Rebate
redux
Costco offers new
online rebate option
BY WILLIAM FIFIELD
Rebates, thosemoney-savingallow- One stop for all The list is organized by state, so if
ances offered on selected prod- Tales of rebate delays from frustrated you’re planning a road trip or vacation, you
ucts, can turn a great price on members led to the creation of this new pro- can plan ahead while you travel to purchase
something you find at your local gram. It all started about two years ago, items that have rebates. To access the list,
Costco warehouse into an unbe- when Costco dramatically simplified the go to the “Rebates” section of
costco.com,
lievable deal. Most rebates at process of redeeming rebates with its One- then scroll down to “Shop.” Select the states
Costco are worth at least 20 percent of the Stop Rebate program. That’s when Costco you wish, then click the appropriate ware-priceoftheproducts. began printing rebates at the bottom of houses. IC
But if they’re too difficult to redeem, receipts. This point-of-sale system was, and
where’s the value? That’s why Costco has is, a huge success.
made the process simple. Now members can “The industry standard for rebate
submit their rebates online at
costco.com. redemption is between 2 and 15 percent,”
explains Lori Zipp-Smith, Costco’s manager
of member rebates. “The redemption rate of
our One-Stop program is as high as 98
percent. The higher the rebate, the higher the
redemption.”
Savings from
the Costco rebate
program quickly
add up.
PHOTODISC
Here’s how to
submit a rebate:
1. Click “Rebates” on the
costco.com
home page.
2. Click “Submit.”
The new Online Rebate program makes
redeeming rebates even easier. “In addition to
shaving about a week’s processing time off
the mail-in One-Stop program and saving
members the cost of postage, the online
rebate program is more accurate,” explains
Lori. “Because members type their address
and information onto a form, there’s much
less chance of misinterpreting handwritten
information.”
3. Type in your rebate information (
printed on your receipt) on the five-page
form. When finished with one page,
click “Next.”
4. Review and print a copy of your
submitted rebate.
Added security
To check the status
of an online rebate:
Lori says that submitting rebates online
also leaves less chance for fraud. “When a
member submits a rebate online, their purchase information goes through special validation,” she says. “These additional steps
make the process that much more secure.”
1. Click “Rebates” on the
costco.com
home page.
2. Scroll down to the “For information
about a rebate you have submitted”
heading and select “Status.”
This program also includes a link that
lists all of the rebates available at all Costco
warehouses in the United States.
