Counterfeit Coupons: How do I know if it's real?

Today I received an e-mail with several incredibe coupons: Free Dorito's, Free 12 pk Pepsi, Free Folgers and Free Dannon. These were all PDF coupons with several per sheet. Immediately red flags went up and I checked around to see if these were indeed fake. Almost immediately I found several alerts for these coupons and responses directly from the companies confirming that these are fake. So how do you know if a coupon you receive is real or fake?


Below Are Some Basic Guidelines To Alert You To A Possible Counterfeit Or Fake Coupon. Should you come across a coupon with any of these warning signs be sure to check other areas of the coupon carefully. Remember, When In Doubt Check It Out!

( 1 ). Point Of Origin

Did you obtain the coupon directly from the manufacturer via Sunday paper, Home Mailer, Manufacturer’s website via contest, etc.? Is so these sources are most likely legitimate.

If a coupon in JPG, JPEG, GIF & especially PDF / electronic format has been sent to you via email by someone ( friend, family member, seller on ebay, coupon trader / seller, etc. ) other than a manufacturer or you have found it posted on a website, has been photocopied or if it is not one that you have printed directly from the manufacturer's website yourself, the easiest way to check its legitimacy is to check the manufacturer’s website. If they presently do not have an online coupon for you to print, then chances are the coupon has been scanned & is a fake.

( 2 ). This should be obvious to all but, gets overlooked by some. If an internet coupon is posted somewhere on the net (let's say a pbwiki site, for instance) in jpg format then it should not be used.

This is not my opinion but, a fact. Most companies just don't send out jpg files like that. If you have to take a coupon and fool with it in order to post it then perhaps the company didn't mean for it to be posted.

If you choose to use one of these coupons know that it has probably been altered in the course of manipulating it. The expiration date you see is most likely not the original expiration date especially if the coupon is good for 13 months. Don't be surprised if you get called out for trying it at the store.

( 3 ). Frees

Are seldom offered by the manufacturer

If issued they are usually short dated & come via Sunday Newspaper inserts or Home Mailers, Contests & on very few occasions via email.

Are usually printed on thick & or glossy paper, are double sided & more often these days are utilizing the hologram.

Frees that are in the form of an internet printable ( IP ) ( very rare ) or other noninsert form ( unless received directly from the manufacturer in some form ) should raise a red flag of caution.

( 4 ). Home Mailers

A great way to get free coupons

Beware however that Home Mailers are often used to create counterfeits so be careful when trading for these items

Huggies print all their FREE or High $ coupons on Holographic silver foiled paper. Any Huggies coupon that is not printed as mentioned should be considered suspicious.

Proctor & Gamble ( P&G ) print all their FREE OR High $ coupons with their Logo as a silver foiled hologram. Any P&G coupon that is not printed as mentioned should be considered as suspicious.

( 5 ). Printing Coupons via Manufacturer's Website, Bricks, Smart Source, Coupons.com, etc.

When printing a legit coupon from a manufacturer's site it will only print on one side

Multiple coupons for the same product with the identical PIN numbers or consumer names ( Usually a manufacturer's site will only allow 2 of the same coupon to be printed ) are sign of a counterfeit ( copied ) coupon.

Internet Coupons should not be missing security features the manufacturer has implemented. Examples are Foil Logos, Holograms, Watermarks & such.

Coupons printed on photocopy paper, plain white paper or card stock ( Using this type of paper is not uncommon when printing a coupon from a manufacturer site on a home or work printer. )

( 6 ). Implied Savings

Use common sense regarding the implied amount of savings

High $ discounts & no Maximum value coupons should also raise a red flag of caution unless you personally have received it directly from the manufacturer

( 7 ). Other points of interest

A photocopied coupon is relatively easy to spot. Generally they are copied on thin computer / copier paper and may have a faded appearance. They may also have the appearance that the colored ink was not used or was running out.

A common problem is misspelled words ( Not in all cases )

Sometimes the pictures on the coupon will have varying degrees of fuzziness

Coupon may not scan at the register. However, we all know this is not always the case as there are those that scan perfectly fine. So if there are other warning signs, check it out.

Just like the items you purchase at the store; coupons are scanned via a bar code which is usually ( but not always ) located at the bottom of the coupon. If a coupon does not have a bar code it most likely is a counterfeit.

Look for long, unusual or " NO " expiration dates ( NED )

There are other factors to be aware of when it comes to spotting counterfeits. Remember, not all counterfeit / fake coupons will have all the above listed discrepancies, some will have more or less than others. If you are not sure about the coupon contact the manufacturer directly.

Remember ~ If it seems to good to be true it usually is ~ If in doubt check it out!


More good information:

Too good to be true - You have probably heard us say it before, but if something sounds just too good to be true, it probably is. But you know what? When you can use coupons to get groceries for free, that right there sounds too good to be true, so it can sometimes sway our judgment on what is too good to be true. When I think about how something looks too good to be true I think about free item coupons sold on sites such as eBay or other auction sites, or even here on Hotcouponworld, where the value of the free item coupon is way high. An example of this would be a coupon for something like "Free Kellogg's cereal up to $7.00" that is a high value coupon especially when the normal non-sale price of a box of Kellogg's cereal would be around $5.00. Another example is when the expiration date is really long (12 months or more) or NED (No Expiration Date). While there are plenty of legit long expiration date and NED coupons out there, when you see a free item coupon on auction sites or forum with a long expiration date or NED it should raise a red flag and at the very least give you pause to look a little further into where this coupon came from.

Using common sense - Sometimes common sense goes right out the window when the opportunity to get free stuff is involved. We all have seen folks pay $20 for $19 in Winetags on eBay and wonder what the heck those folks are thinking! We also see folks trading/selling 100's of free item home mailer coupons and don't don't take a moment to think "How in the world did they get 100's of these coupons???". Common sense says that you can get 1 or 2 (maybe 4 or 5 if you use your family and friends addresses) of a home mailer coupon. If you see someone trading/selling/auctioning lots of the same coupon ask your self where they got so many (or ask the person who is offering them) if you cannot get a satisfactory answer pass on it. Why should you pass on it? Because you could very well be stuck with counterfeit coupons or coupons that were obtained fraudulently.

Buying coupons on eBay or other auction sites - eBay in particular is the most popular place to unload counterfeit coupons. That is not to say that they are not on other forums, auction sites or even here at HCW. But eBay is the #1 place because it is so big with the biggest number of buyers. It is easy for these counterfeiters to sell thousands of fake coupons to unsuspecting buyers and then disappear from eBay only to start back up with another username and start all over again. And while I cannot tell you to not buy free item and high value coupons on eBay I personally would not do it. The risk is too high for me to be stuck with counterfeit coupons.

You can read eBay's policy on coupons at the following link: Manufacturer’s Coupons

Additionally here are some of my tips to spot things that can raise a red flag:

Single auction selling multiples (more than 2) of the same free item coupon, no matter what the source of the coupon is (Home Mailer, Insert coupons, etc). This is against eBay's policy. I recently saw an eBay listing selling 20 free item coupon that came as home mailers, so even knowing that they cannot sell more than 2 of these coupons per listing, I had to wonder where they got 20 of these coupons.

Check sellers other auctions to see what else they are selling. There is a link on each eBay auction that says "View Sellers Other Items" click that link to see what all they are selling. So if you see an auction for 2 home mailer coupons for a free item that right there may look ok, but upon looking at the sellers other items, you may see that they have multiple auctions for the same coupons. Again, ask yourself how they got multiple of those coupons.

Check sellers feedback to see what they have sold in the past. Checking feedback on eBay is important no matter what you are buying, weather coupons or dishes, because you want to make sure that that seller has not had any issues in the past, but it can also be very enlightening to see that they have recently sold 100's in past auctions of the same coupons. And again, ask yourself where did they get all those coupons?

Look for inflated prices on Buy It Now auctions - I have seen multiple auctions where the seller is asking more than the standard 10-30% of the face value for coupons. A free item coupon auction for a coupon with a value of $5.00 being sold for $20.00. You have to wonder what is going on.

Never pay more for coupons than you are willing to loose should the coupons prove to be counterfits. That means don't spend $70 on coupons unless you are willing to loose $70.

Coupons that were printed from the internet are limited on eBay to 2 per auction. Anything more than 2 is agaist eBays rules, and this rule is in place for a reason to protect the seller against fraudulent coupons.

Coupons that are delivered electronically, meaning you win the auction and the seller emails you a file of some sort that contains coupons that you can print. This is against eBay's coupon policy as well and is not allowed. This rule is in place to protect the buyer.

These signs also apply to trading and buying coupons on coupon forums, coupon clipping sites and other selling and auction sites. Always ask yourself where these folks got these coupons. Again if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is!

Printable Coupons - I have to take a moment to mention printable coupons. A free item coupon that is delivered via the form of a printable coupon is VERY rare. In the 5+ years I have been couponing I think I have come across maybe 5 or 6 valid printable coupons for a free item (no other purchase required). In fact most grocery stores, if they accept printable coupons still (some don't) won't take a printable coupon for a free item. They are SO RARE that if you find a printable coupon for a free item, you should question it immediately, especially if there is no print limit software behind the coupon such as that used by Coupons.com, SmartSource, Red Plum or Bricks. The same goes for very high value dollar off coupons that net an expensive item for free or very close to free. For example if you come across a printable coupon for $5.00 off Tide laundry detergent or something that is normally expensive that should raise a big red flag. As I type this post, there is (1) coupon in our coupon database for a free item printable. We have thousands of printable coupons listed in the coupon database and only 1 is for a free item. That shows you how rare those types of coupons are.

Copies of printable coupons - Beware of copies of printable coupons. In most cases (like 99.99999% of the time) it is considered fraud to make copies of coupons. Don't copy them. And don't trade for or purchase copies of printable coupons. Again, ask yourself how any one person got multiples of printable coupons. Most coupons that are controlled with print limit software you can only print 2 of each coupon. Most people do not have access to multiple computers. Sure there are some that do have multiple computers from which to print from (I myself have 3 computers in my home and thus can print 6 coupons, 2 from each computer) but if you see someone with 20, 30, 40 + printable coupons...ask yourself how they got so many as they may be making copies. If you have obtained multiple printable coupons from someone via a trade or bought them from somewhere you and you know that those coupons are gated with print limit technology (Bricks, coupons.com, SmartSource, etc) you can look to see if each coupon has a unique code on them (we are not talking about the UPC bar code). Each program uses a different code system.

How to get free item coupons - That does not mean that there are not ways to get free item coupons. There are. We get them all the time.

Insert coupons - every so often we see free item coupons in the Sunday inserts. You can purchase extra paper, ask your friends and family to save them for you, dumpster dive etc so you can get more than 1. You can get them from a reputable clipping service (although I cannot personally vouch where they get their coupons from), or trade for them. And yes, you can possibly buy them on eBay and other such sites. If you know the coupon is from a Sunday insert the chances of it being fake are less because they are not that rare.

Home Mailers - contact your favorite companies and ask them for coupons, most of the time they will mail you some coupons, often times they are free item coupons. You can also send them honest feedback (compliment or complaint) and they usually will send you coupons. (Look under our resources tab for our contact companies database, its still pretty new but so far is turning out to be a good list of companies to contact)

Contests - Sometimes there are contests where you can earn free item coupons. The Coke points rewards system is one that I am aware of where you redeem your Coke point for prizes, including coupons for Free Coke. You will often see these contests posted on our forums.

Rarely will you find Tearpads, Blinies, Booklets, etc in-store for free item coupons. They come once in a blue moon. So they are pretty rare....

Lastly, it is a really good idea to research where coupons came from. And while it may sound like I am tooting my own horn here a bit, the coupon database can be a pretty good tool for finding out where coupons came from. So when you see a coupon listing for 99+ Free Dr. Pepper coupons you can see that those coupons were home mailers and that should raise a red flag about where that person got 99+ of them...


Thanks HCW for the information!