Sites like Vipon: The Best Vipon Alternatives

The Best Vipon Alternatives

Vipon is a discount website where sellers advertise their products at discounted prices, and customers purchase from there. Sellers offering their products at a discount get sales velocity which helps them rank their product on Amazon. Now, let’s take a look into the best alternatives for Vipon.

Snagshout

Are you an Amazon seller looking to build a social presence? Snagshout will help you with this. Snagshout not only has a vast audience for promoting your product at a discount, but it also has cashback promotions in which you can ask the customers to perform some social actions for you. You can ask those customers to send a picture, video, or perform some social activity. These cashback promotions make Snagshout really unique.

Website Link: https://www.snagshout.com/

Pricing:

Snagshout also offers a 7 day free trial; after which you have to choose your plan from these:

Samurai.Social

Samurai Social has been created by a team of professionals who already have their Ecommerce Brands and wanted a solution for launching new products. They did not keep this solution to themselves; instead started helping friends and other sellers like you, developing the trust of the E-commerce community, which let them officially begin this service for everyone.

Do you want to launch & rank your product on Amazon? And also, build social proof to maximize your sales. These are multiple channels that will require a lot of your time, effort, and money, but here comes Samurai Social; you can use this platform to solve all of your issues in one place, saving your time which you can use to drive other important aspects of your business.

Samurai Social brings together micro-influencers and sellers on one platform. You can use influencers from your specific niche to advertise and promote your product. 

How is this different from other platforms? Usually, you will be asked to distribute coupons, but here you can get sales at full price and refund the amount later after confirming the purchase was made. You can ask the customer to use the Search Find Buy method. By this method, the customers will type the keyword (you want to rank) on Amazon and search your product listing, find it and buy it. This type of order which looks totally organic gives you more ranking juice than the traditional approach of using coupon codes and landing the customer directly on your product listing. You don’t even have to worry about sending each refund; Samurai Social will also handle this for you.

Pricing: 

This amazing service comes at the pricing described below:

Website Link: https://samurai.social/

JumpSend

JumpSend is an Amazon deals site where customers regularly visit to find deals for purchasing discounted products. 

From these promotions, sellers attain an improved product ranking. Not only this, JumpSend even offers an Email Campaign feature; using it, you can send a review request to all the customers who have purchased your product.

Pricing

The pricing offered is also very economical; you can choose from any of the plans shown below. They also offer a 14 day free trial period to check if you like the service or not.

Testzon

Testzon is a famous deals website. It is easy to use for both sellers and customers. 

Sellers advertise their products, customers request to purchase them, sellers review the customer requests, and allow some (or all) customers to purchase using the discount coupon or offer refunds to them through PayPal after confirmation of the order.

Website Link: https://testzon.com/

Pricing:

The fantastic thing about Testzon is that it is totally free.

RebateKey

RebateKey allows you to put your product in front of their audience. You have to advertise your product, add its pictures, description, and link for customers to purchase it. Customers, after purchasing, will send you the order number, and you will have five days to verify it. Then RebateKey will send the rebates (refunds) on your behalf to the customers after 35 days.

Pricing:

Rebatekey charges you only after your product has been sold. It charges $2.95 per sale.

Website Link: https://rebatekey.com/

Giveaway Service

Are you looking for influencers to get social media promotions? Giveaway Service will help you in finding those influencers. Check this introductory video from Giveaway Service:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9InPNQQZZdY

There are thousands of influencers who blog regularly and have an excellent social network. Giveaway Service helps you connect with those influencers, helping to promote your product in their social network.

Pricing: 

They have two plans to select from. Check the details in the below picture:

Website Link: https://www.giveawayservice.com/

ProductTestingGroup

Product Testing Group has more than twenty thousand members who can be used to drive traffic or improve your product ranking. 

Pricing:

This website is free.

Website Link: https://producttestinggroup.com/

HomeProductTesting

Are you looking to get more reviews on your product? Home Product Testing allows you to put your product in front of thousands of product testers. You just have to post your product, and the interested customers who click on it will be directed to you in your inbox, where you can guide them about how to purchase the product. 

Watch this introductory video from their website to get to know more about them:

Pricing:

Their charges are $29 per month, and they offer a 10 day free trial too.

Website Link: https://homeproducttesting.org/

VIP Power Club

VIP Power Club is not your regular discount website; it uses text messages to inform the customers about all the giveaways. This way, you can get maximum sales and reviews by using it.

Website Link: 

https://vippowerclub.com/

AMZRC

AMZ RC is a discount website that you can use to build social media presence and get reviews on social media. Build the customers’ trust in your brand by getting reviews on Social Media and increasing your sales. AMZ RC has more than one hundred thousand reviewers on social media.

Pricing:

Their pricing is $19.99 per month. Check the below chart for price comparison with other DISCOUNT websites:

Website Link: https://amzrc.com/

Dealgogogo 

Dealgogogo is a discount website with a vast number of users. The most prominent feature is the chrome extension that customers can use to get the discounted products’ coupons. 

It provides the facility of using the chrome extension to the shoppers who do not need to leave the Amazon website to get those coupons.

Pricing:

This website is free.

Website Link: https://www.dealgogogo.com

Uber Zon

Uber Zon is a customer’s club where they get daily deals on their dashboard. You can use this club’s members by advertising your product on Uber Zon. 

You can offer both discount coupons or rebates after purchase. Both the deals are available on the platform. 

Website Link: https://www.uberzonclub.com/

Trust Review Network

You can post your product on Trust Review Network. Their customers will click on the product by using the Trust Review Network App. You can use both the discount coupons and rebate after purchase options here.

trust review

Pricing:

This website is free.

Website Link: https://www.trustreviewnetwork.com/

Cash Back Base

Cash Back Base has more than seven million Amazon customers regularly visiting their website. This large audience is available for you to attract more traffic to your product, get more reviews, liquidate excessive inventory or increase your sales velocity & keyword ranking. 

Pricing:

Cash Back Base has three plans to choose from, below are their details:

Website Link: https://www.cashbackbase.com/

Deals For Review

Deals for Review offers the chance to put your product in front of product testers who will purchase your product, test it and provide an honest review about it. The review rating totally depends on your product’s quality; however, you can set terms about the review’s length and on which platform you want to get it. In exchange, the product testers will get the product at a 50% or 100% discount.

Pricing:

This website is free.

Website Link: https://dealsforreviews.com/

Deal News

Deal News has five million views per month. They love bringing exciting deals for their visitors. This is where you can benefit by promoting your product to their audience and bringing traffic to your product.

For advertising on Deal News, you will have to publish a deal by submitting your ad. The Deal News team will check your ad, and if approved, it will be posted on their website. Customers from their website can click on the deal and go to your Amazon Listing to purchase the product using the coupon code.

Website Link: https://www.dealnews.com/

Facebook Groups for Product Testers

There are many groups on Facebook which have a large number of active users who seek free products. You can advertise your product on these groups and get sales from there. It is not difficult to do this, just create a post in any such group on Facebook and add a description; the interested customers will reach out to you, and you can guide them to make the purchase. But this method is not much effective and does not give much improvement in the Ranking of your product.

Pricing:

You just need to create a Facebook account which is totally free. No Fee involved in this process.Website Link: Go to https://www.facebook.com/ and search free products groups or product testers groups.

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Snagshout vs Jumpsend – Which is Best for Sales and Reviews?

Are you a new Amazon seller struggling to get sales?  Do you have low reviews and want to improve your review velocity? Are you thinking of using Jumpsend or Snagshout for getting more sales and reviews?

snagshout vs jumpsend

If the answer is yes, then keep reading. This article will explain everything you need to know before using any of these platforms.

You may have noticed that when you list your product on Amazon, its Ranking is not very good, which causes low to zero sales. While searching for a product, Amazon customers don’t bother to check products after the first two pages of search results since your new listing does not show in the top two pages; this is why you don’t get sales. If you manage to improve your product ranking, your product will be viewed by more customers, which will also increase your product’s sales. 

How to get more sales on Amazon?

It is clear now that you have to improve your product ranking to get more sales. Now, the most critical question is how to improve the Ranking? 

To understand this, first, we have to learn how the Amazon A9 Algorithm works and how it decides to improve a product’s Ranking. 

Amazon A9 Algorithm

In the Amazon A9 Algorithm, many factors contribute to the improvement of your product’s Ranking, but Sales Velocity is the primary game player. The logic behind this is quite simple if a product is getting more sales, this means it is a good product and customers like it; hence Amazon will improve its Ranking so that more customers can see this product and purchase it. All of this will give a better customer experience, and Amazon will also make more money. 

How to get sales for better Ranking?

There aren’t any sales already on your new product, and yet you need more sales to improve your Ranking; this may sound confusing and complex, but you don’t have to worry; we got you covered here.  For getting those initial sales, you can advertise your product at a discounted price and drive traffic/sales from other platforms to your listing. This way, your sales velocity will increase, your product’s Ranking will also get better and organic sales on Amazon will also boost.  

These are some ways used to drive the Audience to your listing and getting the initial sales:

  1. Discount Website: There are many discount or rebate websites like Jumpsend, Snagshout or Vipon, RebateKey, ExtremeRebate, FullyRebate etc. which have a large number of customers visiting them regularly to find discounted products. You can advertise your product (at a discounted price) on these websites to drive sales to your listing and improve your Ranking on Amazon. This is a very easy and cost-effective method that you can use to increase your sales velocity.
  2. Influencer Marketing: You can approach influencers related to your niche and ask them to advertise your product in front of their Audience; in exchange, you will have to offer them a commission. This is also an effective method, but it is very expensive and complex until you are using services like Samurai.Social.
  3. Facebook Groups: There are many groups on Facebook on which sellers offer their products for free, and customers visit these groups regularly to find such deals. But this method is not much effective and does not give much improvement in the Ranking of your product.  
  4. PPC: Amazon Pay Per Click (PPC) advertising is also a good option for attaining more traffic on your list. But it is expensive, and the difficulty level involved in this is also high.

The best approach is using Discount Websites (Influencer Marketing with the help of services like Samurai.Social is also a good approach, but we will discuss it in another article). 

In this article, we will discuss these two discount Websites:
1) Jumpsend (owned by Jungle Scout now)

2) Snagshout

 Jumpsend

Jumpsend is an Amazon deals site where customers regularly visit to find deals for purchasing discounted products. 

This Audience can be used by Amazon sellers who seek to improve their product ranking. For this, you have to make discount coupons and advertise your product on Jumpsend. Customers from this platform will collect those coupons and purchase your product from Amazon. This, in turn, will increase your sales velocity giving you a better ranking. As your product ranking improves, you will also start getting organic sales. You can stop the coupons whenever you want. 

Marketplaces

You can do promotion campaigns in the US & UK markets; Jumpsend has customers for these two marketplaces.

Email Campaigns

Jumpsend has been purchased by Jungle Scout (another company that offers tools/services for Amazon sellers). Since the official merging of Jumpsend in Jungle Scout, there are some new features that you can also use now.  Email campaigns are one of the most essential tools you can use to get reviews or save yourself from bad reviews. Before getting into more detail about this tool, let’s explore how many ways are there for getting reviews.

How to get reviews on Amazon?

You can use the following methods:
1) Organic Reviews: Organic way of getting reviews means that you are not doing any type of campaign to obtain reviews on Amazon. The organic review rate is 1% or even less in some cases, which means that if 100 customers purchase your product, only 1 customer will leave a review. 

2) Insert Cards: You can add some inserts in your product to ask your customers to leave a review. Inserts can also be used to give instructions about your product or help the customer to register for any warranty you may offer. 

3) Follow-Up Emails or Email Campaigns: Email campaigns are those follow-up emails that you can send to your customers who purchased your product and ask them to leave a review. You can also use these emails to send instructions for using/assembling the product or simply ask for feedback about their experience.

Insert Cards and Email campaigns are handy to boost your reviews. Email campaigns are much more straightforward and inexpensive. For the insert cards, you will need your supplier’s help to print them and put them in your product packaging, but the supplier will charge you for this service.

With Jungle Scout Email Campaigns’ help, you can send emails to all of your customers and ask them to write a review. Emails will not be sent only to those customers who purchased your product through Jumpsend but all the customers who bought your product from Amazon. Jungle Scout also has some pre-written templates which you can use for those email campaigns.

How to avoid Negative Reviews?

Some products are complex to use or require certain steps to follow, and some require assembling different parts before the customers can use them properly. Due to the complexity involved in this whole process, the customers sometimes are unable to use the product properly, which leads them to think that the product quality is not good, and due to this, they will leave a negative review. In such cases, sending emails to the customers and giving instructions about the proper way to use or assemble the product will save you from getting negative reviews. 

If you are working in such a niche, it is also recommended to use insert cards in order to give clear instructions related to the use or assembly of the product.

Getting reviews & Amazon TOS

While writing the email campaigns or insert cards for asking the customers to leave reviews, make sure to use neutral language and don’t ever ask for a positive review. Asking for positive reviews or offering a free product in exchange for a review is against Amazon TOS, and if you do that, Amazon may suspend your listing. 

If a customer purchases a product at a heavy discount, like 50% – 90% off, and then writes a review: this review will not appear as a verified review. Instead, Amazon shows it as a non-verified review.

Inventory Protection

Some customers who use your discount coupons try to purchase more than one unit from your inventory. In some extreme situations, sellers who created coupons had all of their stock wiped out within a few days, which resulted in a huge loss for them. Jungle Scout has created an inventory protection feature to avoid such a situation, enabling you to restrict the number of units a customer can purchase. 

Hijackers

Some people who purchased your product (at a heavily discounted price) from these discount websites later may try to resell it by attaching to your listing. They are called hijackers. 

Since they are not selling a counterfeit but the original product they purchased from originally you, you will not be able to knock them off from your listing. To avoid such a situation, Jungle Scout will keep track of the customers on Jumpsend, and if anyone tries to do this, they will blacklist that customer. This may not help the seller who got the hijacker issue, but this can protect future sellers from that hijacker. 

Pricing

The Pricing offered is also very economical; you can choose from any of the plans shown below. They also offer a 14 day free trial period to check if you like the service or not.

These are some great reviews about Jungle Scout & Jumpsend:

Snagshout

Snagshout is similar to Jump send. It allows you to put your product in front of their large Audience, who regularly visits their website to find discounted products.

Marketplaces

Snagshout is only available in the US. You can use it only if you are selling on Amazon.com. 

Pricing

Snagshout offers a 7-day free trial; after which you have to choose your plan from these:

Cash Back Promotion

Cash Back is a promotion in which instead of using a coupon code, the customer purchases your product at full price, and then the discount amount is sent to the customer’s PayPal or Stripe account by Snagshout. Since the customer has purchased at full price, this type of customer order creates a higher impact on your Ranking. You can also ask the customer to perform some actions to obtain the cash back. These actions are listed below:

  1. Lifestyle Photo 

You can ask the customer to send a photo while using the product. 

  1. Video Review 

The customer will have to make a video while using the product or explaining his thoughts about the product in the video.

  1. Social Action

You can ask the customer to perform some social actions.

  1. Survey Action

You ask the customer to perform a survey and provide feedback about the product.

You can use these actions to improve your product and build a social proof of your brand. 

Setting the Coupon Codes

There is no option in Snashout to limit the number of units a customer can purchase using your coupons. You will have to do this setting manually from your Seller Central. 

Here are a couple SnagShout reviews:

Conclusion

Both Jumpsend (which is part of Jungle Scout now) and Snagshout are great platforms with a large audience that you can use to improve your product’s Ranking. Now, let’s compare the difference between them:

Price: Jumpsend is much cheaper than Snagshout. 

Marketplace: Jumpsend is available in both US & UK marketplaces, while Snagshout is only available in the US. If you are selling in the UK market, then Jumpsend is more suitable for you.

Email Campaign: Snagshout does not have any feature like the email campaign. You can use another tool like feedbackwhiz.com for sending follow-up emails to your customers; however, you will have to pay separately for this service. 

Inventory Protection: Snagshout does not have an inventory protection feature to limit the number of products a customer can purchase, but you can also set this limit from your seller central account.

Hijackers: Jungle Scout team constantly monitors the customers on Jumpsend and blacklists those who try to resell the product purchased from there. Although this is not much of a help if a hijacker has already attacked you, but they are trying to resolve this issue. On the other hand, Snagshout does not have this feature.

Cash Back Promotion: Jumpsend does not have cash back promotions. The action cash back promotions are only available in Snagshout; their customer quality and cash back promotions are the features that set them apart from the other discount websites. If you want to establish social proof of your brand or create more brand awareness, then Snagshout is the best option for you.

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Is Extreme Rebate Legit or a Scam?

As Amazon has skyrocketed over the years in terms of popularity and capability, so has the number of services that are able to use the platform to get their client’s products into the hands of their target audience.  The organizations in question?  Rebate portals such as ExtremeRebate and Samurai.Social. With the potential profit of selling on Amazon being so high sellers are always looking for opportunities to drive sales/reviews… this is why services like these exist. 

extremerebate legit or scam

Rebate portals are platforms that allow buyers to receive products either for free or at an exceptionally discounted rate.  Hundreds of products are typically added daily.  It’s an attractive gig for buyers for obvious reasons.  They get to purchase products that they want or need for next to nothing.  Sellers are motivated by the opportunity to earn a positive review from buyers who are the most likely to do so, a rating that is earned and then indicated within the portal.  There has been question regarding the legitimacy of such partnerships, but the portals, for the most part, strive to adhere to Amazon’s terms of service.

HOW DOES EXTREME REBATE WORK?

On ExtremeRebate, you can receive up to 100% cash back when purchasing products on Amazon.  While sellers cannot require that you write a positive review for them, it is anticipated, and procedures are even put in place in order to strongly encourage such.

To qualify as a member, you just sign up on their website and note your Amazon profile within registration.  Sellers create listings with offers (i.e. “100% cash back”).  Once you are a member, you can peruse these listings and express interest where it applies.

Rebates are provided on ExtremeRebate in one of two ways: vouchers or rebates.  

If opting to receive by rebate, you request products that you want or need and await seller approval.  You then purchase the products through Amazon and submit the order ID on ExtremeRebate within two days of order.  Once confirmed, ExtremeRebate will utilize your PayPal account to provide cash back.

If using the voucher method, go ahead and request the preferred product, look out for an Amazon promo code via email within 48 hours of this request, and then purchase the product(s) through Amazon, making sure you enter the promo code at time of order in order to reflect your discount.

The method utilized is up to the buyer’s discretion.  Some prefer the voucher method since this gives the discount up front and at the time of order without having to wait for the rebate to be processed or having to “front” payment. 

It’s important to reflect a good rating to sellers as this will make them more likely to want to work with you.  You will rank as a “best buyer” to interested sellers if you tend to leave positive reviews for the products you typically purchase.  So, to increase your chances of obtaining a product for that maximum 100% cash back, it’s a good idea to begin positively reviewing the items within your Amazon order history.

In an effort to regulate the number of products provided, and to ensure that buyers are providing the anticipated reviews, ExtremeRebate has tiers and limits in place.  Once expected reviews are submitted, the tiers and limits adjust accordingly.

IS EXTREMEREBATE LEGIT?

Amazon’s terms of service aim to prohibit any sort of official agreement where buyers write falsified reviews to encourage others to purchase products that may not live up to buyer expectations.  This is understandable as Amazon aims to provide reviews that are helpful and truthful to ensure their customers feel as though they can trust the platform. 

In this case, these rebate portals cannot outright insist or require buyers to leave positive reviews.  The limits in place, however, strongly encourage this sort of practice.  If buyers do not leave positive reviews, then their opportunity to pursue other fully rebated products is removed.  It is a questionable tactic that ExtremeRebate employs the use of limits to garnish a review from buyers.  While not a scam, the use of a limit to extort a positive review is arguably frowned upon.

That being said, there is not much illegitimacy to the participants or sellers themselves.  The seller utilizes rebate portals at the expense of their actual products, and they risk the chance that the recipient could leave a less than satisfied review.  The buyer legitimately receives the requested products and they do have the opportunity to leave an honest, even negative review using their actual Amazon profile.  Of course, this will impact the buyer’s rating within the portal.

Here is a similar review on FullyRebate to see if it is legit.

WHAT ABOUT THE END CONSUMER?

Consumers should be aware that Amazon actively seeks out and bans users who perform tactics that go against their terms of service and they also reserve the right to delete reviews in suspicious circumstances.  This sort of protection is put in place for the end consumer who has no knowledge of rebate platforms and buys with heavy investment into the provided reviews.

As a buyer on Amazon outside of the rebate portal process, it is always important to consider the existence of platforms such as these at time of order and when factoring the weight of reviews into your decision. 

It’s vital for buyers to research products above and beyond the Amazon site to ensure the product will live up to their expectations.  Should it not, however, Amazon’s return policy and customer service is unparalleled. 

TIPS & TRICKS

As can be expected in most third-party transactions, be forewarned that the seller does not cover any applicable Amazon shipping charges, nor do they pay for PayPal fees.  PayPal is the preferred means of providing cash back within ExtremeRebate.

To maximize the benefits for both parties, it is a good idea to pursue products that suit your tastes and purchase those that are likely to satisfy your needs.  This is a moral means of participating in the program as a buyer.  As a seller, ensure that the effort you put into the quality of your product supersedes the effort you put into compensating positive reviewers for said product.

Even in our digital age, nothing beats organic promotion or “word of mouth”, and nothing certainly beats search engines’ ever-changing algorithms when bloggers and news outlets speak their truth about your products and its misleading reviews.

ALTERNATIVES

As could be expected for competition in the marketplace, several rebate portals exist, but each carry their own unique benefits.  Sites like topcashback, Rebatekey, Rebaid, Vipon or Snagshout, Jumpsend and Amazon Rebate Club only offer a maximum of 8% cashback, but their requirements and limits may be less strict than ExtremeRebate.

Samurai.Social is a newer platform that encourages the concept that “everyone is an influencer”.  It is rebate-based and their website reiterates that they strive to stay compliant with Amazon’s TOS by not requiring that buyers leave an Amazon review at all, unlike the limits and expectations put in place by its competitor, ExtremeRebate. 

Sellers and buyers alike are enticed by the multitude of promotional offerings available on Samurai.Social beyond Amazon.  Sellers are able to post campaigns requesting promotion across social media channels, for example.  influencers can register accordingly.  The platform truly pairs sellers with ideal promotional influencers and gives buyers the opportunity to enjoy the products they need while aiding in its growth within its targeted audience.  Buyers agree to promote products within their own legitimate social media profiles and they motivate followers by turning them into consumers. 

What’s even more attractive about Samurai.Social is the opportunity for lower-scale partnerships that benefit the buyer, the seller, and the potential follower-turned-consumer.  One live campaign alludes to the promotion of a messy hair bun accessory.  If already a fan of said accessory, and if already sporting said accessory on social media, how much sense it makes to speak to the benefits of that accessory openly to your following and be compensated in the form of a free product by the seller.  If you are already likely to purchase and promote items that you like, it’s simply sensical for sellers to be guided towards those who are most likely to do so.  Platforms such as Samurai.Social simply provide sellers with a narrowed likelihood that they are sharing their products with positive, influential consumers. 

Samurai.Social’s legitimacy is evident to buyers and sellers alike.  Their effort to create genuine, honest partnerships is admirable.  It speaks to the quality of the products themselves when their leaders are outwardly seeking promotional tactics more in line with organic growth than agreeing to compensate strangers for “fake reviews”.  It is undoubtedly a bit more impactful when a social media influencer shares the truth of a product with their own family and friends than it is to have an Amazon username leave five stars with exaggerated language to help sell said product.   

Taken from one actual live campaign currently on the site, a seller describes his project as, “I am looking for a real buyer and blogger who can help me promote my product and provide honest feedback.”

In this digital marketing age, no one could ask for anything more.

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Is RebateKey Legit or a Scam

RebateKey is a digital platform that provides cash back, or a rebate, to consumers in exchange for purchases.  Often, the process encourages buyer feedback that sellers hope will encourage more consumers to buy their product.  Gone are the days of clipping coupons and watching for sales in order to save dollars on our favorite purchases.  Companies once relied on word-of-mouth and promotional tactics in hopes of acquiring new customers.  With the emergence of new technologies over the years, companies have been challenged with the task of being able to provide their loyal consumers with these same money-saving or reward benefits in digital form, as well as tackle what word-of-mouth has become digitally, which is reviews.  As a result, consumers are flocking to the use of rebate portals.  

Headquartered in San Diego back in 2018, RebateKey’s eCommerce sellers provide rebates to buyers on products as part of a campaign.  It began with a team of 30 different merchants who sought the opportunity to get in touch with the buyers most likely to enjoy and then promote their products.  Ian Sells, RebateKey’s CEO with a fitting name, once ran his own Amazon business and discovered that he could showcase new products, drive sales, and increase exposure with such a means.

All they needed was a platform.

What is a rebate portal?

Rebate portals provide buyers with the opportunity to receive up to 100% cash back on their favorite items.  Discounts often vary by portal.  New products are constantly being added.  Users can create profiles that allow them to search for their favorite products.  If a seller has a campaign featuring said product, buyers can sign up for the opportunity, place their purchase, and await their rebate.

Why does it work?

Everyone wants something for free, or as close to free as possible.  Rebate portals are attractive to buyers because they are able to purchase their favorite products either for free or at any exceptionally discounted cost.  It is generally encouraged, though not required, that buyers provide feedback for the product.  It is that (hopefully positive) feedback that sellers hope will help motivate others to buy their product(s).  The situation is a win-win for all.

It is suspected that the reason why RebateKey has grown so exponentially in the 4 years it has been in business is because small to medium-sized businesses were in need of a cost-effective way to get their products into the hands of consumers who will openly and willingly speak to the product’s benefits.  Sells, the CEO, understood how difficult it was to get products in front of customers.

While customers are required to pay up front for their product, that requirement is actually a huge benefit.  It indicates that the buy is genuinely interested in acquiring the product for use and not that they are looking for a quick deal.  Also, perhaps because of the additional steps it takes to build a rebate portal profile, submit proof of order, etc., it is presumed that these particular buyers are willing to go the extra mile and put in extra time and effort surrounding a purchase that others may not, such as leaving a positive review.

How does RebateKey work?

For an Amazon campaign, sellers can initiate campaigns within RebateKey  and then submit them for approval.  

  • Once approved, products appear available for purchase at the rebate price 
  • Buyers click on link for product purchase directly on Amazon.com
  • Buyer has one hour to provide RebateKey  with Amazon order number or “rebate key”
  • After 35 days, RebateKey  sends a check for the rebate amount to the buyer
  • Seller monitors approval or notification of cancellation within that 35-day timeframe

RebateKey even has solidified a partnership with Chrome with the introduction of an extension.  The extension alerts the users who have it installed when products that they are reviewing on Amazon marketplace are available as a campaign on RebateKey.  One of the best features of an extension is that consumers do not need to log into the rebate portal separately, or remember to research within the portal, or search for campaigns that apply to their needs.  The Chrome extension simply informs the consumer whether or not the product under their review qualifies under a campaign in the rebate portal.

Does RebateKey work with anyone besides Amazon?

Yes!  RebateKey has partnered with several conglomerates in order to stay competitive.  These include:

  • Walmart
  • Etsy
  • Shopify
  • eBay
  • Jet

Is it legit?

Yes!  Amazon is super strict regarding sellers that dish out free or discounted products in exchange for a positive review.  On RebateKey, buyers only need to provide proof of purchase by submission of that Amazon order ID, or rebate key.  They do not need to leave a review at all, let alone a positive review, nor do they need to provide proof of such at time of rebate request.  The platform does not even encourage reviews, unlike some of its competitors.

According to reviews that have been provided online, users have successfully received the intended product as well as the rebate check, so the site can be trusted. There have been some instances of sellers claiming that orders were cancelled when in fact they had not been, and no amount of proof from the buyer was sufficient enough for the rebate portal who ultimately sided with the seller.

These issues, however, are few and far between.  For the most part, both buyers and sellers alike are seeking a genuine opportunity to help each other out.  The buyer gets the product they want, they also acquire cash back, the seller gets a promotional opportunity, as well as a possible future returning customer, and everybody wins.

What’s in it for the seller?

Plenty.  Some might wonder why sellers are willing to give away free or highly discounted products with no real pay-off for them.  To sellers, it is no different than setting up a table at a festival and giving away promotional items in hopes that the consumer:

  • Will enjoy the product and trust their brand
  • Will promote and discuss the product openly, maybe particularly because it was free
  • Will trust this particular company for future related product needs

In short, giving away promotional items could result in future customers across both the recipient of the product themselves as well as their friends, family, and everyone who reads their potential online reviews.  Rebate portals are responsible for millions of dollars paid out over the last few years.  Over one million rebates have already been claimed.  A great deal of consumers will admit that they are likely to search for promotions or coupons prior to making a purchase and even more shoppers are more likely to buy a product at all if a rebate is being offered.  The bottom line is that people love saving money, and 95 million of those people are Amazon users.  Amazon sellers should use rebate portals to their advantage, getting their products into the hands of positive, influential consumers who may help to increase revenue and exposure.

Should I promote my products on RebateKey?

Of course!  Marketing is crucial to getting your product name out there, and rebate portals such as RebateKey guide you by putting you in touch with your target audience.  Marketing efforts need to evolve as much as products and technology have over the years, so rebate portals are just a platform for doing so.

As is the case with most options in this world, there are pros and cons to the system.  Not every rebate portal system is flawless, nor is the rebate process. 

Pros

  • RebateKey provides payment instead of seller
  • Does not violate Amazon TOS
  • Messaging feature between sellers and buyers
  • Window allots for cancellations/purchases are valid
  • Promotes traffic to your Amazon store

Cons

  • Customer service is available via online chat only
  • Rebate checks can be capped per product
  • Fee of $2.95 per product sold

Should I use it as a buyer?

Absolutely.  Particularly when used for products you are already likely to enjoy, RebateKey is a convenient means of getting cash back.  It is natural to assume that some things are too good to be true, but it is relieving to know that rebate portals are just using a modern means of providing coupons and deals to its consumers.  People used to physically walk into stores and share paper-clipped coupons with the cashier.  Now that people are buying so much online, there’s no reason why sellers can’t extend the same sort of discounts and coupons they had in the past.  Now this just happens to be in digital format.

Pros

  • RebateKey provides payment instead of seller
  • Your favorite products are up to 100% cash back
  • No need to leave a review
  • No additional fees beyond your Amazon purchase

Cons

  • Customer service is available via online chat only
  • Rebate checks can be capped per product
  • Waiting period before receipt of rebate
  • Questionable sellers claiming orders were cancelled when they were not

Are there other rebate portals?

There are several other rebate portal options beyond RebateKey.  Some of RebateKey’s competitors include topcashback, Rebaid, ExtremeRebate, FullyRebate and more.  As noted previously, the amount of cash back opportunities varies by portal.  Most generally aim to stay within Amazon’s TOS since they risk being banned if they were to go against these.

Samurai.Social is a newer rebate portal that combines rebate opportunity with today’s influencer fad.  It encourages users to participate as they already naturally influence the friends and family around them.  It does not require buyers to leave an Amazon review, so it fits ideally within Amazon’s TOS.

What’s particularly attractive about Samurai.Social is the opportunity to promote for sellers above and beyond via a potential positive review.  While companies are using platforms like Upwork and Fiverr to hire influencers specifically to promote their products, Samurai.Social is turning the promotional opportunity into a social mission.  

What other campaigns does Samurai.Social offer?

As is suggested in the name, Samurai.Social offers more than the opportunity to earn a rebate check.  It encourages sellers to connect with buyers on a level more personal than cash back and positive reviews.  It encourages validity and therefore indirectly promotes quality within its sellers’ products.  On a platform where every end user is considered an influencer.  Buyers can elect to use their own social media profiles to promote products in exchange for receiving the product at a fully or largely discounted rate.  Options range from Pinterest to Instagram to Facebook.  There are also options to create blog posts.  The intent is to morph followers from any of these platforms into consumers.

Final thoughts

While rebate portals are currently running rampant, some portals are more reliable and moral than others.  For example, competitors such as ExtremeRebate encourage the creation of positive reviews in order to continue to use the platform to access products.  Its locking mechanism prevents buyers from acquiring too many products without first leaving a review.  While the review does not need to be positive, ExtremeRebate’s algorithm will rate you as a negative buyer.  Therefore, sellers will be less likely to work with you in the future.  So, while competitors are still adhering to Amazon’s TOS, some of them have more questionable means than others when it comes to providing a moral, 100% reliable and truthful service.

If you are looking to generate sales then consider Samurai.Social, SnagShout, Jumpsend or Vipon

Samurai.Social’s genuineness is evident to both buyers and sellers.  It is obvious how impactful it is for an “everyday person” to openly share a product on their actual social media page than it is for someone to be able to hide behind a user name and a few stars on a site as general as Amazon marketplace.  It is clear that Samurai.Social seeks to adhere to Amazon’s terms of service and that its makers are looking to support genuine partnerships among buyers and sellers.  Through the promotion of honest, unsolicited feedback, Samurai.Social’s unique take on the rebate portal era is unparalleled and they will surely grow to make a name for themselves within the rebate portal realm.

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