Practically every company specifies a few standard exclusions like gift cards, or requires the buyer to join a free rewards program or spend a specific amount in order to achieve their promotional discount. But sometimes a ”sitewide” discount doesn’t really include “everything” and the fine print may have a long list of exclusions. So it always pays to check out the list of exclusions before you shop. Sometimes the manufacturers are prohibiting the stores from discounting their products. Whatever the reason, savvy shoppers always look for this information before placing their orders.
One of the best examples of true “sitewide” savings is at Kohl’s. When their offers say “take an extra xx % off everything sitewide” they really mean it, and every shopper can apply these offers to all merchandise. Kohl’s charge customers receive mailers with extra discounts 12 times a year, and those discounts are deducted automatically whenever they pay with their store charge card, even without using the promo code printed on the mailers.
At eBags, however, it’s a completely different story. Percent-off and dollars-off discounts are never applicable to certain brands or collections within certain brands. Their exclusion list contains 71 items!
Bed, Bath and Beyond has 24 brands on their coupon exclusions list, while the Sports Authority list excludes 61 brands. Shoes.com may occasionally offer a promotion on some restricted brands individually, but for sitewide discounts their posted exclusion list contains wallets, bags, and 34 shoe styles.
Technology products and HP ink cartridges are typically excluded from Office Depot promotions and printed on each coupon, so the rare offers that include them are very popular with shoppers.
Discounts described as “sitewide savings on select items” are deliberately contradictory. Coupons from Borders Books, Dick’s Sporting Goods, and Michaels Arts and Crafts are frequently offered, but always include a lengthy list of exclusions printed on the coupon. Even worse, however, are the stores offering discount promotions that simply say “some exclusions may apply” and the list is nowhere to be found! That was exactly the case in a tweet for an online code from Dick’s. Famous Footwear does have exclusions, but they are posted on their website and easily found, unlike the Reebok Store site where no list was available.
In a recent discussion on Buxr, members of the community reported numerous problems with discounts at Newport News, when published discount codes did not work after filling their carts with merchandise. The company later apologized, but it was not an isolated incident but rather a frequently reported occurrence.
Even more frustrating were shopping trips to Babies”R”Us stores, where customers were told that the items they were buying were not considered “baby” items and did not qualify for the advertised discount. Why on earth would any product in that store not be considered a “baby” product? It seems only natural that to save their image the retailers must adopt the rule – “Do not exclude the product type directly listed in your store name!”.
July 26th, 2010
Welcome to the 50th Carnival of Money Stories! For those unaware, the Carnival of Money Stories is a series of weekly posts hosted by various blogs in which the participants share their stories/experiences with money.
When I read a blog carnival, I usually scan the entries and read those with titles that grab my attention. This approach has a problem since a lot depends on how creative the writer is with the blog title. To help you make a more informative decision about what to read, for this carnival I decided to include with each entry a sentence or two that highlight the writer’s style and give you an idea of what to expect. I also grouped the articles by different areas of finance and started off the whole thing by selecting five “editor’s choice” articles, which are the ones I happened to enjoy the most out of all of the submissions.
By the way, if you have a blog and write about money – Carnival of Money Stories is looking for future hosts. You can apply at the official carnival site.
Editor’s Picks
We called up HP and asked if there was anything they could do. We don’t want to recycle a perfectly good printer that simply needs two parts the size of a deck of cards – it is a waste and it’s not environmentally friendly. HP told us that was the only option.
– Hewlett-Packard Hates the Environment and Your Wallet ( @ Lazy Man and Money )
Yoda says: “Try not. Do or do not. There is no try…” Put a stop to your trying right now and do! We all are faced with difficult circumstances. Yes, some are more difficult than others, but we must move past them, talk less about trying and have more doing in our lives.
– Wisdom of Yoda: Personal Finance Lessons (@ Christian PF )
He was the perfect renter. He paid on time, cleaned up after himself, and stayed over at his girl friend’s house more often than he was ever around ours. He stayed for a little more than a year. Dude, if you’re reading this, we miss you.
– Need Money? Have an Extra Bedroom? ( @ Budgeting is the Fun Stuff )
“We could buy it in honor of Irvin,” we said. “He would be so proud of seeing his grandkids and great grandkids enjoy an Airstream!” So we bought it, and spent money on it and spent more money on it. And could easily spend a bunch more money on it.
– Airstream Saga Continues: Jan and I Second Guess Our Decision (@ Personal Finance by the Book)
I read a dated (2002) report on some things with Quicken Security. What I found most interesting was this statement from the abstract: “I’ve found that the password protection used by Quicken is easily reversed with the purchase of a $30 password cracking application.”
– Passwords Security | How To Safely Store Passwords ( @ Money Help For Christians )
Your Home
I can’t believe it, someone’s actually selling a house in our area instead of foreclosing! The heavens have opened and are smiling upon us 
It sounds sad, but seriously – this gives our neighborhood so much hope. We’ll actually be able to tell what our houses are WORTH now since they’re pretty much exact molds of each other.
– Our Neighbor’s House Is For Sale! ( @ Budgets are Sexy )
I have learned my lesson. I would rather pay $1,000 and not lift a finger—I was so anxious the night before and so defeated for the two days it took to move that I don’t want to ever feel that way again. This is another one of those times where money helps. It’s one of the good reasons we have for wanting to have more of it.
– Paying for Movers: Is it Worth It? ( @ The Writer’s Coin )
One of the major reasons why people seem to want new homes… is because they want more space, more room, more square footage—more home. Of course along with “more home” comes more upkeep, more heating and cooling expenses, and more square footage for potential future repairs
– 5 Tips to Make Your Home Seem Bigger ( @ The Sun’s Financial Diary )
Your Business
You might be thinking this is simple stuff, anyone can figure it out. Yet, you would be surprised at the chiropractors I speak with who either don’t know how to figure simple stats or if they know how, simply don’t keep any numbers for their practice.
– Chiropractic Math and The Struggling Practice ( @ Chiropractic Marketing Mastery )
Your Kids
If the schools are really unacceptable, I would consider homeschooling. Why not? The money you save by living in a cheaper house could obviate the need for one parent to work. I would hate to do this myself, but there are many passionate homeschoolers.
– Kids & Costs: Another point of view ( @ Funny about Money )
Your Taxes
Based on US pop culture it is easy to think that every rich, James-Bond like American has an account in the Cayman Islands worth millions of dollars. Apparently the IRS has been watching these movies as well, as they are going after these accounts, which number in the tens of thousands.
– IRS Closing in on Tax Cheaters ( @ My Dollar Plan )
Your Budget
The concept that saving a little everyday will add up to a lot over time is definitely sound. However, the fallacy in “eliminating the latte factor will make you a millionaire” is that those who cut out their morning coffee or newspaper usually do not save that money at all.
– 3 Reasons Why Keeping Your “Latte Factor” Will Help You Save Money (@ Wisebread )
A budget that doesn’t balance is not sustainable. That’s a mathematical fact. You can ignore it for a while, but the piper will eventually get paid. We would rather pay on our own terms rather than those that will inevitably be forced upon us at some point in the future.
– What If Your Budget Doesn’t Balance? ( @ Balance Junkie )
As someone with a bunch of regular expenses, I know that they add up. I also know that you’d have to pry my laptop from my cold, dead fingers before I’d voluntarily give up the internet. In my husband’s case, cable is a necessity. How do you choose between one recurring expense and another? Prioritize.
– Recurring Expenses Will Kill Your Budget-Choose Wisely ( @ Free From Broke )
But what if you arenʼt aware of the bad things youʼre doing that are wrecking your finances in the first place? If you arenʼt sure of the cause of the problems, but trying to fix them, itʼs like putting a band-aid on a major wound.
– 5 Ways You Are Wrecking Your Finances ( @ Single Guy Money )
Credit Cards
As you can see, cash advances are a pretty convenient way to get quick cash. However, these types of withdrawals are discouraged because of the high rate of interest applied to these balances, associated fees, and the method with which some card companies used to incur interest and apply payments.
– Credit Card Cash Advance: Bad Financial Move or Good Emergency Plan? ( @ ptMoney )
Record Keeping
The best filing system is your filing system, one tailored to your needs and tendencies. If you prefer a year-based system, use a year-based system. If it’s easier for you to find and file documents based on asset, you’ll want an asset based system.
– How To Organize Electronic Financial Documents ( @ Bargaineering )
Miscellaneous
So to make things simple, we can blame: bad luck, bad preparation and bad choices. But under bad luck, bad health is cited as the #1 cause of bankruptcy! I was a bit surprised by that because this was one time one could actually blame the heavens or fate for one’s dire straits.
– Personal Bankruptcy: The Only 3 Reasons Why People Go Bankrupt ( @ The Digerati Life )
I have been thinking about it for a while and I realized that my money and how much or little of it I posses doesn’t define me. I am not defined by money and I try not define anyone else by theirs. I see no problems in displaying my net worth because if you want to judge me by the number of zeros on my bank account I don’t need you around.
– Mind Over Money ( @ Suburban Dollar )
Stay Under Your Minutes: Nothing drives me more crazy then to see a big fat charge on my cell phone bill because we went over our minutes. If this is an habitual problem, you’ll want to either change cell phone plans or cut your talk time.
– 15 Ways to Slash Your Cell Phone Bill ( @ Dough Roller )
Image credit: ChesisBest @ Flickr
April 19th, 2010
As you know we are always adding new functionality and features to the site. We do this because we like to keep the site fresh and exciting for new members, and those who have been with us for a while now. That being said, it might be a little overwhelming for new users, so we decided to make a little video tour of the Buxr site. It is about 7 minutes long, and in it we go over some of the basic aspects of the site. If you are interested in participating in our contests, you should benefit from the quick explanation of how they work, and how to join in on the fun.
So please take a few minutes and watch the video, and learn more about our site. This is the first video we’ve ever published, so your feedback is welcome and appreciated.
March 14th, 2009
If you haven’t noticed yet, we’ve redesigned the Buxr homepage. The old page had a catchy web 2.0-ish look and served us well as an entry point to our site, especially for new visitors. As Buxr matured so did our vision for the front page. Our goal was to lose our flashy front page graphics and slogans, and replaced them with useful functionality for both new and long time members. We think we have achieved this goal.
The new front page is a huge difference compared to the old one. It is packed with information and resembles a navigational panel with multiple controls or modules. Each module represents a different aspect of Buxr’s social ‘life’: shopping, contests, discussions, etc.
It may seem a bit overwhelming to somebody looking at it for the first time, but the good part is that we made it as configurable as possible. You can remove or rearrange the modules on the dashboard and change the information in each of them. You can accomplish this via ‘Layout’ and ‘Settings’ menu items accessible from the navigational tabs (Buxr account is required).
As they say, one picture is worth a hundred words so go ahead and explore it for yourself. If you do have any words you want to share, leave them in the comments to this post or join this forum discussion.
Old front page
New front page
January 20th, 2009
Today is our first Anniversary and as a small token of appreciation we will be mailing out Buxr T-shirts to some of our active members and to Shawn, our hard working moderator. We will announce more details in our forums later today.
Of course when you receive the t-shirt you will be required to wear it 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. You will also be required to engage strangers in witty conversation about Buxr along with a clever pitch to recruit new members. The shirt shall only be removed when showering or bathing. Please make sure to cover the logo when eating to protect against stains.
No but seriously, we just wanted to thank everyone for their support over the past year. We really appreciate it! We hope you will wear the t-shirt proudly and help spread the word.
Thanks you and have a great Holiday!
Yan & Mike
December 3rd, 2008
