MSN Cashbacks: your personal ATM
Here (apparently) goes the story:
1- you register as an Ebay seller, or find one that has the product described below at poin 2)
2- set up a 750$ cash product (i.e. customer pays 750$ via PayPal to get 750$ cash)
3- the cashback appears to be 35%, i.e. 250$ circa
4- buy your own cash product
5- walk away with 250$ worth of free-money / say thank you
Simple isn’t it? you buy your 750$ for 750$, and Microsoft gives you 250$ for having done all the legwork. According to MSFT recent balance sheet, they can accommodate about 100,000,000 of transactions.
Apparently, it has been possible for a short while. For all the efforts and time that engineers and strategists might have put into thinking through the cashback product, there is always someone smarter out there that can game the system.
Were I in their shoes, I’d hire the guy. This is arbitrage at its best.
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