Negative Cashback from Microsoft's Bing Cashback
1–10 of 29 posts
Re: Negative Cashback from Microsoft's Bing Cashback
#2I've always wondered what I might be revealing (demographics-wise) through my cookies while browsing, but I never though I might be getting shafted by them!
Wonder if Bing is revenue-sharing w/ their vendors this way somehow.
Re: Negative Cashback from Microsoft's Bing Cashback
#3But this could just be the vendor (not that I'm defending MS). It could easily be a different price for Google, and another for Yahoo, etc. It doesn't mean MS has any knowledge of this, although they could probably police it if it's affecting their reputation.
Re: Negative Cashback from Microsoft's Bing Cashback
#4Don't blame Bing. It is the store that is deciding to charge you a higher price.
I have seen this several times, on both newegg and Buy.com. Normally the "add to cart to see price" type items are cheaper if you don't do the bing cash back
Re: Negative Cashback from Microsoft's Bing Cashback
#5But this could just be the vendor (not that I'm defending MS). It could easily be a different price for Google, and another for Yahoo, etc. It doesn't mean MS has any knowledge of this, although they could probably police it if it's affecting their reputation.
Your exactly right. Search for the same product using google shopping and it shows the higher price.
Re: Negative Cashback from Microsoft's Bing Cashback
#6If you're clever, you find the merchants affiliate scheme, sign up, check it's ok to place orders through your own affiliate links, and place an order.
Then there's no middle man and you get all the discount. Hassle for cheaper items, but worth it for bigger stuff.
I once signed up to get a 0% rate credit card (first 6 months) that gave cash back on purchases. I signed up through my affiliate link that paid out something like £40, had a few K of credit for 6 months, and got cashback on everything I bought using it. Then I cancelled it. I expect they hate customers like that.
Re: Negative Cashback from Microsoft's Bing Cashback
#7It's not that difficult. Turn off your cookies. Manually allow them for the rare cases where they're actually necessary. If that's too much work for you, clear cookies or turn on your browser's "privacy" mode before you buy anything.
This sort of thing has gone on for years. You used to be able to find a good deal on a flight at orbitz.com, leave to go comparison shopping, come back, and see a higher price. Clear the cookies, the original price was back.
Re: Negative Cashback from Microsoft's Bing Cashback
#8Don't blame Bing. It is the store that is deciding to charge you a higher price. I have seen this several times, on both newegg and Buy.com. Normally the "add to cart to see price" type items are cheaper if you don't do the bing cash back
Yeah, I also think this is the merchant's fault.
(full disclosure, my wife works for a competitor of Bing Cashback)
My wife's company runs into this issue, and they try to stop the merchants from raising prices, but sometimes a few companies slip through the cracks.
However, maybe Bing doesn't make this against their ToS. In which case, that's bad.
Re: Negative Cashback from Microsoft's Bing Cashback
#9If you're clever, you find the merchants affiliate scheme, sign up, check it's ok to place orders through your own affiliate links, and place an order. Then there's no middle man and you get all the discount. Hassle for cheaper items, but worth it for bigger stuff. I once signed up to get a 0% rate credit card (first 6 months) that gave cash back on purchases. I signed up through my affiliate link that paid out somet…
I doubt they're giving you more in cashback than they make from transaction fees.
Re: Negative Cashback from Microsoft's Bing Cashback
#10But this could just be the vendor (not that I'm defending MS). It could easily be a different price for Google, and another for Yahoo, etc. It doesn't mean MS has any knowledge of this, although they could probably police it if it's affecting their reputation.
Your exactly right. Search for the same product using google shopping and it shows the higher price.
Ouch. This is why I usually buy everything from Amazon, instead of some random place that shows up in Google Shopping results.