How long does it take for Ebates to post?

Some won't post until 48 hours after your order has actually shipped, not placed.  I wouldn't bother messaging them about missing purchases until after 2-4 weeks at the earliest.  

Frankly, this is why I stopped using them.  I don't have time to babysit them.  If it seemed to work better and I didn't have to message them about it, it would be great.  But I found I was having to email them about more purchases than not.

Look, ebates works. I've never had a purchase where I went through them not get posted. If you go to their site, pick the store you're interested in, it will tell you what their timeframe or requirements are. No babysitting required.

On hotels.com it says visit has to be completed in order to get the % back. I looked at Walmart and it said there's a processing time of 4-6 days. Nearly every purchase I've made otherwise has been posted within 24 hours.

I use Ebates when I remember to and I have never not had a purchase post, nor have I ever had to babysit it. I did send in inquiry when I booked my travel because it had been weeks and nothing, but they quickly answered and explained it wouldn't post until the travel was completed. And, in fact, the email from Ebates saying that purchase posted to my account was in my inbox when I landed from that flight.

And that "delay" was my fault. It's clearly disclosed but I just didn't read it before making an inquiry.

I think tracking it so closely is just going to make you crazy. 

Free money showing up in my paypal or mailbox once a month.

That's great that it works for you.  I have friends who swear by it.  And maybe it's the vendors I use.  I dunno.  But it didn't work well for me.  I don't want to have to worry if a rebate is going to hit or not.  I made something like 7 purchases and had to email them on at least 3 if not 4.    I'm going to buy the item no matter what.  Would an extra rebate be nice? Sure, but it's not worth my hassle.