Ebay and coupon clippers from my point of view :-)

Okay I have to admit I never seen anything wrong with buying coupons from Ebay or Coupon clipping services until I started to think about how the people on Ebay and coupon clipping services get their coupons. I can't say all of the folks on Ebay are stealing inserts out of newspapers to cut up and sell coupons on Ebay. But I don't know where they buy their inserts from or how they get the massive amounts of valuable coupons. I'm not accusing anyone of doing that but I know alot of people probably do wonder just where they get their coupon inserts.

I know there are some places on the web like Wholecouponinserts.comn and other places that sell whole coupon inserts. I just wonder what sorta deal they have with the local paper guy/gal to be able to get the insets? Or do they dumpster dive for the inserts at the local recycling place?

While I was talking to the Iams representative, I'd mentioned that I'd seen the high dollar coupons for Iams up for sale on Ebay. She said she wished there was a way for them to track the coupons because some unscrupulous people will call in and get coupons and just turn right around and sell them for BIG Profit on Ebay.

I seen where six coupon for a FREE Bag of IAMS dog food up the the 40lb size bidding was already at $52 for those coupon. Even after the EBAY and Paypal fees, I'm sure that comes out to a tidy little profit for that person since I seen they had SEVERAL of the same auctions listed. Not bad for some coupons that the seller probably picked up from his/her local veterinarian for nothing. But that leaves the rest of the veternarian's clients unable to take advantage of the great IAMS coupon unless they buy them from Ebay or contact IAMS for their coupon.

She also pointed out that even if the person says that the bidder is paying for the time and "effort" to collect and organize the coupons that the fine print in the coupon states that the coupons AREN'T to be bought, sold, or traded or the coupon is void.

Sorta hard to crack down on Ebay or coupon clipping services from a company stand point, in my opinion, since it would be hard to prove where the coupon clipping service or the individual got the coupon inserts from in the first place.

I do agree that if companies see more and more of their high dollar coupons up for sale on places like Ebay or coupon clipping services that we may see more of a backlash against HONEST coupons in the form of tighter coupon restrictions (more of the 4 per transaction) or lower value coupons instead of the bountiful high value coupons we are able to get right now.

I'm not gonna say I won't ever not use Ebay or trades on coupon websites or the coupon clipping services but I might think twice about it. Maybe see if I can get the coupons another way like dumpster diving for the inserts myself or posting on Craigslist that I'm in search of coupons that people aren't going to use. :-)

What do you think of buying coupons from Ebay or coupon clipping services? :-)