Harbor Freight Tools Coupons - Where have they gone?

Hello. It's been quite some time since I've posted out here, busy with the holidays and post holidays trying to catch up. For those in the know and follow such things, we can't help but notice the massive roll back in coupons and advertisement being issued by Harbor Freight Tools. To the point of being non-existent.

Maybe we took it for granted. All of the years that I have been here in Texas (since 2008), there is one thing you used to able to most certainly count on in your Sunday paper - a Harbor Freight Tools insert.

Apparently those days are gone with the wind.

Back toward the last quarter of last year, Harbor Freight Tools went on an advertising spree. There were inserts every Sunday in the paper, various mailings as well as coupons in various magazines ranging from local electric companies, to car, truck and hunting magazines. As an added bonus, they even sent out an flyer in those monthly advertisements that get mailed to your house full of Life Insurance, DirectTV, fast food coupons, checks, As Seen on TV, etc. These were good times for those looking to catch a real bargain for tools and things for the home, or for those who endeavor in such things, to sell on eBay (more on that later.)

I have a Harbor Freight Tools store local to me here in Texas. I often save them due to their generous expiration dates, for use when I need something. The 20% and 25% off any single item coupons work very well also and I have used them in the store more times than I can remember. I like the store, the people and the deals. I'd rather buy a shop vac there for $25-30 as opposed to getting ripped off in stores like Wal Mart, Home Depot or Lowes' paying almost double for a product that does the same thing.

However, at the end of December 2013 and is still ongoing as of mid-March 2014 at least in my area, there have been no Harbor Freight Tools flyers and inserts in my Sunday paper as well as none mailed to my address via the monthly flyers mentioned above. Nothing, done. Finito. Even the one-page flyer they print still in the SmartSource coupon flyer has been dramatically reduced to the same 12 (it used to be upwards of 20) items over and over again.

I went in the stores recently and asked a clerk why they no longer advertise like they used to. Of course being the clueless $8.00 an hour clerk that it was, he stated it was "probably to get you to buy one of these things" and picked up their $30 a year Inside Track club membership card.

Really? I've seen those advertisements for Harbor Freight Tools that those "Inside Track Club" members receive and it is a joke. The prices are all incrimientally higher that the normal advertisements that we used to get via mail and the newspapers on Sunday. Various forum posts on the internet if you Google it, will be full of regretful stories about how they purchased this under the guise of receiving better deals - when in fact the deals were actually worse.

I've never purchased one and I never will.

People sell these on eBay and apparently make good money doing so. A pre-2014 count if you do a search for Harbor Freight coupons would have netted anywhere between 3,000-4,000 hits. Now? You are lucky to find 1,000 hits and the range goes from a low of 900 upwards of 1,200 on any given day. That's a 75% reduction in listings, leading us to assume this trend is nationwide. Was this the reason for the cutback? eBay sales? For the record, Harbor Freight Coupons are NOT manufacturer's coupons so they do not have to adhere to the ridiculous eBay coupon policy instituted in September of 2013 as these are STORE coupons. Massive difference.

Also for the record I have seen people bidding anywhere from $50-$200+ for coupons for such things as rolling tool cabinets, motorcycle lifts, winches, saws, greenhouses, solar panels etc. If you do this and do not read the listing that 99% of the time clearly indicates it is a coupon you are purchasing, and really think that someone is going to send you a 2 ton motorcycle lift or greenhouse for $29.54 or whatever that low bid you have is going is with free shipping you are in serious need of mental help.

This is what happens, the eBay sellers mails you the coupon you actually won for this outrageous amount, then the usually-low feedback buyer gets it and is furious thinking they won a portable greenhouse that's 10x10 feet or something for $12.33 shipped for free. Even when the listing clearly states you are bidding on the coupon. Ebay will not protect the seller under normal circumstances, let alone this kind, so the buyer usually gets the coupon , their money back and a wonderful chance to leave a negative feedback for the seller. Even though the seller clearly did nothing wrong and it was the moronic buyer that actually believed they were getting a rolling toll card that weighs 75 pounds for $47.46 shipped for free. Cmon people. Use your brain and read. Obama and the government may be giving you everything you need to live as it is, but at some point, you have to take personal responsibility for being an idiot. It's these situations that makes it hard to sell on eBay overall, let alone under these circumstances dealing with clowns. I know so many sellers that have left due to situations just like the ones mentioned, and it is indeed a shame. eCrater took the Harbor Freight coupons with them also when they instituted their cowardly "Ban All Coupon Sales" mantra in August of last year. That took another 500-1,000 Harbor Freight Coupons off the market.

If there was ever a website that was so afraid of success in being an eBay competitor, it would be eCrater. People are dying for an eBay alternative and they just haven't stepped up to the plate in any way, shape or form. In fact, when they have an opportunity to cash in on an eBay misstep or bad policy, they usually run as far away from taking advantage of it as they can.

So what this has meant to me personally is a dramatic reduction in my trips to Harbor Freight Tools be it either online or in the store. It's a little out of my way so to go there requires a special trip that used to result in good savings. Now, who knows what you are going to get there. I have been spending more time in Home Depot and Lowes as of late, at least there you know you are going to get a little better quality item and bent over as opposed to having the savings ripped out of your hands by a company that is apparently nickel-and-diming its' way into irrelevance.

Welcome to the first post of Reality Retail & Couponing 2014. There's many more stories just like the ones above, so stay tuned.

Thank you for reading.

Coupons.com Sues Coupon Selling Website HouseofCouponZ.com

Well, the hits just keep on coming for couponers and people looking to save money on their groceries. When I read this article here on Couponsinthenews.com I was actually shocked. Yes, Coupons.com did threaten to file a lawsuit against printable coupon selling website houseofcouponz.com. All for a scant amount of 12 coupons. Per this article, they were using only six computers to print a total of 12 coupons for each item, with a .15 handling fee attached plus whatever they were charging. Lawsuit, over pennies. It's just happened.

Why? Well, if you think about it, coupons.com actually got ahead of a potentially larger problem before it even happened. Some of the larger counterfeit coupon sellers have to have massive amounts of printers, software, computers, etc in their dens. So quickly, 12 could be 1200. By setting this precedent and with the effect it has, hopefully it will be a deterrent. I can't tell you how many "printable" coupons are on eBay and other sites that look photocopied, altered, hell even created out of thin air. Here's where the coupons.com actually had a leg to stand on with this one.

Those printable coupons have watermarks and specific codes as well as information that can lead back to the ip address of the creator or the reprinter. Didn't know that? Now you do. By altering or doctoring the actual watermark, reprinting it and selling it, that's along the same fraudulent line of making money with a watermark and trying to sell that too.  This is how this differs from the normal avenue of buying and selling coupons. There are distinct markers on these items created for a purpose. How do you think if you redeem a printable a few months later you get bombarded with ads on your computer for that product or a similar item from that same manufacturer? If a retailer gets a printable redeemed coupons and looks into it, finding distinct web created signatures on them and then starts seeing the same web signatures popping up all over the country, they know they have a problem and know exactly where it is coming from and based on this information, are hell bent on tracking it down.

I don't like printables. I don't like the time spent chasing them. I haven't used or printed one in over two years personally. I don't like wasting my ink and breaking printers over them. Plus most stores don't even accept them anymore. And I sure as hell would not advise selling them, even before this happened.

Coupons.com could end this issue by simply creating a digital card, mailing it to them and to offset cost make members pay for a subscription and have the savings automatically load to the card weekly to enforce the 2 coupon per their site's current policy limit. Someone might have six,twelve or a hundred computers but I don't think they have that many addresses.  I see the era of printables coming to an end before you know it. And the era of selling them, probably won't make the end of the calendar year.

Stay tuned for more updates including the CIC expose.

Coupon Flea Market - My Experience Trying To Sell On Their Site.

Drama. Here's the scoop for anyone thinking about signing up there to try and be a seller...

Back when eBay announced their coupon policy change back in mid-July, myself and many other couponers began looking for alternatives. Some suggested eCrater, some suggested webstore.com , some wanted to start their own sites, yada yada, and then a small group of sellers were advising to visit couponfleamarket.com.

To not limit my selling options, I contacted couponfleamarket.com at the Customer Service number on their website. On or around July 20,2013. I left a message on their voice mail indicating I was an eBay seller for over 13 years and had over 15,000 feedback with the same account. Their site requires a verification process of some kind in order to be a seller. Week goes by, nothing. I called and left another message the following week, still no reply. The phone number has an (863) are code, which is central Florida east of Tampa and west of Orlando. 

Finally about a month after the initial phone call, I received a phone call from a woman named Stacy with a (727) area code. That area code is primarily west of Tampa and located in the Clearwater/St. Petersburg area of the state. Weird but ok.

Played phone tag leaving messages back and forth, etc. Up until about a week ago.

During this time, frustrated by the lack of response to add an established and experienced seller to their site, of course I vented my frustrations with their lack of response on eBay forums and various postings on the internet. Oddly as I was receiving no phone call from them, other sellers were boasting about how wonderful it is and "they should get a small group of sellers together to monopolize coupon sales" and that "there are a lot of people on board with that idea" on couponfleamarket.com since the CIC is so eagerly shutting down virtually all avenues for sellers of legitimate coupons on the internet while fakes and frauds can still be located everywhere via pop ups and eBay. I've given up reporting them, they still sell coupons that are clearly fake en mass for massive amounts of money. I'll let the legality of that play itself out no matter what their feedback is.

Finally yesterday I get another phone call and another message from Stacy at couponfleamarket.com. I just missed the call and returned it promptly. She stated that after the eBay policy change they had over 500 applications for sellers, blah blah and that they were too busy and had a backlog.  Ok understandable. But what came out of her mouth next was quite quizzical at best.

"I'm flustered.....I'm flustered...I'm reading these things you are posting on the web and...."

I cut her off right there. The phone call was over. You mean to tell me you are "too busy" to add sellers to your site and manage  it but you have time to scour the internet looking at forums and posts made about the ridiculously slow response for a qualified seller? You have to be kidding me. 

What this screams to me is drama. When I was doing some research myself  about couponfleamarket.com I found that there were more than a few people indicating they had incidents of "drama" on that site from admin, customers and other sellers. I kind of blew it off  as some disgruntled people like there are on every line of business it seems. But no, really, it's that bad apparently. A quick look at the coupons for sale (not auction) there and their prices, format and shipping charges are absolutely through the roof in addition to being extremely difficult to navigate.

I logged off and won't be logging back in there again anytime soon.

That's my experience with couponfleamarket.com trying to become a seller there. Good luck to any of you trying to sell or purchase there. Oh and one more thing, make sure you don't speak your mind anywhere about it because apparently finding your postings is more important to them then actually running a business...that will probably get shut down sooner than later anyway by the CIC.

 

Webstore.com Coupon Selling Policy Change - The CIC Strikes Again

As many of you know that read and follow this blog of late, these are constantly changing times in the couponing world, especially when these changes come to dramatically alter the landscape for those who buy and sell coupons online. If you see my posts out there online, you will see me highly advising displaced eBay sellers to go to Webstore.com. That was, at least until yesterday.

I signed into my webstore.com account to have a ton of my coupon listings suspended. After some prodding, the admin and webstore.com (yes they do reply) sent me an updated coupon selling policy for their website:

Clearly this isn't going to work for myself or those that sell peelies, tearpads and coupons obtained from the stores. I have since cancelled all of my listings on webstore.com and more than likely won't be going back.

The CIC (Coupon Information Center) has put me out of business on webstore.com, just like they have put eCrater coupon sellers out of business completely , handcuffed eBay sellers to the point of stupid, now they have spread their wings to shut down coupon selling on webstore.com for any coupons that are actually worth your time to sell.

For what it is worth, you could still sell your inserts, bulk lots of normal coupons there if you have been thrown off of eBay or eCrater. And also, the admin there were very nice and responded quickly.

A Google search for webstore.com coupon policy turned up nothing, so I felt it best to put the most current information out there so that people remain informed.

I did fire off a scathing message to the CIC last night and am awaiting their reply. A quick look at their website shows who they are and what they are about. They really don't hide anything at all. But that's for the next posting where we take them apart and explain what their jargon means in the real world. They aren't out to protect you - they are out to protect the billion dollar companies by shutting down your coupon sales and taking money out of your pockets and taking food out of your familys' mouth.

Until next time, Happy Couponing. Stay tuned. This is far from over.

Ebay Coupon Policy Change (Update) & Proof P&G Is Part of the Reason

Good morning fellow couponers and consumers. If you have stumbled upon this, thank you for taking the time to read. We have some follow up to Reality Couponing and Retail's post regarding who's to blame for the eBay coupon policy changes that were supposed to take effect on 12:00:00 AM PST on 9/1/2013 regarding the sale of coupons. We here saw a post on "Coupons in the News" and decided to jump on that to correct some common misinformation regarding the legality of selling coupons and to offer coupon buyers a new forum to get deals on, webstore.com, while eBay sorts this all out. Because as of 9/4/2013 at 11:00 AM CST, clearly it is not sorted out:

Still over 50,000 listings and more coming in as fast as they are ending. Still Free item coupons, still BOGOS, still bulk coupon and insert sales, still fake coupons listed en masse in excess of the montly $100 limit. Sellers still ramping up 20 lots of 20 coupons shamelessly, in clear violation of the 25 a month rule. Basically everything that went on before is still going on now. Except there are 20-30,000 less listings.

We suspect those aren't there anymore because the people that are actually complying with the policy changes removed theirs prior to the 9/1/13 drop dead date. What to do? Reality Retail and Couponing will contact eBay this afternoon to get some answers. If they aren't going to enforce it, well golly gee willikers I will let you all know so that we can go back to making money. Stay tuned.

Now back to who's to blame. In our previous post we singled out P&G as the #1 reason why this change has taken effect (or at least is supposed to.) Rumors must be valid of them (and the other coupon mfrs and distributors) filing that multimillion dollar lawsuit against eBay for allowing the sale of coupons. Why do you ask? Well, here's some proof from the latest batch of 9/30/2013 expiring coupons that P&G wants it gone once and for all :

 

The first portion states "VOID if transferred, sold, auctioned..." Auctioned? Oh my friend where else are you going to sell these at "auction" other than eBay or the handful of other coupon friendly websites out there? Surely you are not going to sell them at an auction house or estate sale. This is direct proof that P&G is involved and has knowledge of coupons being "Auctioned." By the millions. And the kicker is the 2nd circled portion below that states "No cash or credit in excess of shelf price may be returned to consumer or applied to transaction." Where did most people find out about this? Extreme Couponing! 

So to the "self boasting" club who says that manufacturer's have a right to do whatever they want with their coupons and cry about ethics, what do you say about that last portion? Because the way I see it, P&G is telling the supermarkets and stores what to do with their money and store policies. The simple translation is if we see a Cover Girl item on clearance and it's the classic $1 off any Covergirl product coupon in say Wal Mart priced at 88 cents, they can't give you the money back of 12 cents or apply it to another portion of your transaction (which is Wal Mart Coupon Policy)  because "P&G says so." Does this seem right and ethical to you? Grant it, that portion of the coupon will probably get read and enforced by less than 1% of every one redeemed at best, but still, it is the awareness and thought process behind it that reinforces our claim that P&G is the #1 reason behind the eBay coupon policy change that was supposed to take effect on 9/1/13.

Their rationale? If someone can go to Wal Mart and redeem this coupon and get any portion of the difference back, then it's another P&G coupon being redeemed, hence another dollar being taken out of their coffers. Another dollar less toward marketing research aimed to gouge the consumer. Another dollar less toward their million dollar CEO Christmas bonus. Do you get a Christmas bonus? Another dollar less for travel for "Marketing Conferences", another dollar less for their paid vacations. Another dollar less for their Cadillac Health Insurance plans. How many of you actually can afford health insurance?

But all P&G cares about is well, another dollar out of your pocket. Case closed.

Stay tuned for future updates. And yes, we here at Reality Couponing and Retail think it's cool to refer to ourselves in the third party too. Seems to be the "in" thing on internet forums, blogs and coupon websites.

*Update* We spoke to an eBay rep named "Nathan" this afternoon at 12:30PM CST. He stated that the policy wasn't actually in effect until 9/3/2013 due to the holiday and that action will begin to be taken against those non compliant. "Give it some time and we will catch them." Hope so. What's fair is fair. Thank you for reading!

*Update* Down to 34,000 as of 9/11/2013 at 4:08PM CST. Keep reporting, It will drive customers to other sites where we all can benefit. Especially webstore.com.

Ebay Coupon Policy Change for Sellers - The Truth.

Well we all knew one day it would happen. The retaliation by the retailers against the consumer as a whole as well as the extreme couponer has been taken to a whole new level. The massive and seller-killing eBay coupon policy change effective 9.1.13.
I won't rehash the policy here. You've all seen it 1,000 times. What I want to talk about is the who, what , when, where and why this has happened. Not the bullshit boasting about my own humility feel good stories on "Good Mary's Savings" or some other garbage coupon forum site. No, not that. The Truth. Every couponer or eBay seller or coupon buyer needs to know that.
Ebay has allowed coupon sales since its' inception. It has changed alot over the years. From the Golden Era where anything went, including fakes, to the most recent and plausible 20 coupon per listing, 5 insert situation. Why the change and why now?
If you actually come out of your bubble and do some investigating, you'll see deep in the anals of the internet that Smart Source, Red Plum and P&G have had "coupon clipping" (Front for "coupon selling") sites taken down many many times over the past three years in response to that nightmare of a show , TLC's "Extreme Couponing." But their real goal the whole time, has been shutting it down on the worldwide marketplace known as Ebay.
The fake coupons. Yes they are abundant. Yes you are stupid if you believe that somewhere out there someone has 150 coupons for free 50 lb dog food bags, 200 coupons for free $10 a pack bacon, 125 Free Tide $15 coupons or 150 free 36 pack Bounty $30 paper towel roll coupons. The only place those exist is on someone's printer with good photoshop software. Those people do need to be prosecuted and shut down to the fullest extent of the law. I agree, that's theft. But what about the honest seller?
You are officially screwed. And why are you screwed? Not because eBay has decided to take money out of the sellers' pocket, the food out of the buyer's mouth and fees out of their and PayPal's coffer, because the threat of a $20 million dollar lawsuit from Smart Source, Red Plum and P&G. That's why.
They make so much money on their products it is disgusting. The selection of coupons in the past two years from Smart Source and Red Plum are absolutely nauseating compared to where they were three years ago. Unilever hasn't put a food product coupon in my newspaper since January of 2012 and those didn't even work in the stores I tried to use them in. I haven't bought a Unilever product since.
The legality of buying coupons. I am tired of seeing these goody two shoes posters on internet forums saying how "all coupon sellers should be shut down." Shut the fuck up already. There's no law on the books indicating you cannot sell a coupon. These are all manufacturer "Threats" printed on each and every coupon. Is a major corporation going to sue you for $2 worth of coupons? No. These are published as a deterrent. That's the simple truth of it. What is illegal is running a printer and making your own then selling them or trying to use them. That is what coupon fraud is - theft. But taking a valid coupon to the store and using them on be it one or a hundred items that the coupon is valid for is not coupon fraud no matter how you obtain them.
The problem with that is the corporation has to reimburse the retailer for the valid coupon and if they simply don't like the amount of valid coupons sent to them or redeemed, they get pissy because it cuts a small fraction into their billion dollar a year profits. In the past this would lead to them not to make the coupon anymore or reduce its' face value. But now, with the price of food and household products at an all time high despite what you hear on the news, people are struggling and are turning to any means necessary to feed their families and make ends meet. The corporations and their billions do not care about you. All they care about is their golden jets and finding new ways to squeeze money out of the already burnt out people, one coupon at a time.
Ecrater, the closest thing to an Ebay competitor, is so afraid of success (as usual) that they decided to not allow new coupon sellers once this is announced. Then they took it a step further by banning all coupon sales after 8/14/2013. Why would someone do this? Because they know a lawsuit is pending, that's why.
The only viable resource post 9/1/13 to buy and sell coupons on now is webstore.com. How long that lasts remains to be seen. But with their pitiful user count (100,000) and turtle volume, it might take awhile before any of the Big 3  ( P&G, Smart Source and Red Plum) take notice. Best to head over there while the getting is good, fellow couponers. Coupon Flea Market is a joke. Takes a month plus for a 15,000+ eBay seller to get a return phone call to sell there and those forum sites are just full of self boasting about how civil they are to others people and waste of your time. I can't stand reading them. And the people who run them ip ban me or not publish my posts because I tell the truth about who's to blame and tell them to shut the fuck up when all I see are "feel good about sharing and doing what's right" stories. Fuck off. We're all trying to survive here and make money and it's high time someone told it like it is.
So if you want to blame anyone for eBay's new coupon policy effective 9/1/2013, blame the following:
1. P&G
2. Smart Source
3. Red Plum
4. The people that truly commit coupon fraud
5. TLC's "Extreme Couponing."
Those are the real culprits in this issue. Not the hustler selling tear pads, coupons and inserts 20 at a time, not the person using coupons to feed their families, no, not  us, blame the greed of P&G and the companies that publish coupons in the paper. Those are the ones taking money out of your pockets and food out of your family's mouth. That' the truth. Anything else about legality and "doing what's right" is well, simple bullshit.

National Consumer Panel : Your Voice - NO Reward

About two years ago during the height of the Extreme Couponing frenzy, my family and I decided to try out one of the many links that were sent to our inbox regarding "Freebies," a chance to join the National Consumer Panel operated by Nielsen.
I have had previous experience with Nielsen, as they are the ones that used to send cash to your mailbox in order to fill out surveys, test products and review television programs and viewing habits. They were a good company and the money was decent up until the last batch of television books I returned to them and after all of that time and energy spent collecting month after month of television viewing data, I never received the $100 as promised for the combined five booklets I had sent in. In fact, I never received a dollar. But that was years ago, and this is a different program so I figured I would give it a shot.
A little background. Once approved, they send you a little handheld scanner that you scan the bar codes of every single shopping trip that you and your household compile over a weeks' time. It goes by store, sale, discount, coupons used, they also give you a booklet to scan things that might not have a UPC on them, such as fruits, snacks, nuts, fast food and DVD rentals. You simply scan this information, totals and put the scanner back on its' base, which transmits data intermittently through the week. This gives you "points" that you can in time, redeem for "gifts." The amount of points per weekly scan increase the longer you are there, usually in yearly increments. There are also surveys sent to your inbox that usually give you up to 150 gift "points" if you complete them before the deadlines presented in the email, which is usually ample time.
I was a full participant in this panel for nearly a year and a half. At the 90 day anniversary I received a plastic bottle opener worth about a quarter. At the six month anniversary, I received a NCP lunch bag that has a value of about fifty cents. When I came upon the year anniversary, there was no reward at all. That's when I started taking a closer look and exactly what is going on here.
My points weren't accumulating toward much of a "gift" value at all! After a year of this, I was approaching the 30,000 point plateau and had absolutely nothing to show for it other than two things sent to me that were worth about one dollar. I see these posts on the internet regarding "cash for surveys" via this NCP program. I can tell you that they are completely inaccurate. I never received nor was offered one dollar for a survey, a scan, nothing. What these are when you see them online, are glorified "referral" links so that if you do join, the person that sent you to the NCP program to sign up, gets 1500 gift points credited to their account - you get nothing. They tried to give "better rewards and sweepstakes" but the reality is those winners are geared in the upper mid west, where there is a dense population and multiple households scanning themselves crazy.
Also, worse than the lack of a reward for scanning every purchase you make daily and weekly, was the use of the data. Over time I noticed that retailers stopped running the very sales that I had entered into my scanner weekly, stopped distributing the coupons i had used during those shopping trips, and even increased the prices in many cases of things that I purchased most often!! This happened in more than one retail outlet in my area I can assure you. So the eyebrows and awareness were indeed raised on that "voice" or use of data.
This week I ordered my Buffett Server from their "gift" catalog for 38,000 points. You can get this same item in Sams Club or Wal Mart for under $25. About 75-100 weeks of data, misuse of the information received, hours spent scanning to ensure accuracy per the inate amount of emails and newsletters reminding you to "scan everything!," I have decided it is no longer worth the time, effort, reward and effects it is having on my shopping trips on a weekly basis, it just isn't. If you break it down , the reward per week is about twenty-five cents. That's right, a quarter a week for them to take your data, let the retailers use it against you, and give you a very, very minimal return.
So the NCP glorifies "Your Voice, Your Reward" as their motto. I can tell you from first hand experience that the reward isn't worth the time and your voice will be used against you the next time you hit the store looking for that deal you got three months ago. It won't be there. Just like I don't advise anyone signing up for this Nielson National Consumer Panel offering at all.

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