What is Affiliate Rebate Processor?

You’ve probably seen the ads in your email inbox, or maybe the Google ads on popular websites you may frequent. Work at Home! Become an Affiliate Rebate Processor! Make Thousands of Dollars a Week! Unfortunately, as is the case with most opportunities of this nature, if it sounds too good to be true it probably is. And in this case, these deals are not exactly what they seem.

Upon first glance, most people think that being a “rebate processor” working from home means getting a list via email or snail mail of people who are owed rebates from buying things at Best Buy or a similar store that offers rebate deals like that, and then actually processing those rebates by stuffing envelopes with checks. I know that’s what I thought. It turns out that the keyword that’s lost in the shuffle in all this is “affiliate.”

What really happens with these programs is that the company points you in the direction of products that can be sold online while offering the purchaser a “rebate” from the sale. It’s actually a discount, and it’s supposed to entice the buyer into buying from you as a result of your ad. I’m sure they use the term “rebate” to mislead people into joining the program under the assumption that it involves something else.

Regardless, the way one earns money by doing this is through commissions paid by the makers of the products sold. What happens is that the affiliate rebate processor will write and place ads to sell the products, offering a discount to the buyer which is less than the commission that would be earned. Then when the product is sold, the rebate comes out of the commission, allowing the processor to net a certain amount.

One benefit to affiliate rebate processing programs is that they can offer the internet newbie a fair amount of training as to how the whole process works. If one doesn’t know how to go about placing ads online and selling products for commissions, then these programs could be a good place to learn the ropes. One should be careful to avoid programs that require an upfront payment though, as there’s always a chance of fraud when dealing with unknown companies like this online.

Internet savvy entrepreneurs, however, don’t really need these programs to be successful at this strategy. It’s easy to find products that one can sell online for a commission without ever having to touch said products. A simple Google search will turn up many different types of these products, and combined with a smart search engine optimization strategy as well as keyword ads, one can make a fair amount of money if he/she really works at it. In addition, retailers such as Amazon.com offer affiliate programs for those who want to simplify things a bit.

In summary, while one can make money at this strategy, the programs are a bit different than they’re made out to be in the advertisements. The better option is to put together one’s own plan to make commissions selling products online through affiliate programs of well known companies.