RebateKey Review: How to Drive Traffic and Drive Sales

Nicholas Godwin

September 15, 2022

You know the joy of discovering an item on your wish list on Amazon or another eCommerce store is on sale, right?

Well, it turns out there’s a science behind it. 

Coupons and discounts create happiness and reduce stress levels. 

It’s no joke. 

A study led by a Neuroeconomics professor at Claremont revealed how coupons and freebies increase users’ oxytocin levels, making them happier. 

Coca-Cola pioneered the strategy of using coupons to increase brand visibility and sales. In 1887 they shared the first-ever coupon

Little did they know how far the coupon industry would grow. 

About 92% of US shoppers search for coupons and discounts before purchasing any item online. 

It means only eight percent of buyers rarely search for offers.

RebateKey lets you offer rebates on your products to drive traffic to your listing. It’s perfect for driving product launches, feedback, and sales.

What are Rebates?

Let’s begin your journey by understanding rebates and how RebateKey works. 

I know rebates sound like promotional discounts, but they have significant differences. 

A (retail) rebate is a form of discount you offer your customers after purchasing your product. Your customers buy your product at the full price, and after a specified number of days, you refund part or all of the payment. 

On the other hand, your customers apply traditional discounts at the point of purchase to reduce the buying price and save money. The discounted price is visible at the time of sale and offers immediate satisfaction. 

However, rebates offer your consumers delayed gratification. 

It’s a retrospective payment that reduces the overall cost of your product for your users and boosts your sales and market share. 

Rebates improve your product and brand ranking better than traditional discounts since your customers pay the full price upfront. 

What is RebateKey?

RebateKey is a cloud-based rebate and coupon platform that offers value for buyers and sellers of a product or service. It provides users with amazing deals from multiple e-Commerce marketplaces. 

RebateKey works on platforms like Amazon, Shopify, Etsy, Walmart, eBay, and other online shops and brands.

RebateKey was initially launched in 2018 by a group of e-Commerce merchants to share their newest or best-selling products with customers. 

So, they partnered with the e-Commerce platforms mentioned earlier. 

RebateKey digitized the concept of mail-in product rebates and manages the process online by collecting rebate funds from sellers and paying buyers.

So, your customers can buy their favorite products for less while you promote your items and reach a wider audience. It’s a win-win situation for everyone involved. 

Your buyers will spread the word about your products if they believe they’ve gotten a great deal. 

How to Use RebateKey

The platform handles the process for both sellers and buyers. Consequently, it makes creating a rebate campaign relatively straightforward.  

Step 1: Create a Sellers’ Accoun

Sign up as a seller on RebateKey and provide the necessary details about your business. 

RebateKey has multiple signup options. You can create an account using your Facebook, Google, or Apple ID. 

You’d fill out the following information before proceeding to create a rebate campaign:

  • Brand name
  • Business address, city, and country
  • Contact email
  • Sales volume, and
  • Product type and categories

Once you’ve provided all the details, you can create your product campaign. 

Step 2: Create a Rebate Campaign

After setting up your account, you start working on the products you want to promote. 

First, head to your RebateKey dashboard and enter your item’s details. 

Campaign information includes:

  • Your product name and description (255 characters max.)
  • Category
  • Images
  • A unique product ID (it’ll prevent buyers from attempting multiple purchases of the same item)
  • The number of products you want to rebate
  • Campaign duration
  • Rebate percentage, and 
  • The marketplace or sites that sell your products

After creating your rebate campaign, you can preview your work to ensure everything goes smoothly. 

You’ll proceed to make payment when you’re ready to take your product live.  

Step 3: Set Up Payment

Before submitting your information to the RebateKey team to review, you’ll make a pre-payment for the first day of your rebate campaign. After that, approval takes 24 hours or more. 

Subsequently, RebateKey will charge you daily, based on your campaign settings. 

RebateKey uses multiple wallets for its payment system:

  • One wallet per rebate campaign and
  • A general wallet

Once you’re approved, your products become available on the platform. Buyers who signed up for RebateKey will see your products listed for their rebate price.

When your customers click on your items, a link sends them to your Amazon site to purchase the product at the original price. 

After purchasing an item on your site, your buyer has one hour to contact RebateKey. The team will review the purchase by inspecting the customer’s Order ID (their rebate key).

Presuming the rebate key is valid, the platform sends a check for the agreed rebate amount to the customer after 35 days. 

You have 35 days to approve the rebate or notify RebateKey of any product returns made after purchase.

Handling Disputes or Buyer Cancellations on RebateKey

RebateKey provides refunds for unclaimed rebates only at the end of your campaign. However, the platform doesn’t refund verified or claimed rebates. 

You can use your buyer’s order ID to confirm their purchase. RebateKey gives you five days to approve or dispute your customers’ rebates. 

The platform allows you to dispute a rebate if it falls under any of the following reasons:

  • The buyer returned your product
  • They forged the rebate key
  • The purchased product is different from what you posted
  • The customer canceled and got a refund 
  • They didn’t submit the rebate key
  • The customer purchased your product multiple times with the same account
  • They used other discount codes or coupons with your RebateKey offers

Inform the buyer through the platform’s messenger that you’ve declined their rebate and wait until the 35-day period ends. Then, ensure you do it before the system approves the order automatically. 

Canceling a Rebate Campaign on RebateKey

You can initiate as many campaigns as you like, as long as they apply to different products. 

RebateKey only allows one campaign per item. 

If something comes up and you want to cancel your rebates, go to your profile and select the “Campaigns” option. Then, click on the “End Campaign” button. 

RebateKey Benefits

RebateKey benefits range from generating organic traffic to brand visibility. Most users admire the platform for the features listed here. 

Let’s explore some of the pros of using RebateKey for your business.

1. It Increases Rankings and Boosts Sales

RebateKey helps you boost your full-price sales, which raises your Amazon ranking. 

You can attract more customers with your rebates and increase sales, especially for products that don’t move quickly.  

Buyers never miss an opportunity to save money while shopping, so you’ll have no issues finding customers. 

Using rebates reduces your cart abandonment rate and ensures your customers buy your products. 

2. Ease-of-Use

The platform is intuitive and easy to navigate. With a user-friendly dashboard, you can create your rebate campaign in just a few clicks.  

Some users reported increased productivity with their brands while using the platform. 

RebateKey also manages the entire process for you once you set up a rebate campaign. In addition, it easily integrates eCommerce platforms like Amazon, Shopify, Etsy, Walmart, and eBay.

3. Traffic Generation

Satisfied customers tend to share their experiences with their families and friends. So, you’ll get more visitors to your site if they love your rebates.

Every buyer that views your product listing on RebateKey gets redirected to your official Amazon or Shopify page for the full description. 

The more visitors to your site, the more organic traffic you generate.

And, if your customers love your product, you gain repeat customers. 

4. One-on-One Discount Ratio Per Product

The platform uses a rebate key or order ID to track each transaction. Sometimes these contain specific details such as shipment date or status.  

This feature allows you to reduce the chances of buyer fraud. For example, your customers can’t purchase a particular product more than once. They only get one rebate per item. 

Additionally, this strategy helps you increase your total sales volume and ensures all your product offerings have a fair chance. 

5. Free Promotion and Exposure

Word of mouth is an effective marketing tool. 

Coupons and sales promotions are one of the most effective tools for boosting customer satisfaction and increasing brand awareness. 

Your rebate campaign creates a win-win situation for everyone. Your buyers get items at a discount,, while your brand gets a larger and more engaged audience.  

For example, a rebate offering a full refund would entice a customer who wouldn't have considered buying your product earlier. And, if they love your brand, they’d come back for more.

6. Messaging Feature for Merchants and Sellers 

RebateKey allows you to contact your buyers directly via the internal messaging service on the platform. So, it doesn’t matter if they purchase an item through Walmart from San Diego or Amazon from Orlando.

You can communicate instantly with your customers to settle disputes or gain insight into your rebate campaign. 

The buyer could quickly inform you if they experience issues purchasing an item from your seller page, and you can act immediately to rectify the problem and continue the transaction. 

RebateKey Downsides

As with everything good, there’s always a downside.  

RebateKey has multiple benefits for sellers trying to promote their brands. However, it has a few setbacks too. 

So, let’s explore some of the drawbacks of this tool. 

1. Restricted Access to Other Countries

RebateKey hosts its services exclusively for users in the United States. Their services aren’t available in other countries. 

So, only buyers who live in the US can claim the rebates. This feature is limiting as it reduces your audience base when you could expand your reach globally. 

Since RebateKey mails the payments to buyers, it would be tough to include other countries. 

Until the platform evolves to include online payment options like PayPal or Stripe, their services are limited to the US. 

2. Limited Number of Items Per Campaign

RebateKey only contains one type of campaign per product for a specified period. Therefore, you can’t have multiple items under the same rebate plan. 

However, you can run several campaigns for different products. 

This rule indicates you’ll have to create and pay for multiple campaigns per product. So, for example, if you want to promote over 50 items on the website, you’ll run 50 unique rebate programs. 

You’ll spend more money on rebates, thanks to this feature.

3. Limited Approval Timeline

Most products have a limited timeline for approving the rebates. 

While the platform holds the refund for 30 days, you have five days to approve or dispute the transaction. 

You also have to review the products on time, or the platform automatically approves them. 

You’d have to ensure nothing happens within the 5-day period that prevents you from approving or canceling the order. 

If you overlook a last-minute cancellation on time, RebateKey still sends the payment to the buyer. 

4. Buyers Can’t Post Reviews

The platform warns sellers against requesting reviews from their buyers to comply with Amazon’s terms of service (TOS).

RebateKey will suspend the account of any seller caught trying to generate reviews through the platform.  

You can only interact with your customers for 60 days after purchasing your product. 

You can provide high-quality items and excellent services and hope your customers are happy to review your product at their own will. 

RebateKey Pricing

RebateKey allows you to pay for its services only if a buyer purchases your product. 

After that, you pay $2.95 per sale or claimed rebate.  

For example, if you give out ten rebates, you’ll pay $29.50 for the rebate campaign. The platform charges you based on the number of daily rebates you share. 

So, whenever a buyer claims a rebate, RebateKey charges your card to pay them. 

RebateKey Customer Support 

RebateKey offers customer support and a knowledge base for all sorts of inquiries. In addition, the help team is available 24/7 to assist you with any issues you might have while setting up your rebate campaign.  

You can also contact the team through RebateKey’s social media platforms by direct messaging or dropping comments on their posts.  

You can fill out the form on the “Contact Us” page if you have any problem you need the team to solve urgently.

RebateKey FAQs

Visit the helpdesk to find answers to frequently asked questions from other users. 

The section covers everything from how the site works to how to set up a rebate campaign. 

The resolved queries could help you solve potential issues ASAP without contacting RebateKey’s customer support.

Boost your Sales with RebateKey

RebateKey boasts a straightforward and easy-to-use platform for all its customers. 

The platform features up to 100% exclusive rebates from trusted sellers and works across multiple marketplaces. 

You can generate more traffic, improve product sales, and create a buzz around your brand by offering rebates and coupons.  

RebateKey allows you to build a customizable campaign with different options to increase your product sale and brand growth. 

If you have trouble with your business’ visibility or driving sales to your e-Commerce platform, you could use this tool. 

Overall, RebateKey looks like an investment worth exploring.