In October 2010 my husband and I were on business trip in San Francisco. During that trip I remember telling my husband, who is not much of an online shopper, about online coupon codes /promo codes that give you some sort of discount when you shop online. I showed him various websites that index these codes and then said, “I’d really, really love to have a database like that on Pocket Your Dollars.” 14 months later I’m here to tell you that it’s here!
How to Get to the Database
This free resource can be accessed through our main navigation in the Tools & Resource section.
What’s In the Database?
To understand what is in this coupon code database let’s talk both about what is included and what is left out:
- Coupons redeemable from web-based retailers. Have you ever purchased something online and seen the “promo code” or “coupon code” field during checkout? The coupon codes you find in this database are the ones you’d use in that field to save money on your online purchase. These codes are good exclusively online; even if the retailer has a bricks & mortar store, these coupon codes will not be honored on in-store purchases.
- Time-limited coupons. Many of the coupons in this database are available for a specific, limited timeframe. Occasionally they do expire early. If you try a code, but it does not work, please feel free to shoot me an email with the details (the retailer’s name and the coupon code).
- Vetted coupons. Every code in this database has been authorized by the retailer for general, public use.
Now, let’s talk about coupons that are not included:
- Grocery coupons. It is not a database of coupons for grocery products (we have one of those. It’s called the Grocery Coupon Database).
- Coupons redeemable in-store. It’s not a database of coupons that you redeem at a bricks & mortar store. These coupons are only good when you shop online.
- Private or exclusive coupons. Retailers often email coupon codes to those on their email list and those who have purchased from them before. Those sorts of private coupon codes are typically not included in the database.
How to Search
The database is searchable in three ways, as shown below.
- Merchant name. The merchant is the online retailer and you can see a drop down list of all the retailers who have active coupons.
- Category. If you are shopping for a particular type of item, but open to the actual website you’ll purchase from, then you may want to see all coupons in a particular category. It can help you do some price comparing between competitors.
- Keyword. When you do a keyword search it is doing an exact search for whatever you type. It will find retailers whose name contains the letters/numbers you inputted. It will also look up the language in the “offer” field and return any matches. (For instance, a search on “prints” would find coupons for the company called “Overnight Prints” as well as a coupon entitled “Penny prints from {insert photo company name}”
Finding Coupons
After you search for a merchant, a category or keyword, then you’ll be presented with a list of coupon codes, assuming some match your search criteria.
Like you’ll see below, the combination of red letters and/or numbers in the column called “Coupon” is your coupon code. The code will only be honored by the merchant (or online retailer) listed in the “merchant” column. When you shop at the merchant’s website you can enter the code in the field requesting promotional or coupon codes at checkout to receive the specified discount.
Easy Access to Merchant’s Website
Now that you have your promotional code, you can go directly to the merchant’s website by clicking on the text in “Offer”, “Coupon” or “Merchant” columns. That opens up a new tab in your browser with the online retailers website pulled up.
The links are referral/affiliate links that, when you purchase something after clicking them, generate revenue for Pocket Your Dollars at no additional cost to you. You can read our disclosure statement for more information about that.
Your turn: I’d love to hear your thoughts on how we can improve the database (we are adding the ability to sort the columns within the next day or two) and what questions you have.
About Carrie Rocha
What a great resource. Thank you!
As you use it, please give feedback about how we can improve it. One thing is that we very easily have the ability to add in promotions that don’t require a coupon code. For instance, “save 30% on all coats” and the discount is already taken – no coupon code needed. Would that be useful or would it be more clutter?
In the past, when I’ve googled for coupon codes, these other promotions often come up… usually I find them as more clutter. It might be nice if you were trying to compare, but typically when I’m searching, I’m specifically looking for a coupon code, not a sale/promotion. Could there be a way to include/exclude them?
Korene – I hadn’t thought of that. Maybe we could add them into the database (they are excluded right now, but with the check of a box they’d be there), but allow users to include/exclude them in an individual search.
A different idea I had last night was to include them in every search, BUT list all the coupon codes first and then if there are any promo links list those AFTER all the coupon codes so that they are easy to ignore if you don’t want them.
I must say this is the best christmas present from you EVER!!! THANK YOU!!!
Well, Merry Christmas then! :) It is a blessing to me too as using it helps support this website at no cost to you. A definite win-win.
I’m looking for a “photo” category, did I miss it?
Good question, Becky. I have that on my list of questions for the developer as I would’ve expected to see it too. I just searched “photo” and “prints” and got some codes that way. P.S. – The data is coming from a third party and the category structure is something they use not just for us, but for lots of people. I did ask about where the photo codes are and if they can add a “Photo & Personalized Gifts” category.
To follow-up – they are going to add a “Photo & Personalized Gifts” category in for us. Keep the ideas and suggestions coming!
“Photo services” is there now underneath “Electronics”. Over time more retailers will be added to the category, but they at least got it started.
Awesome!
Nice feature, Carrie!
Instead of a drop-down list for merchants, would it be possible to group the merchants alphabetically and let us click the first letter of the merchant we’re looking for? I just tested the drop-down, looking for Old Navy. Gave up before I got to the “O” merchants because there are so many names.
I’m curious to see how the results compare to RetailMeNot.com, my current fave aggregator of promo codes.
Lisa – You can always use keyword to search Old Navy instead of the drop down. Would that help?
RetailMeNot will have more codes because they list codes that are not supposed to be broadcast publicly. We won’t do that, even if it means that there are fewer codes here.
Lisa, I noticed, that if I clicked the drop-down list, then typed a letter, the list jumped down to that letter. Hopefully that will work for you as well.
Love it. The first thing I was looking for was the ability to sort the expiration date in ascending/descending date order (so we can see which codes expire soon, etc.) — then I read the rest of your post and saw you’ll be adding that feature soon. Will comment more if/when I see the need to! :)
This is a great resource and I’m looking forward to using it often. Thank you!
I love this, can’t wait to use it!
Thanks Carrie. This is great!!!
Carrie and Colleen – thanks for the info!
Any chance you’ve got a list of smart phone apps? Target started sending a few out by text message that you can scan right off your phone…saves searching, ink and paper but it’s limited to a one time use and only on their selected things. The only app that I’ve found/used is GeoQpon- reusable too which so far has saved me 50% off at Micheals…there were others but haven’t used them yet. Thanks for the help.
I’m wondering if people can submit coupon codes that they find?