PetWatch wrote: ↑Tue Mar 05, 2019 6:25 pmSeems like a new addition to their long list of shenanigans. I think the salient point for this particular order is that " They said the store refused the credit. " which is listed as one of their terms. They don't get paid neither does the customer. I don't know what their contract with the merchants stipulates, but these large cash back payments are unsustainable on the scale we see today over the long run. It's an attempt to acquire market share, so we should take advantage of it while it's still available. However, not only has it not been risk free but it's increasing.Penfold36 wrote: ↑Tue Mar 05, 2019 4:00 pm Well, my smooth transactions with Rakuten Global/Ebates have come to an end. I placed two orders (one small, one large) during this past round of 26% back. Neither were showing up in my cash back. I sent an enquiry to Ebates, and they gave me the usual response of needing to wait 10-45 days. I went ahead and paid for the lesser item anyway but was debating back and forth on the more expensive watch because without the cash back it certainly was no deal. I even asked the shop on the expensive watch (Gallery Rare) to extend the deadline to pay, but they wouldn't. Then today I received responses from Ebates telling me that neither item was eligible for cash back because they were either "shipped to Japan or freight forwarding was used." Neither assertion was true. Both items were shipped or going to be shipped to the USA and sent via Japan Post EMS. I responded back with such information. We'll see what they say, but this probably ends Rakuten Global for me.
Edit: Quick update. Ebates got back to me very quickly. For both items, they said Japan Post EMS is a freight forwarding service. I'm confused by that. I thought that was the regular mail or something similar to UPS. They said you need to use Rakuten Global Express, which I've never seen as an option. As a token of their gratitude, they gave me the full cash back on the lesser item. Expectedly, they did not give me credit on the more expensive item. They said the store refused the credit. So they gave me a $100 bonus that will go into my account if I place any order through Ebates during the next year. I'm happy I got the credit for the watch I actually paid for, but definitely disappointed overall.
I agree about the salient point regarding the store refusing credit. However, the way the email was worded it made it sound like Gallery Rare refused the credit because it didn't meet the cash back stipulations. Here is relevant email:
"Rakuten Global Market ships items directly using Rakuten Global Express. If items purchased from Rakuten Global Market ship via any other shipping service, such as EMS, direct mail, etc., these are freight forwarding services. Use of these shipping companies will void your order from earning Cash Back.
In this case, the shipping method was JP Post EMS.
Unfortunately, we are not able to add Cash Back to your account for this order. When we requested credit from the store, the request was declined for the reasons mentioned."
So Gallery Rare rejected the cash back because it didn't meet the stipulation, yet they didn't provide any avenue to meet the correct stipulations. Bizarre. I think they just saw an out on this one. Rakuten Global and Ebates need to be more upfront on what qualifies and what does not. If they don't want watches or high priced items to count, then they need to say so before the purchase.