How codes are checked
We stopped using the word "verified" because on most coupon sites it means nothing in particular. Here is what a code on CouponHub has actually been through, what it has not, and how shopper feedback is counted.
Where codes come from, and who reads them
Nearly every code arrives through a retailer affiliate feed or a direct relationship with a merchant. Shoppers can also send one in through the submission form, and every one of those is read, but that channel accounts for a small fraction of the catalogue. Whatever the route in, nothing publishes automatically: a person reads it first.
That review checks the things we can confirm at review time:
- The code is attached to the correct merchant and store page.
- The format looks like a real code, not discount text or a feed fragment.
- The discount and any expiry date are sane and readable.
- Obvious duplicates and junk entries are removed.
The three labels, and what each one means
Every code carries one of these. They are not interchangeable, and we do not use a label the evidence does not support.
- Reviewed. A person read this record before it was published and checked the things listed above. This is the label most codes carry. It says the record is sound. It does not say the code will work at the moment you use it, because a store can switch a code off without telling anyone.
- Shopper confirmed. Enough shoppers have reported back for their answers to mean something, and the code shows what they found.
- Checkout tested. Somebody put the code through a real checkout. Nothing on CouponHub carries this label today. We are not running checkout tests, so the label exists in the system and stays unused rather than being quietly attached to an editorial review. Some larger sites do run automated checkout testing at scale; we are not one of them, and pretending otherwise is the exact thing this page exists to avoid.
One more limit worth stating: a listed discount is not necessarily the best offer a store has. It is the best one we hold.
If a code stops working, shopper feedback and expiry handling pull it out of the active listings.
A recent review date does not mean a code still works. It means a person read the record on that date. The two get conflated everywhere in this industry, and the labels here are written to keep them apart.
Community feedback, shown honestly
After using a code, shoppers can report whether it worked. We only count these genuine reports, never any seeded or historical placeholder numbers.
Because a handful of reports is not proof, we hold back until there is enough real data:
- No reports yet: we say "Not enough shopper feedback yet." We do not invent a percentage.
- A few reports: we show the plain count, for example "3 of 4 shoppers reported success," without a percentage.
- Enough reports: we show a success percentage together with the number of reports it is based on.
The Health Score badge follows the same rule, and more strictly than it used to: it only appears on a code shoppers have actually reported on. Without reports the number was mostly a measure of how recently we approved the record, which is not a statement about whether the code works, so those codes now show their review status and nothing else.
Review dates are per code. A store page shows the span its codes were reviewed across rather than only the newest date, because the newest date says nothing about the code three rows down.