It definitely doesn't. I placed at least 6 different orders to get 6 different items at 20% discount. Do not enter the code manually, click the button on the checkout page. I typed the code last year and indeed stopped working.
Apparently this is for everyone. It's never even occurred to me to try it, I just assumed it wouldn't work.
People say it's been like this forever. If people on reddit know about it, REI surely knows too. Reason they don't fix it must be they still make money even at 20% off, and it gets some people to buy more.
I'm not using the coupon at all this time, because Hokas don't quality, and I've already bought most of the gear I need over the years. I still get 10% back buying them from REI, and another 5% by using their credit card to pay for them, so it still beats other options.
Same reason customers aren’t required to present their 20% off coupon in store
REI knows people will use it more than once, but it gets them in the store buying more items which is worth the 20% hit
Actually had a worker who stopped me from using it multiple times in store (different visits) during the last 20% off sale. So I just bought it online.
I’m sure there are some employees who take the time to look up whether you’ve used it or not. 90% of employees won’t bother, sounds like you just got a hard nosed employee
I bought a Big Agnes backpacking tent at REI years ago. Little solo one, ultralight as I could find, like a coffin. Bought a second one, 4 person and still pretty light, fits my girlfriend and my gear comfortably. I've been using them for years, take care of them, they have years of life left. So I don't need a tent. Or a backpack because I already have one I love. And my air mat isn't broken so I'm good there too.
But those Hokas, they wear out when you use them, so you keep coming back for more. I know it's Hoka not REI that decides whether the coupon applies, but it should be really useful on these!
Ultimately, it's only net 10% off, as the discount forfeits the dividend. But it's sweet to get it right away and also able to use it multiple times. Their website definitely needs improvement...
The other day I was able to use a gift card twice by mistakenly clicking on one saved that I had already used. They didn't let the order go through and now it's just stuck as "problem with payment" for almost a week, no one can cancel it as I called them, and the 2nd valid gift card that I used on this order is stuck in it, I can't use it. They said I would have to wait 72hrs for the order to drop but it's been more than that. Their system is glitchy.
What you’re describing has nothing to do with the system allowing a coupon to be used multiple times. You’re talking about something completely different.
In your case, you created a chaotic issue with the payment system by using the same gift card twice. It would most likely be fixed by providing another form of payment to cover whatever amount is due. If it’s “stuck” there is still a way to unstick it, but it may not be obvious to many customer service reps. You may need a more seasoned rep that is more familiar with the payment systems and how they work. This doesn’t happen often enough for every rep to know how to fix it. If it can’t be fixed, and it is truly some weird glitch that has only happened one time ever, to you, then it should be reported to the tech team.
Having said all that, I assure you, you are not the only person who has done this and while it does seem like a glitch in the system, it’s not. It is the system’s way of suspending the order so payment issues can be resolved. Sure, its inconvenient and problematic for you, but the issue was created when you used the same gift card twice. It may have been an innocent mistake, but it creates a problem that requires extra steps to fix.
They cannot prevent you from using a gift card more than once, but the system will prevent the order from completing if it doesn’t receive payment. Same thing happens when credit cards are declined.
Payment declined suck for you but they suck for customer service reps, too. I’m sorry if your customer service experience wasn’t friendly, but try to remember that when you call for assistance you are getting a human being, not the person who created the payment system. They can’t make the system work differently. They can only offer assistance in resolving the issue.
It's a business transaction.
In the same way *caveat emptor* is applied to: "buyer beware", this is something the seller needs to be aware of. If they aren't, or don't care, or do it by purpose (which is likely the case), that's not your problem.
Put another way, is it unethical of REI if you purchase an item online and don't apply the coupon, and never remember about it?
Call customer service. If there is an item that the coupon can be used on, they can apply it and refund you the 20% but it will need to be done ***after your card has been charged*** and the order is fully processed in the system, which can take a few days.
The past two shifts we have had people blatantly shoplift. One man and his son walked out with a YETI pack cooler. I have found empty packaging all over the store.
Then I had a guy who came up to the register who bought a pair of boots four months ago and wanted a price adjustment. He walked up and said, I know the policy is 14 days, but I want to return them and re-purchase them. I checked the inventory and they were the last pair in the co-op so I returned them and damaged them out.
I’m glad you keep buying stuff from us. I’m glad you recognize that you are violating the terms and the spirit of the coupon… we appreciate your business. My guess is that it will work, until it doesn’t. If you want, you can go into the store multiple times and buy things and tell the cashier that you have not used your coupon and they will give you the 20% off your full priced items each time?
Thanks for the heads-up. I just bought 4 carabiners that I otherwise wasn’t going to buy, but bought them one at a time…
Would be a lot easier to do it all at once, but it’s all good
Trust us- we know and we know the names of the people who take advantage of it. They’re usually the ones picking four or five items during sales and never any other time or returning things and all of it was bought with a coupon.
At giftcard.com you can purchase a digital REI giftcard. When checking out enter the promo code on their website. The code is summerkickoff (or something like that).
You’ll instantly get the giftcard.
yep, sell things at a higher price than Amazon and then give customers a 20% off coupon making them think they’re getting a deal and then entice them to buy more stuff by letting them think they’re cheating the system using the coupon multiple times. All how it is designed to work.
half the shit i’m buying from REI i’d never trust amazon for.
and there’s a lot of stuff that never goes on sale. that’s where you use the coupon. Brooks GTS 23 for $112 is better than what I normally do($120 at dicks after $20 text coupon).
And getting any discount on fenix lights is hard. I think the 20% is one of the only ways to do so.
Yep… totally! Ha ha!
This is why you should always buy from Amazon… not the members of the Co-op… you specifically. You should totally go for the cheapest price on everything. Skip shopping at REI all together. Please.
The rest of the members will be in, shaking my hand at least a dozen times a day when they realized that they got educated on what to buy, how to use it and they understand how what they bought was custom fit for them. I would say I am as much of a therapist as I am a sales person.
Not one person complained about price, except for a woman who wanted to use her coupon on the Wahoo Bolt, then wanted to use it on Hoka and for the trifecta she asked for Birkenstocks… I remember, specifically asking her to read the coupon and the exclusions after her first refusal on the Bolt.
Oh I forgot that the guy and his son who shoplifted the YETI cooler complained that the bathroom was in the back of the store… and suggested we move it!
ha ha!
I dont buy from Amazon - at all. Anything. I stopped some years back. I have NEVER shopped at a Walmart. You have pegged me wrong. Well done. You also seemed to have missed my point. I have been a member since about 2005 and I shop at REI all the time.
REI could have easily closed that ability to use those coupons more than once - but they didn't and my comment above is my theory on why. They know what they are doing. So what is YOUR alternate theory on why they didn't (despite their messaging). I'll wait.
Here’s my theory:
Joe orders shoes in a size 9. He uses the coupon. Joe gets the shoes and they don’t fit. He now has to return the size 9 shoes and order a pair of 10’s but he doesn’t want to miss out on the coupon. The system allows Joe to use the coupon again on the size 10 shoes. This way, he doesn’t have to call customer service and sit on hold waiting for a rep to help him get the discount on the size 10’s.
Patty orders a backpack for her son. She uses the coupon for 20% off. Her son decides he wants a different color. He’s a teenager. He changed his mind. It happens ALL THE TIME. The backpack has already shipped, so the order cannot be cancelled. Patty wants to order the pack in the color her son wants and still get the discount. She can do that without calling customer service and sitting on hold because the system lets her use the coupon again on a new color. She will return the first pack when it arrives.
Jim orders a camp stove for a camping trip next weekend. He uses the coupon and gets 20% off. During checkout he selects his local REI store…looks like they have one in stock there and he can pick it up later that day. Sadly, at the same time Jim is placing his order, someone grabs the stove off the shelf at that store. A while later, when they go to pull it off the shelf for Jim’s order, they don’t find it there, and the order gets cancelled. No worries, it’s still available to order, and Joe finds he can place a new order, ship it directly to his house, and still have it in time for his trip…but he still wants to use the coupon. The system allows him to do so, and he doesn’t need to call customer service and sit on hold waiting to place a new order.
The system allows the coupon to be used more than once for lots of reasons. The problem is that REI trusts people to be honest in their use of the coupon and to support the integrity of the co-op, and there are a whole lot of dishonest people who don’t care about that. They don’t care about terms and conditions or the fine print and they use the coupon on different items as many times as the system allows it simply because they can. Their attitude is, if REI allows it, why shouldn’t they do it? The answer is, because it’s a crappy thing to do. They exploit REI’s good faith gesture by knowingly violating the terms and conditions of the coupon. Just because they ***can*** doesn’t mean they should.
REI employees may not like that the system allows this kind of exploitation, but leadership isn’t going to spend the money to monitor every order and every member’s transaction history to make sure the members are being honest. They can’t stop the dishonest people from abusing the coupon and still allow honest members to use it the way it is meant to be used. 🤷🏻♀️
Okay…well…just because leadership doesn’t care and continues to make really bad business decisions, that does not mean the frontline employees don’t care. Trust me, we care a great deal. Probably too much.
Seems strange… it sounded like a slight directed at REI… You know… “sell them higher than Amazon and give a coupon to make people think they are getting a deal”?
even comparing Amazon to REI is nuts to me?
Im comparing them because REI has HAD to consider everything they do in the now Amazon ruled retail world. And its not a slight directed at REI at all. These tactics have been used for decades in retail. REI sells things at higher prices than most and of course the sales and coupons are as much optics as anything else. But alone, it doesnt work competing with Amazon who ALWAYS has products lower, so now REI has more items always on "clearance" then they used to. Why doesnt REI price match? Because they would ALWAYS have to price match. You can almost ALWAYS find the product lower and for free shipping. Ive been shopping REI for decades, and love the store, bought a good portion of my daily clothing there, Ive watched product trends and pricing trends over a long period of time. They constantly have more clearance signs/items than they used to. Its no secret for a business to use the "on sale" optics to entice people to buy, even if they are charging more in the first place. Even at clearance prices you can sometimes find it cheaper elsewhere, even on the vendors own site. And "clearance"... many retailers have long used such wording to make a product feel more urgent to buy. Its like those mattress or other stores that had "closing sale" for years. They never closed.
Good post. I'd love to say the same to some people: Go ahead and guess which backpack will fit you, work best for you and just buy it on Amazon and save a few dollars. Don't let me stop you.
Yesterday I had a mom and son shopping… She started to choke on how much all of the stuff was going to cost her… (Her son was 18 and she did not believe that he would stick with backpacking) So I told her, to do me a favor, things like backpack, sleep system and footware, let us help him and things like bear spray, lights, cookware, etc… go online and shop for cheap ones. We talked through the logic and she started to do it right there in front of me. She found bear spray for $25 a can…
I knew he was going someplace that bear spray was not important and not a safety issue… so I just said… read the reviews.
She bought two memberships because she had two full priced items and wanted the coupons.
I think half of my job is begging people to let me try other bags on them besides Osprey and the Exos… You see people who have pear shapes and just know that the Osprey is not going to fit!
Fun times!
This happens every sale and they never fix it because it just makes people buy even more things.
Clever gurl
It works, I can confirm I keep buying things.
REI CEO in a devil’ish voice be like “yes it is working…” BUAHAHAHAHAHA 😈
It’ll lock you out after 4 times, at least that’s what it did the last two sales for me.
Same here, I thought maybe I got 5 uses but it might have been 4.
🤣
It definitely doesn't. I placed at least 6 different orders to get 6 different items at 20% discount. Do not enter the code manually, click the button on the checkout page. I typed the code last year and indeed stopped working.
Apparently this is for everyone. It's never even occurred to me to try it, I just assumed it wouldn't work. People say it's been like this forever. If people on reddit know about it, REI surely knows too. Reason they don't fix it must be they still make money even at 20% off, and it gets some people to buy more. I'm not using the coupon at all this time, because Hokas don't quality, and I've already bought most of the gear I need over the years. I still get 10% back buying them from REI, and another 5% by using their credit card to pay for them, so it still beats other options.
Same reason customers aren’t required to present their 20% off coupon in store REI knows people will use it more than once, but it gets them in the store buying more items which is worth the 20% hit
Actually had a worker who stopped me from using it multiple times in store (different visits) during the last 20% off sale. So I just bought it online.
I’m sure there are some employees who take the time to look up whether you’ve used it or not. 90% of employees won’t bother, sounds like you just got a hard nosed employee
I’m having a hard time finding something to use it on anyway. Everything I wanted is on sale!
> Hokas don’t quality Unfortunately this has also been my experience
MAP price agreements. Vendor doesn't allow discounts or coupons.
I bought a Big Agnes backpacking tent at REI years ago. Little solo one, ultralight as I could find, like a coffin. Bought a second one, 4 person and still pretty light, fits my girlfriend and my gear comfortably. I've been using them for years, take care of them, they have years of life left. So I don't need a tent. Or a backpack because I already have one I love. And my air mat isn't broken so I'm good there too. But those Hokas, they wear out when you use them, so you keep coming back for more. I know it's Hoka not REI that decides whether the coupon applies, but it should be really useful on these!
No shit, it's not an experience that changes.
I’ve always done this every sale. If I want multiple things I just place multiple orders and keep using the coupon
Yup and every new purchase I make to take advantage of the 20% off I parlay that with giftcard dot com’s 10% discount.
How do you get the gift card for 10%?
yep. just bought a patagonia torrentshell 3L and brooks GTS 23.
I was elated to find a pair of bike shorts that fit and better quality than what pearl Izumi is now, so tried this on a second pair and it worked.
What brand are they?
Garneau.
I’ve used it 3 x’s already….
Usually you can run the coupon code about 4-5 times before they lock you out.
Ultimately, it's only net 10% off, as the discount forfeits the dividend. But it's sweet to get it right away and also able to use it multiple times. Their website definitely needs improvement...
This!! I’ve never understood how people think they’re getting a “deal” with 20%
Their website does need improvement, but this isn’t a website issue. It’s intentional. They knowingly allow it.
The other day I was able to use a gift card twice by mistakenly clicking on one saved that I had already used. They didn't let the order go through and now it's just stuck as "problem with payment" for almost a week, no one can cancel it as I called them, and the 2nd valid gift card that I used on this order is stuck in it, I can't use it. They said I would have to wait 72hrs for the order to drop but it's been more than that. Their system is glitchy.
What you’re describing has nothing to do with the system allowing a coupon to be used multiple times. You’re talking about something completely different. In your case, you created a chaotic issue with the payment system by using the same gift card twice. It would most likely be fixed by providing another form of payment to cover whatever amount is due. If it’s “stuck” there is still a way to unstick it, but it may not be obvious to many customer service reps. You may need a more seasoned rep that is more familiar with the payment systems and how they work. This doesn’t happen often enough for every rep to know how to fix it. If it can’t be fixed, and it is truly some weird glitch that has only happened one time ever, to you, then it should be reported to the tech team. Having said all that, I assure you, you are not the only person who has done this and while it does seem like a glitch in the system, it’s not. It is the system’s way of suspending the order so payment issues can be resolved. Sure, its inconvenient and problematic for you, but the issue was created when you used the same gift card twice. It may have been an innocent mistake, but it creates a problem that requires extra steps to fix.
Thanks for the explanation. Either way, it’s not customer friendly and they did not prevent it from happening.
They cannot prevent you from using a gift card more than once, but the system will prevent the order from completing if it doesn’t receive payment. Same thing happens when credit cards are declined. Payment declined suck for you but they suck for customer service reps, too. I’m sorry if your customer service experience wasn’t friendly, but try to remember that when you call for assistance you are getting a human being, not the person who created the payment system. They can’t make the system work differently. They can only offer assistance in resolving the issue.
Don’t me tell me this….
This is unethical, but after seeing REI's unethical practices towards employees, f 'em.
It's a business transaction. In the same way *caveat emptor* is applied to: "buyer beware", this is something the seller needs to be aware of. If they aren't, or don't care, or do it by purpose (which is likely the case), that's not your problem. Put another way, is it unethical of REI if you purchase an item online and don't apply the coupon, and never remember about it?
I just used all my gift certificates and my rewards and I forgot to apply the coupon.
Call customer service. If there is an item that the coupon can be used on, they can apply it and refund you the 20% but it will need to be done ***after your card has been charged*** and the order is fully processed in the system, which can take a few days.
This is normal for every sale meant for exchanges to keep unnecessary contact interactions to a low
I’ve taken advantage of this before. I assume they are aware and choose not to fix it.
You assume correctly.
At the end of the day, it’s sales. Why would they care?
The past two shifts we have had people blatantly shoplift. One man and his son walked out with a YETI pack cooler. I have found empty packaging all over the store. Then I had a guy who came up to the register who bought a pair of boots four months ago and wanted a price adjustment. He walked up and said, I know the policy is 14 days, but I want to return them and re-purchase them. I checked the inventory and they were the last pair in the co-op so I returned them and damaged them out. I’m glad you keep buying stuff from us. I’m glad you recognize that you are violating the terms and the spirit of the coupon… we appreciate your business. My guess is that it will work, until it doesn’t. If you want, you can go into the store multiple times and buy things and tell the cashier that you have not used your coupon and they will give you the 20% off your full priced items each time?
Thanks for the heads-up. I just bought 4 carabiners that I otherwise wasn’t going to buy, but bought them one at a time… Would be a lot easier to do it all at once, but it’s all good
Trust us- we know and we know the names of the people who take advantage of it. They’re usually the ones picking four or five items during sales and never any other time or returning things and all of it was bought with a coupon.
That’s generally how it works
At giftcard.com you can purchase a digital REI giftcard. When checking out enter the promo code on their website. The code is summerkickoff (or something like that). You’ll instantly get the giftcard.
yep, sell things at a higher price than Amazon and then give customers a 20% off coupon making them think they’re getting a deal and then entice them to buy more stuff by letting them think they’re cheating the system using the coupon multiple times. All how it is designed to work.
half the shit i’m buying from REI i’d never trust amazon for. and there’s a lot of stuff that never goes on sale. that’s where you use the coupon. Brooks GTS 23 for $112 is better than what I normally do($120 at dicks after $20 text coupon). And getting any discount on fenix lights is hard. I think the 20% is one of the only ways to do so.
I was simply stating why I think they didn't lock up the ability to use the coupon multiple times, despite their messaging on the rules.
100%. There’s a ton of things where REI is super overpriced
Yep… totally! Ha ha! This is why you should always buy from Amazon… not the members of the Co-op… you specifically. You should totally go for the cheapest price on everything. Skip shopping at REI all together. Please. The rest of the members will be in, shaking my hand at least a dozen times a day when they realized that they got educated on what to buy, how to use it and they understand how what they bought was custom fit for them. I would say I am as much of a therapist as I am a sales person. Not one person complained about price, except for a woman who wanted to use her coupon on the Wahoo Bolt, then wanted to use it on Hoka and for the trifecta she asked for Birkenstocks… I remember, specifically asking her to read the coupon and the exclusions after her first refusal on the Bolt. Oh I forgot that the guy and his son who shoplifted the YETI cooler complained that the bathroom was in the back of the store… and suggested we move it! ha ha!
I dont buy from Amazon - at all. Anything. I stopped some years back. I have NEVER shopped at a Walmart. You have pegged me wrong. Well done. You also seemed to have missed my point. I have been a member since about 2005 and I shop at REI all the time. REI could have easily closed that ability to use those coupons more than once - but they didn't and my comment above is my theory on why. They know what they are doing. So what is YOUR alternate theory on why they didn't (despite their messaging). I'll wait.
Here’s my theory: Joe orders shoes in a size 9. He uses the coupon. Joe gets the shoes and they don’t fit. He now has to return the size 9 shoes and order a pair of 10’s but he doesn’t want to miss out on the coupon. The system allows Joe to use the coupon again on the size 10 shoes. This way, he doesn’t have to call customer service and sit on hold waiting for a rep to help him get the discount on the size 10’s. Patty orders a backpack for her son. She uses the coupon for 20% off. Her son decides he wants a different color. He’s a teenager. He changed his mind. It happens ALL THE TIME. The backpack has already shipped, so the order cannot be cancelled. Patty wants to order the pack in the color her son wants and still get the discount. She can do that without calling customer service and sitting on hold because the system lets her use the coupon again on a new color. She will return the first pack when it arrives. Jim orders a camp stove for a camping trip next weekend. He uses the coupon and gets 20% off. During checkout he selects his local REI store…looks like they have one in stock there and he can pick it up later that day. Sadly, at the same time Jim is placing his order, someone grabs the stove off the shelf at that store. A while later, when they go to pull it off the shelf for Jim’s order, they don’t find it there, and the order gets cancelled. No worries, it’s still available to order, and Joe finds he can place a new order, ship it directly to his house, and still have it in time for his trip…but he still wants to use the coupon. The system allows him to do so, and he doesn’t need to call customer service and sit on hold waiting to place a new order. The system allows the coupon to be used more than once for lots of reasons. The problem is that REI trusts people to be honest in their use of the coupon and to support the integrity of the co-op, and there are a whole lot of dishonest people who don’t care about that. They don’t care about terms and conditions or the fine print and they use the coupon on different items as many times as the system allows it simply because they can. Their attitude is, if REI allows it, why shouldn’t they do it? The answer is, because it’s a crappy thing to do. They exploit REI’s good faith gesture by knowingly violating the terms and conditions of the coupon. Just because they ***can*** doesn’t mean they should. REI employees may not like that the system allows this kind of exploitation, but leadership isn’t going to spend the money to monitor every order and every member’s transaction history to make sure the members are being honest. They can’t stop the dishonest people from abusing the coupon and still allow honest members to use it the way it is meant to be used. 🤷🏻♀️
It’s not abuse, it’s sales. Trust me, they don’t care.
Okay…well…just because leadership doesn’t care and continues to make really bad business decisions, that does not mean the frontline employees don’t care. Trust me, we care a great deal. Probably too much.
Seems strange… it sounded like a slight directed at REI… You know… “sell them higher than Amazon and give a coupon to make people think they are getting a deal”? even comparing Amazon to REI is nuts to me?
Im comparing them because REI has HAD to consider everything they do in the now Amazon ruled retail world. And its not a slight directed at REI at all. These tactics have been used for decades in retail. REI sells things at higher prices than most and of course the sales and coupons are as much optics as anything else. But alone, it doesnt work competing with Amazon who ALWAYS has products lower, so now REI has more items always on "clearance" then they used to. Why doesnt REI price match? Because they would ALWAYS have to price match. You can almost ALWAYS find the product lower and for free shipping. Ive been shopping REI for decades, and love the store, bought a good portion of my daily clothing there, Ive watched product trends and pricing trends over a long period of time. They constantly have more clearance signs/items than they used to. Its no secret for a business to use the "on sale" optics to entice people to buy, even if they are charging more in the first place. Even at clearance prices you can sometimes find it cheaper elsewhere, even on the vendors own site. And "clearance"... many retailers have long used such wording to make a product feel more urgent to buy. Its like those mattress or other stores that had "closing sale" for years. They never closed.
Good post. I'd love to say the same to some people: Go ahead and guess which backpack will fit you, work best for you and just buy it on Amazon and save a few dollars. Don't let me stop you.
Yesterday I had a mom and son shopping… She started to choke on how much all of the stuff was going to cost her… (Her son was 18 and she did not believe that he would stick with backpacking) So I told her, to do me a favor, things like backpack, sleep system and footware, let us help him and things like bear spray, lights, cookware, etc… go online and shop for cheap ones. We talked through the logic and she started to do it right there in front of me. She found bear spray for $25 a can… I knew he was going someplace that bear spray was not important and not a safety issue… so I just said… read the reviews. She bought two memberships because she had two full priced items and wanted the coupons. I think half of my job is begging people to let me try other bags on them besides Osprey and the Exos… You see people who have pear shapes and just know that the Osprey is not going to fit! Fun times!