How to be Websmart

What to do

1. Before you shop at ANY store online, you should take a couple seconds to see if a coupon code is available for your purchase. Below is a list of some of the internet’s best coupon code sites. Feel free to bookmark this page and visit these coupon code sites to quickly check for coupon codes for your purchase:

DealCatcher CouponMountain FlamingoWorld CleverMoms Savester eDealInfo CurrentCodes CouponCraze SavingsCenter

1. Search for the store where you are going to make a purchase. You should copy any relevant coupon codes for your purchase and input them in the checkout page of the store where you are shopping.

For popular stores, we’ve tried to make the process of finding coupon codes easier (visit our How to Shop at… Section.) For each establishment, we’ve listed what we feel are the best couple coupon code sites for that particular store, so you don’t have to do the searching yourself.

1. To understand what coupons codes are, and the best way to use coupon code sites, read below.

A little more

What is a coupon code (sometimes also known as an online coupon, a discount code, an e-coupon, or a promotional code)?

A coupon code is a basically a discount given by an online store. Online stores release coupon codes online to attract users to make purchasers through their sites. A consumer can input a coupon code at a store to receive some sort of savings.

Coupon codes usually take one of four forms:

—a ‘%’ discount (like ‘Use this code to get 10% off your purchase) —a ‘fixed’ discount (like ‘Use this code to get $5 off your purchase) —a ‘free’ or extra discount (like ‘Use this code to get two shirts for the price of one’) —a ‘free shipping’ discount (like ‘Use this code to get free shipping on your purchase’)

A website which lists coupon codes for different stores can be called a coupon code site. Coupon code sites collect coupon codes from stores around the web and list them in one place. We’ve listed a lots of great coupon code sites above.

Before we explain further, click here to open up Coupon Mountain’s Dell coupon code page. We will use this page as an example. You can use the coupons provided in two ways:

1. You can copy the coupon code. Any letters/digits you see next to the words ‘coupon code’ are the actual coupon code. To use this code, copy the code and then input them at the store’s respective coupon field. In this case, we would copy the coupon code and paste it at the checkout page of Dell.

2. Or you can click through on the blue link for the deal. In theory, by clicking on the blue link, you be taken to the store’s page and the coupon code site will notify you of where to input the coupon code.

We recommend against doing step 2. Why? Because of a powerful online shopping secret: you can use cash back sites with coupon codes.

A cashback site is a site that gives you cash back for clicking to a store through them. (For an example of a cash back site, visit BigCrumbs.com. We recommend signing up for free using a registration e-mail. You can also read our article Cash Back Sites Explained).

By expending a couple extra clicks to combine cash back sites with coupon codes, you can get savings almost every time you shop online.

Here are some general guidelines you should follow when checking coupon sites:

1. You shouldn’t need to check more than three coupon code sites when you are looking for coupon codes for your purchases. The quality coupon sites all list the same coupon codes. The only difference lies in how quickly each site updates its listings. A general rule of thumb is if you can’t find a coupon code for your purchase after visiting three coupon code sites, stop looking. There probably is not a coupon code relevant to your purchase.
2. Any easy way to search for relevant coupon codes is decide where you are going to buy something first. Then head to your favorite search engine, and search for ‘[Store Name] coupon codes’ to see if there are any coupon codes applicable to your purchase.
3. Coupon codes have expiration dates, so make sure that the coupon code you like has not expired. Most coupon code sites tend to list when a coupon code will expire.
4. Coupon codes often have terms and restrictions. For example, you might need to spend $100 to get $5 off. Most coupon code sites will list restrictions of a coupon code, so make sure to take note.
5. A general rule is that the more popular a store is, the fewer coupon codes it will offer. So stores like BestBuy.com offer fewer coupon codes. (An exception is Dell, which offers awesome coupon codes). But less popular stores offer better coupons. For example, Nike.com doesn’t offer great coupon codes; but Shopadidas.com does. (Here’s a good example of the power of combining coupon codes with cash back sites: How to Shop at Shopadidas.com).
6. Finally, if you visit a coupon code site and see a blue link, but no actual coupon code listed, don’t click on the blue link. That deal is probably listed on the store’s website anyway. You should instead head to a cash back sites to see if you can save money by clicking through them.

That’s it! We recommend you visit our How to Shop at… Section to see how we’ve put coupon codes sites into action to save you money.

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Full Disclosure: The only affiliate link in this article is BigCrumbs.com. You should know that we receive referral commission from BigCrumbs.com every time someone signs up for a new free account with BigCrumbs.com through us and uses the site to save money. The referral commission varies according to how you use BigCrumbs.com to save. BigCrumbs.com is a free service to you, and we get paid only if you sign up for a new account through the BigCrumbs.com links provided (in other words, if you already had a BigCrumbs.com account before you ever visited Howtobewebsmart.com, and use this article, we make no money from BigCrumbs.com links).

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