[Haiko de Poel, Jr.]

Avg cash back is like what 2%? pretty scary figure there. I'm sure they might actually have added in the coupon values ( they do have that level of tracing and info capability) but still even if half was just coupons / discounts, it's still a hefty sales number for that 1 month period.

Members of online shopping rebate site Ebates.com saved more than $1 million during the holiday shopping season by combining cash back with coupons and specials, the company reports, with category shifts in spending indicating that consumers are buying a broader variety of goods online.

Full Article

[Gordon]

It just shows how much the b*st*rds are stealing from us with the full assistance of CJ.

[Donuts]

Shame on CJ and others. Paying out that much for non-incremental sales hurts merchants a great deal. And as we all know, it also removes the incentives for true promotion as well.

[MichaelColey]

And what did it get the merchants? Sales that they likely would have received anyway.

[Mr. Sal]

Members of online shopping rebate site Ebates.com saved more than $1 million during the holiday shopping season by combining cash back with coupons and specials, the company reports, with category shifts in spending indicating that consumers are buying a broader variety of goods online.

..... from the same Article

The data were based on Ebates member spending from Black Friday through Christmas. Representing 9.9% of all member spending through Ebates, the consumer electronics category still accounted for the largest share among categories, but as a percentage of total spending, it dropped 2.1% from the same period last year. Business and office supplies at 8% of member spending dropped 3.1% from last year.

By contrast, spending in other categories gained as a percentage of total spending, with spending in apparel rising 1.6% from last year to represent 8.1% of Ebates holiday spending this year; home & garden gaining 1.1% to account for 8.1% of spending this year, and jewelry rising 1% to account for 6.9%.

So the bottom line is that some €bates members saved some money, €bates got more free publicity and many of us still got by €bates during that same period.

Sal.

[Leader]

Bleh

[Rexanne]

OK for the positive s

Online sales are looking better and better each year. That's cool! Stay with it, guys. We're in the right place. Might not be the right time but all our efforts and learning curves are behind us. Advantage: US!

Yeah, it sucks huge to know the leeches are drinking our blood but F*** 'em ... Weed out the propagators of the scum and stay alive. Next year, eb*tes members will *save* even more and we'll have made even more, too.

[Zeus]

Most of my merchants are not on eBates. None of my top performers are working with eBates. This year I was still able to keep a few of my indies out of the reach of eBates, they had a choice me of them. I don't know how long it's going to last but I'm not going to feed this monster.
Let your merchants know how eBates is stealing from them and other affiliates with their MMM.

[chetf]

I wish someone would write these articles that isn't a just an industry shill. Lets see the real numbers, not what ebates tells you.

I bet their members didn't save that much, that is BS. Considering they now count anyone with their crap installed, if they registered or not, a member, and when they did this accounting change, they installed tripled in size....

$10 says that article should read - Our Members could have saved $1 million, but most likely it is half or a third to that because we went back on a promise and now activate our software on computers that never registered with us, but we tricked into installing our software.... So we got a cut of comissions for doing nothing, didn't build brand loyalty, didn't help the merchant because we convert free traffic, didn't help the consumer, but we did screw over the consumer's pcs, slowed them down and made people hate shopping on the Internet.

Merry F'ing Christmas.

Of course we will never see an article like that, we have sites like Internet Retailer and rags like Revenue - RAH RAH Press Release!

Chet

[ecomcity]

Anyone ever get any figures on how many of those so called members, who have BHO's installed via hidden bundling and security exploits, get network merchant cookies stuffed via popups?? Can we assume 100% with a 100% profit margin to the BHO perps? They sure don't get paid squat in cash back rewards, and probably consider eBates -WhenU -Gator and other BHO email promos as unwanted spam. All network supported and endorsed BHO's are nothing more, or less, then a ROI killing blight and double dipping fee imposed by lazy merchant AM's seeking an immediate mass traffic reach... around. Don't fool yourself that the Feds and FTC know millions are being pocketed without any membership oversight and accounting from BHO activities.