cashback offers

wijcc

wijcc

wijcc

Soldato
Joined
10 Aug 2003
Posts
2,696
Location
London
how do all these mobile shop stores like phones4u, mobileshop etc make money when they do cashback offers, where you get cashback during the term of your contract by sending in your bills at certain points and when you buy direct from the mobilephone operators there aren't such offers. Surely is it cheaper to buying direct from the operators as theres no middleman?
What is the advantage of buying directly from the operator?
 
they make money by relying on the fact that not everyone will remember to get the cashback. there was one company who couldn't afford all the cashback and went bankrupt.

although my mum has a cashback deal with O2 through a middle man and she has managed to get cashback recently.

i think that is how it works though.
 
so big chains like phones4u are more likely to honour the cashbacks if you remember to send the forms back to them on time and correctly?
 
Yeh big companies like Phones4u Carphone warehouse, e2save.com + OneStop Phone Shop (owned by carphone warehouse).

The networks say something like "we'll give you £500 for every new customer you bring us " then the retailer can do what they want with their profits so they could offer £250 cashback to the customer.

So :-

Customer gets £250
Retailer gets £250
Network gets a new customer for 12 or 18 months paying £20+ each month.

The retailers do make a lot of their money on people forgetting to send in their bills so they keep the cashback for that month.

If you go for a cashback deal read their terms and conditions on cashback then read them again. Make sure you understand them and can stick to them to the word. Aslong as you stick to their terms then they'll pay you.

www.mobileterms.co.uk is an easy way to find terms for the networks and some retailers (online).
 
wijcc said:
so big chains like phones4u are more likely to honour the cashbacks if you remember to send the forms back to them on time and correctly?
Click to expand...
Basically yes,I got my w900i last year with e2save(owned by carphonewarehouse) with the cashback offers and I got all my cheques without hassle.
 
The likes of P4U and CPW also have the benefit of high-street stores that don't give cashbacks (but they still get the commission) which can help pay the cashbacks on their internet sales.

Also the commission is usually paid to the retailer within the first couple of months, whereas the cashbacks don't start until 4-8 months. So some of the internet sites use the commission from new sales to pay the cashbacks on old sales.
 
I've got 4 cash back contracts from Cool New Mobile and I've had every single cheque back so far. You have to be careful, and read the Terms and Conditions very closely.
 
Had a fully successful 12 month cashback on a 12 month contract from buymobilephones last year, part way through two more this year with onestopphoneshop and mobiles2yourdoor.

As long as you follow the rules and chase up any ambiguities in the small print it works out a lot cheaper than PAYG.
 
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