Refundsweepers: a good place to meet fellow couponers and rebaters

When I first started using coupons and rebating several years ago, my sister introduced me to the Refundsweepers site. It was at that site that I met some great coupon friends to swap with and to follow some deal discussions to learn the ins and outs of what I needed to do to save money the easiest and fastest ways.

Refundsweepers has several forums, but the main ones are coupons, rebating, general chat, freebies, bargains, frugal and swap. Looking for a rebate? Check out the refunding forum, someone probably has extras. Need multiple coupons? Go to the coupons forum and see if anyone has what you need.

The folks there are generally very nice. There is even a feedback forum there if you want to see if someone is a bad trader or not. Not all good traders have feedback links, but many do.

As a general rule, following this trading advice will help you trade safely:

1. Know who you are trading with. An email address isn't generally sufficient. Ask for their user name. You can search it and see how often they post to the board. Generally the longer on the board, the most trustworthy.
2. Check feedback. If there's no link on Refundsweepers, ask if they have feedback on other boards. Most people will give you a short list of names of people they have traded with so that you can feel more comfortable trading with them.
3. If you send a large item or make a large trade, get a delivery confirmation. This will help you if you have a problem later since you'll have produce a receipt. Delivery Confirm will also let you track it. If it is large enough, make them sign for it.
4. Allow 2 weeks before inquiring where a trade is. The mail is slow sometimes and we are at the mercy of the mailman. Don't mail media mail unless the other person requests it. Media mail can take weeks.
5. Trade ASAP if you need things for a sale. Don't wait til mid-week to trade for coupons for a sale ending Saturday.
6. Acknowledgment that trades are received are always appreciated. Send a quick email to the sender to let them know it arrived.
7. Introduce yourself to the board. Lurkers, those who join but don't post, scare some traders off.
8. Find out who the bad traders are and heed advice of those members who post a heads up that so-and-so are seeking trades.