Coupon Lingo

Are you new to the coupon world? Have you started visiting coupon blogs and find it difficult to decipher the coupon lingo? To encourage you to use coupons and be able to understand the coupon slang, here is a glossary of coupon terms that you will be likely to see on coupon-focused sites, like Extreme Savings Canada.


$1/1: $1 off of one item

$2/1: $2 off of one item

$1/2: $1 off when you buy two products

BOGO: buy one get one. In the case of BOGO coupons, there will be cases when it’s buy one and get one for free and when it’s buy one and get the other at half price. Don’t forget to read the text in fine print.

Coupon Insert: These are coupons inserted in Sunday newspapers. SmartSource, P&G, General Mills include such coupons in local and national newspapers. Some bloggers may refer to inserts by mentioning the date when the insert came out. Example: 3/10/14.

Couponer: A person who searches for, collects and saves coupons for future use, like during grocery shopping.

EXP/EX: Expires or expiration date

FAR (free after rebate): A rebate form that you can fill out and send to the manufacturer along with the receipt (to acknowledge the purchase of the product).

IP: Internet printable. In other words, this is the coupon that you can print directly on your home printer.

IVC: Instant Value Coupon - a coupon or a discount present in the weekly flyer. You can stack an IVC with a manufacturer coupon.

M2H Coupons: mail-to-home coupons. Such coupons arrive by regular mail after you order them on a website.

MIR: Mail-in Rebate – a traditional manufacturer rebate. You would mail in the rebate form along with the receipt to the respective manufacturer.

MFR Q or MQ: manufacturer coupon.

One Coupon Per Purchase: This is a usual mention on the majority of coupons. This means that you may use one coupon per item. Say, you have a $1 coupon on a 4-pack of yogurt. You may not use 2 or 3 coupons of the same kind on the same item.

One Coupon Per Transaction: This condition limits you to using only one of that particular coupon on your shopping trip. For example, if you have a $10 off of a $70 purchase coupon, you will be able to apply this coupon on one transaction of $70 and more.

OOP: Out of pocket – the dollar amount you will pay at your store without any coupons or rewards you’ll get.

OYNO: On Your Next Order – sometimes you get a coupon or a reward in a store that they want you to use during your next trip to that store.

P@H Coupons: Print-at-home coupons - coupons that you can download and print on your home printer immediately.

PSA: Prices Start At – when a group of products is included in a sale, the ad may note that the lowest priced item would be at, say, $1.99 and the prices go up from there.

Purchase: It is actually any item bought. If you bought 25 items, these would be 25 purchases.

Q: Coupon

Rain Check: When an item is on sale, but out of stock, you can approach the store manager and request a rain check that will allow you to buy that product when it’s back in stock. The idea is that you will buy this product at the sale price with the rain check.

Stacking: Using 2 promotions (say, 2 coupons) together. The usual scenario is to use a store coupon and a manufacturer coupon on one item so as to increase your savings.

Stockpile: Buy a lot of items of the same product at a reduced price at a time so that to save and profit from the offer.

Transaction: A transaction is your entire purchase. If you buy 30 products and pay for them, this is one transaction.

UPC: Universal Product Code – the bar code printed on products that’s scanned at the register.

WYB: When You Buy – Some offers in store may require you to buy several products to benefit from the promotion. Say, when you buy three of this brand’s pastas you will get a pack of biscuits for free.

You can also download our Free Coupon Lingo guide here (PDF format).

Now that you are ready to start couponing, check these coupons out and start saving!