If you're a regular retail shopper, you may have noticed that there are "rebates" advertised in almost every price these days, specifically when looking at and shopping for consumer electronics gear. Retailers team up with manufacturers to create rebate programs to allow for ever-shrinking retail prices to be advertised and get that all-important "foot in the door" of the retailer.

Statistics have showed that the majority of shoppers who end up making a purchasing decision based on an "after rebate" price never send in the rebate in, or send it in and don't follow up on it later. Retailers expect this as the percentage of consumers who never follow up on claiming a rebate just adds that much more to retailers margins. Are rebates a hassle and mess to even work with? At most retailers, they are. I have noticed that some retailers -- like Staples Inc. (NASDAQ: SPLS) -- make it extremely easy to work with rebates, sometimes not even requiring sending in receipts, bar codes and other miscellaneous items.

If you're into the mode of judging retail prices by the "after rebate" price, realize that you are paying a higher price to begin with (rebates come later) and that you will have to be super-diligent about organizing all the rebate materials to ensure you don't mess up the process and have a rebate claim denied. Is it worth it? To some, yes. To others, it's just a way to get a lower advertised price in front of those retail eyes.