Did you know that there are a lot of online stores that will give you coupons or discounts to shop there? Or that there are sites out there to help you save money when you shop online? Yes friends, welcome to the online world of coupons and discounts!

I previously wrote a review that discussed how to start shopping online if you never have before, as part of an overall review on the security of credit cards on the Internet. This review will take things one step further and show you how you can save money when you shop online.

Coupons and discounts

Just like their real-world counterparts, online stores have discovered that the best way to lure new customers to their site is by “handing out” coupons. Some of these coupons are good for $X amount off of a larger purchase (such as $10 off a minimum $20 order) and some will literally be 100% off, other than shipping (such as $10 off a $10 order, but you pay shipping). You can even sometimes find a site that doesn’t charge shipping and get an entire order totally free!

How do you find these stores that offer coupons? Well, there’s two good ways - go to one of the many sites that specialize in listing available discounts and coupons at stores all over the Internet, or join one of the many message boards or mailing lists that post available discounts and coupons (most of which are likely obtained from the coupon listing sites).

Coupon sites

There are a bunch of sites out there that organize available discounts and coupons. These sites usually will get some kind of commission if you use their link to get to the store that you purchase from.

The best coupon sites update daily, and often several times throughout the day, to keep things up-to-the-minute and as correct as possible. Stores that get overwhelmed with customers due to a great promotion often end up pulling the plug on the coupon before the date it would have expired normally, so using a site that updates those things often is always best.

Some of the sites I, and others I know, have found to be the best include (in no particular order):

Flamingo World - http://flamingoworld.com/
Tia Cat - http://www.tiacat.com/
Mycoupons - http://www.mycoupons.com/
Deal Finder - http://www.deal-finder.com/
CoolSavings - http://www.coolsavings.com/
Deal of Day - http://www.dealofday.com/
The Clever Clickster - http://www.cleverclickster.com/
Deal Catcher - http://www.dealcatcher.com/


Message boards/mailing lists

There are as many good message boards and mailing lists that discuss where to get good deals as there are coupon sites that list the good deals. Which method you prefer may just depend on how much time you have and whether you want to go searching for information or want it to come to you. Most of the deals that are posted to message boards and mailing lists are not going to be any different than what you’d find on the coupon
sites, though all of the deals on the coupon sites may not make it to the message boards and mailing lists. For that matter, many of the coupon sites offer their own daily or weekly e-mailed newsletter that lists new bargains and updated offers.

The boards I usually frequent and the one mailing list I’m on are:

Mycoupons - has several different message boards -
http://www.mycoupons.com/
Something4Nothing - mailing list at eGroups -
http://www.egroups.com

There are other lists at eGroups, but I don’t know much about them. FreebiesNCodes looks like it could be good although it’s fairly new; Frugal-Folks-Freebies has been around several months and looks pretty active; also more-bargains seems pretty active and been around for about a year. You can find others by searching on “coupons”, “bargains” and similar words.


Warnings and caveats

Make sure you read the details of the offer closely (when the details are given - they’re not always listed). If it says “one discount per household” then don’t try to order for you, your husband, your 5 children and everyone else that lives at your house. If it says “one per person”, then feel free to use them all (within reason, okay?). An offer also may be limited to new customers, so if you’ve already shopped there before, is it really ethical to make up a new “persona” so that you can take advantage of it? I’ll let your conscience be your guide - you may have no problem doing it; I personally don’t do it.

Sometimes a company will cancel all orders made using a particular coupon or discount if the promotion was supposed to be limited to certain people and not available to the general public. The coupon sites, message boards and mailing lists don’t always know if there is a particular restriction, sometimes because they got the coupon information third- or fourth-hand. So if a company comes back and says “sorry, we canceled your order, you weren’t supposed to use the coupon unless you graduated high school in Texas in 1975 from a school that has the word ‘bell’ in it” - then don’t whine and complain, just accept it gracefully and move on to the next deal. Unless of course you graduated high school in Texas in 1975 from a school that has the word "bell" in it!

Also, if a company is overrun with orders due to a great promotion, especially if it’s one that ends up in the order being free due to being 100% off with no minimum purchase and no shipping fee, they may run out of stock on low-price products but not be able to keep the site updated for inventory (either because the site isn’t set up to update automatically or because the updates just can’t be made fast enough). Again, try and handle it gracefully instead of flying off the handle and sending back a scathing e-mail demanding to get your order. Maybe you can get a raincheck or maybe you can get something else instead. Or maybe you just miss out on that particular deal and move on. It’s not the end of the world if you miss out on a deal for whatever reason. Really.

Some sites, instead of canceling an order that they think you’re not entitled to for whatever reason, will charge your credit/debit card the full amount rather than the discounted amount. THAT is a good reason to complain and fly off the handle! If you can’t come to a resolution with the company within a few days (either they honor the discount or they cancel the order), contact your credit/debit card issuer and let them know what’s up. They should help work with you and the company to get it straightened out one way or another. The message boards and mailing lists are a good place to find out which sites are most likely to try and charge you the full amount instead of just canceling the order - and which ones you should just avoid dealing with altogether.

The possibility of a company charging you too much is one good reason to not use a debit/check card that is attached to your main bill-paying checking account when you shop online. Even though the problem will likely be resolved sooner or later, if you have bills coming due that suddenly can’t be paid because a company took too much out of your account, “later” may be too late. Having a separate account for online shopping, maybe with an online bank like x.com or NetBank, is a smart thing to do if you’re going to use a debit/check card instead of a credit card to shop online.


I love shopping online because it’s so convenient. With coupons and discounts, I can often get something online cheaper than I could in the “real world”. I don’t try to do every deal that I read about, though, because sometimes the site has nothing that I want or maybe the deal isn’t really all that good ($10 off a minimum $100 order, for instance). I have vitamins and Advil to last me for years and my cats will have their favorite kitty treats for months to come.

But I still can’t resist a little shiver of anticipation when I see the next e-mail with a subject heading of “GREAT DEAL” - who knows what discounts may lie in wait for me!





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