CouponDudes

Coupons

How does this work?

If you want an in-depth description with step-by-step instructions, head one over to HOW THIS WORKS for more details. But in short, coupons save you money. Online coupons do this without any paper or scissors or other variables. Just go to your favorite store, fill up your basket with goodies, and when you get to checkout most stores will offer a spot where you can put a coupon code. These will be labeled “Coupon”, or “Coupon Code” or “Promo Code” or “Offer Code”. You enter the coupon there, hit “apply” (if required by the particular store), and see how much you’ll save.

What sorts of coupons are there?

Dude, there are like so many different types of coupons, it’s not even fair. But it’s pretty sweet, ‘cause it totally lets you save on all kinds of things. The most common ones, and by far the grooviest, are site wide discounts. They’ll offer you either a percent (%) or dollar ($) discount - sometimes requiring a minimum spend (booo) but sometimes no minimum spend is required (score!). A lot of stores will also offer free shipping coupons, which is nice, because nobody wants to pay for shipping. Shopping online should be easier and cheaper than going to the store, and sometimes it isn’t ‘cause they stick you with a hefty shipping fee. Other types of coupons are promotions for clearance or sale items, free gifts or free samples, freebies (so like you only have to pay for shipping but you get the item totally free), and then product savings.

Can I use many coupons on one order?

It depends on the store, really. Some of them will let you use many, like Victoria’s Secret has a spot for 3 coupons and you need to enter them in a certain order...don’t ask me how I know that. Others will let you stack specific coupons, and then we’ll usually be nice and say “hey, this guy is stackable”. Like Crocs lets you do that sometimes. ‘Cause grandmas need Christmas presents too. So whatever, don’t judge. Then there are other stores who are totally bogus and only let you use one, so it’s like “do I get the sweet discount, or do I go with free shipping?”. The best way to figure out the biggest savings is to just see how much each coupon will get you. These stores usually let you “apply” the coupon, and then once you’ve “applied” a new one they wipe out the old discount. Yeah, it takes a couple extra minutes, but it’s worth it. Sometimes free shipping saves you more than a lousy 5% off.

What does it all mean?

I could go on all day here...but let me clarify on a few key terms.

BOGO means buy one get one. Sometimes it’s BOGO free (buy one get one free) but most often it’s BOGO discount, so you buy one and get the second one with a certain discount. Our favorite obviously is a straight up BOGO, but if you’re a smart shopper a BOGO 50% off can save you 25% on your order. Not bad at all.

COUPON is a coupon code. Really? You’re asking this question? You’re already here, aren’t you? OK, fine, I’ll elaborate. A coupon is known my many other names, so if you’re confused, here are some of them: promo code, discount code, promotional code, offer code, media code, savings code. There are probably more, but they’re just a fancy way of saying coupon. And coupon is just a word for something that will save you money. So use them.

FREE SHIPPING means they will ship you your order for free. Beware the free shipping with minimum spend! Sometimes that minimum spend isn’t worth it, and you’re better off paying for shipping and just ordering what you want, without trying to load up the cart. Also, watch out for free shipping on eligible items - and make sure your item is eligible and doesn’t cost you an arm and a leg to ship. Just sayin’...

FREE GIFT means they’ll throw in a little something extra for you. Just don’t get sand blown in your eyes by a free gift that’s valued at hundreds of dollars. If it’s free, it’s probably not worth all that much. But sometimes they’re fun anyway. Personally I like to re-gift my free gifts...they tend to make for a good stocking stuffer.

REBATES can be tricky. Sometimes you have to mail in a form to get your money back. It tends to come through...eventually. You might have to wait a while. A much more attractive type of rebate is the INSTANT REBATE. These are great. It’s basically just a nice little discount on the item. Usually though they’ll be called rebates on high ticket items, like washing machines or dish washers or electric guitars. So basically a rebate is a discount. Just beware that sometimes they are not instant, and could be more trouble than they are worth.

CASH BACK is occasionally an incentive offered by stores when you’re shopping. So they’ll say “Buy $100 worth of stuff and you’ll get $25 cash back”. Usually this means you’ll still pay the full $100 today, and then you’ll get a credit, sometimes in the form of a gift certificate, for $25, that you can spend later. Basically it’s a sneaky way of making sure you come back for future purchases. But hey - if you’re always shopping in the same place and you play the cash back to your advantage you should usually have a discount waiting to be applied to your order. So...not our favorite kind of deal, but can be worth it sometimes.

I’m still confused

Really? OK fine. Send us a message. We’ll help you out, bro. It’s a rough sea out there and sometimes you just need a little extra guidance. It’s all good.

Points, Badges, The Big Kahuna...

Points

When you use CouponDudes you can earn points. They're pretty sweet, and make you eligible for free stuff. Whenever you share a coupon on the site, you earn points. When people vote for the coupon you shared, you earn more points. There are more ways to score - check out our contest page for more info.

Badges

Dude, you totally want to earn yourself a badge. The more you do on the site, the sweeter the badges you get. Me, I’m a long-time Big Kahuna and you can get there too if you share enough coupons and give back to this sweet money-saving surfer community.

The Big Kahuna

Ah, the ultimate goal of all dudes (and dudettes) is The Big Kahuna. The Big Kahuna Contest is fought and won on the coupon battlefield. Whenever a new Big Kahuna Contest kicks off you'll want to be ready, set, go to start earning points. Whoever Owns the Spot for each of our Kahuna Stores by the end of the contest is The Big Kahuna, and earns a sweet prize. There are multiple winners for each contest, so share the love. Let your fellow bros and gals get in on the action too, you know?