Coupon stacking may bring to mind a superstar shopper handing over a binder full of clipped paper coupons, triumphantly watching as their grocery bill gets knocked down to a shockingly low, low final total. Cue awe from other shoppers and a round of rapturous applause.
Online, though, stacking coupons is tricker, as retailers’ websites are set up to accept only a certain number of promo codes. Many times you’re limited to just one per order. But there are still ways to stack coupons online these days, thanks to some retailers’ generous policies, cash back, double-dipping with rewards and more tactics. Read on for tips on how to save money – sometimes double or more – by stacking your coupon codes.
6 Ways to Coupon Stack Online
1. Pair RetailMeNot Cash Back with Coupons
RetailMeNot Cash Back users get cash back from shopping at a variety of online retailers. You make a purchase at one of the more than 1,200 stores who participate in the program, and then you receive a specified percentage of that money deposited into your RetailMeNot wallet.
What’s great about RetailMeNot’s Cash Back program (besides, obviously, getting paid to shop, and that it’s free to join) is that you can still use a coupon at the checkout stage and combine it with your Cash Back percentage off, making this a simple way to stack.
For example, this past February, Macy’s was offering an impressive 12% cash back on purchases across the site plus a 15% coupon code to be used at checkout.
Note: RMN Cash Back rewards give you cash back for the amount you’ve spent after all savings and deals are calculated, so if your Macy’s purchase was $75, and you save 15% off that and your final total is $63.75, you’ll get 12% cash back off of the $63.75 (which is $7.65) – still not too shabby!
2. Pay with a Rewards Credit Card
Credit cards compete for new customers by offering all sorts of perks, one of which is cash back on purchases, like a certain percent on your groceries or gas. These types of cards are convenient ways to save because you don’t have to do anything — just shop where you normally do, and your credit card will give you some of your money back.
Since your cash back is coming right from your credit card company, you’re still able to use coupons and discount codes at the store you’re shopping with.
3. Sign up for Retailer Rewards Programs
When you’re a member of a loyalty program, you’re often able to save in multiple ways. You can use a coupon towards your purchase and you’ll also earn points on your account towards future savings.
Let’s take Old Navy as an example. Say you’re an Old Navy Navyist rewards member. As Emily Foley explains for RMN, Navyist members earn points every time they shop, get free shipping on purchases over $50, and more. If you went to RetailMeNot first before you started shopping, you’d see that Old Navy is offering 5% cash back and a 30% off coupon (40% if you own an Old Navy credit card). So that means you’re triple stacking by earning points towards future rewards, cash back for your purchase and a discount when you check out by using the coupon. Genius!
4. Shop Stores That Let You Coupon Stack on Your Order
Recently, I was able to use two coupons at once at J.Crew — one towards a percent off all items in my cart, the second for free shipping. Not every retailer allows shoppers the ability to use more than one coupon, aka coupon stacking, but quite a few do. And it’s awesome!
A few other stores where you can stack coupons:
Kohl’s
Kohl’s, which has an excellent, perks-rich rewards program, also lets their customers stack coupons. In fact, up to four.
Target
Target Circle, Target’s free loyalty program, allows their members to stack coupons, as you can see from the screenshot below, where both a 5% off Burt’s Bees products coupon was combined with a free $5 Target gift card when you purchase three Burt’s Bees products for extra savings.
Bouqs
I have a monthly Bouqs flower delivery membership. They also send occasional coupons so you can buy flowers for your friends and family. For my sister-in-law’s birthday, I used a Bouqs free shipping coupon and a $10 off coupon and was able to bring my total down $25 ($15 for shipping plus $10 savings).
CVS
CVS is another store where you can combine coupons to reduce your total at checkout.
Michael’s
Crafting superstore Michaels does allow for coupon stacking. They won’t allow you to use more than one coupon per item, but you can apply different coupons to different items in your cart and save.
Victoria’s Secret
You can apply multiple offers at Victoria’s Secret. Here’s a receipt where we got a BOGO buy and an extra 25% off clearance items.
P.S. – We were able to apply that BOGO beauty offer twice in one order:
5. Pick up a Free Gift
Certain stores offer free gifts with purchases while also offering discounts. At the Macy’s Friends & Family sale, for example, there are often free or discounts gifts when you shop, along with the across-the-board savings on all merchandise. You can absolutely think of getting free stuff on top of other discounts as stacking.
6. Use RetailMeNot Deal Finder
Add the FREE RetailMeNot Deal Finder extension to your browser. It automatically applies and stacks offers for you, if offers are stackable. Deal Finder will test those promo codes, scope out free shipping offers and apply that cash back offer in seconds, so that you’re getting the most savings possible without thinking about it.
The post A Modern-Day Guide to Online Coupon Stacking in a World Where Most Retailers Don’t Allow It appeared first on The Real Deal by RetailMeNot.