What automatic coupon clipping is (and what it can’t do)

By hand: you sign in to the store’s website, open its coupon page and press Clip (or Load, or Add) on each offer. On some sites more offers appear as you scroll or press Load more, so you keep going until you reach the end.

Automatically: a clipper goes through the same page for you. The coupons end up in the same place, your store account, and they work at checkout exactly like coupons you clipped yourself.

1. Sign in to the store’s website in Chrome, the way you normally would. We never see your store passwords. You sign in on the store’s own site, like always.
2. Start a run. Click the OttoClipper icon in Chrome’s toolbar and pick the store. On supported store websites you can also use the Clip button OttoClipper adds to the page.
3. OttoClipper clips. It opens the store’s coupon page in a Chrome tab and clips every available coupon there to your account, using the store sign-in that’s already in your browser. At some stores it works through the store’s coupon page directly instead of pressing each button on screen, but either way it goes through the store’s own website.
4. It tells you how it went: how many coupons it clipped, or why it couldn’t clip any.

OttoClipper works in Chrome on a computer or a Chromebook, not on phones: Chrome on a phone doesn’t run extensions. You start each run. OttoClipper doesn’t clip in the background on a schedule. It’s a Chrome extension that works at 100+ stores; the full list is on our stores page.

• It doesn’t apply coupons at checkout. You still give the store your card, app or phone number at the register, and the store takes off the coupons on your account.
• It doesn’t stack coupons or change any store’s rules. The store decides at checkout which coupons apply, under its own rules.
• It doesn’t pick and choose. It clips every available coupon on the store’s coupon page.
• It doesn’t work in store apps. It clips on the store’s website, in Chrome.
• It doesn’t add affiliate links. It works on the store’s own coupon page.

Card limits. Some stores cap how many coupons you can hold at once. Kroger caps how many Cash Back Offers and Digital Coupons your household can hold at once, Meijer allows 160 clipped coupons at one time, and Walgreens has a limit too. When your card is full, the store won’t take more, and OttoClipper tells you your card is full. To make room, remove coupons you won’t use on the store’s site, but check the store’s rule first: Kroger lets you remove most coupons without using them, while Walgreens warns that a coupon you unclip can no longer be clipped.

You have to be signed in. If you’re signed out of the store, a run clips nothing, and OttoClipper asks you to check that you’re signed in. Sign in, then run the clip again.

“Verify you’re human” checks. Store websites sometimes show a verification check instead of their coupons. Only you can complete it. When OttoClipper sees one, it tells you, and you can run the clip again once you’re through.

Only what the website shows. OttoClipper can clip only the coupons the store’s website offers you. If you’ve already clipped everything, there’s nothing new until the store adds more.

The store’s coupon rules. Expiry dates, one-time use and the exact size or variety an offer needs all still apply. Our guide to how digital coupons work covers them.

Clipping happens in your own browser, on each store’s website, using the store login you already have. We don’t collect your store account usernames or passwords, your store loyalty card numbers, which individual coupons you clip, or your browsing history. To run your account and enforce plan limits, we record things like which stores you clip at and when, and how many coupons each run clipped. The full list is in our Privacy Policy.

OttoClipper has a free plan and a paid Pro plan. Every plan clips every available coupon at each store you run.

• Free plan: your first store run needs no account. After that, a free account clips 4 stores a day, with 1 Clip Profile of up to 2 stores.
• Pro: unlimited stores, 5 Clip Profiles of up to 10 stores each, and batch clipping of up to 10 stores in one go.

The details are on Free vs Pro.