In 2005, the FTC settled a complaint with CompUSA and QPS "for allegedly failing to pay, in a timely manner, thousands of rebates for products sold under the CompUSA and QPS brands."

Two reasons for doing rebates come to mind: first, accounting gimmickry involving booking larger and earlier sales, later reduced somewhat by advertising costs; and second, some consumers won't redeem. As to the second, here's what NBC12 said:

One company put out its rebate redemption rates. Only 10% of the people sent for a $10 rebate on a $100 product. On a $200 product with a $50-rebate, the number increased to 35%. All in all, consumer experts say 40% of all rebates are never redeemed.

California PIRG is backing legislation to regulate rebates by consumer champ Liz Figueroa, a State Senator.

This bill regulates the offering and fulfillment of consumer rebates, including requiring that consumers have a minimum of 30 days to submit a rebate request and companies have a maximum of 60 days to mail the rebate after receipt of the request, and also limits what companies can require the consumer to provide in order to complete a rebate request form.

I'd like to hear whether any of you have had complaints or problems. I recently purchased a new personal laptop. To obtain $210 in rebates on the laptop plus a "free" (after rebates) printer, I had to mail 5 separate claims. For the smallest rebate, $10, I had to cut the actual UPC code off the computer box. For the others, I had to send copies of the UPC codes and my receipts. Making copies of the UPC codes could prove difficult for consumers who don't work in an office. Fortunately, the store generated 6 sets of receipts (one for me to keep). A month later, I've actually received 4 of the 5 checks. But it was a lot of work. I will let you know if the fifth check fails to come in.