Microsoft Ends Bing Promotion After Overwhelming Response

Microsoft's Double Cashback Bing Promotion was a big hit with online bargain hunters. So much so that the company has had to pull the plug a full four days early after all the funds that were set aside were depleted.

According to the site InternetRetailer.com and later confirmed via the Bing Cashback Facebook page Microsoft has officially pulled the plug: “Due to an overwhelming, positive response from our Bing cashback shoppers, we’ve now closed our limited time back-to-school promotion where Microsoft increased the percentage of cashback rewards on behalf of retailers."

“We launched this on Aug. 10 as a limited time promotion. There was a set cap on the amount of additional cashback we were able to offer. The promotion was intended to run until we reached the cap, or Aug. 30, whichever came first,” the spokesman says.

Reportedly the majority of retailers involved in the promotion reported large spikes in traffic from consumers taking advantage of the double cashback offer, in which the retailer offered a rebate and Bing matched that offer.

Some companies saw so much traffic that Microsoft had to ask them to reduce the amount of the cashback rewards so the other Cashback partners could take advantage of the promotion before Microsoft their spending hit the cap.

Bing, which is Microsoft's latest entry into the search engine chase, has managed to carve out a decent market share since its introduction on May 31. According to analytics firm comScore Bing fielded 8.9 percent of U.S. Web searches in July an increase of .5% from the month prior and nearly a full percentage point from its introduction.