« Happy Commercial Day! | Main | Become the TiVo Ambassador »

How to get paid $51 to get a new TiVo

This is interesting: TiVo has just upped their rebates to $150 cash back if you buy a TiVo between today and November 27, 2005. The rebate rules don't say you have to buy your TiVo direct from TiVo.com, so you can buy it elsewhere. Amazon is selling a 40 hour TiVo for $99 on their site. Dell is also selling them at $99.

So the math is simple, buy a new TiVo for $99, mail in your $150 rebate and come out $51 dollars ahead in the end. If you've ever wanted to try out TiVo, now's the time to do it as this is the best deal I've seen to date. If you want a way to thank me, just toss "matt@haughey.com" in as the referring TiVo customer when activating your new TiVo.

Also worth mentioning is that if you want a high-end TiVo, a 300 hour monster box and 80 hour-with-DVD-recorder are both only $199 after the rebates. These boxes used to sell for about $500. [thanks for the tip, Davis!]

update: some people commenting are saying the amazon deals may not be eligible -- but by my reading of the rules, the answer to this FAQ is that amazon and dell are listed on TiVo's approved sellers page and the model number of the TiVo box starts with 540, which is allowed on the first point. The only thing that may make a purchase inelligible is this question, which is vague as there's no easy way to tell why amazon and dell are selling the boxes at $99, if that assumes another deal is in place (though it doesn't involve a rebate, both places selling them at $99 on checkout).

So I can't guarantee the amazon and dell deals will result in a greater rebate than the price, but according to their rules it certainly appears to be that way.

update #2: Well it looks like the party is over, as Dell has pulled the $99 unit and Amazon has upped the price to $199. So looks like a new TiVo will cost you $49 from here on out.

by Matt Haughey September 4, 2005 in TiVo

Comments