Cashback for Clunkers
How popular is Bing’s Double Cashback program?
Too popular, according to an Internet Retailer report.
Whereas typical merchants on Bing’s program were giving back around 5-15% of the order value back to the consumer, Microsoft was currently matching that amount, thereby doubling the amount of money a consumer was getting back on each purchases.
The promotion began on the 10th and will run until the end of August in an attempt to further promote their program to merchants and consumers alike.
Ashford.com, a merchant selling watches, was offering consumers 25% back, which Microsoft would match giving watch buyers a 50% discount.
However as with all good things, Microsoft tried, and successfully put an end to it:
On Thursday, Microsoft asked Ashford and an undisclosed number of other retailers to reduce the amount of their cashback to ensure the program can continue through the end of the month, as planned.
Microsoft responds:
“With hundreds of retailers participating and a set cap on the promotion funding, we felt it was in shoppers’ best interest to adjust the percentage of a few retailers to allow more customers to take advantage of double cashback. Through the cooperation of our partners, we’re able to continue the promotion beyond this week and allow more consumers to take advantage of the great money saving deals at Bing cashback.
We’re not quite sure how giving consumers less money back would allow more customers to take advantage of “double cashback”, which makes us wonder why Microsoft would want to scale back something that apparently succeeded beyond their expectations.
The program wasn’t going to run for very much longer, and while there apparently was a high number of merchants participating, Microsoft certainly isn’t a company short on funds, particularly when it’s just a few percent off some orders.
Still, double cashback is double your cashback, and we hope Microsoft will continue this program in the future or extend it from its existence.
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