Bing Cashback is no longer available. Microsoft announced on June 4, 2010, that it was ending the shopping-rebate experiment, with the service discontinued on July 30, 2010. The program was tied to Bing product searches and retailer purchases—not to Microsoft Rewards, Microsoft account credit, or a browser setting.
What Bing Cashback was
Bing Cashback was a web-based shopping incentive connected to Bing product searches. Shoppers could find participating offers through Bing and receive a rebate after completing an eligible purchase. In contemporaneous coverage, the program was described as roughly two years old when Microsoft announced its closure.
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It was therefore closer to a search-driven shopping and rebate service than to a general-purpose Microsoft loyalty account. The historical program should not be confused with Microsoft Rewards, which arrived later and uses different branding and mechanics.
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- Announcement: June 4, 2010, in Yusuf Mehdi’s Bing Search Blog post, “A Farewell to Bing cashback”.
- Discontinuation: July 30, 2010.
Reports describing Microsoft as “axing Bing Cashback on July 30” and reports saying the program would end “at the end of July” refer to the same cutoff date. The shutdown was not a recent change or a temporary removal of a current Bing feature.
#1 Best Overall
- Amazon.com Gift Cards never expire and carry no fees.
- Multiple gift card designs and denominations to choose from.
- Redeemable towards millions of items store-wide at Amazon.com or certain affiliated websites.
- Available for immediate delivery. Gift cards sent by email can be scheduled up to a year in advance.
- No returns and no refunds on Gift Cards.
Why Microsoft shut down Bing Cashback
Microsoft said the experiment had not produced the desired level of value for customers and advertisers. Contemporaneous reporting generally summarized that outcome as low usage or insufficient adoption.
Some commentary claimed that shoppers had abused or “scammed” the system, while a VentureBeat headline described Microsoft as cutting off “cash flow to deal hounds.” Those are editorial or commentator characterizations, not Microsoft’s confirmed explanation. The cited Microsoft announcement does not establish fraud, abuse, or a deliberate crackdown on deal hunters as the official reason for the closure.
Rank #2
- Amazon.com Gift Cards never expire and carry no fees.
- Multiple gift card designs and denominations to choose from.
- Redeemable towards millions of items store-wide at Amazon.com or certain affiliated websites.
- Available for immediate delivery. Gift cards sent by email can be scheduled up to a year in advance.
- No returns and no refunds on Gift Cards.
What the shutdown means today
There is no current Bing Cashback interface. Users should not expect to find a Cashback switch in Bing settings, a button on a Microsoft account page, or a way to reactivate the service through a browser extension or account balance.
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There is also no verified command, PowerShell instruction, API call, or URL parameter that restores Bing Cashback. It was a discontinued web service, not a command-driven feature.
Rank #3
- Gift Card is redeemable towards millions of items storewide at Amazon.com
- Gift Card has no fees and no expiration date
- Gift Card is nested inside a specialty gift box
- Free One-Day Shipping (where available)
- Scan and redeem any Gift Card with a mobile or tablet device via the Amazon App
Bing Cashback was not renamed Microsoft Rewards
A common misunderstanding is that Bing Cashback simply became Microsoft Rewards. That is incorrect. Microsoft retired Bing Cashback in 2010; Microsoft Rewards is a separate, later loyalty program with different rules, rewards, and branding. The existence of Microsoft Rewards does not indicate that old Cashback rebates or offers remain available.
How to interpret old Bing Cashback instructions
Archived articles and forum posts may describe searching Bing for products, activating a retailer offer, or waiting for a rebate. Those instructions describe the historical service and cannot be followed on present-day Bing.
Rank #4
- Amazon.com Gift Cards never expire and carry no fees.
- Multiple gift card designs and denominations to choose from.
- Redeemable towards millions of items store-wide at Amazon.com or certain affiliated websites.
- Available for immediate delivery. Gift cards sent by email can be scheduled up to a year in advance.
- No returns and no refunds on Gift Cards.
Be especially cautious with pages that ask for Microsoft credentials, payment information, browser extensions, or software downloads in exchange for “reactivating” Cashback. The discontinued program has no current official activation path documented by Microsoft.
Timeline
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| Approximately 2008 | Bing Cashback begins, according to contemporaneous descriptions that called it about two years old at shutdown. |
| June 4, 2010 | Microsoft announces that it is ending the experiment. |
| July 30, 2010 | Bing Cashback is discontinued. |
The practical answer
If you are looking for a way to enable Bing Cashback today, there is nothing to turn on. The program ended in 2010 and was not converted into Microsoft Rewards. Any current rebate or loyalty product must be evaluated as a separate service, with its own terms and eligibility rules.
Quick Recap
Best Value
- Gift Card is redeemable towards millions of items storewide at Amazon.com
- Gift Card has no fees and no expiration date
- Gift Card is affixed inside a mini envelope
- Scan and redeem any Gift Card with a mobile or tablet device via the Amazon App
- Gift amount may not be printed on Gift Cards
