RESOURCE REVIEW: Couponchief.com

If you've been reading this blog for any length of time, you may have picked up on the fact that I'm not a huge internet shopper - in fact I don't think I've purchased a single thing off the internet so far this year! While my preference is to buy things secondhand and local where possible, there is the odd occasion where buying a new item (or intangible service) over the internet might be the best way to go.

This is particularly true if you have access to coupon codes that make your purchase a great deal (combining an online sale with a further coupon discount, for example). One resource I've recently discovered that is an excellent source for coupon codes is Couponchief.com. Boasting 50,000 coupons for over 15,000 stores, this site is one of the largest online coupon databases on the internet. So whether you're buying a new computer, the latest bestseller, or renting a car, you're sure to find a coupon or two that will help you save a few bucks on your purchase.

I spent some time browsing around the site and was pleased to discover that the coupon collection contains many codes usable in Canada and other non-US countries. Being Canadian, one of my major frustrations as a bargain-hunting frugalista is that so many coupons, deals, and freebies are for US residents only! So it's really nice to see a coupon collection that's more internationally inclusive.

Couponchief.com makes browsing for deals fairly easy - you can browse by tags (shoes, clothes, sports, health, etc.), by popular coupons, or by the most recently added coupons. Or if you'd rather, they also have alphabetical listings of all the stores featured on the site. If you're in a hurry and would rather search for a specific store, you can just type it into their search engine and it will quickly find you all the relevant coupons.

The site also allows for user interactivity: you can leave comments on whether a particular coupon worked for you or not, and upload coupons you've found to the site as well (you can even get paid to share coupons if you sign up for their pays-2-share program).

My only quibble with the database is that there do seem to be quite a few coupons listed that have either an unknown expiry date or that have clearly expired. It would be nice if these could be culled from the collection, since you might find yourself spending time trying to use a bunch of codes that have long since expired (for example, I noticed one coupon offering a discount on Easter flowers - I'm guessing that one's not good anymore!) I do understand that with a collection this large, it's probably a daunting task to try and keep it all up to date. So do keep in mind that some of the codes you find might not work.

Overall, I'd say it's well work a quick trip over to Couponchief.com anytime you're going to make an internet purchase - a few minutes on the site could easily lead to significant savings!

(In the interests of full disclosure, I'd like to let my readers know that I was paid to do this review; however the above assessment represents my unbiased opinion about this resource).

Have you used Couponchief.com? What did you think of it?