Many of you are familiar with the situation: You buy an item advertised on discount, provided you send in a copy of the receipt and the product UPC. Problem is, once they leave your hands, there is no compulsion for the rebate provider to actually receive your submission.

The stores and companies conspire to provide rebates with full intention of not honoring the majority of them. Some customers simply do not follow through, yes, but when the rebate centers have everything you need to prove that you submitted anything whatsoever, the loss is yours alone. Also, you are not given any of the interest which has accrued between when you buy an item and when you receive the rebate, which is usually upwards of 6 weeks. Your rebate is in effect a free short-term loan (with the greater possibility of being indefinite).

Another important reason to ban rebates is that the UPC is needed to return a faulty or defective product. With the UPC firmly misplaced by another party, you have no recourse should the product not live up to its name.