Automatic Cashback Mobile Phones
Automatic Cash Back Mobile Phones are probably the most popular incentivised mobile phone deal on offer at the moment. the reason is simple, that instead of taking a free gift, you can get instant cash and use that money to buy an alternative item, or, just pay it back into your account.
Automatic Cashback Phone deals are the cheapest way to own a mobile phone, without incurring any of the risks associated with free line rental deals.
Nokia 2220 slide black, 100 minutes to any network and 500 texts.,
Tariff Name: 100 mins 500 texts (18m), Network Vodafone, 18 Month Contract, 100 Anytime Minutes, 500 Free Text Messages, Nokia 2220 slide black, Free Mobile Phone, Total Savings £234, Total Cost After Discounts £36
Monthly Cost £15 Avg Monthly Cost After Discounts: £2.00
Nokia 2330 classic silver, 50 minutes to any network and unlimited texts.,
Tariff Name: O2 50 plus texts (18m), Network o2, 18 Month Contract, 50 Anytime Minutes, 3000 Free Text Messages, Nokia 2330 classic silver, Free Mobile Phone, Total Savings £234, Total Cost After Discounts £36
Monthly Cost £15 Avg Monthly Cost After Discounts: £2.00
What Is and Automatic Cashback Deal?
An automatic cashback mobile phone deal does what the name suggests, you order a mobile phone and the retailer pays you via a cheque, BACS transfer or some other means without you having to do anything else. The retailer will wiat until they have confirmation from the network provider that everything has gone according to plan, so there may be some slight delay, but, after that short period your money will be paid.
Why Do Retailers Offer Automatic Cash Back?
The mobile phone sector is extremely complex in terms of the pricing, and relationships between retailers and network providers.
Retailers largely earn their money via commision from the network providers, so, if they sell an o2 contract, they receive some commision for that, likewise of they sell Orange, Virgin, Vodaphone deals etc.
In order to compete with each other, retailers have to be price competitive, but, the monthly cost of a given tarrif is set by the network provider, meaning the retailers cannot discount it or run any promotions that reduce that cost.
This means, that to compete / make their deals more competitive retaileres have to resort to other means (besides trying to discount the monthly cost).
This is how the incentivised mobile phone deal was born. Today, you can find mobile phone deals offering a plethora of incentives including laptops, sat nav, games consoles, hair straighteners... you name it!
For those that are not enticed by free electronic goods and the like, retailers also offer automatic cashback with a range of mobile phones.
Put simply, a retailer that would like to offer you a monthly tarrif of £15, which actually costs £25 can achieve a similar result by offering £240 cash back (on a 12 month contract).
What Kind of Deals Offer Automatic Cashback?
Typically you see automatic cashback being offered on the more expensive contracts where an older model of handset is supplied.
For instance, if you were going to order a contract which qualified you for a high quality handset, say the latest i-phone, you may find the same deal available with an older handset with automatic cashback.
In this case, the retailer is tailoring the deal towards bargain hunters rather than those who are looking for the latest handsets. They are offering customers the chance to save some money by taking an older model off their hands, as opposed to taking the best handset available on that deal.
Another reason for offering cashback is to compete on price with other retailers. It is possible that some retailers will hand back part of their commision to prospective customers in order to clinch the deal. In this case, the customer really is getting a great deal, as oposed to trading off their handset for cash.
When Will My Cash Back Be Paid?
This varies between retailers. As the saying goes, read the small print! Usually retailers will wait a few days until they are sure that the contract has gone ahead successfully before paying the cash back, but others will pay almost imediately.
Really, there should be little or no delay between being given the handset for your contract and the cash back, after all, if retailers did not think you were genuine, then they would not give you the mobile phone would they!