Dearest Readers,
I have a confession to make. I am somewhat embarrassed to admit this, but here goes.
There is an area of couponing that completely baffles me.
I have attempted to figure it out, but to no avail. I need your HELP!
I am looking for any of you that have experience with purchasing coupons from coupon clipping services or on ebay? Or have you discovered a way to trade coupons that really works for you?
I’ve had many readers ask me about this, but I have not been able to give them a credible answer. So, here’s where you come in. Here are my questions:
- What service(s) have you used?
- Which do you feel is the best?
- How much does it cost? (This is what confuses me. It seems like I will end up paying far more than what the coupon is worth. What am I missing?)
- How quickly do your coupons usually arrive?
I would be dee-lighted if you would take a few moments to leave this baffled girl some tips in the comments.
Sincerely,
Kaley
I use http://www.ourcouponhome.com to trade coupons that I have gotten and cannot use for others that I need. I have gotten so much help from the ladies on there that are regular coupon users. Their tips have really saved me a lot of money.
That site has other features that interest me too like their individual stores and people will post their deals.
That is how I found out about http://www.couponclippingcrew.com and they have way better prices than if I were to buy them from eBay. But I would rather trade with others so we both benefit in that way.
I had a poor experience with buying coupons from eBay. I had purchased a 20% off any item 15 days before expiration, and it came the day it expired- when I had cranky, sick kids and couldn’t go to the store. I was ticked!! However, it’s just been the one time I’ve tried it, so maybe most people send them right away.
I’m in a moms group, and we have “coupon night” twice a month, where we all bring our inserts and just pass them around. It’s a great way to trade coupons for different things, though a few of us who follow the blogs usually clip the same ones, which is the only hitch. Otherwise, it works wonderfully.
I recently purchased coupons from the coupon clippers for the first time. I placed my order late Wednesday and didn’t recieve my coupons til Thursday of the next week. I was not very happy. I got alot of coupons tho so I think I will still end up making/saving money. Don’t know if I will use that company again.
I also use the Coupon Clipping Crew. They are out of Texas and if you order $5, the shipping is free. I compared all of the sites and found them to be the cheapest. Plus, I placed my order Sunday night, it shipped Monday and I received it Wednesday. Plenty of time to use those Purex coupons!!
I’ve never bought from a clipping service, but I have bought from ebay. If I know a deal is coming up (at least a week away), I’ll buy 10 of a particular coupon so that I can use them. The clippers that sell on ebay should be quick, but I’ve had to wait a week before, so if it’s something you need ASAP, I wouldn’t bother.
There are also coupon forums where people sell complete inserts, and they even take orders in advance, such as A Full Cup (http://www.afullcup.com/forums/sale-trade-fsot/)
I use the Coupon Carryout to purchase coupons. I’m in Ohio and they are too so I get them super quick and thier prices seem to be good. You only have to purchase $3 to get the order shipped. I normally only buy coupons for stuff that we use a lot of or is a high value. They also have a reward system and you get so many points for your order then once you have 200 points you can use them toward a purchase. I haven’t done this yet but at least it’s something. I have also used Ebay but normally on the coupons I want the prices are too high or they don’t have them. I would love to do the whole trade thing with people you know but none of my family or friends are couponers. Can you believe that. All I can think is the money they are wasting. Love you site!!
Hi: We’ve just asked numerous people to save they coupon books for us. And now after many years we average between 20 and 30 books each week. Of course it may take a week or so before they all come in. HTH
I’ve done ebay, choosing sellers who are geographically close so I get it quickly. I buy high value coupons OR coupons for items that are “must have,” no matter what, in this household. I paid about .10 per coupon for those freebie Marcal tp’s, for example, and then a ton of Wholly Guacamole coupons, that meant the salsa/guac cost .29 per pack. These are items I already know and like.
I wouldn’t buy coupons for iffy items, or products that are new to you.
Only once have I bought coupons…….at Ebay. This was just last week. Walgreens had the Gillette shavers on sale..8.99…RR 4.00…end price 4.99. I went onto Ebay and purchased 20 $4 off coupons for about $2. I bought them Monday and received them Saturday. Purchased 13 razors theoretically spending .99 each. This week I went in and used my RR for a ton of things….almost felt like getting them for free, lol.
oops, I meant boGos, lol. If you buy coupons, make sure to check the expiration date.
I’ve bought some: it has to be a high dollar coupon for something I don’t vary brands on and use as a staple. For example, dog food. I bought 10 coupons for $4 that each gave me $3 off, so I saved $26. If it’s just regular grocery coupons, it’s not worth it. I RECOMMEND SWAPPING coupons with a few freinds. Take what you want, pass on to the next, and you’ll find you can get a lot of repeats for favorite brands and BOBOs.
I use ebay to buy multiples of very hot coupons that I know I will want to use a lot of. For example I ordered 20 BOGO Purex coupons off ebay for less then $4 including shipping! Not to shabby for a potential 40 FREE bottles of Purex! The other thing I do occasional is order whole inserts of ebay but the key to that is oredering large quantities to save on shipping!
Rather than purchasing, I have joined coupon trains in the past. Then you are only paying for the cost of the stamp and your time. Let me see if I can explain this coherently at the end of my day 🙂 A train is where a group of people (usually about 5 or so) create a list of names and post “wishlists” of coupons they want and the first person mails the second person, and so on back to the first person. I’ve joined a few groups on yahoo groups that were EXTREMELY well run, so I always received coupons for brands I was looking for and was able to make use of coupons I had that I didn’t need/want. These people are organized! The trains hardly ever get “derailed” if you join a good group. You can join 1 train or 10, 1 group or 15, whatever. I had to stop, though, because I stopped getting the newspaper- my main source of coupons.
Good luck w/ your coupon purchasing. LOVE your site. I get updates to my mailbox daily.
I recently bought some creamer coupons on eBay and it was my first experience. It went off without a hitch and I have til May to buy 20 bottles of creamer! Trading baffles me too but I do like the eBay thing.
Make sure if you buy on eBay you check the sellers feedback rating and read through their feedback. If there are more than 2 negative feedbacks or any feedback about counterfeit coupons DONT BUY! I usually buy from sellers that are 98% or higher and have a high number of feeback responses (over 100).
Also it is a good idea to email the seller before you buy to make sure they ship everyday and try and find a seller that lives on the same side of the country as you do because you will get them faster.
Good Luck!!
I have personally purchased coupons on ebay before. I do currently sell coupons on ebay that are cut, I also sell the whole entire insert. Most inserts I list whole are Smart Source and P&G. I have many other coupons available. If you need something paticular you can email me at cs3030@aol.com and I will look thru my stock for you. Cost tends to run 50 cents per insert or 10 cut coupons for $1.00. I do ship every day so you get them very fast. My coupons are sold under ebay user wingman307. Email if you ever have a need I will gladly help you out. Thanks Robyn
The only service I have used is couponclippers.com. I wanted the gift card for scrubbing bubbles @ Target & I have to buy 16 of them because they a $5 minimum. I don’t think I’ll do that again. I didn’t know you could buy whole inserts. That’s a really cheap way to the coupons. I might try that. By the way it took over a week to get the coupons.
I use the coupon clipping crew and make trades at http://www.ourcouponhome.com … … right now we have a 5% discount at couponclippingcrew.com if you are a member of http://www.ourcouponhome.com
I love to trade … most will just ask for a price of a stamp, some will charge about 10% of the value of the q’s.
BTW-I bought the $2 ALL off of couponclippingcrew for 75% less than I was going to on Ebay!!!
Kerri
The ones I have used the most are Collectable Coupons and The Coupon Clippers. Collectable Coupons has the option to buy whole inserts, which I like. It can add up, but I live in a place where the paper is $2 each, so it’s worth it to me to just pay for the inserts. I typically get 5+ inserts. I buy extra single coupons if it’s a really hot coupon that I know will get me a great deal (or free), for example, a while back there was a $2 Snuggle coupon that could get me free plus overage dryer sheets. I ordered like 20 of that coupon for about $0.10 each, and then stocked up on dryer sheets. So I ended up paying a couple of bucks for the coupons, but it was worth it to me, especially since I don’t get any great deals on the paper.
We have used ebay and coupon clippers. Ebay tends to be cheeper. I like to buy coupons that are expiring soon you can usally get double for your money! I bought 40 $2 off coupons for $4.00 on ebay! I had 1 week to use them. We have never waited more than 3 buiness days for coupons, they send them right away! hope this helps!
I have used several services and e-bay. I like couponsbydede for a service and then there is a lady I purchase from off of e-bay but not sure of her name. The one I use off of e-bay makes you buy five inserts at a time so it can get costly if you want the red plum, smart source and p&g (Her price is usually a couple of dollars for the five). I like these the best because I can get whole inserts. Sometimes it does cost a tad more but not really for me as I live in a rural area and can’t get a paper delivered. It’s 15 miles one way for me to get the paper and they cost $2.00 a piece. I figure it all comes out in the wash. I also use them when I go out of town on the weekends so I’m not worried about how to transport a paper back. I have used couponclippers and couponhunter to purchase single coupons. It seems like couponhunter is the better service though because you have to have a $5 (I think that’s the amount) purchase on couponclippers. This seems to work when you want several of just one coupon. We use a lot of toaster strudels in our house so $2 papers add up when I want ten or so coupons for a particular product. Hope this helps.