Kohl’s is a great option for extreme stacking because it’s possible to stack:
- Multiple coupon codes (at once)
- Discount gift cards
- Earn Portal rewards
- Earn Kohl’s Cash
- Earn Kohl’s Yes2You Rewards
Even better, Kohl’s allows you to apply many of these discounts to almost all items, even those on extreme clearance.
Coupon Codes
This SlickDeals Wiki is a great place to look for Kohl’s coupon codes. Kohl’s coupons usually come in two forms: percentage discount, and fixed dollar discount. For example, you may find coupon codes that look like this:
- $10 off $30 or more (fixed dollar discount)
- $15 off $50 or more (fixed dollar discount)
- 15% off
- 20% off
You can stack percentage discounts with dollar off discounts, but you can’t stack two of the same type. For example, you can apply both $15 off $50 and 20% off to a single order, but you can’t apply both 15% off and 20% off.
Every few weeks Kohl’s runs a sale with new coupon codes offering up to 40% off (but 15% to 20% is more typical) and the ability to earn Kohl’s Cash. The largest discounts are reserved for Kohl’s charge card members, but they have to pay with their charge card to get the discount. Sometimes, new dollar off coupons become available at the same time. That’s the perfect time to stack deals!
Gift Cards
Kohl’s gift cards are almost always available at a discount through re-sellers. Plus, they’re often on sale via eBay and other sites that offer gift cards. Please see: Merchant gift cards, best options for stacking deals.
Note that it used to be possible to select a Kohl’s Charge Card as your method of payment in order to qualify for the best coupon codes and pay entirely with gift cards. Now, it is necessary to pay at least a penny with your Kohl’s charge card in order to use those coupons.
Portal Rewards
You can find the best current portal offers here. It’s usually possible to earn 5% to 10% cash back. Also watch for occasional mileage portal deals offering 5X to 10X rewards.
Kohl’s Cash
Every few weeks, Kohl’s runs a sale with coupon code discounts and $10 to $15 Kohl’s Cash for every $50 spent. It’s a good idea to wait for these sales before placing orders.
Earning Kohl’s Cash: The amount of Kohl’s Cash you earn is based upon your order total after coupons are applied, but before taxes and shipping. If you start with a $50 item and apply a 20% off coupon code, you will not earn any Kohl’s Cash because you won’t have spent $50 after coupons. This is true even if taxes and shipping charges pushed your total bill to over $50.
Redeeming Kohl’s Cash: Kohl’s Cash is treated more like a discount than like a gift card. You do not pay sales tax on the portion of an order paid for with Kohl’s Cash. Also, any portion paid for with Kohl’s Cash reduces the calculated total order amount. So, for example, if you were hoping to get free shipping for an order over $75, you need to pay $75 or more after Kohl’s Cash is applied. For more details about Kohl’s Cash, please see: The strange economics of Kohl’s Cash.
Yes2You Rewards
Kohl’s Yes2You Rewards program is pretty straightforward: earn 1 point per dollar spent. Get a $5 reward for every 100 points. Each reward has a near-term expiration date (generally 30 days from issue).
Note that payments made with merchandise credit or with Kohls Cash do not earn Yes2You Rewards.
Free Shipping
There are a few ways to get free shipping from Kohl’s:
- Pick up in store: If the items you want are available for pickup in-store, you can avoid shipping fees while still earning portal rewards.
- Spend $75 or more (after discounts): Kohl’s provides free standard shipping for orders totaling $75 or more, after discounts, but before taxes.
- Use coupon code: Coupon codes for free shipping are occasionally available.
- Order from in-store kiosk: When ordering from an in-store kiosk, shipping (to your home, for example) is free. Unfortunately, this eliminates the option of shopping through a portal for additional rewards.
Notes
- Kohl’s does not like people to use them for reselling. One reader reports that Kohls shut down his Yes2You rewards account due to reselling.
I never miss the Kohls coupons and Deals. By taking the subscription from Dealhack Canadian website, I got Latest coupons and deals of Kohls.
As others mentioned, Kohls will shut you down pretty quickly if they suspect you of reselling. Some tips I use:
1. Never ship to Prep Company. I send 99% of what I buy to prep company, but never send Kohls or Target stuff. Quick way to get shut down or very least orders cancelled. Many people report getting orders through to lesser known prep companies, but I just don’t risk it.
2. I limit use of Gift Cards. This certainly puts a damper on the savings stacking, but I’ve heard you are more likely to get the attention of the the anti Kohl reseller team if you are using the kohls GC and partial CC payment. Not sure how true it is, but for now I’ve been playing it safe until get more data to support you won’t get shut down.
3. I spread my buys across my account and wife’s account to limit risk of getting nabbed. The Y2Y account is great since you get an extra 5% and even more on double and triple bonus point days, but rumor is it is also a flag that gets you caught. I know many resellers that won’t use Y2Y as it is more likely get you flagged and banned. I’ve been good spreading my buys across my accounts, but another word of caution.
So much money to be made at Kohls, just need to be careful to avoid the watchful eyes of their anti reseller team.
Thank you. Great tips.
Note – they will terminate your Yes2You Rewards account and void the balance if they suspect you of reselling. Had a $500 balance after lucrative triple points promotion that suffered this fate.
Thanks for that caution. I added a note to the bottom of the post.
Thank you for the updated information on using a Kohl’s charge card vs. gift card for payment.
You have to exhaust a gift card in an amount < your total and pay the balance with Kohl's charge to use best coupons. When you pay with gift cards you also earn less Y2Y rewards if gift card is a merchandise credit.
Thanks Emily. I’ll update the post.
“Note that it used to be possible to select a Kohl’s Charge Card as your method of payment in order to qualify for the best coupon codes and pay entirely with gift cards. In recent attempts, I have not been able to replicate that. ” — Sad to hear. Did you try both partial and full payment with GC? I wonder if leaving at least 1 cent on cc results in discount.
My wife’s charge card was closed for some reason (probably from lack of use) so I can’t easily test it. Hopefully others can chime in?
I always get flyers in the mail advertising discounts if I use my Kohls charge card (usually no coupon code needed). But when I go to check out and choose Kohls charge card as my payment method I do not see any discounts applied in my cart and this is at the page where the last step is to confirm the order. Should I just place my order and hope the discount will be applied once processed? Or should I be able to see the discount on the checkout page?
One other way to get free shipping is to order from Kiosk at Kohl’s store.
Thanks, but what’s the point of doing that? You would lose out on portal rewards, right?