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Brief History of Shopping-Bargains.com
Shopping-Bargains.com was established in February 1999 by Mike
Allen. Mike enjoyed the convenience and benefits of shopping online but
didn't have much money with which to shop. The necessity of being frugal proved to be the mother of invention and so Shopping-Bargains.com was established
with the goal of helping family and friends save money shopping online.
 In 1999, the commercial side of the Internet was still very young and confusing
to many shoppers. As Shopping-Bargains.com took form, Mike felt that he was
developing something that could actually help shoppers quickly and conveniently
find hundreds of great shopping discounts that were previously available only
to web-savvy consumers. He knew that many products and services cost less online
but only for those who knew where to find them or how to take advantage of the
right coupon code to trigger a discount.
In those early pre-Google days of online shopping, finding such discounts
were difficult and time-consuming. However, over the next few years Mike added
as many new stores, coupons and bargains as he could while still working full
time.
Sometime in 2003, however, Mike realized that he had essentially two full-time
jobs and one had to go. He enjoyed Shopping-Bargains and was beginning to
experience enough sales to actually consider quitting his "day job."
At the end of 2003 he did just that and was able to focus on implementing some
of the improvements he felt were needed to make online shopping with coupon
codes even easier for consumers.
Shopping-Bargains® Today
 Today, as in the past, Mike and the team continue to publish coupon
codes and bargains. Now serving well over 1,500 online retailers, we developed new ways to categorize offers and deals. New features were added for search, for keeping coupon codes current, and for sending bargains to subscribers
upon request. We have also won several awards and been featured in various television programs and publications.
 Shoppers can now browse our shopping categories to take advantage
of the best savings without having to do their own hunting. Our shoppers can also buy
with confidence since we work hard to list only reputable and secure online
stores with proven customer service track records.
Guiding Principles
Shopping-Bargains® seeks to be a family-friendly destination that
promotes online stores with similar family-oriented values. We do not list stores
whose primary purpose consists gambling, selling alcohol, tobacco or pornography
or promoting violent, hateful and non-family-friendly products or services.
However, try as we might, with the ever-changing product offerings and business
models at the 1,500+ online stores featured on Shopping-Bargains, we cannot
guarantee that all our merchants comply with these goals.
 While it would be nice to do all this for "fun," the truth is we
must "turn a profit" to maintain our existence. Knowing we charge nothing for
use of our coupons and bargains, many ask us how we can "make money"
to stay in business. The answer lies in our partnerships: most of the stores
featured at Shopping-Bargains pay us a small referral fee or commission
based on the sales that they receive through our shoppers and site visitors
buying from them. In short, only by clicking on one of our links and shopping
at these merchants do we receive credit for a sale. Such sales are the
primary way we generate revenue.
In addition to providing our users with what we hope is a smooth and positive
shopping (and savings) experience, we seek to give something
back. Our shoppers, while primarily from the United States, come from around
the world. We want to share our blessings with the world and have carefully
selected several charitable organizations to sponsor.
» Learn
more about our Community Service efforts.
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