Yesterday, May 21st, Microsoft officially announced Live Search cashback, an advertising scheme in which users get a small percent (usually 2-7%) of their purchase back, similar to Ebates. The way the system works is that advertisers (like Barnes & Noble and Zappos) partner with Microsoft to have their products listed in cashback. The companies only have to pay Microsoft for advertisement fees only if users make a purchase when visiting their website from cashback. This is opposed to Google’sadvertisement method in which advertisers get charged when a user clicks though to their site, regardless of whether a purchase is made or not. I think the service is a great idea and hope it takes off. About 50% of the time it saves me money over Amazon (even with my free shipping from them).
I will add some more content to the “Something Interesting” system later today.
-Mike
