Official Luthiers Forum!

OK, this IS a relevant subject for would be tool buyers on ebay (and other places). I kept seeing it mentioned over as sawmillcreek. Apparently, MS is payinging rebates for purchases that originate through their new search engine. Call it a bribe or advertising cost. They also have a special deal with ebay offering up to 30% back.

Lets say I want a bandsaw, it costs $1000 (from Grizzly). I say grizzly since they have an ebay store. I go to www.live.com and seach for the saw. I see one of the returns as an ebay store, with the MS Cashback logo next to it. So I click the link. I Then see this new logo at the top of the ebay page. I also see the list of saws. It only works for "buy now" options. So I click on the saw I wanna look at. Then click the buy now button, then I see the amount to be refunded (30% or $200 max per purchase). If I like it, I finalize the deal and pay with Pay Pal. I have to have a MS Cashback account with MS (tied to the same email address as pay pal). I buy the tool at full asking price. 60-90 days later, MS Cashback refunds me the $200. No different then those mail in things.

There is a max per purchase ($200 rebate) and a total of 12 uses per year with rebate values not to exceed $2500 in one year.

Is this a bargain, or what?

Mike

Who/what is MS?

_________________
Aoibeann

Who else? Microsoft. This is for real. Go to www.live.com to learn more. Gonna buy a bandsaw, table saw, and drill press from Grizzly. I expect to save close to $600.

Mike

Don't do it! Microsoft is evil!
They're buying your soul!!!!

Thanks for the heads up Mike!

_________________
Billy Dean Thomas
Covina, CA

"Multi famam, conscientiam, pauci verentur."
(Many fear their reputation, few their conscience)

It's kind of funny. MS has this reputation, so folks are tending to be a bit leery of this deal. Yet, folks that I have spoken with (who have used the deal) say it works as advertized.

Mike

My first rebate should be hitting my paypal account in the next few days. I haven't taken them as deep as you, Mike, but they owe me for a router, a delta dust collector and a kitchen dishwasher. Can't beat free money. Here's a link to something I posted in the off topic section. It has a link to a consumer advocate type site with hundreds of posts about this program.

http://www.luthiersforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10112&t=18389

Bob, that fatwallet site is whacked! But, I did get the gist of it. Gonna buy a table saw and bandsaw before MS & Ebay come to there senses!!! What are you finding to be the time for the rebate to come through?

Mike

Mike,

You request payment from microsoft 60 days after the original purchase. (It's not sent automatically.) They respond saying that your payment is being processed and should hit your paypal account in x days. I can't remember but I think mine was 7-10 days. Yesterday was day 7 and it did not hit. I've heard that payment can be slow, but I believe legit transactions are being paid in full.

I'm feeling a little slow as I can't find any band saw's through ebay on there. Nothing more than a 6 or 7 % cashback. Maybe I'm just not searching right.

Darrin

I was able to get it to sort of work today. I created my account and live.com. Then I logged into live.com and did a search for Grizzly Band saw. It pulled up a link to eBay and I went there. At the top of the screen there was a little gold coin with a red ribbon that said

"Microsoft Cashback 25%. Buy It Now with PayPal and you may
get cashback."

Then as you search eBay that coin stays on the screen. I haven't gone any farther than that so I don't know how the rest works. The 25% (or if they bring the 30% back) brings the Ultimate 14inch band saw down to a pretty good price for a starter band saw. I just need to get spousal buy in (which isn't looking great right now).

I'm beginning to think there's something wrong with me. I've been looking all day and have not seen a single link to eBay. I've not seen a single Grizzly band saw. I signed up, logged in, the full meal deal and I can't seem to figure it out.



Darrin

You may be able to just do a search for ebay. When you do a search for Grizzly Band Saw it does not take you to a band saw in ebay you have to search again in ebay once you get there.

Go to Live.com. Search grizzly bandsaw ebay

One of the search results will be an ebay.com link with the cashback logo next to it. Click on that link. You should now see the cashback logo at the top of the ebay screen. Only applies to "buy now" items. Search for what ever you want. Click on that item. Click the "buy now" button. You have NOT commited to buy yet, but you will (should) see some info telling you how much cash back you will get if you make the purchase.

MIke

What browser are you using Darrin

_________________
My Facebook Guitar Page

"There's really no wrong way, as long as the results are what's desired." Charles Fox

"We have to constantly remind ourselves what we're doing....No Luthier is putting a man on the moon!" Harry Fleishman

"Generosity is always different in the eye of the person who didn't receive anything, but who wanted some." Waddy Thomson

How funny! Would not surprise me if MS made it so it only worked with Internet Explorer. Turd heads.

Mike

I think you do need Internet Explorer, but I'm not sure. And do the search from the main "LIVE SEARCH" box on the web page. I tried to do a search from inside the cash back section and got nothing.

I read something else where you had to do something with your pay pal or eBay account as well for it to process.

I'm using Internet Explorer. I'll try to search in the main search page instead of the cashback page.

Darrin

You MUST search from the main page. I do know that! Why? I have no idea. You do NOT need to do anything to your paypal account. You will need to create a live account, and tag your email address that you use for paypal.

You do not have to search for anything in particular (that I know of). Just something that will bring the ebay link up on live.com. Once back in ebay, you should see the cashback logo at the top. When I just did three purchases, I started over in a new window each time (starting from live.com). I did not do that the first time and by the time I got to the third item the logo was gone. Note that the ammount has dropped from 30% to 25%. This could dissappear at any momement. Luck for me I was in the market. The purchases should be sepparate to maximize return. If you buy all items from a single store, and they invoice you a single cost, then ungroup the purchase (there is abutton for that).

Mike

Well, this service is quirky at best and highly manipulated at worst. It looks like yesterday ebay took down the system, and it is now slowly coming back on line (info based on what I am reading on other boards). It also apears that MS is manipulating the search engine so that some searched items are coming up without cashback logo, and other items do show up with it (ipod, eg). It looks like you need to stay on top of key search words.

Mike

fmorelli, I am sure it will. Sorry it is bothering you. Yes, I saw Lance's post. However, on this board, my guess is that this particular forum sees most of the viewers. And saving 25% on tools is a relevant subject to this business. This is a big deal as long as it lasts and anything that can help people aspiring in this area is something all should be aware of.

For the life of me, I will never understand why people (normal posters, like you and me) post comments like what you posted.

Peace,

Mike

Actually this post saved me $200 on a nice 6" Wilton combo sanding machine I"d been dreaming about for awhile!!

Great post!

_________________
http://www.casperguitar.com

See! Congrats on your Wilton purchase. I got home about 4:30 with my major tool buy based on MS Casback.

Mike