McPick 2 for $2.50 - Another McDonald's Trick to Rip You Off.

Well hello friends, thank you for stopping by and reading about the latest and greatest McDonald's trickery to beat you out of your pocket change. 

First of, here is the McDonald's McPick 2 for $2.50 menu that I have taken an actual picture of at the McDonald's location on Judge Ely Blvd in Abilene, TX:

The normal standard fare of slop. But stop, wait a minute. Wasn't the McDouble on the McPick 2 for $2 menu back in January of 2016? Now it is $1.39 ( a dubious 39% increase in eight months!) and even at 2 for $2.50 you are still doling out an extra 25% more (!) for the same wonderful piece of non-meat with a piece of non-cheese slammed in the middle all between your non-bread and doled with condiments that are the only flavor. Yum. 

But that isn't the worst part about this McPick 2 for $2.50 "deal." Look at the price of the McChicken on the base menu. It is $1.19. 

Here it is again, highlighted:

So if you buy 2 via this "deal" then you are actually paying more by 0.11 than by buying each one individually since doing it per the menu board only brings the total to $2.38. 

Only McDonald's comes up with schemes and tricks this flagrant, brass and stupid to fool people that still eat there for some ungodly reason into thinking they are getting a good deal when in reality, they are getting ripped off to no end.

You think eleven cents doesn't matter? Multiply that by millions of customers daily. Eleven cents matters in the world of volume my friends.

Thank you for reading and remember, stay vigilant, as these big box chains will stop at nothing to pad their bottom lines for the 1% that live off of stock profits in America. 

McDonald's has sunk so low that they have resorted to stealing your pocket change and making you believe you are getting a deal as shown here.

We shouldn't be surprised anymore, should we?

 

Ebay Coupon Selling Policy Simplified

Hello everyone. I see , as usual, lots of misinformation online regarding what eBay's actual coupon selling policy is. So with this post we willy simplify it step by step to help you better actually understand what really takes place and why your listings may get flagged, removed and your account potentially suspended, which no one wants.

The actual eBay coupon policy is linked here.  

This is what one account can do:

You may sell up to $100 or 25 valid, unexpired, original coupons per month. 

What this means is that you can sell literally only 25 coupons that are valid, original and unexpired per month per account and combined they cannot a value of $100.00. Simple enough.

Example of correct listing: (25) Save $1.00 off XXX product coupons. 

Example of listing that can get removed: (50) random assorted grocery food coupons. Or : (25) Save $10 off purchase of $100 or more at Kroger coupons.

These are the restrictions:

Multi-quantity listings: You can't sell more than 25 coupons in a single listing. The allowed 25 coupons per month include multi-quantity listings.

This translates into no more than 25 per listing. So you can't sell more than 25 coupons in a single listing at all or if you have 25 of an item and the coupon is say more than $4.00 off an item and you are trying to sell them individually with a quantity of 25. You can't do that either as it would go over the $100 max value mark.

Make sure you clearly state in your description how many coupons you're selling. If we can't tell how many coupons are offered, the listing violates our policy.

This should be self explanatory. Here is an example of a listing violation: "Random lot of grocery food coupons in envelope as shown in picture."

This is what you absolutely cannot do:

Coupons for "free" products: You can't sell coupons for "free" products. This restriction includes coupons for free items, or coupons where the coupon holder buys a quantity of items at one price, and receives additional items for free. 

The translation here is "No Bogos" and none of those coupons you get from like Coke rewards stating "Have a Free Coke on Us." Nope can't do that anymore either.

Electronic "scanned" coupons: All coupons sold through eBay must be physical coupons printed on paper, not coupons that can be sent electronically to the buyer to be printed. Also, to reduce the potential for coupon fraud, don't include unaltered scans of coupons in their listings that could be copied, printed, and redeemed in stores.Note: The sale of scanned or photocopied coupons may violate federal copyright laws, and sellers of unlawful items like these could face prosecution under federal law. We don't allow the sale of these kinds of coupons.

  

The translation here is you can't sell electronic coupon "codes" or a percent off or pay for a file that you can print and bring into a store to try an redeem. Yup, that has actually happened. These are usually fraudsters getting you to pay a ridiculously cheap price like (Pay $1 for a $10.00 off a fake pet food coupon) and indicate it is going to be delivered to you via email for you to print and use in the store after payment. That is actually a copyright violation at the least and could escalate from there. What they are saying is right, it's just probably not clear.

Coupons for recalled items: Coupons for items that have been recalled can't be listed on eBay.

This should be self-explanatory as well but we can't take anything for granted anymore. If there is say a massive recall of like "Cheerios" or something. You can't sell or buy "Cheerios" coupons.

Recalled coupons: Coupons that have been recalled can't be listed on eBay.

What this means is that if a coupon is "recalled" by the manufacturer there is an error in the terms, value or some other feature and if it is on their recall list (usually on their website) then you can't sell it on eBay. Usually they are recalled by the manufacturer more often than not because fraudsters have figured out a way to manipulate the coupon to make mass fake quantities of them for resale or change the value, etc. That's really what a "recalled coupon" is.

Coupon Inserts: Coupon inserts containing numerous coupons commonly found in Sunday papers or delivered with your mail or to your door.

This actually is simple, but people just don't seem to get this one either. This means you can't sell your Red Plum, P&G, Unilever, Smart Source, Kroger, Shop Rite, etc insert you would get in your Sunday newspaper in any quantity whatsoever.

So anyone you see on a forum or message board asking about this and complaining either doesn't understand you can't sell coupon inserts on eBay (no matter how many coupons are in them), is a troll or just lost. However, the eBay coupon policy doesn't seem to apply to fast food coupons such as Burger King, McDonald's, Wendy's, Long John Silvers, Chiptole etc. Since I assume from a legal standpoint they aren't actually the manufacturers of the food themselves but a reseller of the items after prepared. Those companies don't care how many coupons they redeem because these days, they are just happy to get you in the door. They won't be calling the CIC anytime soon I can promise you that, especially Chiptole and their eColi burrito meals.

 The most important thing eBay does not tell you in regards to the 25 coupon / $100 limit is..

It's based on a calendar month structure of which the clock begins on the day you list it. If you list your lot of 25 coupons or $100  value say on August 1st. Duration and format don't matter. You cannot relist another lot of coupons for 30 calendar days. So your next listing on same account, couldn't begin until September 2nd to be safe. After that October 3rd and so on. Initially we believed it was on a calendar month structure but after numerous conversations with numerous eBay reps they actually all confirmed the same uniform response that it is actual real-time date. It is tracked on your account. And you will be flagged and your listing removed immediately if you don't follow this simple rule. It's unstated and you have to find out the hard way but this is how it is.

Now we understand that about 50% of the coupon listings on eBay still violate these policies above. We also know that people have multiple accounts (which when spotted is really easy to identify) that also violate this policy. We hate this policy and the logic behind it right along with you. But we have to work with what the CIC and the large retailers allow us peons to work with to make our $5-$10 a month extra for a 1/4 tank of gas I guess. Our advise is simple: If you see a listing violation on eBay - report it. It may not get removed that second, but it will eventually. That or retro-removed. There is no conspiracy. There is no selective enforcement. It's a simple matter of when someone at eBay looks at it (I've found mid afternoons are great for reporting) and gets it off of their site. It may be before the auction ends or it may be after it ends. They don't want the CIC breathing down their necks anymore with nonsense threats and lawsuits. So it's easier for them to just remove a listing than deal with all of that.

eBay is a large place, with lots of moving parts, I know we want everything done now now now but that's often not how things work with large corporations. Especially eBay who well, often takes a couple of quarters to make adjustments if enough people freak out.

Once again, we can thank the CIC, P&G, Unilever, General Mills, Red Plum, Smart Source with their six figure salaries and paid international vacations as well as the idiots who still try to commit coupon fraud for all of this.

And don't forget, eBay lost millions of dollars in fees yearly in order to put this policy in place due to the threat of a faux lawsuit spearheaded by the CIC and the companies above toward the end of the Extreme Couponing frenzy we all loved (or hated.) So before you go slamming eBay for this one, please step up your knowledge and education on this history of why this is like it is and who is to blame. 

Not like it matters anymore, since the tear pads we used to sell for popular items have vanished from the stores over the past two years and the actual coupons you get in the paper are pretty much worthless since no one double or triple coupons anymore. Hell, they aren't even worth stealing.

I'm coming up on my monthly allotment time and I can't even find a tear pad to take worth selling! 

Extreme Couponing is dead my friends, the eBay Coupon Selling Policy was basically the final nail in the coffin for all of us in September of 2013. 

For those who are continuing the struggle by selling coupons on eBay we applaud you for your efforts. I hope this posting has shed some light on how the eBay coupon policy really works so hopefully we can enlighten the many who seem to be confused about it.

Thank you.

The CIC (Coupon Information Center) Exposed - Update Summer 2016.

Hello friends! Welcome back. Hope you are all enjoying your summer fun in the sun. 

This is a follow-up and update to our blog regarding:
"The CIC (Coupon Information Center) Exposed For What They Really Are"

that was posted back in May 2014 as coupon sellers and basically all couponers were still reeling from the CIC's biggest victory of all time, basically shutting down coupon sales on eBay.

What we did at the time, was basically expose them for what they really were, which was (and probably still is) a defacto, lawless outfit working on behalf of the manufacturers to protect their six figure salaries and profit by attempting to shut down coupon sales on at the time, the world's biggest coupon reselling website - eBay. They called it "loss prevention." They finally met with much success and even congratulated eBay at one of their meetings for being so proactive in cowering to their unfounded with no-base-in-legal-reality threats and basically shutting down hundreds of thousands of auctions and ripping millions of dollars out of our pockets (and eBay's own) and putting them back into the large manufacturers they serve. They also succeeded in shutting down a wide variety of mom and pop "coupon clipping services" which is basically code word for coupon reselling services - that had to go underground ever since. All based on threats, ridiculous statements comparing coupon resellers to the mafia, and all kinds of scare tactics that on their website, used to be plastered all over the place with reckless abandon.

If you were an extreme couponer (the practice of which has been dead for years now) or a coupon reseller you basically feared the CIC like a terrorist fears a drone strike in the Middle East.

But since our post, and the amazing response and readership that blog received, it catapulted up in a standard Google search all the way to the top, right underneath the actual CIC itself.

And for that, I am most humbled, and appreciate it very much.

And don't think the CIC didn't notice. They sure did. Some time ago, exactly when I cannot remember, but it was after that posting, that the CIC constructed a complete overhaul of their website and terminology. Which is why some of the links in my original post linked above, link to different things today than they did two years ago. 

The reason for this, they will say is cleaner functionality. But the reality of course, is way different and nothing more than the classic traditional backtracking once exposed.

Let's go over some of the changes, shall we?

Let's start off with how the Coupons On Internet Auction Sites section originally looked, notice the News You Can Use Part the emphasized their at the time attack on online "legal" coupon selling to protect their large sponsors:

 

 

And now since eBay and the sellers have been defeated, here is how simple it looks. Notice the new emphasis on actual illegal things like copyright laws and DMCA issues (which we mentioned in our post the first time) instead of beating up mom and pop:

 

 

Hell, here is the eBay celebration posting from 2015 after they shoved their will down eBay's throat via threatening a lawsuit on behalf of P&G and company:

 

Great job, CIC, great.

Next up we have the portion from the original site about the manufacturers and retailers. They did some work chopping this one up, but this is what it originally looked like, note the list of manufacturers that participate at the time. The tone and creation of this was originally strong and aggressive, especially the watchdog part which has been changed from ending in "group" to "group for coupon use." Now it seems to be peeled back with once again, an emphasis on the correct issue that they should be addressing, which is actual fake coupons and coupon fraud:

Originals.

 

 

 

 

Note the new jab at "misinformation on the internet." We can proudly assume that our information is what they considered incorrect, but no, really, it was their own words.

 

Now back to the original CIC posting regarding selling coupons and the new one, which actually hasn't changed one bit. But in the context of this new reborn CIC website, it feels so much different now that coupon resellers do not appear to be the target doesn't it? But you are still "could be" involved in organized crime if you purchase coupons:

 

Of course now it says "with the intent to defraud" which is of course, truly illegal.

There's also this new part about buying coupons, which now state "could be stolen property (i,e stolen newspapers, flyers, etc) or  counterfeit, which is actually accurate:

 

And now instead of stating "THEY have never lost a case" as they previously did, they now take a more backseat approach to this as well. They state now that they have been successful in ALL cases in which they have been involved. Not prosecuted themselves, involved. Massive terminology difference here:

 

And hidden away in the dark corner of the FAQ section of the site is this portion once again, changed to state " Not one defendant has been acquitted in a CIC related coupon fraud case since 1986" instead of the brazen "we have never lost a case" wording previously:

 

Their "What does the CIC do?" wording has changed too, once again, backing off of the threatening I-am-the-law nonsense they originally posted back in 2014. Now their interest has become more of

"coupon misredemption" which if you want to thread a legal needle, could also include reselling coupons, but since they defeated eBay and eBay coupon sellers, they honestly could care less anymore:

 

 

Also hidden in the deep FAQ under a totally unrelated header of "member" they state they are a not-for-profit organization, which also wasn't there before. The term "not-for-profit" is a business model that sounds so charitable and giving. But if you Google what a "Not For Profit" business actually is, you will see that someone is paying for it, their salaries somehow right? So even though it's listed this way, the reality once again is that P&G, Unilever and company are still funding this beast. And get a great tax write off on their salary to boot! 

 

 

At least someone is winning with coupons these days, because the days of the consumer winning with coupons has long since passed my friends.

This entire situation - to make a corporation change its' entire branding, message and website so forth, is probably one of the biggest victories that anyone related or really tried to extreme coupon and make money with coupons has had in a long time. 

For that, we thank you.

So is the CIC legitimate? If they are truly chasing real coupon fraud and helping law enforcement then the answer is yes. The keyword there is still "if." 

Real coupon fraud is a special kind of nonsense that  really does have no place in society and those morons should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law just for being that stupid. This is 2016, not 1996, you can't make things on your printer and have them pass anymore to profit. You will get caught. Stealing inserts? There's a camera on you somewhere or someone has just uploaded you to You Tube with their iphone. Next thing you know you are in prison. The list of stupid goes on and on.

Apparently they are going after "coupon rings" on Facebook now. That's been going on for awhile. If you are that dumb to do anything illegal on Facebook then you also deserve to be arrested because you have to know they track your every keystroke. That kind of stupidity is indeed maddening and no one should shed a tear for those idiots.

But in the end, the CIC did win the real war, by shutting down eBay coupon resellers to a ridiculous per-calendar month limit. But that's for another post. The fake coupons are still on eBay. I wonder if anyone even cares? I guess about as much as the CIC cares about people reselling coupons, which appears to be not at all.

I mean, Couponfleamarket.Com is still standing and all. Why haven't they gone after them yet? Or some of the other more obvious resellers? You know why? They slayed their giant. They won their championship. They beat eBay and Extreme Couponing. Everything else isn't worth their time.

They often say that there is not a victimless event or crime. They are correct. In this instance, the victims are you, me and every other person that used this method of couponing and/or reselling coupons to support our families and put some extra money in our pockets.

The winners are once again, those companies and their six figure management whose profits and stocks are soaring while our bank accounts and what little assets we have are shrinking.

And we are defenseless to stop it.

Then they wonder why we had a Bernie Sanders and have a Donald Trump.

Thank you for reading.

Burger King Breakfast is Failing - And Here Is Why.

Hello friends! It was been wayyyy too long since I last posted out here. My real life has been busy with working all of those extra side jobs and shifts to compensate for the loss of my eBay coupon sales thanks for the CIC, but that's for another post. Today's fun is a much more recent development - which is the near collapse of the Breakfast Menu at Burger King.

For years and years, Burger King has had a reasonably priced breakfast offering, offering pretty much the same consistent menu over the course of those years. Your standard Crossandwiches and French Toast Sticks, etc, have been a staple for more than a decade now (can you believe it's been that long?)

But over the past few years, they have begun to lose their breakfast customer base at an alarming rate. Most days, if you wish to take the chance on actually eating it, you can pull right up to the drive thru at breakfast time and well, have it your way with no wait. Now mind you, we are in a market that doesn't have a Panera or a Chiptole or anything that resembles a real donut shop or bagel place either. So you can throw those excuses you see plastered all over Forbes and every other parrot-financial-wizard-millennial website you find in your easy Google search right out the window. Nope, out here you basically have the Big Three when it comes to quick and easy breakfast - McDonald's, Taco Bell and Burger King.

This is not just another typical "fast food sucks" post. No, we take a little deeper look at why it seems Burger King simply can't give away their breakfast anymore. These are the basic two reasons why Burger King's breakfast simply sucks, no matter what the price:

1. The Egg.

This is the master culprit of the entire Burger King breakfast menu. Their Egg. It definitely has a unique flavor, that's for sure. But what's strange about the Burger King Egg is that it is the most consistently uniform creation of an egg I can honestly say I have ever seen. It is the same in Georgia as it is in Texas as it is in New York and New Jersey. It is the same in Las Vegas. As I am typing this I do realize the fact that I know this from first hand experience is a tad troubling, but it is what it is. No judgement here. It has the same form, the same flavor and well, the save level of grease in every location (look at the top and that sticking action!):

 

The tastes of most people have changed over the past 10-20 years dramatically. So fake food has gone the way of the every corner on the corner all you can eat Buffetts that were all the rage toward the end of the 1980's and 1990s'. And the worst part about the Burger King Egg is that it tastes fake !!

 Combined that god-awful taste with the fact that whoever is preparing these lovely creatures cannot seem to ever get it right, as it is usually greasy and burnt at the same time !!

Now that is some kind of special trickery in order to consistently pull that off across an entire world wide chain. Making the same quality of burnt, greasy fake eggs. Hat's off to you Creepy King.

The problem with the egg on the Crossanwiches (which are always advertised now as 2 for $4 at best and we have even gotten some locations pricing them 2 for $3 and even offering coupons for the low, low price of $1.49 each) is the the grease infests the actual bread. It saturates it. It makes it break apart. The egg is actually greasier than the sausage ffs!!

 

If you eat this more than 2 or 3 times, you eventually figure out that this is what is causing your stomach to hurt an hour later and mucking up your fingers. It's the egg grease seeping through the bread portion of your sandwich and making you feel like a disgusting pig.

We tried to take The Egg off of one once and did you know the grease still penetrated through the bread and left a weird aftertaste on the sausage?!!? That's really hard to do. We ordered one another time with no egg and funny. The Crossain-part of the sandwich was dry, flaky and normal. It almost tasted like a breakfast sandwich and not a grease rocket.

The solution to this is simple, Burger King - please start using real eggs or at least change the egg itself you are using. I bet there are thousands of ex-breakfast customers like myself who would welcome something like that and actually try it. Until that day comes, count me out, I don't care how mucho-enormous your fake egg grease bomb is or if it is $1. I still wouldn't eat it.  And I am cheaper than cheap. I get Burger King coupons in my box monthly and I have been throwing them in the trash. Why? Because your breakfast is simply inedible as long as your worldwide consistent prefab egg is lurking near it.

2. Trying to make The Egg into something else and failing miserably.

Let's chop up The Egg (or not) slap it in a tortilla shell , cut a piece of sausage in half (?), dump a piece of cheese on it and call it a Burrito!!

No sir. No effing sir.

This is one of the worst abominations of a burrito I have ever seen in my lifetime. I am not exactly a world renowned chef but even I can make a breakfast burrito with more creativity than this:

It's literally a cut up (or not depending on how lazy the staff is in your location) fake greasy egg bomb with a piece of breakfast sausage cut in half with some cheese that is semi melted all wrapped up nice and cozy in a lukewarm tortilla. All for $1 or more !!!

I tried this two times. Both times I was amazed at just how fast The Egg grease (again!) was running down my arm as I tried to consume this. The second time I didn't even eat the whole thing - I gave it to a stray dog who probably needed it more than I did. That was the end of my breakfast time at Burger King and I haven't eaten there since.

Their breakfast does have a few things going for it. Their breakfast hashbrown-tot things are better than any other fast food place. And their muffins (if you still can find a location that actually carries muffins, mine stopped a year ago) aren't half bad. The ham, bacon and sausage itself is on par with everything else. I haven't eaten their pancakes but they look just as microwaved as McDonald's are now (so sad) so that's probably similar.Overprice Cinnabon is what you would expect it to be, but even those by the time you get them can be mysteriously mushy.

So if you are wondering why your Burger King location no longer serves breakfast to 11:00AM, never seems to have a line in the drive through before 10:30AM, has discontinued many breakfast items on their menu, now serves Whoppers for breakfast, or why you get so many coupons, signs and commercials basically begging you to eat The Egg - the reasons above are probably why.

That and the fact The Egg at Burger King infests every aspect of their breakfast menu - and they are just not smart enough to bring their breakfast out of the frozen prefab Chinese imported grease pit and into the 21st Century.