Anything that is going to save time and money, sign us up. It's why we had to check out a new application you can download to your computer called Drop Down Deals. It promises to make shopping with coupons easy, so we put it to the test.
Drop Down Deals is the name of a new site that does just that -- it drops down deals instantly on thousands of online retail sites you visit without ever searching for a coupon code.
"Basically you just put the app on your computer and as you're online browsing sites -- Target or Best Buy, different sites -- you pull down the drop down bar and it will tell you if there are any available coupon codes for that online store," Super Saver Erin Libranda said.
The Drop Down plug-in gives you a variety of coupons for each retailer.
For example at mac.com, instantly we are given a variety of offers.
"Some of them have as many as five different coupon codes. I mean it might be a percentage off or it might be this one free when you buy that, free shipping, so you know, there are several different coupon codes to pick from, and you just pick the one that works best for you," Libranda said.
So if you want to use Drop Down Deals, you first have to download the program onto your computer. Within a couple of minutes, the plug-in is installed and we can shop.
Our first stop, Disneystore.com and instantly our Drop Down Deals plug-in shows us several coupons we can use.
We copy one of the codes and choose a Mickey Mouse ear hat to buy. But upon check out we paste our code and no luck. Our coupon isn't valid and our total shows no difference.
We didn't have any luck at Barnes & Noble with a 10 percent off coupon; and at jcpenney.com, our coupon code for 10 percent off was valid but only if you use your JCPenney credit card, something the coupon did not specify until after we started checking out.
"So you always want to compare multiple sites actually to find the best discount you can get," Libranda said.
Libranda suggests two other sites that offer great deals plus coupons -- upromise.com and ebates.com. They both offer coupon codes you can use at their participating retailers.
Here is a statement from Drop Down Seals on its deals online:
- As a free downloadable add-on, Drop Down Deals strives for 97 percent accuracy with its coupon codes to save consumers time and money. The company has a robust online shopping service with over 18,000 coupon codes and deals which are continually checked and verified through our quality assurance team and a few expired and invalid codes were let out in the wild as we ramp up for the holidays. As consumers and online shoppers recognize, the nature of coupons and deals especially in the online world is a dynamic and moving target and we will continue to strive for the highest level of accuracy possible.
