Acer Offers Back-End Rebates

Acer America is offering a new series of back-end rebates for its VAR partners.

Beginning June 1, Acer-approved VARs that have signed up for the company's Summer Sales Extravaganza program will receive 3 percent back-end rebates on TravelMate and Extensa notebook PCs, 4 percent on selected desktops and 2 percent on all B Series and 26-inch X Series LCDs, according to the company.

The rebates mark a shift for Acer, which had eliminated all back-end rebates in the United States in 2004 in favor of a simple one-low-price model of doing business, at the same time that it put more of a focus on distribution and direct market resellers.

Now Acer is looking to use such a program to reconnect with its VAR partners. And the program is the first in what Acer hopes will be a series of efforts to create a higher-touch program with its VAR partners. The company already employs a 100 percent indirect sales model.

"The idea with these rebates is to have our sales team calling into the VAR community to provide information and support about this program," says Mark Hill, general manager for Acer America. "And this rebate program will likely bring more phone calls from VARs."

The new rebates, first offered in April, are being renewed for June. To be eligible, partners can sign up at the Acer Connect partner portal.

With its purchase of Gateway in 2007, Acer became the No. 3 maker of PCs behind HP and Dell.