Also, how would you confirm the UPC code was valid prior to the buyer sending their money over? Or even the rebate - most rebates have like a 30 day policy. How could you prevent people from using expired rebates, etc?
I see it more as a logistical and maybe legal problem. Will companies honor rebates not submitted by the original buyer? If not, how easy would it be for them to find out that it's happening, and how big of a fuss might they make over the site? And as the parent brought up, what about fraud? Or not realizing some clause in a given rebate and not sending some vital piece of information with it?
It might all work out, or there might be some catch that renders it totally impractical, but I think it's worth looking into.
It's not that I don't want the rebate, it's that I don't want to hand over the personal information I'm required to give in order to collect it because I know it will be used to spam me.
> how would you confirm the UPC code was valid prior to the buyer sending their money over?
Having thought about this a bit more, I think the right way to do this is not to have an exchange service, but to redeem the rebates directly. Then when you (the company) get the money, the person submitting the rebate gets their cut via paper check sent through the mail. Kind of like those services that will sell things for you on EBay. It would be a labor intensive business, but I still think it could be done profitably if you get the process right.