RebateKey Payment Issues

There is a developing story with RebateKey payment issues that I wanted to alert you to. I know many people in the miles and points world use RebateKey as a way to rack up some credit card spend. People using the platform goes well beyond just us though, and it appears that there is a lot of smoke coming out of RebateKey. I'll go over what exactly RebateKey is and then go over some of the issues we are seeing right now. Suffice to say, if you are a RebateKey user I would encourage to stop using the platform. At least until we see some movement on things. I reached out to them last week asking for a comment on their payment issues but did not hear back.

Update 9/9/24

I have an update for everyone on this situation. I received a few data points that once they switched their payment set up to PayPal they were paid a few days later. This was an option many wanted to avoid, but it seems like it is your best option to get paid. There must be some type of issue with their bank account that issues checks etc. This is a similar experience to what I had in the past, PayPal working a ton more smoothly than check payments.

What Is RebateKey?

RebateKey is a program that is like those old school mail in rebates stores used to have, but without all of the hassle. Where those old rebtate programs were a bit cumbersome, RebateKey set to streamline things. Those old school rebates were intended to get you to purchase an item because of the lower advertised rebate price, but they really hoped you wouldn't jump through the hoops required to redeem it. The stores hoped to cause breakage by requiring you to go through a few steps and mail it in.

RebateKey set their system up in a way where you just needed to copy and paste your order confirmation number on their site and then you would get the rebate a month or so later. Sellers from Amazon, Walmart, Etsy and companies' own private sites would list their products on RebateKey showing what discounts you could get. The sellers would then confirm the purchase (assuming you didn't return it) and you would get paid by RebateKey 5 weeks or so later. It was a pretty easy process that mostly went off without a hitch for the last 6 or 7 years.

Why Do Sellers List Items On RebateKey?

At this point you may be thinking, this sounds too good to be true – why would sellers list items on RebateKey? They do this in order to try to increase their rankings on the selling sites like Amazon and Walmart. Getting on the first page of searches, or even the coveted buy box, is a huge deal for these sellers. They are willing to give away some free / heavily discounted items in order to increase their chances of this happening. The thinking is this will pay for itself in the long run with better search placement.

Another angle is sellers often reach out asking for reviews of their products after the fact too. Writing a review is not required on your part when buying through RebateKey, but I am sure enough people do it that make it another plus for sellers.

My Experience With RebateKey

I used RebateKey for several years in the past. They had some interesting items from time to time, but it was a great way to rack up some credit card spend on Amazon etc. often without coming out of pocket for it. I was able to get some toys for the kids, fun gifts for work white elephant gift exchanges etc. and even found a few useful items for ourselves. Some of the more notable things were a drink smoking kit, a neck hammock, supplements, vitamins and the like.

RebateKey really blew up in the miles & points community when an infamous supplement supplier started listing products for a 100% rebate at higher than normal costs. It wasn't so widely different from other 100% rebate supplements that we saw on the site before, or after, but the prices were 2x – 3x higher so people flocked to the free spend. It turns out this company was trying to inflate their sales, and it ended badly a few years later. That is a story for another day though.

Why Did I Stop Using RebateKey?

For myself, I stopped using RebateKey a few years ago. With the newer PayPal reporting rules rolling out for taxes I didn't want to have an issue with a PayPal 1099 for something that wasn't income. Because of that I switched to paper checks to avoid any potential headaches come tax filing season. It seems like a lot of others did this as well, and I don't think RebateKey was ready for it.

Payments became a little delayed, and there were even reports of some checks bouncing if deposited in the afternoon. This was never an issue with PayPal payments, so I figured it was the change in the process causing much of these issues. In an overabundance of caution, seeing a few bounced checks hit people's accounts was enough for me to say goodbye forever though. I didn't hear much else about payment issues though, that is until these recent payment delays.

What Is Going On With RebateKey Payments?

I was contacted by a few readers about these RebateKey payment issues and they were hoping to get the word out there for others. There are also reports across the web of payment issues. Hopefully we can put some pressure on RebateKey and get some sort of a resolution out of them as well, similar to what happened with MYS.

It appears that many RebateKey users have not received payment for their May, June or July purchases. This isn't bounced checks going out again; it is in fact no checks going out. When the June payments never came they said they would add it to the people's August payments. The problem is that July payments never went out either. And you guessed it – crickets in August for that double payment.

RebateKey has always sworn that they collect the money to pay for the rebates upfront, before even listing an item on their site. If that is true, then what is the problem? I really have no idea. They continue listing new products for sale, so the assumption is money is still coming in.

Where did it all go? Did they have a change in overhead costs? Are they having banking issues and their funds are locked up? Was this a ponzi scheme all along and the money coming in no longer matches what needs to go out? These are all questions that are going through people's heads, but the truth of the matter is we have no idea. That is because the communication coming out of RebateKey has been non existent.

RebateKey Payment Issues: ToP Thoughts

Where do you go from here? What do we do about these RebateKey payment issues. The first thing is to stop using the program ASAP if you haven't already. Throwing good money in after bad will not help things. If you have any items that are still within the return window on the site you purchased them from, I would return those for a refund now.

Hopefully we can get some sort of response from RebateKey about what exactly is going on. A chargeback with your credit card is not an option because you did receive the product you purchased. The rebate you were supposed to get is a totally different thing and is not an issue with the purchasing site.

You can file a report on RebateKey on the Better Business Bureau or Trust Pilot and you can write your local politician making them aware of these issues too. They are based in Sheridan, WY per their website. It may be worth reaching out to the local government there too. Hopefully putting some pressure gets us a resolution to the matter.