How Often We Update Coupons and Deal Pages

Store pages and coupon listings are re-checked on a set schedule, guides are reviewed on a longer one, and any reader reports jump ahead of both.

The schedule is below. The more useful thing to know is that update frequency matters less than what kind of offer you are looking at, because a flash code and a free shipping threshold decay at completely different speeds, and a weekly check is generous for one and useless for the other.

Our update schedule

A schedule is a floor, not a description of what happens in practice. Offers are also checked when something specific prompts them, as covered further down.

Why does the offer type matter more than the schedule

Offers do not age at a uniform rate. Some are dead within hours of publication, and some remain stable for years; a single site-wide update frequency cannot serve both. This is the table to actually use when judging how much weight to give a listing.

The pattern underneath: offers tied to an event or a cap die fast, and offers tied to a program stay alive. A welcome discount is part of how a retailer acquires customers, so it remains in place until they redesign the program. A 30% weekend code exists to hit a number by Sunday.

That is why a coupon page can be genuinely current and still show mostly dead codes during a sale week, and why the same page can be untouched for a month and still be accurate if what it lists are program offers.

What triggers a check outside the schedule

Four things move an offer to the front of the queue:

1. A reader report. Someone tells us a code failed, and it gets retested before anything on schedule. This is the fastest signal available, and it beats any automated system we could run.
2. A retailer announcement. A published sale, a policy change, or a program relaunch prompts a full review of that store page rather than the single offer.
3. A sale event. Store pages in affected categories get checked more often in the run-up to and during major events, because that is exactly when code churns fastest.
4. A change in the retailer’s affiliate program data. Networks publish offer start and end dates, and status, so an entry flipping to 'expired' prompts a check. It prompts a check rather than a removal, because network entries are frequently wrong in both directions.

What happens when an offer fails a check

It is removed or relabeled as expired, and the checked date moves with the actual test. Nothing sits in a middle state where it has failed but still looks alive.

Some expired offers stay visible with an expired label rather than disappearing. Knowing a retailer ran 25% off sitewide three weeks ago tells you something real about whether to buy now or wait, and that history is worth keeping as long as the label is unambiguous. Dead codes presented as though they might still work are a different thing, and those come down.

The test itself is documented separately, including what a passing test does not prove.

What “updated daily” usually means, and why we do not restamp dates

“Updated daily” is one of the emptiest claims in this industry, because adding a single new offer to a page technically counts as an update, while 10 dead codes sit above the fold, untouched. The claim describes an action taken somewhere on the page, not the state of the offers on it.

The tell is whether dates are per-offer or per-page. A single “last updated” stamp at the top of a store page tells you almost nothing, since it could refer to any change at all. A date attached to each offer is a claim about that offer, which is the one you are about to use.

We do not move a date without re-running the check behind it. Google’s own guidance on page dates makes the same point for content in general, advising publishers not to artificially refresh a page without adding significant information or another real reason. A date that advances on its own makes a page look maintained rather than unattended, and the difference matters most at exactly the moment a shopper is relying on it. Our editorial policy commits to this in writing.

Why do dead offers come down instead of padding the page

There is a straightforward traffic incentive to leave expired codes up: more listings, more keywords, more pages. The reason not to is that every dead listing spends a reader’s time and returns nothing.

There is also a principle worth naming. The FTC’s guides against bait advertising state that an offer should not be published when it is not a bona fide effort to sell the advertised product. A coupon that expired since it was last checked is not bait advertising in the legal sense, since there is no intent to switch anybody to anything, and it would be wrong to suggest otherwise. But the principle behind the rule, that you should not advertise what cannot actually be obtained, is the right standard for a coupon page to hold itself to, regardless of whether the law reaches it.

How to spot a stale listing yourself

This works on any coupon site, not just this one.

1. Find the per-offer date. No date next to the individual offer means you are relying on the page’s overall freshness, which is not the same thing.
2. Match the date to the offer type. Use the decay table above. A three-day-old flash code is a coin flip. A three-month-old free shipping threshold is probably still accurate.
3. Check whether exclusions are listed. A listing showing minimum spend and excluded categories was written by someone who read the terms. A bare code with no restrictions usually was not.
4. Look at the rest of the page. If every offer uses the same date, the date is likely applied via template rather than through testing. Reading a verified badge properly explains what that badge is and what it does not claim.

Frequently asked questions

How often are your coupon codes checked?

Store pages and their listings run on a fixed re-check schedule, with the date of the most recent check shown next to each offer. Reader reports moving an offer to the front of the queue immediately, and store pages in categories affected by a major sale event get checked more frequently while the event runs.

Why do I still find expired codes on the site?

Codes die between checks. A retailer can hit a redemption cap or pull a promotion hours after a successful test, and no schedule catches that. When it happens, the offer is removed or labelled expired at the next check or the next reader report, whichever comes first. Reporting one is the fastest way to get it fixed.

Do you delete expired coupons or leave them up?

Both, depending on what is useful. Codes that are dead are removed. Notable past promotions stay visible with a clear expired label, because a record of what a retailer discounted and when helps you decide whether to buy now or wait. Nothing that has expired is left in a state that could be mistaken for a live offer.

Does a recent update date mean the code will work?

No. It means the code was checked on that date and passed. Single-use limits, exclusion lists, new customer restrictions, regional locks, and redemption caps all apply at your checkout and are invisible to a check run earlier. A recent date improves the odds, but it does not settle the question.

How can I get an offer rechecked?

Send the store name, the code, and the error message you saw through the contact form. It goes into the test queue ahead of scheduled work, and the listing is updated, relabeled, or removed based on what the retest shows.

If you are about to use an offer from this site

Check the date on that specific offer, then check it against the offer type in the decay table above. Those two steps take about 10 seconds and will tell you more than any badge on the page. If the code you wanted is stale, the rest of that retailer’s live offers are a better place to look next. If something is wrong, tell us what failed so it can be retested ahead of schedule.