The program did work in some respects, helping Microsoft establish relationships with a lot of different businesses.  A post on the Bing Search Blog even stated, "[W]e had over a thousand merchant partners delivering great offers to customers and seeing great ROI on their campaigns . . ."

Yusuf Mehdi, Senior Vice President of the Online Audience Business Group at Microsoft, admitted, though, "But after a couple of years of trying, we did not see the broad adoption that we had hoped for."

So the last day individuals will be able to earn cashback by shopping with Bing will be July 30th (at 9:00 PM PST, to be exact).  Then users will have one year to claim their cashback sums before the whole program is terminated.

Bargain hunters can’t be expected to take this news well.  Still, Microsoft fans have reason to be pleased since Mehdi said the company will start to channel its energy (and money) into different and more effective approaches to attracting and retaining users.

From now until the end of the month (although Microsoft’s reserved the right to end the promotion early), Bing’s cashback program will be in high gear.  Total cashback rewards of up to 50 percent are available, and most of the stores that were already onboard are participating.

There’s not much more to the program, either – no obstacles or catches.

Since Bing’s been offering cash back for a while – and before it, Live Search did the same – it’s reasonable to assume that Microsoft really is seeing some benefit (as opposed to abuse) here.  Since the economy seems to be improving, people may be extra eager to spend money and take advantage of the new promotion, too.

It’ll be interesting to see what Bing’s market share looks like at the end of August.  In the meantime, you can peruse a list of cashback stores and their rates here.
 

“Google is getting about $50 per year for your searching. Yet, because it does not think it has any competition, it is not giving any of that back to you. As search becomes competitive and people realize that other offerings are as good, or are even significantly better, there will be price competition.”
— Bill Gates on paying searchers, Computing, November 2005

Microsoft wants to buy your Google love. At least, that’s the hot rumor surrounding the company’s advance08 event taking place this week.

Todd Bishop said Live Search’s cashback program should debut today. The effort offers rebates on purchases made through participating retailers after a searcher discovers them on Live Search.

Among the early details, Microsoft will require an accumulation of a minimum $5 balance before paying the searcher. Also, Bishop cited a 60-day waiting period before payments will be made in case people return an item.

Microsoft plans to go with cost per action (CPA) pricing for ads leading to cash back-eligible purchases. This pricing method benefits the advertisers, as they only pay for real conversions, not just ad clicks.

Search Engine Watch noted how the cash back idea likely stems from Microsoft’s acquisition of the Jellyfish product search site. Jellyfish operated with a cash back premise, and should form the core of Live Search’s payback program.