FAQ
CVS Coupon Policy
*You are allowed to use (1) manufacturer and (1) CVS coupon per item.
*You may also use ExtraCare Bucks towards your purchase and $ off your order coupons.
*CVS accepts internet printable coupons.
*You can use a B1G1 Free coupon in a B1G1 Free sale.
*CVS will issue rainchecks on ECB items.
The ExtraCare Bucks Program
CVS’s ExtraCare Bucks (ECB) program pays you in ExtraCare Bucks when you purchase certain items. ExtraCare Bucks print at the register after you make a purchase and you can immediately use them to purchase other items at CVS. They do have expiration dates – generally giving you 4 weeks to use them. There are some exclusions such as stamps, gift cards, alcohol, tobacco, lottery, money orders, pre-paid cards, prescriptions, and special order Home Health Care items, including footwear. etc. ExtraCare Bucks are another way for manufacturers to incentivize shoppers to purchase their products.
How Do I Start?
In order to start earning ExtraCare Bucks (ECBs) you need to apply for a CVS rewards card that you can keep in your wallet or your key-chain. You will need to have your card scanned prior to making any purchases.
Look for items that are advertised in the weekly ad as offering ExtraCare Bucks on your purchase. Some will be for buying a very specific product … (Get $3 ExtraCare Bucks WYB Colgate for $3). Others will be when you meet a certain threshold… (Get $3 ExtraCare Bucks WYB $15+ in Revlon Cosmetics).
There are both weekly ExtraCare Bucks deals that you’ll find in the weekly ads and monthly ExtraCare Bucks Deals that you will find in the store.
Limits on Extra Care Bucks
There will be a limit on how many ExtraCare Bucks you can earn on each deal and that limit will be in the ad and tracked by your card. If the limit is (2) you will only earn ExtraCare Bucks on (2) purchases of that item. You can however buy them in one transaction if you choose, however you will earn an ExtraCare Buck that is for 2x the amount you were to earn, not (2) smaller Extra Care Bucks. Lets take a look at an example…
Get $3 ExtraCare Bucks WYB Colgate for $3 (limit 2)
If you do this deal 2x in separate transactions you will earn (2) $3 ExtraCare Bucks
If you do this deal 2x in one transaction you will earn (1) $6 ExtraCare Buck
This may not matter to you but if all you wanted to purchase immediately following that deal was an item for $3.50 you would be better off having a $3 ExtraCare Buck to spend than a $6 Extra Care Buck to spend.
What are Extra Bucks Rewards?
In addition to the regular ExtraCare Bucks you also earn Extra Bucks Rewards for making purchases in the store. You’ll earn 2% back with every purchase in-store and online at CVS/pharmacy and (1) Extra Buck for every 2 prescriptions purchased in-store and online at CVS/pharmacy. These special rewards will print out quarterly on your receipt or at the Coupon Center, located in the store.
What are CRT’s?
CRTs are Coupon Register Tape coupons that print after your receipt or in the Coupon Center located in most stores. These are store coupons and are often based on your past purchases.
Is there an order I should hand in my coupons?
*If you have a $/$$ coupon like $4/$20 always give those FIRST.
*Hand over manufacturer and CVS coupons next.
*Lastly hand over any ExtraCare Bucks you are using to pay.
Can I use ECBs to pay for another item that produces ECBs?
Yes absolutely! In fact the best way to maximize your savings is to use your ECBs to pay for other items that produce ECBs. That strategy in conjunction with coupons will guarantee you spend as little as pocket as possible and help you maximize your savings. You can even use an ECB you earned to buy another of the same deal and earn another identical ECB, as long as the limit for that offer is more than one.
Are ECBs considered coupons? Do I need as many items as I do coupons and ECBs?
Nope! ECBs are not considered manufacturers coupons, consider them more like CVS cash. So you can have 10 items, 10 Manufacturers coupons, 10 CVS coupons and as many ECBs as you’d like to bring your balance down to zero. You will not however, receive cash back from an ECB.
What is a Green Bag Tag?
CVS encourages shoppers to help the environment by bringing in their own bag. To reward you for doing so CVS has the Green Bag Tag program. Just buy a Green Bag Tag for $.99 and attach it to your bag, it could be a plastic bag, a reusable bag, a tote, whatever! Every time you shop, you’ll want to have your Green Bag Tag scanned after your CVS Rewards Card. For every (4) trips you use your reusable bag and scan your tag you’ll get $1 ExtraCare Buck! That’s like saving an extra $.25 on each trip. Shop at CVS twice a week and that’s an extra $26 a year!
Hi, I'm Christie and I love helping people save money! In my family, it's all about saving more and spending less. I started using coupons to help pay off debt. Once I realized we could save literally hundreds of dollars a month with coupons, my life has never been the same. Join me in saving money at one of my favorite stores - CVS!
{ 29 comments… read them below or add one }
Can you explain swagbucks I have an account but somehow can’t figure out how to use the search engines. Also, do you use Upromise I have heard good things about haven’t figured that one out either. Thank you!
Where in the store do they sell the Green Bag Tags? I’d love to purchase one!
Can you use a 2 $ off coupons on BOGO free sale items or just one coupon? Also, I did 2 transactions today and a coupon for the first transaction was in my 2nd transaction stack. So, I completed my first transaction and then saw I didn’t use a coupon. He wouldn’t do anything about it. Said that I could return and buy it back to use the coupon but would cancel out the ECBs I used to pay for the first transaction. Is there a way a manager might fix it the way I intended or am I just screwed? I really don’t care about losing it this time, but next time it might be a serious waste of money.
I think the manager should have made the adjustment for you. The B1G1 issue will really depend on your store. It’s not really addressed in their coupon policy. Some stores allow it and others do not. In my area they do. So it will just depend on your store or your region.
Thank you so much, Christie. I appreciate your websites! I’ve been shopping Walgreens a long time, so when he said I’d lose money on that at CVS, I was shocked.
I just now found this site after following you on your other “wild” blog. I can’t believe it has taken me this long. Now, I have used CVS for about 5 months and have gotten some terrific deals. My question is where do you print the CVS coupons? I always get some cents off coupons at the store when I scan my card at the red kiosk but not the ones I see pictured on different pages on your blog. What am I missing? I feel like I could have saved even more! Help!
Hi there! Sometimes CVS will put CVS coupons on it’s site and I’ll post those when they come up.
Hi, newbie here and I have a few question, the first one is, why would you use a BOGO coupon for a item that is on sale BOGO……confused. My other question is harder and would require a long answer…maybe you know where I can find the answer? I’m looking at the ECB deals and I just can’t figure out how to do it. Let’s take the one I’m interested in, the Schick for as low as .99
8.99 – 4$ ECB – 2$ coupon = 2.99 again confused as how to get to closer to the .99
Any help/direction you offer will be greatly appreciated!
Christie,
Does CVS give overage on manufacturer coupons? I have some coupons that I am planning to use for the Black Friday sale that are more than the sale price and I was wondering if CVS gives you the full value of the coupon even if it’s more than the purchase price. Since CVS doesn’t have a formal coupon policy, I was hoping you would know.
Thanks!
Hi, I hope someone can help me with this : I’ve spent $19.77 so far towards the Schicks products to get the $10 ECB (spend $20 on any Schick/Playtex and get $10 ECB this week) but was just 0.23 cents short of reaching the $20 and still got the $10 ECB. My question is, on the receipt it says that I’m 0.23 cents short instead of “reached limit”. Does it mean that if I bought another Schick or Playtex product I would get another $10 ECB althought it’s a limit of 1 ECB per card? I’m confused… Thanks!
Hi, I hope you can help me. I was trying to get the gift card from CVS during Oct.16-22 I brought the bounty paper towels for 13.00. I tried to buy the Wisk detergent. But each CVS I went to was out. So I got a rain Check . The next time I brought 4 Wisk detergent for 4.99 on sale used my 2.oo mfr Q. which made it 2.00 but I did not get my gift card for 10.00. I ask the shift manager about this. She said I needed my sale paper. Last night I took my sale paper to her. She said she could not do anything about this. I had to buy all the items in that week to receive the gift card. I told her I read somewhere that they where accumlative.
I suggest calling corporate and letting them know what happened. The Gift Card deals vary from week to week and one week doesn’t spill into the other weeks but it’s still worth calling.
Hello,
I am new to couponing this year (Thanks for all your help BTW) CVS sent me a notice that I am only $12.12 away from $5 ECB for the beauty club. I purchased 13.00 today the cashier told me to sign into my online CVS account as it takes a few days to get those ECB’s. In my history it says …..2% of your Fall 2011 Spend will be issued on January 1st. Rewards are redeemable in-store and online. What does this mean? Are my offers only as good as how much i spend the previous quarter?
Thanks Tracy
You have a couple of things going on at the same time. The Beauty Club is one thing. Then totally separate from that you also earn 2% of your spending as a quarterly ECB. So when you go on-line or go to the store on Jan. 1st you should get an ECB for 2% of most everything you spent total the previous quarter! That’s in addition to the $5 Beauty Club!
Hello,
I have a question I did the Colgate and cards transaction today and I did not get my extra care bucks. I did the same deal the previous day and I did get the cvs extra care bucks. So my question is can you only do the deal once a week to get the extra care bucks? Thanks again for such a great website
Hi Tina, the ECB deals do have a limit. Each one is different – so those two have a limit of (1) so you’ll only get the ECB once. I suggest just bringing in your receipt and returning the items. That should be no problem. You can let them know you are new to CVS and didn’t realize the limit.
When CVS does the buy $30 in product get $10 ECB is it $30 before coupons or after coupons?
So if Clean and Clear is $4.99 and I have a $2 off will I get $4.99 towards the $30 or $2.99?
Thanks so much!
It’s before so you’ll get $4.99 towards the $30
Since last night My CVS (@santa ana, california) DOES NOT accept internet printable coupons! I never had a problem with them with e-coupons until now. The cashier told me that the Supervisor told her that they can’t accept it because people photocopy them!?!?! I told her that I printed them out from my printer and u are only aloud to print two, but they wouldn’t accept it. I feel Lost Now, I don’t know what to do with all these coupons I printed out, what a waste of paper and ink! I guess now I have to walk that extra five blocks to get to Walgreen to use them (I don’t have a car).
Tomorrow I will be getting Snicker’s Eggs priced at 2/$1.00 – I have coupons from last weeks paper (2/$1.00 – which will make them free) and I have been getting CVS coupons for $0.25 of the purchase of 2 Snicker’s eggs, Can I use both to get a $.025 overage?
You can stack a man Q and a store Q (the one that prints at the koisk)- worked for me just the other day
Does CVS accept competitor coupons? I have a Target coupon (not internet printed) from their ad.
I have a weird question… I realize that ECB’s are non-transferrable- however I recently posted a picture of my CVS haul along with my ECB print-outs without blacking out the bar codes. Am I in any danger of someone “stealing” my ECBs? (Not that anyone would, just curious if that is a possibility).
ECBs can only be used with the card they were issued under. I don’t see how anyone could “steal” them unless they had your ExtraCare card.
What about % off coupons? I.e I have a $5/$15 beauty and a 20% off next beauty purchase can I use these both in the same transaction, cause that would be super!! =D Thanks =D And if I can what order should I give them in??
I’m fairly certain you can use both. The order you hand them shouldn’t really matter because the computer doesn’t apply the 20% until the very end. But I would hand the $5/$15 first. Then the 20% off which will apply to your beauty total – $5. So if you were right at $15, you’d get another $2 off.
I keep having issues with my extra care card when it comes to printing my extra bucks. For example last week I bought 3 of the Charmin toilet paper packs to get me to $30 and my $10 extra bucks printed, but it didn’t print with my name on the extra bucks, like all of my other extra bucks do and it also doesn’t have the last four digits on the bottom that should match mine. This is the 2nd time this has happened. I handed over my extra care card, but I’m wondering if the manager that checked me out used a store card instead of mine. Any ideas?
Do the ExtraCare Bucks offers apply to purchases online as well?
On the 10ECB after 30 does the tally roll over from week to week? For example, I spent $14 this week on Pantene and won’t shop til tomorrow, will the 14 toward my $30 purchase still earn me the 10 ECBs?
Thanks in advance!