Learn how to score even deeper discounts when you shop a stores Online Clearance Section!  Simple tips and tricks to MAXIMAZE your retail arbitrage purchases! 

If you read our About Me page, you already know that I am not a fan of Retail Arbitrage (buying something from a stores clearance section then reselling it). The only reason I am not a fan is because it costs too much TIME (I’ve been there, done that, got the T-shirt then found a better way!) BUT I absolutely realize that there’s a LOT of sellers that prefer to get their inventory using this method so they can hand-select exactly what they feel happy with… and more power to them! If this works for you, GREAT! In fact, I am going to teach you how to get the biggest discounts possible!

STEP 1: You want to create a Word (or NotePad or whatever) document. This is where you are going to keep all of your info so you can access it quickly on a daily (or weekly) basis. The quicker you can get to what you need, the more time you save and the more money you’ll make.  

STEP 2: Join Mr. Rebates. This is going to be your gold mine that gives you 1% - 15% CASH BACK on purchases (Macys, 7 For All Mankind, Adidas and more!). You have probably seen some of my other articles in which I mention that I have used this company since 2009 and have earned over $22,000 cash back as of August 2020:

STEP 3: Go through Mr Rebates and make a list of the stores you want to shop on a regular basis. For example, let’s say I want to shop 7ForAllMankind.com, through Mr. Rebates (and get 8% CASH BACK!!) my cash back link is

So, on your word document, type:

7 For All Mankind (8%)

Then, keep on doing this for all of the stores you want to shop. So your list ends up looking something like this:

• 7 For All Mankind (8%)
• Adias (3%)
• Aeropostale (10%)
• Alo Yoga (6%)
• Bare Necessities (8%)
• Calvin Klein (8%)
• Champion (5%)
• Columbia (8%)
• eBags (12%)

And so on. What’s awesome is that you earn the cash back on EVERYTHING, even if it’s on Final Clearance!

STEP 4: Using Mr. Rebates, click the link to the store you want to shop and go directly to the Clearance / Sale / Outlet section.

STEP 5: Use the “Sort” feature and switch the sort order to “Price: Low to High”:

STEP 6: Look at the deals. For example, here’s a great item from the 7ForAllMankind.com Clearance Section:

This jacket retails for $400 but is on sale for $139, so it’s over 65% off. These prices DO NOT INCLUDE your cash back amount OR coupon codes (which we shall discuss in a moment!)

Let’s say I decide this jacket is a winner because I know I can easily sell it for $190 and make $50 with little effort.

STEP 7: The next step is to get a REAL coupon code. On Mr.Rebates you can see 100% authentic codes that always work. These codes are submitted to Mr.Rebates by the store, so there’s no codes that don’t work:

BUT, sometimes these codes aren’t what you’re looking for. If you can’t find a good code on Mr.Rebates, you need to open a new screen and go directly to RetailMeNot.com:

So at this point, you have 3 screens open, as shown above: One for Mr. Rebates, one for the store you are shopping and one for RetailMeNot.com.

RetailMeNot is the only site that has mostly LEGITIMATE coupon codes. The majority of the other coupon sites literally make up bogus codes as click bait!

Then, when you’re on RetailMeNot.com, search for “7 For All Mankind” (or whatever store you want to buy through):

Now scroll the the codes and see what seems like it will work best for your purchase. Ideally, you want to aim for a coupon that gives you a discount PLUS free shipping, because if you have to eat $25+ in shipping, you pretty much are blowing your entire discount due to the added charges, Also, look at the text below the code; some coupons only apply to certain things, fo example, “25% Off Menswear” would not apply the the womens clothing I am trying to buy, so this coupon is a waste of time.

Here I can see that there is one coupon that looks pretty promising; $50 off a purchase of $150 or more. So, I needed to add $21 more worth of merchandise to my Cart. I went back to the Clearance Section and found a $179 shirt for $100. With the $50-off discount, this shirt will become only $60.

STEP 6: Simply COPY the code on RetailMeNot.com BUT DO NOT CLICK THROUGH RETAIL ME NOT!!!!!! DO NOT CLICK THE “APPLY CODE” BUTTON ON RETAIL ME NOT OR YOU WILL VOID YOUR MR. REBATES CASH BACK!!!!!! So, just copy the code from this site:

STEP 7: Go BACK to the screen that 7ForAllMankind is open in and try the code. *Sometimes the codes will not work on Clearance Section goods. And, unfortunately, sometimes people submit totally bogus coupon codes. It can take a little bit to go through codes to find the perfect one.

STEP 7: Analyze the discount.

Total Cart Amount: $238

Minus $50 Discount

= $188 Total

BUT, with 12% Cash Back from Mr.Rebates, I am getting almost $23 BACK!!!!!

If you factor this amount into your total, $188 minus $22.56 = $165.44!

This ends up being $573 worth of merchandise for $165.44! That is OVER 70% Off!

Now, if you truly want to get more cash back on this purchase, the absolute BEST thing you can do is utilize the PayPal Cash Back MasterCard or the Chase Freedom Card (I advocate for the Chase Freedom Card!) This AMAZING card gives you 1.5% cash back on EVERYTHING, NO EXCEPTIONS!

So, if you factor in the additional 1.5% cash back, you will end up paying only $162.96 for the merchandise! All of these little discounts really add up! Today I have $1,252 in cash back available: