Looking for the best online coupon codes? Why not have someone do it for you? at Cool Mom Tech

Wednesday 12 December

Looking for the best online coupon codes? Why not have someone do it for you?

It took me a while, but I finally learned the number one rule of online shopping: never hit "buy" without first searching for a discount code. There are a lot of great coupon sites online, but now there's a simple add-on for Chrome that saves you the step in searching them all.

The Honey Chrome Extension has been picking up steam since its launch just a few weeks ago so I thought it was worth a try. Uploading it is a cinch (you don't even have to reboot your browser) but then I was like uh...where is it? That's because it only appears as a golden button, right by the "discount code" box, when you shop some major retailers.

Here, let me walk you through it:

1. First I spotted this very cute men's scarf at Banana Republic. Originally $49.50, now $34.50. Add the $7 shipping and it's $41.50

2. I add it to my cart

3. When I go to check out, I see the yellow "Find Savings" Honey button which is always right near the Promo Code box. (You do have to train yourself to look for it because sometimes it blends right in.)

4. Click the Honey button, and it automatically starts plugging in various codes for you, as you can see in a pop-up window.

5. Aha! A valid 25% off code pre-ship saves me another $8.63 -- like free shipping and then some.

6. My cart is automatically updated...done! That $57 scarf (with shipping) is now officially $32.87. And it took about 15 seconds.

Now I do wonder how I'm getting the best of those ten codes; but presumably it's scanning codes in order of discount amount. Either way, I've tried it on a few sites and so far so good!

Although once in a while this happens...

but hey, at least you tried.

Right now Honey works for plenty of the bigger sites, like Target, Sephora, Macy's, Amazon, CVS, and GAP companies like Piperlime. I'd love to see more department stores like Saks or Bloomingdale's, when those codes can lead to pretty significant savings. But more site seem to be added daily, including Think Geek (yay!) and even Hotels.com.

Can a sister put in a Jet Blue request?

If you're wondering about other similar extensions, I do still rely heavily on Priceblink (now available for all browsers) which scours the web for the best price online before you actually spend time adding anything to your cart.

That said, I think they work great in tandem--find the best price and then double check to see if there isn't a valid promo code that can save you a little more. And this time of year, that little more can be a lot more. Thanks, Honey! -Liz

Download the free Honey Chrome Extension for automatic coupon searching at joinhoney.com. It's coming soon to Firefox and other browsers.

Find More: Helpful Services, Sales, Whoo!, Tips and Tricks

3 Comments

Leave a comment | Comment Policy

Liz | December 12, 2012 11:26 AM | Reply

I didn't know about either of these apps! Nice! Thanks for the shopping tips.

Dmitry | December 26, 2012 8:35 PM | Reply

Nice one. i have been learning to also not hit buy until looking up a coupon code first. my has been doing for years, so this would be helpful.
Though i wonder, since the extension reads the shopping cart info on page that you are entering your credit card info which is where promo code usually is, can it read other info on the page other than the product?

Cool Mom Picks replied to comment from Dmitry | December 26, 2012 9:40 PM | Reply

Good question. It doesn't seem technologically possible that it tracks what you are buying, your name, your credit card and so on. It certainly doesn't have access to encrypted information you send. If anything, it might track whether you have used a code through the app or not.

Comment Policy: In an attempt to maintain a positive, productive, supportive community at Cool Mom Picks, we have the right to reject comments that are off-topic, self-promotional, inflammatory, or that bum us out for any reason. But you wouldn't do that anyway - you're too cool.