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Consumers aren't always getting the savings they are promised by discount code websites, according to research by Which?
Every internet shopper has seen the boxes at the checkout stage that ask you to put in a discount code. Enter the right numbers, and the cost of the item falls by 10% or more. When they first appeared, the discounts seemed real. But with voucher code websites proliferating, some people are asking whether these discounts are genuine or just marketing gimmicks.
Consumer group Which? this week investigated the five biggest voucher sites, and found that many discount codes are out of date or didn't work at all. More worryingly, it found that prices were sometimes lower on standard comparison sites than at retailers offering discount codes.
In the search for a Which? Best Buy LCD TV, a Panasonic Viera 32in, it says: "The best deal on the price comparison sites was £530 but the voucher sites weren't that helpful. Three of them had no results, while myvouchers.co.uk offered a 10% off voucher for the Panasonic e-shop – but the price of the TV was £781."
Which? found that for CDs, DVDs and clothes the voucher sites brought up more competitive prices, citing marksandspencer.com in particular.
Which? used myvouchercodes.co.uk; vouchercodes.co.uk; everydaysale.co.uk; hotukdeals.com and vouchercodes.com, although there are many more.
They offer discounts on a variety of products and services including fashion, financial services, gifts, gadgets, books, CDs, DVDs, hotels, travel and eating out. The offers range from a specific price to scaled percentage reductions to free delivery. Most sites also have vouchers that you can print off and use to get discounts in high street outlets, such as two-for-one meals at popular restaurant chains.
Some sites acknowledge that codes may fall out of date, and allow you to register for offers via email. It's worth registering with more than one site because each negotiates its own "exclusive discounts" with retailers that, they say, you won't find elsewhere.
Most of the major players now subscribe to a new code of ethics introduced from 1 January this year by the Internet Advertising Bureau, the trade association for the internet marketing industry, which has reduced the number of fake discount problems.
Most of the codes on the sites have been negotiated directly with retailers. Some, often the most valuable, are meant for select groups of customers but leak on to the internet. It's worth checking moneysavingexpert.com's forums for such deals. If you are buying online and are presented with the opportunity for inputting a code, simply open up a new tab and search through Google for the code. That way you are earning a real discount on something you were going to buy anyway.
"The majority of our listings are official codes direct from retailers, but we see it as our job to list any code that has a chance of working so, if a code comes from a consumer, we'll check it works and then list it as 'user-generated', making clear we can't guarantee how long it will work," says Mark Pearson, owner of myvouchers.co.uk, the number one voucher site by traffic with 600,000 members registered to receive its weekly newsletter.
The new code of conduct bans the practice of "click to reveal", when there is no valid or current offer. Ed Hall, director of voucherseeker.co.uk, the new kid on the discount code website block which launched in December, says many websites used to (and, in defiance of the IAB code, some still do) encourage consumers to click on to a retailer's name and go into their website, only to discover that no discount code is on offer.
"The click was registered and, if the consumer subsequently bought something using the same computer from that same merchant, the result was that this triggered a commission to the discount code site they had previously used," Hall says.
All the websites quoted here say they support and comply with the IAB code. We were unable to get comment on the policy of one of the larger discount code sites, vouchercodes.com, which comes up prominently if you enter "discount code", "discount voucher" or similar in the search engine Google. This website's contact details list only a PO box address and an unobtainable phone number.
Here are some examples of offers currently listed on discount code websites:
• Myvouchercodes.co.uk
Exclusive codes include: 10% off on online orders at Burton (expires 31 March); 20% off all orders from Viners.
Popular codes include: £10 off next grocery shop over £85 from Ocado (expires 30 March); 15% off all footwear from Firetrap (expires 30 March); free delivery on all orders from fashion retailer Kew; 20% off all online orders from Austin Reed (expires 8 April)
• Vouchercodes.co.uk
Exclusive codes include: 10% off all online orders at Benefit Cosmetics; 10% off all online orders at Red Letter Days (expires 2 April); and £5 off all online orders over £15 at Prezzy Box.
Popular codes include: 50% off Pizza Hut delivery for all orders over £30 (expires 30 March).
• Voucherseeker.co.uk
Exclusive codes include: 5% discount off Green & Blacks chocolate gifts online; 10% off when spending £20 or more online at Avon (expires 31 March); 10% off when spending over £25 at Interflora.
Popular codes include: £15 of first orders over £25 at Littlewoods; £5 off £50 spend at Tesco.com (expires 31 March); at least 30% off spring breaks booked with Macdonald Hotels.
• Everydaysale.co.uk
Current codes include: 20% off all wine cases with Mark & Spencer online; £10 off when you spend £50 at House of Fraser online; free delivery from Cath Kidston online; 20% off American-style freezers at Comet online.
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