Travel capsule · Coupons

Record coupon conditions you can verify

A discount code is the least important part of an offer. What decides whether it works is the small print around it: which categories count, what the minimum spend is measured against, how long it lasts and how many times it can be used. Record those, with the source and the date, and the code becomes a detail rather than a hope.

Blank cream card held by a brass clip on black slate

You have a capsule list of four items, a total of roughly £250 in illustrative figures, and a code somebody mentioned in a group chat. Before adding it to the plan, the useful question is not "does it still work" but "under what conditions was it ever supposed to work". Those conditions are almost always written down somewhere on the seller's own pages.

Why the conditions matter more than the code

Codes circulate for years after they expire, get copied without their category limits, and are often quoted with the wrong minimum spend. Applying one at checkout and seeing it fail tells you almost nothing; it could be the wrong category, an expired date, a first-order-only rule, or a basket that misses the threshold by a pound.

Record the conditions first. If they cannot be found, the offer stays out of the budget entirely — which is a better outcome than planning around a discount that turns out to be a welcome offer you are not eligible for.

Six fields to record

  • Source. Where the condition text came from: the seller's own offer page, a newsletter, or an in-store notice. A screenshot of a reseller's blog is not a source.
  • Eligible categories. Whether it applies to the whole basket or only to certain groups, and whether sale items are included.
  • Minimum spend. Whether it is measured before or after other discounts, and whether delivery counts towards it.
  • Valid dates. Start and end, with the time zone if it is stated, plus the date you read it.
  • Use limits. One per customer, one per order, first order only, or unlimited while the promotion runs.
  • Exclusions. Brands, categories, gift cards, and anything described as excluded from promotions.

A condition check table

The row below is an invented example, written to show the shape of the record. It is not a code, a promotion, or a claim that any offer exists.

ConditionExample entryStatus
SourceSeller's offer page (example)Read 22 Oct 2026
Eligible categoriesWomens-clothing only (example)Matches 2 of my 4 rows
Minimum spend£60 before delivery (example)Would need a third item
Valid datesStated end date (example)Check again before ordering
Use limitsOne use per customer (example)Assume single use
ExclusionsFootwear excluded (example)My shoe row does not qualify

Read the status column, not the code. Two rows qualify, one does not, and hitting the minimum would mean buying something that was not on the list — which is the point at which a discount becomes a cost.

When no source can be found

If you cannot find the conditions on a page you trust, write "unverified" and leave the discount out of the total. Do not fill the gap with an assumed percentage, and do not quote a code you have only seen in a screenshot. This site does not publish coupon codes for exactly that reason: without a current, checkable source, a code is a guess dressed up as a fact.

Practical test: can you name the page, the date, and the sentence that states the discount? If any of the three is missing, the offer is not ready to be used in a budget.

Minimum spend is not a discount

A minimum spend is a condition, and meeting it usually costs money. If a £10 discount requires £60 of qualifying items and your list totals £48, the honest comparison is £48 with no discount against £60 minus £10, which is £50. The discount has made the basket more expensive, not cheaper. The guide on comparing the final cost of offers works through that arithmetic properly.

Stacking and exclusions

Whether two offers can be combined is decided by their terms, not by checkout behaviour. Some promotions explicitly exclude stacking; others allow one product discount and one delivery discount together. Record what the terms say, and if they say nothing, assume they cannot be combined until you have confirmation.

Once the conditions are written down, the discount belongs in the "unconfirmed" column of your budget until it has actually been applied — see separating the parts of your budget. Before you order, the guide on saving purchase and return conditions covers what else is worth keeping from the same pages.