The ease of online shopping can work against your wallet if you're not careful. While shopping in-store requires a little more planning (and you can find coupons literally on store shelves), when you're shopping online, thinking about coupons can feel like an interruption.
Whether you're misunderstanding how digital coupons work, not taking the time to understand the coupon fine print for online offers, rushing through your online pickup order, or worst of all, not using coupons online in the first place, you're leaving money on the table.
In fact, just five little couponing mistakes I've made over the years (see them below) have cost me more than $150 (and that's assuming I made some of these mistakes just once).
Hopefully, learning about my mistakes will help you plug some of the holes in your couponing game. But remember, at the end of the day, not couponing at all is the biggest mistake. So even if you make a few errors along the way, as long as you're not paying full price, it's a win.
There’s a faster way to save and avoid all the below mistakes. It’s in our app. Download the KCL app for free now .
Confessions of a New Couponer
While I've been working for savings and deals sites for 10 years, I'm a bit newer to the nitty-gritty of couponing. Since I started writing for The Krazy Coupon Lady about a year ago, I've definitely found some holes in my game as I've tried couponing at new-to-me stores. Here are the mistakes I've made and what I've learned about online couponing:
Mistake 1: Not Looking for Coupon Codes to Use With Online Pickup Orders
How Much It Cost Me: At Least $30
Even if you already know that you can use coupons with store pickup orders, are you taking an extra step? Some stores offer special discount codes for pickup orders that can be added on top of manufacturer coupons and store weekly ad offers.
In some cases, these codes are good only for your first order (although you can always sign up for a new account with a different email). But in other cases, you don't have to be a new shopper. For example, Walgreens often gives everyone discounts for online pickup orders.
However, these offers are easy to overlook when you're rushing, particularly since they're often personalized and delivered via email. I've spent time hunting down BOGO deals and manufacturer coupons for individual items in my online pickup order, only to discover afterward that I'd missed a pickup promo code in my inbox that would have applied to my entire order.
The Math (Why It Cost Me at Least $30):
I looked at current pickup promo codes and found pickup discounts of up to 30% off at Walgreens, $15 off at Sprouts, $20 off a first order of $75 or more at Kroger, $25 off an order of $50 or more at Instacart (pickup or delivery), and $30 off a first order of $75 or more at Safeway/Albertsons.
I've shopped at all of the above stores, and definitely found a promo code in my email after checking out at least once.
Mistake 2: Trying to Combine Spend Deals With Coupons Online at CVS
How Much It Cost Me: $7.42
For many stores, couponing online and in-store work about the same. But that's not the case for CVS, and it's something I didn't know when I was a new CVS couponer.
CVS has certain deals called "spend deals." They require you to spend a certain amount to get ExtraBucks back. In-store , that amount is calculated before coupons get deducted. But online , coupons and and ExtraBucks count against you because you have to hit the minimum after all coupons and ExtraBucks get applied. That means you have to spend more to unlock a spend deal online.
That's why we suggest shopping in-store for spend deals at CVS.
This video breaks it all down for you:
The Math (Why It Cost Me $7.42):
How much this mistake will cost you depends on the deal and what you're buying. But here's an example with a product everyone uses — toothpaste. I recently spotted a spend offer at CVS for $5 back in ExtraBucks when you spent $10 on Colgate toothpaste. But there was also a manufacturer coupon for $3 off two Colgate products, and CVS had a $5 coupon valid on an entire purchase (available in the CVS app).
I haven't gotten familiar with CVS couponing until recently, and I made the mistake of trying to shop this deal online.
In-Store:
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The minimum spend would have been calculated before coupons. So I would have needed to buy two tubes of toothpaste for $10.58 total.
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Then I would have gotten $5 in ExtraBucks, taken off $3 in coupons, and received $5 off the whole purchase (making this item better than free after the ExtraBucks).
Online:
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The minimum spend is calculated after coupons. I didn't know that; I thought I'd spend $10.58 on two tubes.
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But then the $3 in manufacturer coupons and $5 off coupon got deducted, dropping my total to $2.58.
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To get the $5 in ExtraBucks, I had to spend an additional $7.42 on Crest to get back up to $10.
Mistake 3: Not Using Amazon Subscribe & Save Coupons
How Much It Cost Me: $8.40
Amazon has coupons for online shoppers that take seconds to clip and add to your order. I've used these coupons for years.
But I used to ignore Subscribe & Save discounts and coupons because I didn't want to get locked into repeat shipments. That is, until I realized how much money I was leaving on the table (and how easy it is to cancel Subscribe & Save subscriptions).
I've been ordering multipacks of face masks about once a month. Opting in to Subscribe & Save would get me a 5% or 15% discount on each order. But face masks on Amazon almost always have an additional one-time-use Subscribe & Save coupon for up to an additional 25% off, which combines with the regular Subscribe & Save discount.
The Math (Why It Cost Me $8.40):
If I hunt around just a bit to find a pack of masks with a 25% off one-time-use offer (which I can usually find) and sign up for Subscribe & Save, I'm saving myself about $2.80 per order (give or take, depending on the offer and the original price tag). See my screenshot above. But I neglected to do this for three months, costing me $8.40.
Mistake 4: Skipping the Rebate Apps
How Much It Cost Me: At Least $11.70
Rebate apps are the final layer of couponing because they give you cash back in exchange for sharing your receipts.
While some rebate apps don't accept online shopping receipts, some, including Fetch Rewards, do. You can even give Fetch permission to automatically retrieve receipts from your online purchases in your email. So really, there's no excuse for why I went so long without getting money for my online shopping receipts.
The Math (Why It Cost Me at Least $11.70):
Fetch gives you 25 points per receipt. I went about two years without using it, even while couponing. Given that I shop online about three times a week, I could have racked up 11,700 Fetch points on receipts alone in that time period (which is worth $11.70 in gift cards). That's not even counting the 1,000 Fetch points you get for free with code KCL.
We talked to some Fetch power users who earn hundreds of dollars in gift cards a year using boosted offers. So $11.70 is a modest estimate of what I could have earned.
Mistake 5: Paying for Toothpaste, Deodorant, and Mouthwash — Ever
How Much It Cost Me: At Least $100
There are some things that are easy to get for free once you stack coupons. And in some cases, once you combine rewards and rebates, you come out ahead and earn more rewards than the price you paid at the register. We call these "freebies" and "moneymakers," and there are certain products that are frequently freebies and moneymakers. Think oral care and skincare. In fact, KCL rounds up couponing freebies and moneymakers every week.
Which is why the fact that I paid for these things for years is causing me some grief. Especially because plenty of freebie and moneymaker deals are possible to order online, thanks to digital couponing and in-app offers.
The Math (Why It Cost Me at Least $100):
Because everyone uses toothpaste, I'm calculating how much money I lost on that alone. Plus, it's the top item KCL recommends never paying for, thanks to how easy it is to get for free.
The World Health Organization recommends adults use six tubes of toothpaste per year. I spent about 10 years of my adult life ignorantly paying for toothpaste. I've been very consistent, buying the same brand online in a 3-pack for $4.99, meaning I spend about $10 a year. So I've probably spent about $100 on toothpaste I could have gotten for free with coupons.
The Grand Total of My Online Couponing Mistakes: $157.52
As with all things couponing, YMMV. While $158 may not seem like much, if you have a bigger family or shop online more often than I do, you could be leaving even more money on the table by making these online couponing mistakes.
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