Well first let me assure you that each and every website we link to here for printable coupons is 100% legitimate and not a scam. We hate scams, spam and junk as much as you do! However some companies choose to offer a printable coupon when you join their website or mailing list because printable coupons are a marketing tool and these companies figure that if you are interested in printing a coupon for their product, then you are apt to want to join their mailing list in which they can send you recipes, tips, news about new products, sweepstakes they are holding and usually, more money saving printable coupons in the future.

That is not to say that your email inbox will not be flooded with emails from these companies. Here are 10 steps you can take to make the signing up process as painless as possible.

1. Set up a new free email account such as one offered from Gmail, Yahoo or Hotmail. I personally prefer Gmail because I find it easy to forward emails and set up filters.
2. Once you have set up your new email address, you can either decide if you are going to check that email address for new printable coupons, never going to check it, or if you want to set up forwarding. I personally prefer to have those emails forwarded to my normal email address.
3. If you have decided to forward emails from your new email address you should set that up and then also set up a filter, so that all new emails that get forwarded from your new email address are placed in a folder or file so that they don’t clutter up your in-box but you can read them at your leisure or when you are looking for new printable coupons.
4. Use an auto fill program to so that you can, with one click auto fill the sign up submission forms. Google has one, and there are others out there as well. I personally use Robo-Form Pro as it allows me to store my pass cards for every site that I have signed up for.
5. Decide if you want to give these companies your real information or fake info. I usually am OK with giving companies my email address, real name, city and zip code. I know that they use this information for demographic studies and marketing. However I am a little leery of giving many of them my phone number and my physical address. Unless they indicate that they will also send me coupons via the mail, I either leave this field blank or use a made up address. And I rarely, if ever give out my phone number because, frankly, there is just no reason whatsoever for these companies to need to call me.
6. Before signing up for anything, read a company’s privacy policy to see what they intend to do with your information. You can usually find a company’s privacy policy in the header (top) or footer (bottom) of their website. Every legitimate website has a privacy policy (even we do!) and if you cannot find privacy policy for a website, don’t sign up and give them your information. Period.
7. Don’t fall for offers that seem too good to be true. There are not any legitimate printable coupon websites that offer you gift cards, free items, or vacations for signing up for a printable coupon.
8. Don’t jump through hoops to get a printable coupon. If after you sign up or before you sign up a printable coupon website makes you click “yes”, “no” or “skip” for page upon page of offers that you might be interested in. Click the little red X in your browsers window. These are called “co-branded” websites and their interest is not to offer you a printable coupon, but to get you to sign up for as many mailing lists and offers as possible.  Usually when you get the end of all the available offers you won’t even get the printable coupon that you were promised from the beginning. It was just a scam to collect your personal information and email address!
9. Go ahead and feel free to opt-out. If you start getting newsletters from the companies that you signed up for and you don’t want to continue to receive these newsletters anymore, there should be a link at the bottom of the email that will allow you to opt-out of receiving their newsletters.  The process can take a few days to take effect but you should stop receiving more newsletters from them usually within a week.
10. If there is a product or brand that you frequently purchase check their website often for new offers, sometimes the company that you signed up for does not always send out a email letting you know about new offers. Most of them do, but some don’t. Additionally you can set up further filters in your email to highlight the brands that you use often. In Gmail I use their star system to let me know that my favorite brands have sent me an email so I can check it for new coupons.

These ten steps should prevent you from falling for a coupon scam, a full email inbox and unwanted spam or telemarketing calls. Signing up for printable coupons can be a great way to stay in the know about new coupons for your favorite brands, and most companies want to offer you those coupons so that you will continue to purchase their products.

Do you know of any other tips for making the sign up process less painful? Got a question about how to do any of the above steps? Or just want to ask if a site is real or not? We would love to hear from you. Reply to this post below and let us know what you think!

What is a rain-check?

When an item is advertised on sale, and the store is out of stock you can ask the store for a raincheck which is a slip of paper that a store employee fills out with the required information and for which you can return at a later date to obtain the product that was out of stock at a later date.

When can you or can your not get a raincheck?

In most cases if an item is advertised as being on sale via an advertisement (print ad, television spot, radio spot, etc) and the store that is advertising the item on sale has run out of stock during the specified sales dates you are usually entitled to a raincheck so that you can purchase that item at the advertised sales price when the item is back in stock. There are a few exceptions to this rule however. Retailers do not have to issue a raincheck if there is exclusionary wording in the ad. Some common examples of such wording can be:

• While supplies last
• Limited to stock on hand
• No rainchecks

In essence if the advertisement says something to the affect that the sale is somehow limited and no rainchecks will be issued then in most cases you are not entitled to a raincheck.

Does a store have to give me a raincheck if they are out of stock?

There are consumer laws out there that regulate the issuance of rainchecks and they vary from state to state. But in essence in most states a store is required to issue a raincheck for items that are advertised on sale and are out of stock within the advertised sale dates, unless there is exclusionary wording in the ad such as the examples above. The reason why there are consumer laws on rainchecks is because some unscrupulous stores will advertise a hot item at a deep discount in order to get customers in the store. However they never carried the advertised product and instead hope that you will purchase another item instead of the advertised product. This is basically bait and switch and is illegal in most states. Consumer laws therefore have been put into place to protect shoppers from being lured into a store for a hot sale only to find no product in stock. However in some states a retailers has the option of offering either a raincheck or a comparable product at the same price as the item on sale. To find out more about consumer laws in your specific state you may wish to do a internet search on your states consumer laws.

How do I get a raincheck?

If you are shopping and an advertised item is out of stock all you need to do is go to the customer service desk and ask for a raincheck. If you are purchasing other items you can also ask your cashier for a raincheck and most of the time the cashier can issue you one. Each store has its own policy on rainchecks so you may want to ask the person issuing you your raincheck what the policy is. Some stores have an expiration date on their rainchecks, these can be anywhere from 30 days to 90 days while other stores rainchecks never expire. Some stores will ask you for your phone number or other contact information so that they can call you and let you know when the item is in stock. This is usually a practice of smaller retailers or more high-end retailers. Rainchecks can also have a limit written on them as to how many of the specified product you can purchase at the sale price with your raincheck.

5 raincheck tips!

1. When grocery shopping look for clear spaces on the store shelves and make a note of what it is and what flavor, size or variety that is out of stock. If for example Coca-Cola 2-liter bottles are on sale for $0.70 each but the store is out of Diet Coke, you can often ask for a raincheck just because the store is out of just one flavor. Most of the time the raincheck will be issued for the advertised sale item (Coca-Cola products) and not just the specific variety that was out of stock.
2. Once you have your raincheck, plan for additional savings. Find coupons to help discount the sale price even further. Getting a raincheck is a great time extender to afford additional time to the sale so take advantage of the extra 30 or more days to print, purchase or trade for coupons to go with your raincheck.
3. If you had a coupon to go with the advertised sale and it is about to expire, try explaining to the store manager that you wanted to buy the advertised product with a coupon but they are out of stock and you are afraid that your coupon will expire by the time the product is back in stock. Often times the manager will offer to write you a raincheck that also includes the additional discount that your coupon would have given you.
4. If a product that you really want to buy is advertised at a great sales price, go to the store in the middle of the sales period to see if the item is out of stock. If it is, get a raincheck. Then go back in at the end of the sales period and if the item is still out of stock go ahead and get another raincheck.
5. When you are at the customer service desk or cashier getting your raincheck and if the store employee asks you how many of the advertised priced items you would like to get with your raincheck go ahead and ask for multiples. If your family members love Coca-Cola, go ahead and ask for a limit of 30 or 50 and stock up.

Do you have a raincheck tip that you would like to share? We would love to hear it, feel free to leave a comment below.