I do a lot of purchasing online.  With that comes a far share of returns.  In addition to that I make sure that I take advantage of rebates when offered.  It’s free money – you just have to ask for it.  I have an Evernote notebook where I track my open returns and my open rebates.

For example in January I sent in a rebate for a piece of electronic equipment I had purchased at Costco, the rebate was for $50 and I submitted it on January 12th – given the terms on the rebate I should receive my rebate before February 25th.  In my Evernote notebook I logged this:

February 25th – Navigation System Rebate – Costco – $50.00 – Submitted 1/12

I also included a picture of the receipt and the rebate form so that I could see the contact number or status website.

For returns I do the same thing.  I made a return to Amazon.com for a $65 wireless access point UPS picked it up on 1/18 so based on their refund policy I should have the refund by 1/30.

January 30th – Return Order #abc1234 – Amazon – $65 – UPS pick up 1/18

I find that this keeps the returns and rebates in check.  There have been a few times when a refund wasn’t processed or a rebate didn’t come until I made the call.  Staying on top of this stuff is totally worth it and not at all a hassle if you have a system.