Walmart is hands down one of the easiest places to coupon and it’s where I recommend anyone new to the world of couponing start off. Walmart has an extremely generous couponing policy and you can even get paid to shop using coupons with overage!
How to Get Paid to Shop at Walmart with Coupons
Walmart is one of the extremely few stores that will allow overage and even pay you cash to shop with coupons! For example, if you have a $3 coupon for a Revlon makeup item and you find one on clearance for $1 you will receive that $2 difference as a credit towards the rest of your basket. And if you haven’t bought anything else for that credit to apply to, Walmart with pay you cash for the difference!
The clearance section is the easiest place to find items that can give overage, especially makeup, and personal care products. Revlon, CoverGirl, Almay, and many other companies constantly release high-value coupons for their products while Walmart constantly clearances out products to make room for new releases. This is great news for couponers! You can also submit your receipt to the Coupons.com app to receive cashback if you don’t have paper coupons. They will pay you the full amount shown even if you pick up an item clearanced to a lower price.
Even if you don’t personally use makeup, you can still pick up these items to take advantage of the overage and then donate the items to help your community out at the same time. 😄
How to Stack Couponing Deals at Walmart
You cannot stack multiple paper coupons on one item at Walmart but you can stack paper coupons with coupon app rebates to get freebies and even make a profit! Walmart is one of the largest participants throughout all of the couponing apps listed below and they constantly release new rebates every week.
For example, you can frequently find a product with an Ibotta rebate, a Fetch app rebate, and also use a paper coupon in-store on that same product. I received $4k+ back in cashback from coupon rebates apps in 2020 alone and scored dozens of completely free and even moneymaker hauls by stacking coupons with app rebates. You can see my weekly hauls with detailed breakdowns over on Youtube. For example, here’s one of my latest stacking deals that resulted in a profit!
Coupon Apps to use at Walmart
If you want to score extreme deals you simply must start using couponing apps! You can stack these with paper coupons to get amazing deals at Walmart.
- Ibotta – Add offers to your account before going to the store, then scan your receipt for cashback! If you’re new to the app watch my walkthrough guide here.
- Fetch – Scan your receipt for points that can be cashed out for gift cards and get bonus points on featured products too! I have a walkthrough guide here. Get the app here and you can get a $2 bonus for using my code “DB7A3”.
- Coin Out – Scan your receipts for cashback plus get bonus cashback on featured products too! Get the app here.
- Coupons.com App – You can clip virtual coupons instead of printing them out and scan your receipt for money back! Get the app for Android or IOS.
- Checkout 51 – Select from a huge selection of deals and then upload your receipt for easy money back! Get the app here.
- Swagbucks and MyPoints – These are both very similar apps, add offers to your account and then scan your receipt for money back! You can cash out via gift cards or PayPal! Download Swagbucks here and MyPoints here.
- Field Agent – This is an amazing secret shopper app where you can get paid for buying products, completing in-store surveys or audits, and more! They post offers for tons of stores but the majority are at Walmart! I’ve made some serious bank using this app at Walmart + you can stack these offers with different rebate apps too! You can download the app here.
Can You Use Coupons at Walmart Self Checkout?
You can easily scan your own coupons at self-checkout at Walmart. Gone are the days of holding up the line while a cashier slowly scans each coupon!
After you have scanned your products at the self checkout all you need to do is hold the coupon up to the scanner just like you would with a product and the system will apply the coupon to your purchase. You will see the amount taken off on the screen right next to the items purchased. If you are having trouble getting a coupon to scan you can also use the handheld scanning gun that is next to the self checkout to scan the coupon. Sometimes internet printable coupons will have a hard time scanning and using the scanning gun usually does the trick.
The system will tell you to set aside each coupon after scanning and then you will pay as normal. After your payment has gone through the self-checkout will request that you insert the coupons in the slot underneath where you can insert cash. Drop all your coupons in the slot, and don’t forget to grab your receipt to scan into the couponing apps!
Here’s what to do if a coupon doesn’t go through at Walmart
Occasionally a coupon will refuse to scan at checkout. At self-checkout, you will often see green text on the screen instead of the coupon amount being taken off. This is usually due to a system error and an employee will need to manually input the coupon amount.
Before you call over an employee, pull out the item that you are using the coupon on and double-check the coupon requirements to ensure you have the right product. If everything matches up you can click assistance on the screen and then just let the employee know that your coupon is not scanning and that you’ve made sure you have the correct product, and they will push it through.
The Walmart self-checkout system will also call for approval for coupons over $5 and if the total amount of all coupons used is over $50. This doesn’t mean anything is wrong or that your coupons aren’t valid, it’s simply a security measure that Walmart has put into place to help curtail coupon fraud.
Some stores will also manually adjust the system to call for approval on all coupons or even call for approval on total coupon saving amounts lower than $50. I frequented a store where I never had to get employee approval but then suddenly their system changed to requesting approval on every single little thing. This is a major your miles may vary situation, but getting employee approval is a super quick process and self-checkout is still much quicker than waiting in the regular cashier lines.
If you ever run into trouble with a cashier/employee in regards to whether or not they take internet coupons or any other coupon-related issue I recommend that you pull up the Walmart Coupon Policy from their website on your phone screen to explain why your coupon should be accepted. After you pull out the official policy they will almost always resolve the issue without further argument.
How to Check Walmart Pricing and Availability from Home
The Walmart grocery website and the app are the best way to check on pricing and availability right from home! You can also change your location for “pick up” (even though you likely aren’t doing a pickup order) to view the stock at different stores in your area. The grocery website/app does not list every single item in-store but the pricing is extremely accurate. You can also search for items on the regular Walmart website but it will not always show pricing for in-store only items.
If you search for an item on the Walmart website while on a mobile device it will also display the aisle location for that product. When you’re searching for very specific items for a coupon scenario it’s insanely helpful to have the exact aisle number instead of scouring half the store. If you click the aisle number it will also show you a mini map of your store and where that aisle is located.
What is Walmart’s Couponing Policy?
Walmart’s coupon policy is very straight forward with just a few things to keep in mind. You can read the entire policy here, but here are the main rules to be aware of:
- There is no limit on the number of coupons (variety) that can be used in a total transaction (Whoo-hoo!)
- The coupon value will be applied to the price of an item allowing any overage to be applied to the transaction total.
- Walmart will give cashback after overages are applied to the total remaining basket.
- They accept valid, internet printable manufacturer coupons.
- They do not accept internet coupons for free items with no purchase requirements. For example, a “BOGO free” coupon is acceptable, but a “Get one free with no purchase necessary” coupon would not be accepted.
- Returns of items purchased using Manufacturer Coupons may receive the coupon value returned in the original form of tender, thus providing the full purchase price back to the customer.