Thursday, February 23, 2012

Couponing-How To Spot a Fake Coupon

   
 
How to Make Sure You Are NOT USING A FAKE COUPON
  • - Know where you are getting the information
    • I spend up to 10hrs or more researching your deals or printables
    • When in doubt I do personally contact the company for you 
  • The deal is too good to be true:
    •  If there is a coupon for a free product for very high value coupon like $3.00 off a bag of chips this is a huge RED FLAG.
  • - The expiration date: 
    •  Remember the better the coupon ( High value coupons or coupons that have no size limit) have a shorter time it is good for. So if a printable coupon has more then 6 months till its expiration date – RED FLAG
  • The coupon is a pdf:  
    • PDFs are VERY easy to manipulate — this is another red flag.
    •  Again not all PDF coupons are fake but still be wary.
  • The coupon has no expiration date:
    •  Fake coupon can be spotted sometimes without having an expiration date – makes sense the person who made the fake coupon wants to use it as long as possible. 
    • THERE are companies that forget or do not put a expiration coupon – but you usually get these sort of coupons from the company themselves.
  • The coupon did not have a UPC code
    • HUGE RED FLAG – If there is no UPC it cannot be traced
  • Coupon is a Brick Coupon: 
    • This one is tricky… A brick coupon is a coupon that is the only one you can print
    • There are many legitimate brick coupons out there – this is a yellowish flag 
    • The ones I post are legitimate and come from reliable sources
Here is an example for YOU – Lets see if you are able to see how this coupon below is fake
 
The real coupon was changed into a fake coupon by someone who wanted free products – this is what usually happens with fake coupons.


Thanks! WalletPop and ABC News