All the How To's of Discount Codes and Vouchers

We all love a good old how-to guide, so here's one from us on all the how-to's you need to know about vouchers and discount codes. If you ever get stuck somewhere while shopping online, you can come here and check if we have a solution to your problem or email us for help.

How to Use Discount Codes and Vouchers

Saving is easy with these tools, especially if you're shopping online. Most retailers offering these saving tools make it easy for you to use them so you can still enjoy a fast, convenient shopping experience. Here's how you can use vouchers and discount codes you find on retailer websites, in email newsletters, on social media, and on discount voucher sites like Codes.co.uk.

Saving Through Coupon Sites

So you've found a beautiful dress at Forever 21 that you're pretty sure will make you feel forever young, but the price is a little steep. Not to mention, there's a gorgeous pair of heels at Joules that will definitely match the dress. Oh! And don't forget that Forzieri clutch that's an absolute must-have. Sounds stylish, right? Yep, and expensive too. So, how do you get everything you want without maxing out your credit card?

Coupon Voucher sites like Codes.co.uk have a number of valid discount codes and vouchers you can use to get select items at lower prices. All you need to do is search for the store where you want to shop and go through the vouchers we have. When you click on “Get Voucher Code” you'll get a pop-up with a code like FREESHIPUK and the option to copy it or go straight to the retailer website to use it.

Saving On A Retailer Website

The first thing you should consider while you're shopping online is to sign up for an account with any of your favourite retailers. Besides opening up the door for you to get exclusive discount offers, having an account makes shopping easier and faster. You'll be able to add things to your cart and continue shopping without worrying about losing something you'd already picked out. Plus, being an account holder gives you access to discount vouchers available on the website.

When you find a voucher or code on the retailer website, from their email newsletter, or social media offering a discount of 10% or more, you can paste the code into the specified section on the checkout page. The input box for vouchers, promo codes and discount codes may be on the same page as the one for entering your payment details, before, or after it. Just make sure you check for that before you complete your order so you won't miss out on the chance to save.

There's one special trick that not a lot of people know when it comes to saving online. Remember how we said you should have an account with retailers? Well, when you add stuff to your cart then let it sit there for a couple of days, you might be lucky and get some offers from the retailer to encourage you to complete your purchase. Your luck might be in the form of some discount codes, freebies, or an offer for a better price. It might not work for every retailer, but some employ this abandoned-cart strategy of lead nurturing to increase sales.

Saving In-Store

Maybe you prefer the hustle and bustle of walking through aisle after aisle, adding stuff to a cart you can actually see and push around. If that's the case, you can still use vouchers and discount codes to save when you shop in a store. The ones you get in-store from previous shopping sprees, or find in newspapers or magazines are easy to use.

All you need to do is bring them with you and present them to the cashier when you're paying for your stuff. If you want to use the ones you find online instead, you can print those out and take them with you, or keep them on your phone and have them scanned and applied to your purchase at the checkout point.

How To Keep Vouchers Organized

You might not find voucher codes and discount codes at the same time you want to shop from a particular retailer. But that doesn't mean you have to leave them and start searching for them again when you do want to shop. You can keep them organized and ready for you to use in different ways, depending on where you find them.

Printable Vouchers and Discount Codes

If there are vouchers and discount codes you can print out or the ones you find in newspapers and other printed materials, you can keep them in an old album. That way it'll be easy to slide them in and out when you need to use them. Since most vouchers and discount codes are only valid for a specified time, you should always arrange them in order, starting with the ones that have the earliest expiry date. Make sure you keep the album with you in your bag so if you happen to go on an unplanned shopping trip, you'll still be able to save.

Retailer Website Offers

Some retailers have a special feature that allows you to save vouchers you find on their site. Such features are usually only accessible if you sign up for an account on the retailer's website, which is just one more reason to do it. If you're lucky, you might get notifications to alert you when some of the vouchers you've stored are about to expire.

Email Newsletter Offers

Signing up to be on a company's email list is one of the ways to make sure you get exclusive vouchers and promotions delivered to your inbox. Besides joining your favourite retailers' email lists, you should also sign up for the ones from their competitors. That way you'll be able to compare offers and choose the best one, or even qualify for price matching.

Before you get ahead of yourself and go off to sign up to every single newsletter you can come across, you should know how to keep email offers organized. All you need is to set up filters to send all promotional emails to a separate folder so they don't get mixed up with all your other mail. For example, Gmail has a Promotions tabs where emails from retailers with special offers and exclusive deals go. Having them in one place makes it easier for you to keep track of them and compare discount offers from different retailers.

How To Stack Savings

While a lot of retailers don't allow using more than one coupon voucher per purchase, there are a precious few willing to bend this rule. Plus, you can find ways around this rule if you know where to look and what to do.

You might find that there are in-store-only deals that you can't get when you shop online. At the same time, you may have vouchers and discount codes that are valid for use online and in-store. You can get the best of both worlds by shopping in the stores to get the in-store deals and using your vouchers to get an extra discount.

Another way to combine offers is by using manufacturer vouchers along with store vouchers to get a double discount. This form of offer-stacking depends on whether a particular retailer permits the use of multiple vouchers and discount codes on a single purchase. You can always check with them first. If their platform doesn't support voucher stacking, they may still have other ways to help you save.

You can also consider buying stuff in bulk. Of course, this may be a little difficult because unless you're planning on selling stuff, there's not much you can get for yourself in bulk besides toilet paper and a few other things. Still, if there's something you can and want to buy in bulk, you can get discounts for bulk-buys and combine that with other offers.

How To Spot Voucher Red Flags

As with most things, when it comes to free vouchers and discount codes, you'll come across the good, the bad, and the fake. It's important to know the red flags to look out for so you can shop and save safely. You might be thinking, what's the big deal with getting some bad vouchers? On a best case scenario, you'll just miss out on a discount. But worse things could happen like falling prey to malware and scams when you click on a fake voucher. In this section, we'll highlight five tips for spotting fake coupons.

1. Too Good To Be True

Let's be real; if you come across a voucher offering the latest iPhone for free, it's probably fake. Not that vouchers for free things don't exist, but they're usually for something small and reasonable. In most cases, retailers offer freebies when you make certain purchases. So if a deal looks too good to be true, it probably is.

2. Has No Expiry Date

Vouchers and discount codes typically have expiry dates, so they're only valid until the specified date. If you find any with no clear indication of how long the offer is valid, tread lightly. It might be a fake one. Some vouchers will have an expiry date that looks legit at first glance, but if you look closer you'll notice the date is either non-existent, long past, or dated unrealistically far into the future.

3. Offers from a Shady Source

The internet opens up all kinds of possibilities for people shopping online. At the same time, it leaves you exposed to a lot of risks such as scam and identity theft. It's easy to fall prey to such dangers while you're searching for vouchers and discount codes online. Retailer websites and legitimate coupon promotion sites like Codes.co.uk are sources you can trust to give you valid vouchers. On our site, you'll see a little checkbox indicating that a particular voucher or discount code has been validated, which means it's safe for you to use.

Social media and email newsletters are also good sources of voucher codes and free discount codes, provided they're from a reliable source. If you're going to search for these on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or any other social media platform, stick to the retailers' official accounts to avoid getting fake ones.

For email offers, you should also stick to official emails from retailers. If you see an email from a source you don't recognise, verify it first. An easy way to do this, is to move your mouse over the link in the email. This will show you the actual destination of the link on the lower corner of your email screen. If you don't recognise that link or it seems dodgy, then send that email straight to the trash.