Cashback

[marmaduke]

What is the point of cashback on items? Who gets what out of it?

[Loosehead]

It is not "cashback on items". It is the retailer offering to behave like a cash machine by giving you cash with your purchases and then subtracting the cash plus the cost of the items from your credit/debit card. The advantage to you is that you can get cash without going to a machine at a time when you are going through the till anyway. The advantage to the retailer is that they can get rid of some cash which is, to them a very expensive commodity to handle. Overall they will save on insurance, banking, securicor etc because they will have less cash to handle.

[AlanS107]

I thought you could only get cashback on a debit card. I didn't think it was possible on a credit card. Does anybody know different?

[marmaduke]

Yes thank you I'm not retarded - I don't mean cashback when you're at a supermarket. I'm talking of when you buy a car, or a mobile phone, for example, there is often a company offer of cashback on the item you've just purchased.

And yes you can only get the sort of cashback you're discussing on a debit card.

[Hammer]

It is just a marketing ploy. You think you are getting free money just for buying something, but in reality they just add the amount on to the purchase price, and gain interest from it in the meantime.

[Tweed]

It is to lure gullible people into buying products. When it comes to getting the cash in a few years, there are so many obsticles put in your way, you have to provide all sorts of documentation, reciepts etc. that many people don't see the cash (which has depreciated in value since the purchase).