"In response to a post on Chat about the legality of buying, selling and trading coupons, I just posted this. It's a question that comes up regularly:
There's a misconception that has to be cleared up first. For something to be illegal, there has to be a law, also known as a statute, on the books at the federal, state, or local level. There is no law anywhere, on any level of government, that deals with selling coupons, that I know of. Hence, it is not illegal to buy, sell or trade coupons. Period.
The fine print on coupons that says they cannot be transferred, traded, etc., are the rules set by the manufacturer. If you violate a manufacturer's rule, then the manufacturer has the option to void the coupon. Private companies do not have the power to write laws, only rules (also known as contracts), and private companies cannot exact punishments like sending you to jail; they can only void the coupon. Let's say you buy 10 coupons from a coupon-clipping service, (nothing illegal about that though the manufacturer may not like it), then you go to the store and buy the products using the coupons. No harm was done to the manufacturer. The coupons were used correctly. Therefore, the manufacturer takes no action to void the coupons. Also, it would be absolutely impossible for manufacturers to police the redemption of coupons which had passed through several hands, or had been sold for a handling fee. As long as the coupon is used correctly when it is redeemed (right product, right size, right expiration), then the manufacturer has no real issue with it. The various coupon-clipping services have been in business for many years. The CIC (a private organization funded by manufacturers) has taken no action to push authorities to shut them down, that I know of. Once you buy the newspaper, the coupons are yours. As long as they are ultimately redeemed properly, there is nothing to worry about. (If you are mass cutting coupons and collecting money from the manufacturer by setting up a fake grocery store, and collecting money for coupons on products never sold, then you are in legal trouble for defrauding the manufacturers.)
Also, on the subject of eBay, it used to be that there were no specific rules about selling coupons on eBay. The CIC (arm of the manufacturers) approached eBay and basically wanted the sale of all coupons banned, but eBay wouldn't go along with it because there is no law that prohibits the sale of coupons. Instead, a compromise was reached establishing rules like limiting the number of identical free-item coupons offered for auction. These rules were meant to slow down/stop those who were counterfeiting high value coupons, or those who were providing large volumes of coupons to crooks who were defrauding manufacturers by claiming payment for coupons never used to buy products.
The verbiage of buying someone's time instead of the actual coupons is legal mumbo jumbo. If people feel better saying that, or if eBay requires it, no problem, except that it doesn't legally mean much of anything. If people are really selling their time, and not the coupons, then someone could put a note in an empty envelope which says "This is one hour of my time" and they would fulfill their auction. Of course, in reality, people are buying the coupons and not the time, but again, since it's not a crime to sell coupons, it's a needless disclaimer, in my opinion.
In summary, it is a crime to defraud manufacturers. If you are cheating manufacturers by counterfeiting coupons, by altering coupons, or are trying to bilk money from manufacturers for coupons never used to purchase products, you are in legal trouble. On the other hand, no matter where you got a legitimate coupon (from your newspaper, from your mom's newspaper, from a coupon clipping service, from the trash, from a manufacturer's website, from a blinkie machine, etc), as long as you redeem it properly in the store, you are fine."
~ Michelle Easter, Refund Cents
Recent Comments