I suppose it eventually had to happen. Courtesy of a FatWallet email earlier today:

Dear Valued Member,

We want to share recent news that may pertain to you since you’ve made an
eBay purchase through FatWallet this year.

At eBay’s request, in accord with a test they are conducting over the next
several months, we will be suspending eBay cash back. This means eBay will
not be offering cash back on any site, including FatWallet, for purchases
made on or after 6/16.

We will let you know as soon as eBay cash back resumes. We are sorry for any
short-term inconvenience this may cause you.

Best Regards,
FatWallet

eBates and others have suggested their respective programs hope to return by October 1st. I suspect, however, that eBay will end up ditching these programs altogether. Their eBay bucks program keeps the money in-house, and shareholders can’t be keen on the company paying referral fees in an age when its brand awareness, 4 years ago, was even stronger than that of Amazon. I can’t imagine it’s any less today.

While I’ll miss the extra 1 or 2% cash back (which you could stack in addition to the 2% eBay bucks credit), eBay bucks alone is still a good program to reinvest into future silver if you’re a persistent buyer on eBay.

For those of you that do a lot of buying on eBay, you’ve got a week left on a pretty sweet deal. Gone are the cashback days (sigh), but Microsoft has been running a promotion for the last month, ending on 5/18, where you’ll get 8% more eBay bucks on your silver purchases (or any other purchases, of course) and a $5 bonus just for installing Internet Explorer 9 and launching eBay through a shortcut. I’ve bought a lot through the promotion and can confirm it’s legit. On top of that, IE9 is actually a *much better* browser than IE 7/8 was, so if you’re running an older version or using FireFox/Chrome, it won’t kill you to sell out for the sake of cheaper silver. You can always uninstall on the 19th! =)

eBay bucks are a cinch to use and ones you earn this quarter (through June) will be payable in July. There’s nothing to really redeem either. In early July when you try to buy something on eBay, you’ll just see your bucks applied against the balance. If you bought $100 worth of silver this week, you’d end up getting everything for $85. Not too shabby if you’re hovering near the CME-manipulated paper spot price.

Here’s the fine print:

SUPPLEMENTAL TERMS AND CONDITIONS TO THE EBAY BUCKS REWARDS PROGRAM

In addition to the Rewards as described in Section 4 of the eBay Bucks Rewards ProgramTerms and Conditions, you may also be able to earn additional Rewards based on a Qualifying Payment Action, defined below (“Transaction Rewards“). Transaction Rewards means a U.S. dollar amount which will be given in the form of an eBay Bucks Certificate and will be attributed to the Eligible Participant’s eBay account upon the following criteria:

• 1. are the intended recipients of an invitation from eBay to participate in the eBay Bucks Internet Explorer 9 Promotion (“Promotion“),
  2. have Windows 7 or Windows Vista installed on their computer,
  3. successfully install Internet Explorer 9,
  4. follow the steps outlined on: http://anywhere.ebay.com/browser/internet-explorer/?camp=bucks to add (“pin”) the eBay website to your taskbar, and
  5. after clicking on the eBay pinned website in your taskbar make a purchase on eBay.com,

1. Only Eligible Participants who:may receive Transaction Rewards in connection with such promotion; 2. The Promotion starts on April 20, 2011 at 12:01 AM PT and ends at 11:59 PM PT on May 18, 2011 (Promotion Period“); 3. For this Promotion, the Transaction Rewards will be 8% of each Qualifying Payment Action (excludes sales tax, shipping charges discounts, partial refunds, free items, items that fail to comply with applicable eBay terms and conditions, past purchases, and non-shipped, undeliverable or returned items) for each transaction, plus an additional $5 for the first Qualifying Payment Action made during the Promotion Period; 4. “Qualifying Payment Action” occurs when an Eligible Participant who was the intended recipient of the Promotion invitation properly installs Internet Explorer 9 and follows the steps outlined on: http://anywhere.ebay.com/browser/internet-explorer/?camp=bucks and, after clicking on the eBay pinned website in your taskbar properly purchases item(s) on eBay.com during the Promotion Period; 5. Eligible Participants who fail to properly execute a Qualifying Payment Action (as outlined in 4 above) will not earn Transaction Rewards; 6. Transactions Rewards are a subset of Rewards so regular Rewards and Transaction Rewards will be combined in the Eligible Participant’s account and on the eBay Bucks Certificate and accordingly, all terms and conditions that apply to Rewards (including caps on earnings, excluded categories, etc.) will also apply to Transactions Rewards; 7. Transaction Rewards may not appear in the Eligible Participant’s eBay Bucks account until seven (7) days after the Promotion Period ends; 8. Transaction Rewards will be tied to the eBay account of the Eligible Participant; 9. Unused Transaction Rewards on an eBay Bucks Certificate are forfeited when the eBay Bucks Certificate expires; 10. eBay reserves the right to hold back or otherwise suspend Transaction Rewards after registering in its sole discretion to investigate compliance with eBay’s policies so Transaction Rewards may not post for Qualifying Payment Actions during eBay’s investigation and will post if eBay clears the action; 11. Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in section 6.1 in the eBay Rewards Terms and Conditions, and for the purpose of these Supplemental Terms and Conditions only, eBay reserves the right to modify or terminate these Supplemental Terms & Conditions at any time without posting prior notice; and 12. eBay reserves the right to cancel, amend, or revoke the Promotion at any time.