Rebates... Get The 411

 

With my big trip planned for CVS this weekend I want to share some info because all of my transactions count toward one of 3 rebates that I am doing...
 
I wanted to cover rebates. There are quite a few out there right now and are an awesome opportunity to make money.

There are several points I want to cover with them:

• Participating products
• Rebate dates/ Submit by date
• Transaction versus Transactions
• UPC's
• ONE REBATE PER HOUSEHOLD unless otherwise specified!

So the first thing is participating products. All rebates will have a list of products that are included in the rebate.  MOST rebates include all products made by that manufacture. Some only include certain products, sizes, flavors, etc.. so be sure you are purchasing the correct items for your rebate by all specifications, otherwise your rebate will be denied by the company and you will not get your receipts back to submit for another rebate.
EXAMPLE: Currently there are approximately 4 rebates being offer by Proctor and Gamble. Two of these rebates include ALL P&G products, the other two only include beauty items such as Olay, Venus, Pantene, etc... So again be sure you know what products are included and plan accordingly.

Second, rebate dates and submit by dates. These are NOT the same thing. Rebate dates are the dates between which your products must be purchased. The submit by date is usually a week after the rebate end date and is the date by which your rebate MUST BE POST MARKED in order to be qualified for the rebate. ****Remember to ALWAYS COPY YOUR RECEIPTS*** before you send them into the manufacture for any rebate. On the off chance you get a letter saying we did not receive a receipt for this or that you can go back in your records and provide them with the information needed to complete your rebate. And I always mark the rebate name and date I sent it out for my own records.

Third, items must be purchased in one transaction versus multiple transactions. Some rebates require all products to be purchased in one single transaction and must appear on one single receipt in order to be considered for the rebate reimbursement. Others will let you break those items up into several different transactions making it easier to obtain the necessary amount over a longer period of time rather than in one single trip. So please be sure to read your rebate forms thoroughly before you complete a transaction or transactions for a rebate.

If a rebate requires you to submit UPC's they usually require them one of two ways. They will either ask for the original UPC's to be removed from the product and sent to them, this means ALL upc's must be included with the rebate form, or they will ask you to write them in on the rebate form. If you purchase multiples of an item for instance shampoo or conditioner you must still list EACH UPC on the form. If you run out of space you are allowed to include an additional piece of paper with the remaining UPC's on it.

Unless otherwise specified you are permitted to submit for ONE rebate per household. If you send an additional to the same address it will be bumped from their system and you will not get your receipts back.


***** Please please always read your rebates when selecting products... I realized that I bought the wrong product for one and will be re doing it because it is for kitty litter so it isn't the end of the world but now it is on hold for a few weeks!


So, now to cover my plans for CVS this weekend (I shop Saturdays after work)  I am a very visual person so I had to get creative to figure this out because 2 rebates require that 40 be spent all in one transaction and the other is 50 in multiple transactions, I wanted to make sure I had the right items with the right rebates.   Part of which I have already gotten so I needed to figure this all out...

So here is how I did it

I took post-its and wrote out each item and quantity, along with what the coupons that I will use on that product, this allowed me to manipulate them around to match the right items with the right rebate.  I was then able to easily calculate my out of pocket for them as well!   Each sheet of paper is a rebate except one which is on 2 sheets, so here is what I will get;

Transaction 1

• (2) Oral-B spin brushes
• (2) Oral-B tooth brushes
• (1) Always panty liners 
• (1) Tampax Pearl 
• (1) Tampax Radiant
• (1) Venus Olay   
• (1) Cover Girl Eye shadow 

Spending $16 in ECB and $1.66 on a gift card getting back $15.00 ECB

Transaction 2

• (2) Venus Olay

Pay $13.00 in ECB and $1.05 on a gift card getting back $10.00 ECB

Transaction 3

• (1) Tide
• (2) Pampers
• (1) Bounty Paper Towels
• (1) Charmin

Spend $21.00 in ECB and $1.05 on a gift card

I will submit 3 rebates for $10.00 each which has me about $5.00 ahead and I can spend that money anywhere!