Mr. Komodo recently stumbled across a good coupon related article from the St. Louis, MO division of The Better Business Bureau.

The BBB has always been a trusted source for good consumer advice, and info about coupons online and coupons in general. The article detailed some basic advice that all consumers should follow before using any kind of coupon.
coupons online
First of all, we should look at some numbers to see why this advice is most needed. More than 330 billion coupons were supposedly issued in 2010. The total value of all of these coupons were more than a billion dollars. Coupon industry analysis shows that this trend should have increased through 2011 and will even more in 2012.

The point of showing these numbers is to exemplify how important it is for the average consumer to be aware of proper coupon habits. The fact is that a coupon might sound like a completely positive idea, but this does not have to be the case at all.

The President and CEO of the BBB, Michelle L. Corey, said it best – “There’s no reason to buy products simply because you can save money on them“. Mr. Komodo has been saying this for years. This is exactly why he dislikes all of those daily deal sites out there. The bottom line is this – spending is not saving. It is amazing how this simple idea can be lost on so many people.

Now, don’t get me wrong, there is nothing inherently wrong with taking advantage of some free coupons online. However, they should be used on products and services that you definitely need. This is why CouponKomodo.com strives to only showcase the most popular and trusted merchants online. The products and services offered by them are the most widely used and needed items that you will find.

Although much of the advice from the BBB article discusses coupons that are used in physical store locations, there is one piece of advice that bears repeating. That piece of advice is to only clip coupons on products or services that you already use. It also does mention “want to try”, but you should use caution here. Otherwise, you could end up buying a bunch of stuff that you do not end up using. This is what you need to avoid if you want to become a smart coupon user.