Ethics and Fraud

Apr

Is taking advantage of free offers “mooching?”

I recently watched this interesting documentary called The Queen of Versailles (it’s actually free to watch if you’re an Amazon Prime member) about a one-time very wealthy family. David Siegel founded the Westgate Resorts, the largest privately owned time share company in the world, and was on his way to building the largest home in America until the Recession hit. (I won’t give away too much more of the story, in case you’re interested in watching.)

There was a moment in the documentary where Mr. Siegel’s son, who also worked for Westgate, shared how the timeshare company would frequently offer free tickets to Disneyland (or similar high-value gifts) in exchange for listening to a couple hour presentation. From what I know, this is a pretty standard tactic of timeshare companies. What surprised me is how Mr. Siegel’s son referred to the people who take the gifts without buying anything as “moochers.” He went so far as to refer to these kind of people as “greedy” later. I was a bit taken aback by this. The company is offering a freebie – no strings attached, so long as you listen to their presentation. I tend to think of a moocher as someone that asks for something that has not been offered, but you have a situation where a company is saying, “here!”

Is that mooching?

A Telling Conversation

A few months ago, I was conversing with a company that offers a paid membership service.

It seemed like it *could* be a valuable service, but I was left with a few questions. The company said at some point they hoped to offer a free trial of the service. The only drawback? They were afraid people would only do the free trial and not buy the membership. Well, if I know my readers, bingo. We take advantage of free trials and we rarely feel obligated to continue the service. Unless it’s completely stellar of course (like my Amazon Prime membership).

Part of me wonders if these services were so awesome to begin with, would they need to entice with a free trial period or tickets to Disneyland? Or maybe they should say, “free month when you sign up” to alleviate all confusion. Perhaps the term NO OBLIGATION is the real sticky wicket.

What’s worse, in my opinion, are shady companies touting the trial services as “FREE” burying the monthly $79.95 service fees in the fine print in hopes the customer won’t notice and then further burying the 1-800 number to call to cancel the service. (Yes, this does happen.)

Crossing the Line

In all fairness, I do think that there is a line that can be crossed when chasing down freebies. Here are just a few examples I came up with, maybe you can think of others:

You sign up for a free pet offer, but you don’t have any pets. You just want it because it’s free.
You create multiple email addresses to skirt “limit one per person” restrictions.
You purchase 20 “FREE” coupons from a site such as eBay that were clearly intended to be limit one per household.
And I’m sure there are ways you could also abuse free trial periods as well.

However, I don’t think signing up for a free trial period just to try out a service is bad. That is what a free trial is for! During that period, it’s up to the company to sell their product/service, and there should be no obligation on the customer’s part. If there is, then it should not be advertised as free.

I also don’t think people that take advantage of gifts to listen to timeshare presentations are moochers. I think they are opportunists, and sometimes, pretty savvy folks. I know some of them personally.

Incidentally? The documentary I watched went on to say that up to 50% of Westgate’s resort owners had credit scores of 500 or less and an average household income of about $75,000. Furthermore:

To purchase the right to an annual week at one of Westgate’s resorts costs an average of $25,000 for a two-bedroom, two-bath apartment. (That does not include maintenance, which might run $700 a year). A typical buyer puts 10 percent down and takes out a 10-year mortgage from Westgate with a 16 to 18 percent interest rate. (source: Business Week)

You can guess what happened when the sub-prime mortgage market started to go belly up. Maybe the moochers and the greedy freebie snatchers are the smartest ones of the bunch.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on this topic today. Do you feel like you’re being greedy or mooching when you go after a freebie? How about taking advantage of a free trial offer?

PS here’s a link to the Queen of Versailles on Amazon if you’re interested to watch. It’s currently free for Amazon Prime members.

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Aug

How to Identify a Fraudulent Coupon

Have you ever had someone email you a coupon that just sounds a little too good to be true? Or maybe you’ve heard that coupons can get you free stuff, so you wonder about the FREE printable coupon that’s circulating?

Today I wanted to share some basic tips about how to identify fraudulent coupons so you can avoid using them!

#1: Consider the source. There are some printable coupon sites I talk about regularly here that are safe to print from. These include Coupons.com, SmartSource, Red Plum, and CouponNetwork. If you’re finding a coupon on a manufacturer’s verified website or Facebook page, you should be good to go, too. But be very wary of coupon links circulating by email or on websites you’re not familiar with. Be particularly wary of pdf coupons that allow unlimited prints!

#2: Consider the value. While you’ll sometimes find very high value coupons (such as for a Facebook promotion), you should definitely question exceedingly high values for printable coupons that you’re not finding on the sites I’ve listed above. For instance, if I were to find a $7 off Huggies coupon or a $11 off Charmin coupon, I’d have all kinds of red flags going up. FREE printable coupons that require no additional purchase are so often found to be fraudulent that most retailers won’t even accept them anymore. Many retailers also now limit the dollar value of internet printable coupons.

(Coupon image from Coupon Information Corporation)

#3: Consider the fine print and other elements. Sometimes fabricated coupons will have elements that seem a bit “off”. For instance, they may have “no expiration date” printed on them or spelling errors or maybe the logo or images just seem a bit odd. However, many fake coupons actually look convincingly real so this is not always a reliable method of identifying a fake! For instance, consider the fraudulent Bertolli coupon below. In this case, the value may be the only thing that makes you go hmmmm.

(Coupon Image from Coupon Information Corporation)

#4: Consider if the coupon is intended for you. This may be more of a “gray” area, but I feel it’s worth mentioning on today’s post. Sometimes you may see a coupon posted that looks like it’s intended for a specific email recipient. Or perhaps you can get a high-value coupon by entering “codes” from purchased product and someone has mysteriously found a bunch of codes that you can input. Again, this is gray area stuff, but it may be worth considering “is this coupon meant for the general public, or as an incentive for a certain person/group of people?”

So how serious is this really? Well let me tell you this is the message that is posted on the Coupon Information Corporation regarding the coupons they’ve identified as counterfeits:

INDIVIDUALS AND INTERNET SITES ATTEMPTING TO REDEEM, TRANSMIT, AUCTION, POST, REPRODUCE, TRANSFER, BARTER OR SELL COUNTERFEIT COUPONS MAY BE SUBJECT TO CRIMINAL PROSECUTION AND/OR CIVIL ACTION

This is why it’s so important to make sure you stay in the know about where to get coupons legitimately and that you take the time to educate yourself about coupon fraud. I’d hate for anyone to unwittingly redeem a fraudulent coupon and then either find themselves in a mess or even just feel badly about it after the fact.

Here are three things you can do to prevent coupon fraud:

#1. Stop buying your coupons from ebay! I know I’ve taken flack for this in the past and not every coupon blogger out there will agree with me, but I really can’t stress this one enough. Think about it. If you were fabricating coupons how would YOU get them circulating? I’ve personally heard from some of you who have purchased coupons just wanting a good deal only to question the validity of the coupons received. Don’t waste your money in an effort to save it. For more information on why you should not buy your coupons, please read the FAQ section at Coupon Information Corporation along with this informative piece at Jill Cataldo’s site.

#2. If you have a doubt, don’t use it! If you have a coupon you have that you’re not sure exactly where it came from or you have any concern, just don’t use it. You can also check out the list of Counterfeit Coupons over at the CIC to see if it’s been ID’d as a counterfeit. (Just use the “find” tool on your Internet Browser to do a search or download to Excel and search that way.)

#3. Help fellow newbie couponers out. Remember that we were all new at this once and help your fellow newbie couponer friends out. If we each took the time to help a friend learn the correct way to use coupons I think a lot of good can be done. I have this belief that a fair amount of fraud is unintentional – someone wanting a good deal and not knowing any better. I think as concerned couponers this is the fraud we can really do something about and help the coupon community, retailers, and manufacturers.

I would love to hear from you if you have stories, questions, or comments on this topic! What else would you add to my list of how to identify fraudulent coupons?

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Mar

Just because it’s in a coupon ebook, doesn’t make it legit

(Image credit)

A concerned reader emailed me tonight about an ebook they’d just downloaded for free. Folks, in case you are not already aware, ANYONE can create an ebook for download. Just because someone has an ebook does not mean that the information is true or good. I did locate the book and was floored by what I read.

Here is a snippet of the ebook in question (which I will NOT link to or publicize):

Another trick is to look at the coupons when you print them out and see if the serial numbers are the same. If you’ve printed out multiple coupons and all the serial numbers match on them, you can simply go to a photocopier and print out a few more. Don’t tell the checker you did this, as the practice is frowned upon at most stores. Be careful not to copy coupons where the serial numbers are different. These codes are tailored to your individual account on the coupon site and copying them is considered fraud.

Seriously, my jaw is still on the ground. Where to start?

Well, let’s start here. Photocopying coupon is ALWAYS considered fraud. Photocopying coupons is not merely “frowned upon” or a “gray area.” It’s wrong.

On the Coupon Information Corporation’s website:

Photocopies. Do not photocopy coupons. This is counterfeiting and is a criminal offense.

And then there’s this story Jill Cataldo shared where one of her readers LOST her Coupons.com printing privileges due to photocopying fraud.

And then, if that’s not enough? The coupons themselves plainly read:

Void if reproduced, altered, or expired. (Or some similar message).

I don’t know about you, but photocopying sure sounds an awful lot like reproducing to me.

And then, if you’re still not convinced? Just refer to any number of store coupon policies. Here’s a few to get you started:

Albertsons: Albertsons only accepts original coupons and does not accept photocopied or reproduced coupons.

WinCo: No photocopied or visibly altered coupons

Safeway: We will not accept photocopies of coupons.

The email I’ve received from the reader tonight unfortunately isn’t an isolated account. I’ve had other readers tell me about coupon instructors informing them this practice was a good way to stock up on extra coupons. This is unfortunate.

So what’s one to do?

Refer to the Coupon Information Corporation’s page on Considerate Couponing. I very much work to keep this site in alignment with their best practices for consumers. Jill Cataldo is another resource I highly recommend for ethical couponing.
Refer to Store Coupon Policies! I do my best to keep this page up to date. Stuff does change, and policies can vary from store-to-store. (Incidentally most of these policies do clearly state that photocopied coupons are strictly prohibited.)
Be on guard for questionable advice. Just because it comes from a coupon site, a coupon ebook or even in a coupon class you’ve paid money for – does NOT mean it’s correct. Always weigh everything against #1 and #2 above.
Subscribe to your paper. I get four copies of the Tacoma News Tribune delivered to my door. I do not advocate the buying or selling of coupons and I certainly do not want you out photocopying coupons.

Finally, I want to remind you that I’m committed to ethical and sensible coupon usage here. You can always refer to my Coupon Ethics stance and if anything I share here is ever not in alignment with what I’ve set out this site to be, you can contact me or leave a comment. That’s my commitment to you.

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Mar

Printable coupons and zip codes: the discussion continues

As you might have noticed, I take a pretty conservative stance around here when it comes to coupon deals that I share on the blog. Where matters are gray, I err on the side of caution. Two reasons:

I want the deals I share here to work for the majority of readers. I don’t want to waste your time or efforts!
I see myself as a leader – someone that can make an impact for either good or bad. I want to make a positive difference for both couponers and the stores and manufacturers that provide us the deals.

What this means is that you’ll often find me silent on coupons and deals other bloggers are reporting. In many instances it’s not because I’m not aware of those coupons or deals, it’s because I have specific reservations in sharing them with you.

A couple of years ago, I decided that entering zip codes to obtain printable coupons was something I wanted to steer clear of. I came to this conclusion after a conversation I had with an editor at Red Plum.

After watching this practice continue to grow, I decided it was time to see if anything had changed. Was there more I could learn on this topic? I approached two of my affiliate contacts for Coupons.com. It is through these affiliate relationships that I serve the Coupons.com links here at The Coupon Project.com. (For more information on my affiliates, please see my Disclosure Policy.)

The answers I received differed from each other. One response indicated that it was acceptable to share the different zips (but without a definite policy in force), while the other had some more specific guidelines and official stance on this topic. Here’s what I learned from the latter affiliate:

The only coupons I can highlight are the ones nationally available – that means without having to input a zip code. This means if I find a great coupon that’s available at zip 12345 and nowhere else, I should refrain from sharing that with you.
I can state what zip I happened to find a nationally-based coupon in. For instance, I might say, “I found $4/4 Kellogg’s printable coupon under zip code 33333″ as proof that the coupon is available and my posting is not in error.
Couponers may not be able to redeem coupons they print from other zip codes. For this reason, suggesting you print coupons for zip codes you don’t live in is discouraged.

After some further clarification with that affiliate, the issue may be more of a practical one than ethical one. I don’t want you heading to checkout with coupons that potentially won’t work. What I’ve learned recently echos what I was told a couple years prior – that some manufacturers may wish to release a certain coupon offer in a select market. Why? Well, I don’t know. But should it matter? Sometimes offers are available in certain areas. I’m alright with leaving it at that.

I also contacted the CIC for additional thoughts on this topic, but as of this posting, I’ve not heard back. According to this forum discussion, Jill Cataldo (“Coupon Maven” in the thread) is also researching this topic and is planning on sharing soon. I greatly admire her insight and ethics stance, and will be curious to see what she discovers. Thus, more thoughts on this topic may be forthcoming.

So what do I do with all this? One group is telling me it’s OK, another had something different to say, and then there’s the conversation I had a few years ago. But most of all, there’s my gut feeling that says there’s something that just doesn’t sit right with me about it, again for both practical reasons and ones that bug my conscience a bit. Therefore, you can continue to count on me to only promote coupons that are available nationally. If you see me reference a zip code on occasion, note that it’s to validate the coupon’s existence (as per #2 above), and not to highlight a coupon as being only available in one zip code. If you have problems seeing a coupon appear, I would suggest you start by entering your own zip code. (Heck, you should be entering your zip code anyways – you might see some coupons you won’t find otherwise!)

From an ethical standpoint, there are bigger fish to fry in my opinion. I feel more strongly about say, copying coupons or barcode decoding. However, I wanted to give my personal conclusion on the topic since it’s coming up more and more, and I hope this post serves to clear some of that up for you.

It’s always possible that my stance, opinion, and thoughts on this topic will evolve as I continue to learn more for myself and for your information. On a personal note, thank you for following my site, even if it means you aren’t always notified about all those “hot” coupons and deals out there. And thanks to those of you who are invested in wading through all these meaty “gray” topics with me.

PS. Feel free to leave your comments and questions on this topic today. Heck, I welcome opposing viewpoints as well so long as it’s kept nice.

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Sep

How far is too far in “doing the right thing?”

(Image credit)

I recently got an excellent question from reader Kim.

Here’s her question:

I was at a Target store using coupons for free items (legitimate ones direct from companies). The cashier was putting in the highest allowed value on the coupons instead of the actual value. I commented and told him how it should be done and how much the items were priced. However, he said he was doing it his way.

How far do you push to be ethical with the coupon process? I was being honest but he wasn’t listening. Should I have gone above and beyond to customer service… wait in line… to say they were over paying me?

This was over a month ago but I’m still thinking about it.

So, what do you think?

Do you think Kim did her part by bringing it up to the cashier, or, should she have done more? Have you had similar things happen? How did you handle them?

(Thanks, Kim, for allowing us to discuss your question today!)

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Sep

Blogging ethics: behind the scenes at The Coupon Project

(Image credit Jan Flaska)

There is a topic that’s near and dear to my heart, and I’ve debated for some time on if or how I want to share it with you. Today, I’ve decided to go for it.

The topic? YOU.

Awhile ago, I decided to write a set of values that would govern the content on this blog and the way I would conduct myself here. The first value I penned was this:

“Offer content that provides value to the readers first.”

Bottom line, living out this value has meant I’ve left money on the table. The relationship I’ve built with my readers here will win every time over a quick buck. Why am I sharing this today? Because I want you to know how committed I am to providing you the very best content I can here at The Coupon Project. I also wanted to give you an inside look at how I decide which deals and content to post, and which to leave well enough alone.

#1. You can count on me to listen to you. There are a few affiliate offers I’ve promoted in the past that initially felt like win-win situations. They seemed like legitimate deals, and yes, I made a few bucks in the process. However, when you tell me that you had serious problems with the company, that the freebie was less than stellar, or you wouldn’t recommend the deal to a friend…I listen. I can think of two specific offers I’ve not posted in recent days that would have undoubtedly earned me a nice lil’ paycheck…but I wouldn’t have felt right about promoting to you. In both of these instances, I’ve shared specific feedback with affiliate managers about what you had to say. Behind the scenes, you can count on me to stick out my neck for you.

#2. When there are no deals, I stay silent. If deals are light, I’m not going to try to drum up deals that just aren’t there. I don’t want to speak just to make noise. I may choose to fill in with tutorials, vlogs, or giveaways, but I’m not about to pass off an Amazon non-deal as something truly awesome.

#3. You can count on me to disclose. I make a best effort to disclose shipping costs, fine print, and other information integral in giving you a full picture of a deal. I’m not into trickery to get you to click on my links. I’ve also been very forthcoming in how I make money here. And, you know what? I’d do so regardless if the FTC required it or not. (Read my Disclosure Policy for more information.)

#4. I started this blog because I love to write. When I started this blog, I spent several months developing content before I took out my business license and began the monetization process. I write many posts here (such as this one) that don’t earn me a single cent. I write these for the pure joy of writing. My degree was in English/Creative Writing and my Senior Project was a short story series. I worked as a freelance copywriter a couple years before I started this site (I still do work as a copywriter on the side, too). I’ve been a storyteller as long as I can remember.

I’m not going to lie - it’s great being able to support my family with what I love to do – but it’s also great when I receive comments from you saying how my post brightened your day, made you laugh, or inspired you to live better. That means so much to me.

#5. While I love your support, I’m not a charity case. Let me make this clear: you owe me NOTHING. While I would love it for you to click on my Coupons.com or Groupon links, you are not obligated to do so. Ever. I’m not going to encourage you to help me earn an iPad by bringing me a zillion referrals. I’m not going to beg you to share my Facebook page with your friends so I can hit some magic number. I want you to share my site and my posts because you genuinely like them. Isn’t that the entire point of social media anyway?

If you’ve ever wondered about the decision-making process involved in content development here, I hope I’ve been able to shed some light on that topic for you! And I’ll do my best to answer additional questions if you have them.

Finally, thank you for your honest feedback, comments, and emails. Rest assured, I listen.

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Coupon Ethics Question: Is it OK to take advantage of a company’s error?

September 15, 2011

Photo Image Bob Smith Much of couponing is black and white. For instance, most of us will agree that it’s not OK to pass expired coupons or photocopy printables. (And in case you were unaware, no, you can’t do these things.) But the more you get into couponing, the more you’ll discover the gray areas [...]

18 comments Get the full scoop! →

Dumpster Diving, Part Deux: the manufacturers weigh in

August 4, 2011

A couple weeks ago, I shared my thoughts on why I think dumpster diving for coupons is not a good idea. So you can imagine my interest when my contact from The News Tribune sent me this article on coupon security. (Interestingly enough, when I inquired at the Coupon Information Corporation on this topic, [...]

51 comments Get the full scoop! →

Is Dumpster Diving for coupons a good idea? Legal? Smart?

July 18, 2011

Image credit Sandy Yin I’m hearing more couponers and bloggers suggest dumpster diving as a smart way to get coupons for free. What disturbs me is how casual this suggestion is starting to come off – or how shows like Extreme Couponing have even tried to make this practice normalized, or even savvy. Yes, I’ll admit [...]

87 comments Get the full scoop! →

Albertsons Twice the Value Coupon Policy now Available

May 17, 2011

Reader Andy and Coupon Connections alerted me yesterday that Albertsons has posted on their site some clarification on the acceptance of their Twice the Value coupons. I just love it when companies make it easy for couponers like this! Here is what the site says: We allow 3 transactions in a row Customers may [...]

29 comments Get the full scoop! →

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