During Black Friday every year, many retailers offer rebates that amount to getting hot ticket items for extremely low prices, sometimes even free. Some of the biggest providers of these discounts each year are the smaller-scale retailers like pharmacies and office supply stores. If you take the time out to use these rebates appropriately, you could be getting your holiday gifts for virtually nothing.
Rebates often get a bad rap, primarily because people fail to properly follow directions when applying for them. The desire for instantaneous gratification often forestalls our ability to understand why rebates are so critically important. However, organized, frugal shoppers will tell you that rebates can be an incredible way to get gifts for the upcoming holiday season for little or nothing.
For most rebates the only thing that you must do is keep up with the receipt, the rebate slip, and possibly the proof of purchase from the item. For many items it is possible to remove the required UPC or purchase proof without compromising the integrity of the package, with a very sharp knife or box cutter.
The big thing that you have to keep in mind is that you only have a limited amount of time to redeem your rebate. A good way to deal with this is by packing several envelopes, already filled out with your return address and stamped, along for the ride during Black Friday 2011. As you leave each store, go ahead and fill out the information that is required and prepare it for the mail. When you pass by the nearest post office, go ahead and drop those rebate letters in the postal box. This is a surefire way of making certain that you do not miss out on any of your awesome rebate deals. In around 6-8 weeks the rebate checks ought to begin rolling in.
Some rebates you should check out include appliances from Macy’s Black Friday that will be $9.99 following a mail in rebate, 50 packs of glossy printer paper which will be free after rebates from Staples, and titanium antivirus software which is also free following rebate redemption and also at Staples. Several other deals are available from websites like newegg.com and stores like CVS and Walgreens. Consumers should also be sure and check online to see if there is a way to sign up for rebates via the Internet, as many stores are making the switch to electronic transactions.