saving upc and other things for refunding

[julsandtrish]

BE PREPARED!

I know it sounds strange (and you may not be willing to announce it to the world) that you are now saving your trash. But would you throw away a five dollar bill? Of course not. That is what you are doing when you throw away a proof of purchase worth $5. Or $10. Or $500. That's a conservative estimate of how much you're dumping into your trash can every year.

All successful refunders save their proofs of purchase. It's essential to making a large profit refunding. Of course you don't have to save your trash if you're only going to send for an occasional refund a few times a year. But why settle for that? You can go for a much bigger piece of the pie with a little organization and effort. Remember, manufacturers have earmarked millions of dollars annually to mail out as refunds. It's completely up to you how many of those dollars you receive.

Just what do you save? The majority of refunds want the UPC. There are a few common products that ask for something other than the UPC. Here is a list:

Beggin' Strips weight circles
Butterball turkey name/logo from package
Camel C-Notes
Campbells soup front labels
Crystal Light Foil Seal
Dannon Yogurt Freshness seal
Depends points
Disney Videos stamps & proof of purchase tab
Doral cigarettes oval seal
Enfamil points
Fuji videotape sticker proofs of purchase
Fuji computer disk proof of purchase seals
Fuji gear points
General Mills Boxtops for Education (Big G)
General Foods International Coffee lids
Honey Pot Pooh Points
Huggies Points
Kellogg's Corny Store points
Kellogg's boxtops (with dates)
Kodak POP U.S.A. seals
Kool Aid points
Kraft Mac & Cheese Treasure points
Maxwell House Perk Points
Minute Maid frozen drinks tear strips
motor oil single can tamper proof rings
motor oil case proof of purchase seal
Mr Peanut from the lid of Planter products
Nutella foil seal
Plax safety cello seal
Poise points
Pull Ups points
Purina Cat & Dog Food weight circles
Sargento Cow Chips
Sheba cat food pull tabs
Slush Puppie Paw Prints points
Smuckers ice cream toppings front label and weight statements
Tombstone Pizza cactuses
Van de Kamp's VDK points
Winston proof of purchase seals
WonderDry Diapers proofs of purchase
Diamond Walnuts large diamond on front
Skoal/Kodiak/Copenhagen lids

[tonyguitargod]

I have about a zillion Kraft Cheese & Macaroni Treasure Points. Any idea how they can be redeemed and/or refunded? I have surfed around the net and can't figure it out.

[mauimagic]

It seems to me when I have gone for the refunding - that the companies also want the original cash registere receipt. How do you handle that? It sounds as if this would almost be a full time job!!

[littleplum]

I don't buy any of those items. I guess I am out the hundreds of dollars that I didn't spend to begin with!

[NewLeaf]

I'm interested. How do we go about this?

[Sassyclass]

I only save the UPC's from products I know have rebates/refunds a lot. Pepsi/ Frito Lay usually have 2 or 3 a year so I save my upc's from those, then when the rebate comes along I just use those upc's. You still have to buy those products to get the updated reciept, but you don't have to go home and chug all the Pepsi and eat 3 bags of chips either.You have to read the fine print on some of these as some want you to buy all items in one transaction, Kelloggs does this. Some you don't need the reciept, but most of them you do. Watch the rules for the transaction dates very closely. They are sticklers on this. If the rebate says must be bought between 1/1/2010 and 2/1/2010, don't jump the gun and buy it on 12/31/2009. Same goes for sizes, and the postmark date. I tape all of mine to a piece of paper and then I make a copy of everything I send including rebate form. I have a notebook that I write every rebate in and include the copies I make and the date it was mailed. This way if there is a problem I know when I sent it and have proof of what was sent. Here are some of the ones I save.

Pepsi/Frito Lay
Kelloggs
DelMonte
Centrum
Advil
ConAgra

I use to keep mine online at RebateTracker but I don't think they are around anymore or I just can't find them. Maybe someone here uses another site and can share.

Cat

[Monroe on a Budget]

Some rebates these days ask for specific campaign things such as the pink lids on yogurt not the regular lids; the Star Trek cutout not the UPC code from the cereal.

I also had saved bunches of Kool-Aid points over the years, and finally sent them to an elementary school. But I'm pretty sure by that time the program was done and over with.

I'm passing on the current Kellogg's rebate - I've done that before and probably could have done it again this time. But 10 cereals in one purchase was a lot to plan out when the best matches were gone fast during the sales.

In the meantime, do you shop at Rite Aid drugstore? They've got a simple way to do rebates. Just enter the code on your receipt into your on-line account.

[NikoSan999]

I used to refund a long time ago. Started in1980 and quit I think it was 1998. Forms got to hard to find. I refunded 18 years. Had a ball doing it and man could I tell some stories. Had one room dedicated to nothing but qualifiers and forms. Used to go to swap conventions several times a year. Stay up all night trading Q's and forms. I would buy toys at Walmart on clearance and sell them for complete deals at 3to 4times cost of what I paid for them. They weren't costing the buyer anything but extra deals they had that they couldn't send in. Best place for weekend swap trading was Wheeling WVa. I lived in Ohio. Ahhh...those were the days and the money was good. Real good. So were the freebies.

[Clutterbug Jen]

Those sure were the good old days, weren't they?! I too refunded for many, many years and really miss it.

Did you get any refund magazines? I got most all of them at one time or another. My two favorites were Refund Express and Refunding Makes Cents ... Oh, and my first refund magazine I remember was called Moneytalk.

For me, this [refunding was a full time job] but was a fun one!

Nowdays, you need to have receipts date between this time and that time and so on and so forth.

Way back in the day, we didn't need receipts and it was so much easier [and more profitable as well!] I started refunding between 1975 and 1977 when my kids were babies.

I used to refund a long time ago. Started in1980 and quit I think it was 1998. Forms got to hard to find. I refunded 18 years. Had a ball doing it and man could I tell some stories. Had one room dedicated to nothing but qualifiers and forms. Used to go to swap conventions several times a year. Stay up all night trading Q's and forms. I would buy toys at Walmart on clearance and sell them for complete deals at 3to 4times cost of what I paid for them. They weren't costing the buyer anything but extra deals they had that they couldn't send in. Best place for weekend swap trading was Wheeling WVa. I lived in Ohio. Ahhh...those were the days and the money was good. Real good. So were the freebies.

[Clutterbug Jen]

Oops, darn it ... I forgot to subscribe so am posting again so I can subscribe.

[Missourimom]

Refunding was my hobby to for several years. I also had shelves for storing upc's, trade slips, c/o, etc. I was a member of a few trading sites and loved reading my RMC magazine, but then things started changing and I stopped. I also stopped couponing. It just wasn't worth my time anymore and I could save money with other frugal practices. It can be a fun hobby though and very addictive.

[Mom23boys]

Where and/or how do you store all of your UPC's, receipts, refund forms? I am just curious as to how you keep up with everything? I only send in an occassional refund here or there as I can not find any worth my time.

[Clutterbug Jen]

Michelle, I'm sorry that it took so long for me to acknowledge your post here ...

I can't say specifically one way to organize everything 'cuz over the years, it was just more of a trial and error and fine tuning until I come up with something that would work for me.

Others had their ways of organizing theirs as well.

As for saving UPC's and etc., let me tell ya - I've used everything from shoe boxes to file folders and probably everything in between. *lol*

At one time I even was using a photo alumn to keep my forms in.

Okay - I just did a google search and here's a link that I found that might help ya some. :-)

http://couponing.about.com/od/bargai...zrefundfrm.htm

[mauimagic]

I find this so interesting and have done some refunding. Don't think we buy enough of the refundable products to make it worthwhile. However, I will still keep my eyes and ears open to any possibilities!! Mahalo for an interesting thread!!

[ephofma]

I started couponing in 1982 just after I got married. In 1983 a friend showed me all about refunding. I had a couple of good refunding pals. The money was pretty good and the premiums, for the most part, were excellent. It sure did help out alot at Christmas and birthdays. I can't tell you how many times another mom would come up to me and ask me where I bought a certain t-shirt or beach towel or stuffed animal. I would tell her from refunding for free or a small processing fee (usually no more than $2). My favorite of the stuffed animals was sweetie pea from the Del Monte Yumkins. For a long time, some of the stuff could only be gotten by refunding. Now, I think the companies sell some online. I still refund, just not as much. For awhile the forms were very scarce and if I did 3-5 a month I felt that was pretty good. Form availability seems to be picking up. I really don't save proofs anymore, just do them as they come now that almost everything need a DCRTC. I have subscribed to Refunding Makes Cents since '86 or '87. I just do the web site now. Wow, sorry this is so long, didn't mean to write a book. Oh yes, I still use coupons!