Why we care

In the wake of numerous developments in the e-commerce sector, such as PayPal’s acquisition of Honey, Google’s revamped Shopping experience and third-party coupon sites partnering up with publishers, Bing is offering incentives for users to do their shopping on its search engine. If the rebates are competitive, it may attract new users or disincentivize current users from shopping elsewhere.

More on the announcement

• Bing Rebates is currently in beta and only available to select members of Microsoft Rewards, the company’s free rewards program for conducting searches on Bing and making purchases through the Microsoft online store or on Xbox, via invitation.
• Products eligible for rebates are distinguished in the search results by a Bing Rebates shopping tag. Users must click through on the product and complete their purchase in a single browsing session. Rebates are paid via PayPal after the retailer confirms the purchase.
• Cashback, the company’s first attempt at paying users to shop on Bing (then known as Live Search), was launched in 2008 and retired in 2010 due to a lack of consumer adoption.