I visited a nearby Home Depot store yesterday, and their Makita tool deal displays were fully stocked and neatly organized.
With the deal shown here, you buy the Makita 18V cordless circular saw and get a free 18V battery 2-pack.
You grab the saw, and the free batteries are right there. After you make your purchase, you leave the store with the tool and your freebie item.
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I like this promo format, where you “buy this, get something for free.” It’s not as good as a deep discount, but is the next-best type of tool deal.
So when I got an email today about Makita’s new promo strategy, I thought it was a joke at first.
An industry insider sent a heads-up that Makita is moving to rebate-based tool promotions:
thought you might be interested in sharing this with your readers and getting their feedback. It seems that Makita is moving to an online rebate model for promos
REBATES?!
For all of you younger readers, mail-in rebates are the worst. You buy something, fill out a form, cut out a UPC code so that you can’t return the product, and send them to a rebate processing center. You then wait, and wait, and wait, and then after 6-8 weeks you complain about having never received your check or free item, complain some more, and then after resubmitting photocopied proof of everything, eventually your discount or free stuff will arrive.
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E-Rebates are a bit different, in how you don’t have to snail-mail anything in.
Makita lays out the steps:
Buy a qualified promo.
Submit your purchase details online.
Receive your promo offer shipment.
Be sure you check Makita’s list of qualifying retailers before you make your purchase.
Submission requires sending Makita a photo of your receipt or invoice, as well as the products, serial number, and UPC bar code of the outer box.
Your invoice or receipt needs to show the store, store address, purchase date, item, quantity, price, and order or transaction number. And you need to highlight the qualifying item on the receipt or invoice.
Makita will presumably check with the retailer to make sure you didn’t return the item. There are limits and all kinds of other factors that might invalidate a rebate – be sure to read the fine print and follow all of the steps.
Also:
Makita reserves the right to substitute products of equal or greater value if any product is unavailable.
With their current offers, you can buy an 18V cordless power tool combo kit and get a free jig saw or reciprocating saw. So does this mean if they run out of your choice, you’re likely to get the other?
If all goes well, you can expect to:
Please allow 4 to 6 weeks for processing time.
It has been years since I bought anything with a rebate offer – I thought those days were over.
I get antsy waiting 4-6 days for online orders. 4-6 WEEKS for fulfillment?
I’m guessing there’s no way around this, as they have to make sure you didn’t return the item after sending in for the free tool.
Given how few and poor Makita’s Black Friday and Holiday 2023 tool deals have been (at least in my opinion, tell me yours), I guess it’s good to see them trying something.
On the other hand, maybe it’s good to stick with what you know. For instance – Makita’s Outdoor Adventure loin-warming heated blanket.
I really hope that Makita is simply adding rebate deals, as opposed to moving or switching over to them.
What do you think about Makita’s new e-Rebates program? Are there any positives for customers?
Does anyone prefer rebates over instant “buy this, get something for free” deals?
Robert
Nope. Hate rebates too. It’s pretty obvious the whole rebate system was designed to make it appear you are getting a deal, while making it such a hassle few buyers will complete all the steps. And if they are really dishonest, it’s easy for them to disavow you ever turned in the rebate.
That NA Makita is going down the rebate path is a sign to me they still don’t get that they need to do something dramatically positive to reverse the declining consumer impression of them in the US.
blocky
I refuse to mess with rebates whatsoever. That’s real and demeaning labor on my part, and I’ve been burned more than a couple times. Life is short. I’ll sooner buy a tool I need at a fair price.
Jason
Milwaukee has been doing this as long as I can remember everywhere except Home Depot
https://www.milwaukeetool.com/E-Rebates
Decent deal sometimes on things you’re already going to buy and pretty easy process. Heated gear is always the biggest one, but they all bank on a low redemption rate while still getting the sales bump
Stuart
Yes, but mainly on large equipment purchases, like ForceLogic tools.
I posted about some of Milwaukee’s offers around 7 years ago. I check on occasion, but Milwaukee seems to offer far more instant promos and bonuses today.
Jeff Jones
Not a fan of rebates. They seem to be lost… always
Jim Felt
These dopes just can’t get on the same marketing wavelength as their present day competitors. Weird.
In the ‘90’s and maybe to the heyday of NiMH battery tech they had competitive products. But now? Gave all of mine away years ago. Nice fit and finish, let alone nostalgia, is not enough to keep me loyal. Darn.
A W
The “loin warming heating blanket” made me laugh out loud. Thanks Stuart.
Eliot Truelove
I’d be willing to bet this is so that Makita can maintain the stock of certain items on their end and eliminate the middle man for the add ons.
Quite a few online retailers would run out of stock on various addons and you’d have to wait anyways for the retailer to receive them and then for the items to be sent, it happened to me a few times with Acme and Toolnut.
This E-rebate option also may also help reduce the in-person “Home Depot Hacking” that people do where they return the “free” item (which is actually a prorated reduced price along with the other main item which is also reduced), thus you get back the reduced value, making the cost of the actual item significantly cheaper than retail.
Many people will return the extra item for its cash value, apply that to a new purchase on a similar deal, and keep doing this back and forth with various deals and get tons of stuff they actually want for very cheap. I’ve seen it done tons on the Milwaukee Subreddit, but also with DeWalt and Makita tools as well.
Many of those who do these “hacks” say that it’s not a bug, but a feature of Home Depot and that certain other deals dont prorate both items, but I still think it’s a technicality and unethical.
Either way, I think the rebate option is done pretty much everywhere else in the world, and while it seems a relic of a bygone era, to get things Makita direct may end up being a good thing.
Evan
A part of me hates that I went with makita. I’ve had it now for 18 years and have a large collection of tools. They are never on sale and always one of the most expensive cordless tools. Never seems to be a good sale when all of the others are on sale. If it wasn’t for the quality of the product I’d have switched brands. I’m at that crossroads, do I start over with a new brand and sell off what I have?
Mike
It’s neither a technicality or unethical. It is literally a return of a paid for item. Anyone who pushes those ideas are the one’s who are unethical.
James
🥴🧐🤐😵💫
Neither of the transactions are unethical; one is a purchase, one is a return. Purchasing with the intent to return to make more gains than the merchant intended…..starts to move into a grey area…..calling it like I see it; not judging anyone or moral high horsing. I’m sure I’ve done similar. Everyone goes to bed with themselves and can rationalize or justify whatever they feel is warranted for them to get by with their needs in their individual situation.
It is also not unethical for someone to express their opinion on their own moral or ethical code. Judgement and high horsing are a different kettle of fish.
If we all took the time to listen to each other and allow others to have different opinions and to walk their own path (hint: they will anyway) without taking it as an insult to our own sacred self, we could live and thrive with a little more harmony.
James
Reading my comment and it sounds like a non-harmonious dickhead remark, but it’s coming from a place of love. Namaste.
Yup, its me
I’m heavily invested in Makita tools, but why does it seem like they cant keep from shooting themselves in the foot. This is a absolute joke, as there are so many more other options out there now then even 5 years, So why make it harder to invest in your system? This sounds like some high up executives idiot kid got put in charge of marketing.
DRT42
Menards does very well with rebates. I have submitted several dozen, generally received my coupon reasonably quickly, and not a single one has been lost or denied. It does motivate you to go back to the store and buy more. I don’t have a problem with the rebate concept, if done properly.
On the other hand, if your name is Mr. Winchester, I am not buying anything from you, until the $40 rebate you owe me from two years ago arrives. Which it won’t, because you seem to have no idea how to run a rebate program.
There you have it. Do it right, or don’t do it at all.
Kris Petrie
Ruger hosed me on a $30 rebate.
BrianA
LOL, I get suckered into the Winchester rebates cause the deal is potentially amazing. Worst part is mailing in dozens of UPCs.
I have become anti rebate but sometimes can’t resist. One gave me hope, submitted my HK rebate and I got it the next day!!! My Beretta rebate 3 months earlier showed up a week after the HK incident.
Online rebates are better than ones you have to snail mail in….
S
Even better, go to a midwest home depot that competes within the Menards area.
As part of their policy, home depot matches all competitors offers, meaning you get 11% off there as well, but they save the stamp and allow one to file electronically.
11% off husky tool boxes and Milwaukee gear has helped me a ton over the past few years.
Though it bears stating they did publish an “exclusion list” in 2023 that they hadn’t before. Basically all the items Menards doesn’t sell. Like Milwaukee, DeWalt, or husky products.
But I haven’t had a rebate rejected yet. So YMMV.
Big Richard
I do this as well and highly recommend it – https://www.homedepotrebates11percent.com/#/home
Albert
I’ve been looking at a Miller 211 mig welder. It has a $300 rebate which does nothing for me except bring back memories of going through exactly what you described. I would probably buy it if it didn’t have a rebate.
The only good experience I’ve had with rebates is at Menards, but there is still a wait and a few times I thought I received less than I should (even though I might be mistaken).
MoogleMan3
No more mail in rebates for me. Not worth the time, and it’s a gamble regardless of how to-the-letter you follow the instructions.
Arthur
From casual discussions with friends and co-workers over the years it seems manufacturers have so badly messed up on the mail-in rebate thing that not only does it not spark new sales it discourages them.
Simple answer: If you want me to buy your product offer me a direct incentive – A SALE PRICE – not some painful and ineffective bureaucratic garbage. Trading an internet form for a mail-in for is the same, smelly garbage in a different wrapper.
Why not a “buy this, get this, too” type deal instead of A SALE PRICE ? Because retailers are also incompetent and run out of the “get this too” item (or, what has become the standard catch-all for incompetence, “supply chain issues have delayed shipment of the ‘get this too’ item but it should be restocked shortly”).
Look, we know you want to sell stuff, we also know you are barely competent at running your company Monday-Friday so adding the bureaucratic layer of a mail-in or “electronic-in” is beyond your abilities.
Offer A SALE PRICE that applies right now, right there; it’s simple to do, it’s obvious to the consumer, and if it’s a good sale price for what appears to be a quality product, we’ll buy your stuff and try it. If we like what we bought, the probability of buying more of your stuff goes up. Try to run us through the bureaucratic wringer with your slow, sloppy processes and even slower and sloppier employees, we’ll buy the other guy’s stuff in a heartbeat because he offers A SALE PRICE.
Tim
I use the Metabo HPT free battery rebate when it happens. (Still happening)
Even $20 clearance tools at Lowe’s and Black Friday deals get you a free battery as long as they’re on the list.
I don’t think many other people use it.
matthew
I and Metabo HPT is actually very good about honoring and getting the product out relatively quickly
JMJR
Not enough Makita deals?
Atlas Machinery in Ontario, Canada has a pretty big Holiday flyer with 4 pages of Makita deals ranging from small savings to big discounts plus free batteries. Their Oktoberfest flyer had so many pages of Makita deals it was almost like they forgot to leave space for Milwaukee and Dewalt.
I don’t mind online rebates, I’ve participated in them for tires and tools in the past and I’m cheap enough that I’m not going to let a somewhat irritating form get in the way of me getting money back or free tools. It does offer the opportunity for “slippage”, so I’m sure Makita would love if people didn’t take them up on their offer. Every online rebate I’ve participated in has been processed and fulfilled in a fraction of the time they quote, so you’re usually only waiting 2 weeks and being fully digital there’s a trail to prove you made a submission and your documents are uploaded to their cloud.
Stuart
Home Depot has barely anything, with some of the “deals” full price. My stores have full displays.
What you see above is not what a power tool promo is supposed to look like a week into December.
Rob
I can’t relate to the others crying about deals. However, Stu is US based and it’s prudent to point out that Makita USA and Makita Canada are their own thing.
Kris Petrie
The only rebate I participate in is the 11% Menards and that’s only when the items are the same price or lower than the other stores. I picked up a Makita lawn mower last year and this rebate plan might get me to sell it and expand my reds.
Mike
The Makita rebate strategy is another sad slap in the face to their loyal customer base. I’ve bought one or two new Makita cordless tools between black friday and cyber monday for the last 15+years. This year was a joke for Makita deals so I saved my money. Then I got to thinking about trading Blue for Red and selling all my Makita cordless tools as a whole. The Milwaukee tool universe is superior to Makita in nearly every category and has been for many years. The best example I can think of is cordless ratchets. The Makita rachet works well when you can fit it where you’re working but most of the time it never really fits where you need it to. Lots of words aside, I fired Makita and couldn’t be happier about it! Milwaukee makes tools I can actually use and sells them at consistently competitive prices.
xu lu
Rebates? 1995 called and wants it consumer ‘fraud’ back. Never, ever. Indeed merely offering them raises my eyebrows re vendor integrity.
MichaelT
Rebates are still fairly common in the autoparts/tire world.
MM
In the last 10+ years the only rebates I’ve bothered with have been on tires. I don’t go looking for them but when I need tires and the brand I want happens to have a rebate? Sure, I’ll do that. I’d have bought the same tires anyway and the rebate amount is usually well worth the time to file it. The only exception to this was when my city offered a tax rebate for installing high-efficiency windows or insulation. I had my attic re-insulated and filed for that rebate. It was an easy few hundred bucks.
Other than those handful of examples I haven’t used a rebate in ages, and it just seems odd here. Why not just discount the tool?
Rog
Lol rebates.
I would turn away from a deal that required me to submit a rebate, especially with how little trust I have in Makita these days.
Ray
Makita is a sad story to me. Huge fan and supporter for 3 decades! The last 3 years replaced almost all single battery tools with Milwaukee will hang on to the 36 volt stuff (likely will outlast me). I may purchase the 10 1/4 40v cordless saw that requires moving to another battery platform, therefore will probably just deal with a cord. Milwaukee we need a 10 1/4 cordless…. Thanks for the memories Makita!
Julian Tracy
Years ago, Makita free tool mail in rebates yielded me quite a few oddball (fairly expensive) tools that were not readily available in stores, like the cordless metal saw, right angle drill, etc.
teicher
Hate rebates like everyone else, they turned into such a hassle. If a product I am already planning to buy offers one I’ll take it, but I never consider them as a benefit when deciding what to buy. I’d much rather have the product or discount applied at the time of sale, and plenty of companies offer that now.
Wayne R.
With completely interconnected everything, scanners and credit cards and “affinity program” cards and cameras and more scanners, we’re used to instantly concluding our transactions. And we’re not even talking about all the app trackers and data harvesting/mining that these purchases fall into.
But someone somewhere is thinking that “4-6 weeks” to get back part of what you just handed over is a good idea?
Not gonna happen, ever.
Steve
You said that they asked for feedback, so here’s my .02.
I don’t do rebates of any kind any more. (too many other things to deal with, to remember what I’m waiting on, lol) And 4 to 6 weeks for an e-rebate? wth!
I much prefer the BOGO model. That’s how I made my 1st Makita purchase. (returned it because I didn’t like how they felt in my hands)
I know Menards gets mentioned quite a bit here but I don’t consider that to be an actual rebate since it’s merely a store credit.
If you buy a lot at Menards, then it’s a good deal, but if not, it’s just another program to keep track of in your head.
BigTimeTommy
Rebates suck. Seems retailers/manufacturers are trying harder and harder to make sure consumers can never get a real good deal. If that’s case I’m happy to continue keeping my money until they ease up on the greed.
Craig
Well if they want their actual users feedback here it is: How much longer before Makita is just not relevant anymore? Smaller displays in fewer stores, recent price increases, this rebate nonsense and a complete lack of innovation is about all Makita is anymore. I have 30+ batteries, who knows how many teal tools and about a year ago I dumped the brand. All my new stuff is red going forward and I couldn’t be happier.
Matt
Hey, no one is buying our tools that are never on sale. Putting them on sale is just such an inconvenience. You know know what we should do? Consult with Grandpa Makita about how he sold things through catalogs in the 80s. If the rebate process removes the customer’s will to live, they definitely won’t follow through!
Perry Gower
I’ve been a makita fan boy for close to 30 years, and this season I’m actively looking at which other brand I’m migrating to for both companies. For the first time ever this year I’ve had tools fail (circular saw and 2 impact drivers) and another brand new circular saw that shorted out because the wires were pinched inside the housing. Quality has been disappointing the last ~15 months that I’ve been buying their tools, and their prices keep going up.
Rob
Battery rebates are the standard promotion model in the UK. Maybe my dream has come true and Makita UK are taking over Makita USA. 🤣
Nate
I generally hate rebates… They generally aren’t worth much time, and I won’t do it unless there’s something worth it at the end. That said, the “free battery” e-rebates Metabo HPT seems to run every year has been a great program. I bought three tools and have received the batteries I bought within a month of purchase. They’ve done this with both their Multivolt batteries (18-36v) in 2022 and their 3ah 18v batteries this year.
Andrew LB
I despise rebates. Wont do them on tools, or when buying a car.
That Makita saw looks pretty nice, except i’m not buying a non-corded circ saw again. At least the blade is on the proper side on the one pictured tho.
JG
I know this is an old post, just wanted to share my experience with Makita’s Erebates. I bought a few items and everything went fine with a few rebate claims, now I’m getting rejections for rebates, Makita claims I already made a claim when I didn’t for separate promotions. I had bought tens of thousands in tools from them and wanted to switch to their 40v line for my growing business and now getting denied rebates is more headache than it’s worth. I’ll be returning everything and sticking with DeWalt and Milwaukee. Makita just doesn’t seem to have it all together, shame since they make good tools but my customer service experience has turned me away.