Coupon Trading & Auctioning...Tips & Tidbits

Coupon Trading....
Coupon Trading is becoming increasingly popular, especially on Facebook groups. Coupons & their bar codes will vary from coast to coast, and sometimes province to province. Those who are able to "stack" coupons will trade for specific bar codes that are printed on the back of the coupons to add to their collection. You will see people posting things like " looking for Dove ending in 348" for example.

Here are a few tips to help you trade for what you need, and to make it worth your while.....

1. Don't trade for just "ONE" coupon, try to trade for multiples. Make the cost of the stamp come to approximately 10% of the value of the coupons 
2. If you don't have any coupons to trade to get the ones you want, some people will accept postage stamps instead. In general, one postage stamp per $5 worth of coupons seems to be the going rate. This is all up to the traders involved of course, this is not a rule that is set in stone. Some will even be so kind as to ask just the cost of postage for an entire package no matter how many coupons are in it
3. Make sure that the coupons people are offering you are what you want and can use. Make sure that they are not store specific, or province specific. 
4. If you are making a trade with someone from Quebec, make sure that the coupons that you send are valid in Quebec...MANY are NOT!
5. Trade for coupons that won't expire before you receive them in the mail (give at least 2 weeks to be safe), and even longer to give you time to wait for a great sale to use them on.
6. A "High Value" (HV) coupon, is only high value to the person that needs it...otherwise it is just a piece of paper. People will say that their coupons are HV if they are rare, hard to find, and are for large amount of dollars off. Personally, any "Juice" coupons are high value to me cause we buy so much of it...all depends on how you look at it.
7. Some will want to trade for "points". Pampers, Petro Canada, Huggies, Shoppers Drug Mart, amongst many others offer points programs. You can redeem these points either for more dollars off, or for merchandise. Only trade for points if it is worth while to you. What a fair trade is, is hard to determine. Both parties need to be satisfied with the outcome. Make sure you are aware of the "value" of your points that you are trading, BEFORE you make a deal.
8. Once you have finalized a trade with someone, make sure that the Mailing Address info that you are exchanging is accurate. Keep in mind if you are moving to a new residence in the near future. Canada Post is famous for lost mail & damaged packages. It is always a good idea to tape your envelopes closed to make it harder for someone to get into, and to keep damage to a minimum. Keep in contact with your trader to track packages, and ALWAYS post a message tagging them when you receive their package as a courtesy. This will also make others aware that they are traders who have followed through with their promise, and can be trusted.
9.  It is always best to package, seal, and address the envelope of coupons that you are trading at the same moment you finalize things. If you leave it, there is a chance that things get forgotten about, they don't get sent on time, and will result in you sending expired coupons to the recipient. Always a great idea to have a stash of postage stamps on hand so you can just throw it in the mail on your morning walk or on your way to work.

What to do about a "Bad Trader"... 

"A Bad Trader" is someone who either never sent a package to you, sent the wrong coupons, sent expired coupons, or sent fake/photocopied coupons.

If you have the unfortunate experience of running into a "bad trader"  you need to communicate with that person to see if it was an innocent mistake, and if it can be resolved. If no resolution can be found, let the Administrator of the group you traded on, know of the situation. Don't feel that you are "telling on" someone....it could be just some miscommunication. But this is necessary to prevent others from having the same "Bad" experience.

Otherwise, if you are unhappy about someone's trading habits, don't trade with them again.

Coupon Auctioning...

Well! this is a touchy subject.... Auctioning coupons can be very dangerous. I have witnessed a few of these, and while it can prove to be very profitable for the Auctioneer...it can be the biggest rip-off for the buyer. When people auction coupons, you rarely know the exact details of the package you are bidding on. You NEED to know (1) when these coupons expire, (2) exactly what coupons you are bidding on, (3) are they store specific?

You need to examine if you will actually get to use the coupons before they expire. If you don't, you will have just paid a small fortune for paper that you will recycle.

Ie: Someone is auctioning $200 of cleaning coupons, asking for bids of postage stamps. If you bid 100 stamps, that in turn is just over $60 in cash that you will have to spend on this auction....so you won't be actually saving $200, you will save $140 IF YOU USE EVERY SINGLE COUPON SENT TO YOU!....which is not likely. A fair estimate would be that you would use 50% of what you get...so now you will only be saving MAYBE $70...and you can TRADE on groups and forums for the same coupons, and likely more of what you actually need for way less than $60 in stamps...
......Make sense???? Don't get ripped off cause something looks fun and interesting to do.