* FAQ: “What does one coupon per purchase mean?”

Extreme Couponing has gotten all sorts of people excited about couponing.  Some in a good way to where they want to learn and are trying to find the resources to learn how to legally, ethically and smartly use coupons.  Others in not so good of a way.  They just think that because they saw people on TV do it, they must be able to also.  It doesn’t quite work that way and since there is no “This was done by a professional, do not try this at home” warning, there can often be confusion.

Check out this great post by my blogging friend Abby at Steals + Deals who writes about a transaction she saw happening (and tried to help with) where a woman wanted to use a whole stack of coupons to purchase one package of diapers. This is NOT how it works.  The poor cashiers who have to deal with the aftermath of this show . . .

It also brings to light a really good question about the fine print on some coupons.  We’ll try to sort through some of that and make it easier to understand.

The Question: What does it mean when a coupon says “One coupon per purchase?”

The Answer: In simple terms- one coupon per PURCHASE means one coupon PER ITEM. Each item that you are buying is a purchase. So if you buy 5 bottles of shampoo, you are making 5 purchases and can use 5 coupons. This is if each coupon is for just one item.  If the coupon specifically states that you need to buy 2 (or more items) to get the savings on that coupon, then you can only use that one coupon for the number of items specified on the coupon.

The ONLY exceptions to this rule is that you can stack ONE store coupon and ONE manufacturers coupon together for each item (as long as the store coupon policy allows it).

One coupon per purchase is also very different than one coupon per transaction. The transaction is the entire checkout process and all the items included in that.  An example of this is that Albertson’s has their “Twice the Value” coupons they put out on a periodic basis.  These are limited to 3 coupons per transaction meaning you can’t use more than 3 of those coupons for everything you are going to pay for in that transaction.  For those of you that have been following Extreme Couponing, you’ll remember the woman who did 18 separate transactions.  This was because she was shopping at Albertson’s and wanted to use those exact coupons, but since she was limited to 3 per transaction, she split her shopping trip up to get the most out of her coupons.