Q&A: What is a Printable coupon? and other Frequently Asked Questions

[sbp]

Answers to your questions about Internet Printable coupons can be found here. If you have any questions that have not been addressed here, please post and we'll do our best to answer it for you.

SPECIAL THANKS TO FLASH FOR HELPING TO COMPILE THIS INFORMATION!

Q: When I try to print a coupon that I know I haven't printed before, why do I sometimes get a message telling me that I've already printed the maximum number allowed?

A: There's a few reasons why it would give you that message. Often times a link gets posted with an embedded code that is meant for a particular individual, and once the maximum is printed, it will give you the error message.

Another possibility is if tthe limit that the manufacturer will allow to be printed has been reached. If they have set the limit at 20,000, everyone from 20,001 on will get the message.
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Q: Can IP's be printed out in black & white or do they have to be in color?

A: Many of them say right on the coupon that it is valid if printed in color OR black & white
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Q: What does rolling expiration date mean?

A: Rolling expiration date means that the expiration date will vary, depending on the date it was printed. For instance a coupon printed on August 2nd with a 30 day rolling expiration will expire on September 1st. The same coupon printed tomorrow will expire on September 2nd.
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Q: Many of the printable sites have the same coupon. Are they the same coupon? Can I print from all the sites?

A: Printable coupons can be available from the same manufacturer through different websites (bettycrocker.com and Pillsbury.com may offer the same General Mills coupons), or from different marketing companies (smartsource.com and boodle.com). Since printable coupons are an online, immediate resource, the manufacturer can easily change the promotion at any time to suit their needs, without having to make changes to their websites. They can also vary the coupon amount or requirements based on information such as zipcode.
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Q: How many times can you print on each website?

A: Most websites limit you to 2 prints of each coupon however, some may only allow one while others allow more than 2.
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Q: What is a Coupon Portal?

A: Some online coupon distributors compile all the coupon offers for a brand into a single location on a company website (e.g., homesolutionsnews.com provides all the coupons for Reckitt Benckiser brands such as Jet Dry; smartsource.com provides all of the offers available from various brands that have purchased their portal). The consumer has one stop to find all the money-saving offers from the brand. The consumer usually needs to log in through the home page, learning about other products and providing additional customer data for future marketing initiatives.
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Q: What is Digital FSI network?

A: Coupons, Inc. hosts the Digital FSI network, which provides secure digital encoding of the scan code for each coupon.
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Q: What is “Tell-a-friend”?

A: Tell-a-friend emails are used by coupon distributors to allow you to offer the coupon link to your friends. Each friend receives an email, usually with the email of the person referring them, and that email also contains a onetime use only link. When those friends print the coupon, they are invited to tell their friends.
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Q: Why can’t I print a coupon from someone else’s email link?

A: Email campaigns are promotions manufacturer use to provide secure, trackable coupon campaigns. Each recipient receives a unique, onetime use only link that sends a coupon directly to their printer. These are considered “relationship marketing” designed to encourage the consumer to open emails and review all the information they contain
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Q: Still, if they will allow me to “invite a friend”, why can’t I just send my friends my email link?

A: Each link is program as a onetime use. While it might seem logical that you can just share your link, the manufacturer/coupon distributors track the number of prints, and redemptions, to ensure that as many consumers are contacted as possible without exceeding the allowed budget for redeeming a coupon.
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Q: Do manufacturers get more out of printable offers?

Yes and no. With insert and other pre-printed coupons, the manufacturers (or their marketing firm) print a certain number of coupons up front, and assume a % will be redeemed within their budget. They usually overestimate the redemption rate enough to stay within the overall budget for that promotion. The print links can be terminated quickly when a redemption budget is reached. However, fraud is much more prevalent, and store acceptance of printables is limited in many areas.
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Q: Can I receive printables by mail?

A: Yes, if the manufacturer/sponsor of the offer has paid for this additional service. The system is designed to assist consumer who experience difficulties printing a coupon, and provides an option to receiving the coupon by mail. This is called “Print & Mail-enabled. This offer is usually limited to specific manufacturer sites and email promotion links.
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Q: Why do I have to sign up to save?

A: Coupons are provided as incentives to opt-in to receiving promotional materials and updates from the company.
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Q: Do they really keep all my information on file?

A: Yes, within the terms of the privacy agreement. The most important data received is how many prints have been issued. With online printables, a manufacturer can identify consumers interested in their specific products and get their permission to receive marketing/promotional emails. Companies may choose to collect additional information; read the site PRIVACY POLICY and carefully select whether or not you want to opt-in to offers from other vendors. The information collected is used to design future marketing campaigns targeted at high-value customers.
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Q: What are Coupon Printers and why are they needed?

A: Most printable coupons require a small Active X browser plug-in specific to their company be installed. These programs assist in generating the individual coupon codes and monitoring the number of prints. A number of sites use their own printing program, so downloading one from one site does not necessarily allow you to print coupons from other sites.
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Q: What do I do if my printer jams during printing and I lose my coupon?

A: Most of the offers have a print limit of two times because of this reason. So please clear your printer and try again.
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Q: What can I do if the coupons are printing out too large, too small or otherwise distorted?

A: To troubleshoot, go to the Web site of your printer’s manufacturer, and install the latest printer driver for your make and model.
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Q: How do I know when my coupons have printed?

A: If you select multiple coupons, it may take some time for them to print. A status indicator will appear on your screen to let you know where you are in the printing process.
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Coupons, Inc. (bricks.com) Coupon Printer:

Q: Why won't my coupons print?

A: If you're experiencing problems printing coupons there may be a few reasons:
1. You don't have a default printer or your printer isn't ready
You must have a default printer selected for your computer, and it must be a real, paper-based printer, not a virtual fax machine or file printer or PDF creator. Follow the instructions that came with your computer for setting up your printer. Also, make sure your printer is turned on, loaded with paper, has enough toner or ink, etc. If your printer is a multi-function device (print, fax, copy, scan) please make sure the default printer is the print function, not the fax function.

2. Your operating system or browser is incompatible
Coupon printing is currently supported on Windows 98, NT4, 2000, ME, and XP when used with Internet Explorer 5+, Netscape 7+, FireFox 1.0+ and most MSN and AOL browsers.

Coupon printing is also supported on Macintosh when using Safari under OS X 10.3 and higher.

Coupon printing is not supported by the Compuserve 2000 7.0 browser. While connected to Compuserve, use Internet Explorer or another browser to print your coupons.

Coupon printing is not supported on Linux or WebTV.

3. You did not install the Coupon Printer
In order to print Digital FSI coupons you need to download and install the Coupon Printer. It's free, safe and easy to use. It does not install any form of spyware or adware or collect any personal information about you. Once it has been downloaded and installed, a process that only takes a few seconds, you will be able to print coupons from our site and from emails you might receive. Did you try to install but it didn't work? There are a few reasons this might happen:

You may not have permission to download programs on your computer or you are using software that blocks the installation.

If you are trying to print coupons at work or from a computer at a library, Internet cafe or university, you may not have permission to download and install programs onto the computer you are using. This may be true even if you've downloaded and installed other files. Contact your network administrator for more information. If you have a home computer, you may find it easier to access our coupons there.

You might also be running software that prevents installation on your computer. Please make sure to turn off any anti-virus software or any anti-spyware or adware software. While we have attempted to work with most of the major publishers of such software to ensure that our Coupon Printer is not blocked, there may be programs that block the installation, or put up a warning that you are about to install a program. You should choose to allow the installation.

The security settings in your browser are set too high
If you receive warnings or errors that an attempt to install and ActiveX control (Internet Explorer) or a plugin was blocked, or are asked for permission to install a program, you may need to change your browser's security settings to allow installation of these types of controls. Also, make sure to click the appropriate buttons in any dialog boxes that appear to allow the installation. Modern browers make you jump through a few hoops to install plugins, but it's worth it!

Your operating system or browser is incompatible
Coupon Inc./bricks.com printing is currently supported on Windows 98, NT4, 2000, ME, and XP when used with Internet Explorer 5+, Netscape 7+, FireFox 1.0+ and most MSN and AOL browsers. Coupon printing is also supported on Macintosh when using Safari under OS X 10.3 and higher. Coupon printing is not supported by the Compuserve 2000 7.0 browser. While connected to Compuserve, use Internet Explorer or another browser to print your coupons. Coupon printing is not supported on Linux or WebTV.
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SmartSource Coupon Printer:

Q: What do I need to download the SmartSource Coupon Printer and print coupons?

A: The SmartSource Coupon Printer can be installed on computers running Microsoft Windows with the following browsers:

• Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0 and higher

• Firefox 1.0 and higher

You may have some success installing and printing with older browser versions. However, please note that they do not provide technical support for older browser versions.

Smart Source coupon printing is not supported on Macs, CompuServe, Linux, or WebTV systems.
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Q: How do I download the SmartSource Coupon Printer?

A: You do not need to download the SmartSource Coupon Printer until you print your first coupon. The first time you print a coupon, you will be given instructions on the downloading process.
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Q: Before printing, how can I help ensure the coupon will print out successfully?

A: As soon as you click the "print" button, the coupons you have selected will automatically print. Before printing the coupons please make sure your printer:
• Is turned on
• Is connected to the computer
• Has paper
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Q: What type of printer do I need to print coupons?

A: The SmartSource Coupon Printer currently works with the following printers:
• Inkjet
• Laser
• Bubble jet

These types of printers have the high resolution necessary to print our coupons. You must have your printer set at a minimum of 300-dpi (dots per inch) resolution. The purpose of requiring 300-dpi resolution is to help the retailers know that the redeemed coupons are legitimate and to ensure that barcodes will scan at the register. Consult your printer manual if you have questions about resolution and changing settings.

You may experience some minor difficulties if using an HP Laserjet 4 or Canon BJC-610 printer.
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Q: Why is my laser, inkjet or bubblejet printer not being recognized?

A: When you print coupons, make sure that your default printer settings are NOT set to draft mode or low-resolution printing. Draft mode gives a printing resolution that is under 300 dpi, which results in a printer error.
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Q: What should I do if I try to print a coupon and I get a message that says, “Please enable your browser to accept cookies”?

A: Cookies must be enabled in order to install the SmartSource Coupon Printer. Changing your browser’s settings to enable cookies can usually be found in a "Privacy" or "Security" tab within "Options" under the "Tools" menu in your browser’s menu bar.

EXAMPLES OF INTERNET PRINTABLE COUPONS:
SMARTSOURCE WITH PIN#




BRICKS COUPON WITH DOTSCAN BAR CODE UNDER EXP DATE

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Q: I just received a printable coupon in a trade. Is there anyway I can verify that it is a legitimate coupon?

A: (credit to cokencaptgirl for this information) This website allows you to enter the code of your internet printable coupon to verify if it is legitimate or not. There is also a place that you can notify them of stores that are giving you a hard time about internet printed coupons and they will send the store information so they can better understand how internet printables work!
I thought this was an awesome site!!
Coupon Resource Center

Also don't forget that you are not allowed to scan or copy printables as it voids the wording on most printable coupons. I know when I was a newbie no one ever told me that I could not make copies. If there is a limit to how many you can print then the limit is there for a reason. Most such printables have some sort of tracking code on them.

[bsp6910]

The new printables have your name on them and state that they cannot be traded. I frequently print coupons that I cannot use to trade with someone who does. An example would be the Johnson Buddies. Also, I am wondering if it is unethical to print more coupons if you have more than one computer to print them from.

I buy products for my family and two of my children who are not coupon savvy.

Lois

[billig]

Can you print coupons at the library???
Provided it may cost 10˘ or something, I wouldn't mind doing that for a high value coupon. But I don't know if libraries have stuff on their computers to prevent something like this.
I just want ONE more coupon! lol

[digelt]

How do I know if a printable coupon's expiration is what it says it is or if it's a rolling exp? I ask b/c I just posted a link for several coupons, and they say one exp date on them, but I wasn't 100% if that's the definite exp. or if it's a rolling exp. I want to be accurate when I add them to the database, so I wanted to see if there was a way - other than waiting till tomorrow and trying to print them elsewhere - to know. TIA!

[pdavin17]

I'm personally finding out that printables are such a hassle at stores and almost always end up with me being embarrassed holding up a line of people. Today I had 2 coupons and would have gotten 2 bags of cat litter free, but the store does not honor "free" coupons and they have management authenticate all of the printables before they let you use them. Last week at a different store I had to wait for management to scrutinize 2 printables, meanwhile I had unhappy people behind me.

It's a shame because I always present legitimate printable coupons and have saved a lot of money using them. Consumers can't win!

[Kamily828]

I have a question.

I have quite a few of the Bricks coupons that were mailed to me since I dont own a printer. Will Walmart, Kmart, Kroger, Walgreens and CVS accept them?

[cheapchick]

I once stumbled across a way to just view the printable coupons on this website. Now I can't find it. All it showed was a list of every printable people posted in blue and no pictures or anything else. Where do I find that? It's making me nuts!

[baconkabob00]

Are you referring to the coupon database cheapchick?

[cheapchick]

No it's not the Coupon Database...I tried that. It was just a complete list of all the printables only with the links in blue. There was a button that said 'Full View' and when I clicked on it it brought me over to this thread. But I can't remember how I found the list to begin with...it was awhile ago.

[baconkabob00]

Hm.. Thats interesting. I don't think i've stumbled upon that yet.