Current deals question

[Mamadedos]

I'm new to this system and have been reading these forums for days and days and I still don't understand some of the processes. I'm looking at the current deals list for CVS and I see some things that come out to free with Extrabucks. Here's one example: Mini composition book, free after 1.99 Extrabucks during the 3-day sale, 1.99 after the sale and no Extrabucks. Does that mean that you go in during the sale, they ring up the book, you get 1.99 in Extrabucks which you use then and there so the book comes out free? Or does it mean that you already have 1.99 in Extrabucks on your card (from a previous transaction) so when you buy the book it comes out free? If that's the case, wouldn't everything you buy at CVS come out free assuming you had enough Extrabucks on your card? I'm really confused! Can anyone spell it out for me? Thanks!

[PoconoMom]

Basically when they say "free" it means that you buy the mini composition book for $1.99 then after you pay at the bottom of your receipt there will be a coupon for $1.99 that you can use later. If you lose that coupon (also call ecb) then it is gone, its not on your card you must keep those ecb's. I hope that helps explain things.

[4Coupons4Life]

In the case of the mini composition notebook. It's simple. When you buy the item during the sale period for $1.99, you'll get as part of your receipt a ECB at the value of $1.99 which you cut off the receipt. It'll have an expiration date for a month beyond the purchase date. It can be used same as cash at any CVS except for items like gift cards and cigarettes.

The beauty of it, is if you can use the ECB during another transaction (that same day or before expiration) for an item that costs $1.99, and that item you also receive an ECB back for $1.99, then you essentially pay nothing except for tax. Of course this is a simple example and as you garner more ECB's it can become a little more involved, but it doesn't take long to get the hang of rolling your ECB's for more items that get you ECB's, and it that way you can get items for free or on the cheap!

To take it a little further, say you bought the mini composition notebook for $1.99 and received your ECB for $1.99, sure you could just use the $1.99 ECB to buy something else that doesn't return an ECB, but the rolling concept is then lost as you have no ECB for future transactions.

Understand?

[angela2678]

"Free after ECBs" means you pay for it now, but immediately get an ECB for the same price. As you start out with ECBs, you'll have to spend some money to earn ECBs. But once you have some, you'll use them to buy more things that generate ECBs, and you'll roll those over week to week.

Let's say you buy the notebook and pay $1.99 cash. On your receipt will be the ECB for $1.99. Then you could take that ECB and use it to pay for one of the recycled schoolboxes, also $1.99 but free after ECBs. You'll only pay tax on the schoolbox, and then your receipt from the schoolbox will have yet another ECB for $1.99. Basically, you do that over and over again (but on grander and grander scales and also combining it with coupons to make profit) and never pay for anything at CVS again. You'll get the hang of it; it just takes time. HTH!

[mnm'z]

Originally Posted by mnm'z

I went to CVS yesterday with a $7.99 and $4 ECB...

I picked up the Revlon Mineral Mousse $9.99, a Bayer Contour $14.99, and 3 Dark Chocolate MnMz for $1.50 for a subtotal of $26.48. Used my $11.99 ECBs, a $14.99 Q for the Bayer Contour and no q's for the Revlon or chocolate. My OOP was $1.00 even. Earned $9.99 ECBs for the Revlon and $5 for the Contour...

Turned around and picked up the Schick Quattro Trimmer (for DH) that I had a raincheck for $8.99, used a $4 Q and $5 ECB for an OOP of $.54 and earned $2 back in ECBs.

Grand Total OOP at CVS today was $1.54 and got make up, a meter, chocolate and a razor... and ended my day with the same ECBs as I started with.

Here's a good example of rolling your ECBs. HTH By saving my ECBs and rolling them, I only spent $1.54 ~ pocket change really... I did this transaction last week - so nobody try to copy it... When you first start at CVS there is an 'investment' of sorts, you need to purchase items that are on sale that generate ECBs and hopefully you can find q's for the said items. I call that the tri-fecta... on sale, earn ECBs, and a q... so you will have a larger OOP for the first transaction. Turn around and do a second trans if you want using the ECBs you earned on the first transaction. Now, you're rolling them!

[Mamadedos]

Thanks for the quick and helpful replies! This system is simple in theory, but in practice it gets pretty involved. You guys and gals are either REALLY good at math, or this gets A LOT easier the longer you do it.

[nida84]

hee hee it gets easier see my pm to you
you can also make "profit" and not have to spend much as per the below example.

Blink tears were on sale for 7.99, with a 7.99ECB back, everyone had coupons from the internet and sunday papers ranging from $1 off to $4 off. This means you would have paid anywhere from 6.99 to as low as 3.99 yet received 7.99 ECB's!