But it does allow a company to advertise a product, increase their sales based on the promotion, pocket the money and hold onto it, invest it or use it as capital for whatever reason for a few months or longer before paying out.
I've always felt rebates and such are just creative ways for companies to get interest-free short-term loans, personally. If your product is worth less, then sell it for less, don't refund money later. I don't usually bite on such things.
If they sell for less, then 100% of the buyers get the rebate. If they rebate only about 70-80% will get the rebate. They'll have people who are lazy, fill out the paperwork incorrectly or leave stuff out, wait until past the deadline, sent to the wrong PO box, etc. It's a way to make it look like it costs less, but not for everyone. The other thing is margin. If they lowered the cost $75, then at an average 10% markup, the dealer would make $7.50 less per gun. Which equals less happy dealers.