Have you ever seen those little boxes on a Web site checkout page that ask for coupon codes? They're sort of like the building you drive by every day but never notice.
I usually ignore them, but then I spotted a newspaper ad with a coupon for an e-tailer.
Eager to spend some gift money on a Palm IIIxe, I used one of the coupons to shave $50 off the price of one from Officemax.com. Using the coupon wasn't too troublesome, and it was fun to watch one screen show me the full price, then the next screen--after I punched in my coupon code--show me a price that was $50 cheaper. The Palm, which usually sells for $250, also carried a $50 rebate from the company, giving me a total savings of $100.
Because I'd saved so much, I now had some extra cash to spend on Palm accessories. Could I find some online coupons for more good deals?
With a bit of Web trolling, I found plenty more sites posting coupons for all kinds of e-tailers, from Marthastewart.com to Walmart.com. There are so many sites offering coupons that I've decided if they're going to ask for a coupon or a coupon code, I'm definitely going to try to supply it.
Internet coupons have their catches--just like ordinary coupons, which have to be cut out, carried to a store and used before an expiration date. With online coupons, the codes might not be accepted on items you want to purchase, such as clearance items. Jcrew.com, for instance, does not give discounts on sale items.
It's also tough to know when some online coupons expire; you might find out only when entering the code on an e-tailer's checkout page. Most of the coupon sites function as bulletin boards listing codes and numbers for sheaves of coupons. Some of the better-organized sites list expiration dates.
Online coupon hunting takes more time too, but the savings can be worth it.
I started my coupon search on Google.com. I typed in the most obvious thing I could think of: "J. Crew coupons." That was the one site I knew always asked for coupons.
Google brought up a list of sites. A promising one, Linkstoall (http://www.linkstoall.com/coupons.html), turned out to be a clearinghouse for Web sites offering deals, discounts and coupons. From there, I clicked on A2ZDeals.com, but before I could get to the home page, up popped a window offering some kind of bill-paying service. (These sites get by on advertising.) I skipped A2ZDeals' request to register and went straight to "hot hot deals," which listed Web sales.
