Extreme Couponing Show

I see/hear people talk about this show a lot.  The biggest problem is, the ones I hear talking about it are not really into couponing.  That's fine, I suppose.  Why I think it's a problem though, is that they don't know how completely fake the show is.  Also, they don't hear about the illegal things going on with the show.  In just about every episode, there are fraudulent coupons being used.  I don't even mean that someone is using it on the wrong product, etc (though, that has been shown too), but they are using coupons that are fakes.  As in, they do not exist at all as a valid coupon.  Of course, if that wasn't bad enough .. the shopping trips are completely unrealistic.  No one is ever going to have 100s of coupons that say FREE on them.  That is, unless they are buying them.  There are several ways to buy coupons.  There's Ebay, coupon clippers, etc.

Has anyone ever looked to see how much a coupon that is for  FREE item goes for on Ebay?

Here's an example

Of course, this is a HORRIBLY BAD example.  They are selling TWO coupons for FREE Quilted Northern 12 double rolls.  The current bid (when I posted this) is at $7.50.  That's $3.25 a 12 pack.  Ok, not a bad price.  However, this coupon is fake.  It has been posted on several places on the internet, including the Coupon Information Center that this is not a valid coupon and should NOT be used.  This is one coupon that has been seen being used many times on Extreme Couponing.  

HERE is a story about 16 year old Joel from Extreme Couponing.  He used many of these Quilted Northern coupons while on the show.  The register beeped, but the store pushed them through anyway.  The store did NOT get reimbursed for the coupons.  Joel's mother ended up having to pay back the store over $400 for all the toiler paper he purchased with the counterfeit coupons.


There have many many other instances of fake coupons being used on the show .. some more examples:

Another Quilted Northern Example

Counterfeit Tide Coupons Used In All Star Episode

More Quilted Northern Examples AND a few other fake coupons

Counterfeit Pizza Coupons Used

There are many more instances, but THIS ARTICLE really hit it for me.  So many people watch the show and think that what happens on the show is truly possible.  It really isn't.  Sure, you can get great deals and occasionally even have a $0 total.  Sometimes, you can even get overage.  These instances are not available all the time and the show makes people think it's possible.