How I used ChatGPT to find discount codes and save hundreds at my favorite online stores
ChatGPT guessed promo codes that saved me money on Christmas shopping
I’ll be honest. I don’t always share every prompt. Some are sellable, some reveal safety gaps I report, and some are too risky to publish. But a few naughty but nice tricks are worth sharing.
ChatGPT is excellent at guessing promo codes and finding discounts most shoppers miss. Because of what AI has been trained on and what it can access, it predicts likely discount codes with surprising accuracy. I scored 15 percent off security cameras, savings on Hallmark decorations, bonus deals at the Disney Store, and more. These offers required a promo code at checkout and would have been missed otherwise. I’ve saved hundreds of dollars since GPT-5 dropped, so I wanted to pass this prompt on as an early Christmas present to readers.
Ready? Use ChatGPT Thinking Mode with this prompt:
“Find current discount codes for [store name]. I know ‘CLEARANCE’ is one. Scour the internet and [store] sites. Leave no stone unturned.”
If it works for you, tell me in the comments what you bought and how much you saved. Check the Thinking mode dropdown too, because useful reasoning options sometimes don’t appear in the output.
ChatGPT will search coupon sites like RetailMeNot and Slickdeals, and sometimes it will generate or even hallucinate codes that work. Common formats include WELCOME10, SAVE20, FREESHIP, THANKYOU, STUDENT10, or holiday names plus numbers. AI can also infer predictable, tailored codes such as CLICKMAGIC for the Disney Store.
In ChatGPT Pro, Agent mode can autonomously attempt many checkouts while you make coffee. That speeds up trying combinations. Note that LLMs are also adept at cracking alphanumeric passwords, so treat this as both a fun hack and a reminder to strengthen your passwords. I use a party trick where AI guesses friends’ WiFi passwords from hobbies and personalities.
And yes, this is legal. Promo codes are meant to be used, but who wants have to track of every birthday coupon, abandoned cart bribe, and mystery code from a newsletter you forgot subscribing to in 2019? We can get AI to do the legwork for us instead.
Don’t use this on banking sites, though. Unless you like jumpsuits. Orange ones.