You know how sometimes you're reading the store sales with the coupon match ups and think, I wish I had that one coupon. That happened to me this week since Publix finally has the 18 lb bag of Purina One Dog Food on sale. The salmon flavor is the only one my dog should eat because other brands and flavors irritate her skin allergies. Anyway, there was a single page flyer available in Publix last month for $3.50/1 and I never was able to locate a copy. I have a bunch of the $2/1 but that was almost half the value of the elusive $3.50 Q.
I looked every time I was at Publix, which is about 3 or 4 times a week, but never found the Purina flyer. I finally figured I needed to try to buy some. But it wasn't listed on any coupon clipper sites. I did see it for sale on ebay, but the price was too high and shipping killed the deal. Plus I needed it this week - I haven't had the quickest deals ever go through on ebay. So I started perusing the forums, like Slickdeals and Hot Coupon World for trades. But since I've never traded, I don't have much clout. I signed up on some blogs on the trader wall for ISO (in search of) coupon and no response.
So how did I get the coupon, you're wondering. Well, I PM'd one of the forum members who happened to make an entry about the seeing the Purina coupons. Sure enough, this person had nine copies of the coupon I needed, and she wasn't going to use them. We agreed on 10% cost (0.35 ea) and the cost of a stamp. I used paypal to pay her (use personal, gift check boxes to ensure no fees are added), and she mailed the coupons.
Sometimes, if you really need THAT ONE COUPON, try searching the forum for a keyword. Ask individuals if they have them. It works, but you need to think outside the box and be persistent. If you're frugal you're persistent anyway so that shouldn't be a problem.