If you shop online, you know the drill: Before you check out, check for a coupon code. Perhaps the store at which you’re shopping isn’t advertising any coupon codes, so you broaden your net and type, for example, “Target promo codes” or “Target coupon codes” into Google. A number of results appear on sites you know to be reputable, including a promising promo code for 25% off. Score!
… Or maybe not. You click through on the offer, enter the code at checkout and get the dreaded “not valid” message:
Maybe you try some different items and try again, only to get the same message. And soon you realize – this coupon coupon code is a dud. You didn’t save any money. And you wasted your time.
Why Fake Coupon Codes Exist
Fake and non-working coupons are a product of the online search and ecommerce landscape.
Affiliate revenue (the money a site gets when you, the shopper, click through on an offer or product link) has long been part of publishing sites’ revenue streams.
In the past few years, media sites have started hosting third-party coupon offers on their sites. The sites’ editors don’t necessarily verify, check or maintain these third-party offers. Instead the site simply plays host to them, earning revenue and getting shopping-related search traffic (as their reputation ensures their coupon hubs rank high in search engine result pages).
If the third party publishes a coupon code that’s expired or simply bogus to begin with, it will remain on the host’s coupon hub page, ready to be clicked on by unsuspecting shoppers. Some of those shoppers, upon discovering the code doesn’t work, might still make a purchase, and money will still be made on the transaction.
Google is about to crack down on the hosting of unvetted third-party coupons. But fake coupon codes will likely remain in the online ecosystem in some form. So it’s important that shoppers can recognize fakes and avoid wasted time and disappointment.
How to Know if a Coupon Is Fake
Even the best bargain hunters get tricked sometimes. But our editorial team has been sourcing deals for our articles, roundups and newsletter for years, so we’ve developed an eye for real deals. Here are some signs that the coupon code you found is fake:
1. It’s Too Good to Be True
There’s a reason you had to go hunting for a coupon code for that retailer in the first place. Promo codes for that retailer don’t exist! Or rarely exist. Target, Wayfair and Walmart (and many luxury brands, too) rarely offer promo codes for the masses. Target, for example, leans heavily into its exclusive Target Circle offers for logged-in and app users. Walmart is more likely to offer its famous Rollbacks on select products.
If you’re a bargain hunter, you’ll learn which stores constantly offer promo codes and which don’t. But if you don’t see codes on the retailer’s own site and have to go searching elsewhere, be wary.
Same goes for promo codes offering super-high discounts. Retailers tend to offer promo codes as icing on the cake: generally 10% to 20% off. A promo code offering 50% or 75% off, for example, should give you pause. An offer of 25% off deserves some skepticism.
2. The Promo Code is Really Vague
Most coupons have fine print and if the one you’re looking at doesn’t, it could be fake.
Take this offer we recently spotted for Wayfair on a coupon site:
The language is broad and vague. There’s no expiration date, no exclusions, no mention of a spending minimum and very little detail. Clicking through takes you to Wayfair’s site for contractors and working professionals, and that’s another indication that this offer won’t work for regular shoppers.
For comparison, check out this offer:
It’s got quite a bit of fine print (expiration date, coupon-stacking policy and exclusions). But that’s a good thing – and a sign that it’s a legit, researched and verified offer. It won’t work on everything, but you can clearly see what it does work on.
3. The Promo Code Seems Personalized
This isn’t necessarily a sign of a fake coupon, but a sign it won’t work for you. Retailers often send to members of their mailing lists promo codes that are one-time-use only and customized for that user. These types of codes are generally long strings of letters and numbers.
If the recipient of such a code then submits it to a coupon site, it won’t work for anyone else. While we do accept user submitted codes on RetailMeNot, we do moderate them and review each offer.
At the end of the day, a fake coupon on an otherwise reputable site isn’t going to steal your identity or trick you with a counterfeit product. However, time is as valuable as money – and you don’t want to waste either. Learn more about how we do our best to verify the offers and coupon codes on RetailMeNot.
The post How to Spot a Fake Coupon Code appeared first on The Real Deal by RetailMeNot.
