In a viral video, a tech worker shared a hack for getting items online for free at virtually no cost.
Sam (@samiamdean), who said she works in the tech industry, shared that developers often forget to turn off the codes they use when running tests on shopping websites or apps. Their forgetfulness could lead to major savings for anyone who uses Sam’s hack.
After pausing to take a swig of wine, Sam went on to suggest that the next time shoppers made an online purchase, they should try using one of the coupon codes developers use.
She shared a list of 17 codes that are commonly used and might get viewers steep savings. Among the codes were “100off,” “test,” “promocodetest,” “test100,” “welcome100,” “free100,” and “save100.”
“It won’t work 90% of the time, but you will be amazed. One time it will, and then you get something for free or 99% off,” Sam said, ending the video.
@samiamdean Replying to @elishaharman01 #lifehack #shoppinghack #amazonhack ♬ original sound – Sam 💎
Sam looked cozy as she spilled the tea, wearing a plush zip-up jacket and holding a glass of red wine. The TikTok has more than 1.1 million views and hundreds of comments.
Several good samaritan commenters pointed out that if anyone was going to try the hack, they should be mindful to only do it when shopping on big corporations’ websites and not at small businesses. Sam fully supported this suggestion.
One person shared that she once tried using a test code, and it worked—only for her order to be promptly canceled.
Other commenters shared their varying success stories.
“I once got a code that was ‘SAVE10’ so I put in ‘SAVE50’ and got 50%off! It was life changing,” a person wrote.
“At a minimum, ‘freeship'”‘ works kinda often!” another chimed in.
Several other tech workers, developers, and shoppers in the comment section shared their own code hacks. A few suggestions included company name + 100, “welcome10,” “halfoff,” “discount,” and “save30.”
Others confirmed that it’s true that they’ll forget about the codes, intentionally and unintentionally.
A few people shared that they took Sam’s advice and got significant discounts. One person saved $100 on her order, and another got 80% off on her Adidas purchase.
The Daily Dot reached out to Sam via email.