News, info, and opinion by Mac users, for Mac users.

May 21, 2008

internet

Use a lousy service, get cashback

Posted May. 21, ’08, 4:57 PM PT by Dan Pourhadi
Category | Internet

LiveSearch2.jpgMicrosoft’s Business Lesson of the Day: How do you get customers to use your products? Pay them for the hassle of doing so.

No one uses Microsoft’s Live Search web search thingy. Not surprising, really, since no one seems to know it exists. (I had to double-check. It actually does, at www.live.com, in case you’re wondering.) So Big Red(mond) is attempting to lure the quality-obsessed googling public with a service called cashback, which offers discounts on products found through Live Search.

So search for “digital camera,” for example, and you’re presented with a list of products, retailers, and the cashback discount for each listing. You can compare prices and savings, then pick the one you want. Once you enter your email address, Live will send you an email to set up your cashback account and you’ll be taken to the store where you can get the discount on ‘qualifying’ products.

Each store has different cashback saving rates. Circuit City, for example, offers anywhere between 3% - 13%, while B&H offers between 2.5% - 3.5%. You don’t get the discount right away—instead, your savings are stored in your cashback account; once the account hits at least $5, you can claim it as a cash rebate.

Using cashback, you can get a (new) 16GB iPod touch for as low as $330.52, or a sweet Dualit Canary Yellow 4-Slice Toaster for as low as—wait for it—$295.74. Cha-ching!

Nothing particularly Mac-centric about this news, other than the fact that it may be a good first-stop search when looking to buy stuff—including Mac stuff—online. You’ll obviously be able to find some products cheaper elsewhere—but if not, here, if it’s listed, you’re at least guaranteed some kind of discount.

Thanks, Microsoft, for making such lousy services that you’ll pay us to use them. I really love this new business model.

[via Daring Fireball]


1 Comments

nw_mike Author Profile Page said:

Wow, nice toaster! Thanks for the link.

May 21, 2008 6:54 PM

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