things that have been on my shopping list for months or they're things I really need urgently. They money I get back almost never turns into an unplanned purchase. I'm probably not a very valuable user to them unless the cost of giving me a discount is that I have a friend, skcheng, who finds out about it through me and he's likely to think of other things he could now buy with the extra money he got back.
Of course, the scenario unfolded in reverse in this case, but it's a plausible objective and one that I'd be comfortable with if it was part of the rationale for the service because then my participation may give MS some market research, but otherwise won't come back to silently bite me a year or two from now. My modest savings would be subsidized by the extra shopping that Chenger's doing.
Google Checkout is a completely different product from Bing Cashback. Apples and oranges.
I'm not sure why the data collected is any more sinister than data collected for normal searches or the data collected for any of Microsoft's more popular web destinations... it's worth pointing out that Bing has a 6-month data retention policy (http://gigaom.com/2010/01/19/microsoft-reduces-bings-personal-data-retention-profile/), beating out Google's 9 months.
I'm not sure why the data collected is any more sinister than data collected for normal searches or the data collected for any of Microsoft's more popular web destinations...
I'm not understanding something here.
I go to the appropriate Bing page, sign in with my Live account, find eBay in the list...but if I click go to store it takes me to ebay.com. Why am I not seeing a list of products available on ebay on bing? Am I supposed to search for a product I want then try to find one of it on ebay instead? If so that's crap.
I don't use ebay to find specific items, I use ebay to find contents of particular categories and buy items that interest me. Bing doesn't seem to be applicable to this type of usage.
I don't use ebay to find specific items, I use ebay to find contents of particular categories and buy items that interest me. Bing doesn't seem to be applicable to this type of usage.
Yeah I think it does (help, that is - you ninja-doubleposted)
In this usage method you've described, it's basically cheating bing, correct? Since you aren't actually using bing to search for the product you ultimately want...
As long as it works, it's good in my book. I really like ebay's search and filtering facilities as they are and I hate "more intuitive" search engines because they screw with the results I expect to get.
In this usage method you've described, it's basically cheating bing, correct?
What happens if you automated snipe on Ebay?
I'll just stick to my 1% automatic cash back credit card. I'm lazy. Plus, I KNOW my credit card company is evil.
MS/Bing are working with eBay/Paypal, and this is pushing up prices one way another so you are getting an 8% discount on an artificially inflated price, so other people are losing out even if you aren't. I prefer not to be a collaborator.)
In this usage method you've described, it's basically cheating bing, correct? Since you aren't actually using bing to search for the product you ultimately want...
chase has a 5% cashback credit card, incidentally ;)
We are all paying for that 5% cashback reward. Ray is right about that one. A chunk of that cashback is coming from the merchant who is getting charged higher fees whenever you use that card as opposed to a Visa card with no cashback benefits. Over time, that likely translates into a need to bump up the prices a little elsewhere to keep the doors open.
I don't pay by credit card at mom n' pop shops if I can help it anymore. I try to remember to bring cash and a checkbook. I'd rather that more of my money stays with them and less of it goes to the bank. If that means that I end up losing $5 in air miles and the shop gets to avoid $5 in fees, I'm fine with that.
The age of extra bonus reward cards as we know it may be coming to an end in the US. In some legislation getting worked on in the financial reform overhaul, it dilutes the power of credit card companies' power to impose terms and charges on merchants. Businesses may start charging one price for cash purchases and a special price indexed against the cost of supporting certain credit cards.
I've already seen a store or two offering their customers a discount for making their purchases in cash.
I'm of the same mind as Ray when it comes to psychological schemes to get me to feel good about spending more money. Screw the horse and pony show. I just want a fair price, but I'm not going to opt out all the time because I don't believe the problem will go away if I refuse to play... at least when it comes to the Internet marketplace. If we're talking about the local marketplace, it's a different story.
Pay the bill monthly on time every month and you are basically screwing over the credit card company.
Show Image(http://images.askmen.com/entertainment/movie/1243370990_rental-pick-glengarry-glen-ross_1.jpg)
;) Lol, Ok, in the pepsodent example above, replace Ray's name with yours :-D Seriously thats what youre saying ultimately. And thats fine, a lot of people also put their cash in their mattresses and only buy locally. Some of that is noble, some of it can be quite flakey and paranoid. I guess i'm not there yet. I'll take the cashbacks and i'll buy pepsodent on sale :)
You read all that? I just look at the pictures.
Where Ray's point and mine splits is that it appears that he'll opt-out on principle. I'm not convinced that opting out on principle always has an effect so I'll pick and choose when I choose not to play the game. I may feel infantalized by all the games played to get to me overestimate the real price of something that's on "discount", but I accept it as something you just have to put up with.
I just don't think that will happen and as I explained above, I see strategic reasons for why Microsoft would want to do this in their fight against Google.
The Pepsodent story is silly in the context of anonymous chain retail and Internet retail, but in the context of local shopping it might not be so idiotic.
Not every retailer competes on price alone and I appreciate the value and convenience of a good store with people I trust and fair pricing across the board so I'll pay a little extra even if I could get it cheaper online or down the street at some place that doesn't treat me like a human being.
There's a difference between being a Pepsodent chump and using your money to support things like trust and service that have intangible value to you.
OK then. Pictorial proof that things aren't always what they seem at first glance:
What happens if you automated snipe on Ebay? Sounds like Bing has to be tracking your logon and search somehow.
I'll just stick to my 1% automatic cash back credit card. I'm lazy. Plus, I KNOW my credit card company is evil.
We are all paying for that 5% cashback reward. Ray is right about that one. A chunk of that cashback is coming from the merchant who is getting charged higher fees whenever you use that card as opposed to a Visa card with no cashback benefits. Over time, that likely translates into a need to bump up the prices a little elsewhere to keep the doors open.
I don't pay by credit card at mom n' pop shops if I can help it anymore. I try to remember to bring cash and a checkbook. I'd rather that more of my money stays with them and less of it goes to the bank. If that means that I end up losing $5 in air miles and the shop gets to avoid $5 in fees, I'm fine with that.
The age of extra bonus reward cards as we know it may be coming to an end in the US. In some legislation getting worked on in the financial reform overhaul, it dilutes the power of credit card companies' power to impose terms and charges on merchants. Businesses may start charging one price for cash purchases and a special price indexed against the cost of supporting certain credit cards.
I've already seen a store or two offering their customers a discount for making their purchases in cash.
I'm of the same mind as Ray when it comes to psychological schemes to get me to feel good about spending more money. Screw the dog and pony show. I just want a fair price, but I'm not going to opt out all the time because I don't believe the problem will go away if I refuse to play... at least when it comes to the Internet marketplace. If we're talking about the local marketplace, it's a different story.
My son's orthodontist discounts for cash up front.
And "Buy It Now" is no fun. Sniping someone 5 seconds before Auction close is fun. I'm too lazy to do the whole Bing search thing.
Microsoft's new Internet search engine Bing slightly increased its share of the US search market in January, the eighth month in a row of modest gains, online tracking firm comScore said Wednesday.
Bing's share of the US search market rose to 11.3 percent in January from 10.7 percent in December, comScore said, while its search partner Yahoo! saw its share dip from 17.3 percent to 17.0 percent.
Google remained the overwhelming leader of the lucrative US search and advertising market last month although its share fell to 65.4 percent in January from 65.7 percent in December.
I like Urban Dictionary's definition.
I bought a Logitech mouse a few minutes ago on Ebay Buy-It-Now PayPal. The seller went to great lengths point by point to explain Bing CashBack and how to use it on his listing. It seemed that he was getting paid to promote it. The sale was $19.45 for an RX1500 mouse, so even though I took several of the steps, I ultimately blew it off. A larger purchase could have swayed me.
I'll try Bing, you guys are so positive about it.
I use Bing almost exclusively for their cashback. :)
I'll try Bing, you guys are so positive about it.
I AM lazy. Don't even use coupons at the store.
Drives my mother nuts.
>[/youtube]
Do any porn sites take Bing?
I'm self-employed, which by definition means I'm a professional skinflint gambler. :)
I think we're looking too negatively at the picture here. It's very simple. You and I both purchase the same item on sale at Tiger Direct. We both pay with Paypal. You pay X amount directly. I pay (X - 12-15%) just by going through Bing.com. Nothing dishonest or illegal. If I can save some.....I just might spend more. If Tiger Direct doesn't like dealing with Bing.com, then they can refuse to do so. I'm quite certain that the Bing cashback has created more sales for Tiger Direct. Wouldn't you agree to at least that point?? It's a voluntary partnership.I don't think we're actually debating anything here. I'm actually in agreement with what you're saying and I grudgingly accept that this is the way it is. I say grudgingly because what TigerDirect.com does is their business, but I'm just not a fan of discount culture even though I'm probably no more likely to pay a penny more for something online than you would if I can help it. I want to save money, but don't want to be forced into a chess match to do so.
But if you don't feel comfortable with all of this......simply don't use it. No big deal. And total disclaimer here: I do not work for Microsoft or have any affiliation with Bing.com or Bing cashback. I just wanted to pass along some savings to fellow Geekhackers who might like purchasing Buy It Now items listed on Ebay with Paypal. That's all :)I think somewhere in this thread it got misunderstood that I was uncomfortable with using Bing Cashback. I just wanted to know what the reasoning behind the free lunch was. As someone who lived and died the dot-com Internet boom and bust revolution as a very active agent of change, I'm suspicious, but mostly intensely curious of the real rationales behind campaigns that appear to be leveraging Y2K marketing strategies on the surface.
I bought whatever I felt like eating. Usually, chips, beer, ice pops......the essentials.
Chips have lots of MSG, which, passes through your "blood brain barrier", causes bad headaches and strokes. Also can make some people fat (hasn't had any effect on me but killer headaches and temporary vision loss). I ate two large bags of old dutch chips straight, just wanted to see what would happen...
And I thank you that I'm probably going to save around $100 on stuff that I needed to buy and that I would have had to buy from otherwise nameless online retailers anyway.
Chips have lots of MSG, which, passes through your "blood brain barrier", causes bad headaches and strokes. Also can make some people fat (hasn't had any effect on me but killer headaches and temporary vision loss). I ate two large bags of old dutch chips straight, just wanted to see what would happen... not a good idea ha.
Popsicles are usually just frozen artificial flavours :)
Itlnstln knows a thing or two about how REAL homemade food is SO MUCH BETTER. Italian recipies are some of the best. I like Greek food too.
Junkfood is for the uninformed.
I AM lazy. Don't even use coupons at the store.
Drives my mother nuts.
>[/youtube]
Do any porn sites take Bing?
You mean like buying multiple keyboards and RMAing them all?
Just saying. The practice raises the cost for EVERYBODY.
I have absolutely NO idea what you guys are talking about. I don't think I've ever returned anything in my life. I'm not kidding....
Can we puhleeez stick to Bing Cashback on this thread?? So far, Welly likes it, Raj thinks it's evil internet propaganda designed to destroy us all, Hyperlink is caving in to save some hard earned dollars, Ripster is flat out too lazy and RICH to be bothered. I'm not sure where itlnstln stands other than the fact that he can find no good food in San Antonio.
Anyone else???? I just used my Bing Cashback to buy this since I don't have one yet.
IBM 1390131 Clicky (http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=400121632669&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT)
Saved myself $2.52 which is already in my Paypal account. Now I can call up Chuck to order another colored keycap :)
I promise to stay on topic in this thread if SKCheng and Welly stop polluting the rest of Geekhack with "BING this" and "BING that".
You guys are the pawns of Steve Ballmer. Good guerrilla marketing but annoying nonetheless.
I promise to stay on topic in this thread if SKCheng and Welly stop polluting the rest of Geekhack with "BING this" and "BING that".
You guys are the pawns of Steve Ballmer. Good guerrilla marketing but annoying nonetheless.
I thought it was kinda funny they were discussing the benefits of this for MS or lack of such, while mentioning Bing on an unrelated forum a thousand times. Reminds me of that Apple spammer.
Do NOT delete the thread. All I'm asking is there's no need to keep referring to it on EVERY Ebay auction. Occasional references to a store that HAPPENS to be on Bing like Newegg is OK too - I didn't know about that particular option for example until you started the thread. Fine to point out in moderation.
Welly, Webwit and I kid around a lot. Reminds me of the dog park I go to every day where the dogs greet each other by sniffing each other's butts.
went to the dawgs?
Anyway, i've moved on to big nosed italians.Show Image(http://www.canmag.com/images/front/tv/glee3.jpg)
wish fox wasn't such a copyright stickler on youtube videos or i'd be posting those all the time.
she graduated from tenafly high which is across the street from my office.
I like quinn. The ex-prez of the chastity club.Show Image(http://static.tvguide.com/mediabin/galleries/shows/g_l/gi_gp/glee/season1/glee68.jpg)
Do NOT delete the thread. All I'm asking is there's no need to keep referring to it on EVERY Ebay auction.
Chips have lots of MSG, which, passes through your "blood brain barrier", causes bad headaches and strokes.
...
Junkfood is for the uninformed.
(Joking aside, if I was a young person I would never use fluoride toothpaste.)
Just a little tidbit of info, just tried this on an item that had an existing 10% discount. Can't combine the two, unfortunately.
However, this is abnormally simple. I like it.
This is how you know you've arrived at eBay via bing and will receive cashback:Show Image(http://geekhack.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=10233&stc=1&d=1274553480)
Actually, you can combine the two. It was a seller 10% discount right? Should work?? As long as it wasn't a Best Offer discount. Then it doesn't work.
http://www.discoverbing.com/cashback/programupdate/index.html?fbid=73wWh-9x5BO&wom=true
Dear valued cashback customer:
We are writing to notify you that the Bing cashback program will be discontinued, and the last day to earn cash back on your Bing Shopping purchases will be July 30, 2010.
Until July 30, 2010 9:00 pm PST, it's business as usual so continue to take advantage of great offers from your favorite merchants. You can redeem all of your earned cashback savings consistent with the cashback terms and conditions and access the Bing cashback customer support system through July 30, 2011. We encourage you to redeem your cashback savings and to further support redemption, we are waiving the $5 minimum payout effective July 31, 2010. To assist with prompt delivery of your cashback earnings, please visit http://cashbackaccount.bing.com to ensure your account information is current. For more details and answers to your questions, please visit our frequently asked questions page.
Thank you very much for being a loyal cashback user. We remain committed to delivering great value to our customers, and we are currently working on an exciting new program which you will hear more about from us later this summer.
Sincerely,
Bing cashback team
Bing! Time's up Welly... and you're late by 2 weeks.
Welly, you've fallen off the wagon.
"One won't hurt you."
"Everybody does it."
"You can quit any time."
bing is still working though... they havent turned off the spigot yet.
It goes dark on July 30th.
Microsoft could have saved the program by marketing it better.
so i have 2 more weeks to buy all I can, lol.
I'm still not sure how MS could make money at this even if it does get wildly popular. I wrote earlier in this thread about some possible strategic motivations, but I don't see a revenue model here.
I'll decide on your next purchase for you Welly... a calendar.
I don't see a revenue model here.
thats probably why they're shutting down, to be honest. I'm sure they've run the numbers on this promotion and made an economic decision. Ultimately the numbers have to make sense else companies wont do it.
tho i also agree that they probably made some strategic mistakes (bad marketing etc) which affected those numbers.
They're giving up a program that had a working revenue model when they acquired it and could very well be saved.
I can see how that would work as a business, but it really doesn't make any sense for Microsoft unless they use it as a way toIt makes no sense for Microsoft to crawl into a totally unrelated market to their core competency and start a discount deal brokerage. If it's integrally tied to their search engine, then it makes sense, but not as business in of itself.
- help Bing gain market share
- reduce the dominance of AdWords as the online advertising channel of choice for many vendors
I'm disappointed. I was hoping there would be some secret business strategy in all this that would make this very interesting to dig into.
That's what they were hoping, but they implemented it in a totally wrong fashion
They already paid a few million for Jellyfish. Why flush it down the toilet?
Oh, was Bing just Jellyfish reborn as Bing Cashback?
I think they also got caught doing this at the wrong time. Retail vendors have been increasing their griping about the amount of money they they're having to pay in fees to specialty cards with exotic reward systems.
Once everyone stopped spending money they didn't have, businesses that were sustained by volume alone really came undone. I suppose that would include the Bing network.
The bigger problem is that MS knows what it wants to be internet kings, but they have no cohesive strategy to do so that they're implementing.
It seems that perhaps Microsoft got too large for its own good. With the success of the iPad, there are all these stories coming out about how Bill Gates beat Steve Jobs to the punch (at least publicly) on having a tablet computing strategy, but yet could not come up with a viable product. Along with that all the stories about how vicious politics at Microsoft is.
Then again, it's always easy to attribute a cause to a result in hindsight and maybe their size had nothing to do with all the stumbling they've done in recent years.
MS can't win because its size gets in the way. They need to restructure some of the groups internally.