The Beginners Guide to Couponing at Walmart
Couponing at Walmart: All The Rules Explained
Couponing at Walmart, it has one BIG advantage:
Walmart is the one of the only stores that gives overage!
What does that mean?
That means if you have a $2.00 off coupon and you use it on an item that’s priced at $1.50, the remaining value of the coupon can be applied towards the rest of your total bill.
And depending on the store, Walmart will even give the overage back in CASH (if you are purchasing no other items). Pretty cool, right?
More good news:
Couponing at Walmart is very straight forward. They accept only one type of coupon and there are no complicated rewards systems to confuse you.
There are a few things you should be aware of, though. Plus, I have some tips for saving MORE money and a word of advice to make coupon transactions go smoothly.
Read on to to have it all explained in my beginners guide to couponing at Walmart.
Also Read: The Complete Beginner’s Guide to Couponing – Learn All the Basics!
The Best Advice Walmart Couponer Advice
The biggest struggle couponers face when shopping at Walmart is facing conflict at the register.
Conflict meaning:
A coupon won’t scan correctly and the cashier refuses to do anything about it, even though you KNOW it’s a legit coupon.
The best advice I have for couponing at Walmart is:
Simply, be nice to the cashier! Smile, greet, engage – don’t loose your calm, don’t get angry.
If you do all these things and there is an “issue” with your purchase, they are more likely to work with you and fix it.
If they must call a manager (which in some cases, they are required to) be nice to the manager! Even if you don’t like the outcome be nice.
Walmart employees are SO much easier to work with when they see a kind face and a smile.
They deal with a lot of rude people, so be the exception and you are more likely to get what you want.
Walmart Coupon Rules
Now we’ll go over the Walmart coupon policy or coupon rules. Most of these are pretty common sense rules, but it never hurts to be familiar with them.
#1. Coupons are only accepted for merchandise that they sell (duh!).
#2. Coupons must be presented at the time of purchase.
#3. Limit of one coupon per item.
#4. The store CAN limit the number of identical coupons and the number of coupons for the same item per transaction.
This means that if the cashier or manager doesn’t want to accept your coupon, then they have the right to deny it.
#5. The item purchased must be identical to the coupon requirements (size, quantity, brand, flavor, color, etc).
#6. Coupons must have an expiration date and be presented within the valid dates (If a coupon doesn’t have an expiration date, it’s probably fraudulent).
#7. If coupon value exceeds the price of the item, the excess may be given to the customer as cash or applied toward the basket purchase.
#8. In all situations, Walmart can limit purchase quantities to typical retail purchase quantities or one-per-customer or household.
This means they can decide if they don’t want to sell you too many of one item.
#9. Store Managers have the final decision in taking care of the customer.
This means they can deny anything for any reason.
And, to get an idea of when a manager will be needed…
…the system will prompt for supervisor verification for:
- 4 or more like coupons per transaction.
- A coupon value of $5 or more.
- $50 or more in coupons in one transaction.
- Coupons totaling a percentage (%) off of the total sale.
Does Walmart Offer Price Matching?
Unfortunately, Walmart NO longer does price matching against competitors.
In lieu of that, they now have a program called the Walmart Saving’s Catcher App.
Note: Walmart has ended price matching at 800 stores (so far), so your local Walmart MAY still be doing it…for now.
All About the Walmart Savings Catcher Program
The Walmart Savings Catcher program helps you save money easily.
After you make a purchase you have 7 days to enter (or scan) your receipt information into Walmart Savings Catcher.
Walmart Savings Catcher can be used at Walmart.com or in the Savings Catcher app.
Then:
Walmart compares prices against top competitors in your area for advertised deals on eligible items. Once your receipt has been processed you’ll be notified by email.
If they find a lower price than what you paid, you get back the difference!
You can get detailed information from each store receipt to see which store they matched and to what prices.
The money you get back goes into your Savings Catcher Balance.
The best part:
Your rewards will automatically be transferred to your Savings Catcher eGift Card each time they are earned.
Set up Walmart pay and all you have to do is scan your phone to spend your savings Catcher eGift Card next time you are in the store.
Rules for Savings Catcher
There are a few rules for using the Walmart Savings Catcher program that you’ll want to be aware of:
- You have 7 days to submit a receipt.
- You may submit up to 7 receipts per week.
- This program does not include produce, WIC purchases, fresh meat, Deli, seafood, tobacco, alcohol, generic items and other prohibited items.
- Savings Catcher ONLY works on grocery section purchases, NOT the full store.
Are There Any Extra Ways to Save?
As far as extra ways to save money, there’s really not a lot more to know than everything we covered. But:
If you like to browse clearance items, the Walmart app has a scanner which you can use to find the price of an item quickly. Really handy!
And remember:
Walmart is pretty easy to coupon at when you are polite and kind to the workers.
Also Read: The Beginners Guide to Couponing at Target, Rite Aid, CVS & Walgreens
About Jen
I’m Jen, one of the co-founders of College Life Made Easy: a lifestyle blog that focuses on helping students navigate college life on topics of finance, organization, dorm living and more.