Are Buying Coupons Online Worth It?

I have been asked by many people while on my coupon adventures if buying coupons from the internet is worth it? Do they really come? If you pay for the coupons then how much money do you really save?

In response to this yes for me buying coupons is totally worth it. (Most of the time.)
There have been many instances where I would have missed out on a deal if I hadn't gotten coupons from ebay because my area didn't get the coupon that I needed. I have been able to get Capri Suns, mac and cheese, cereal, soap, sugar, and many other products for just the price of tax and the coupon because I thought ahead and bought them.

In fact I was able to do that this week with the Albertson's sale. Here's what I did:

Bought from Ebay (last Tuesday):
20-$.75/2 when you buy both frosting and cake mix from Betty Crocker
Paid: $1.98 (shipping included)

20- $.50/1 Old El Paso Product Any
Paid: $8.24 (shipping included)
Yes this is a lot to pay for the coupons but wait and see what I did with them.

Then I called my local Albertson's store(On Wednesday) and special ordered 20 cake mixes, 20 frostings and 20 Old El Paso re-fried beans.
I took a chance that there would be doublers since it was around the 15th of the month and waited until Monday to do my deals.

I did five transactions that looked like this:

3 Cake Mixes $.50 each (with 10 item discount)
3 frosting mixes $1.00 each (with 10 item discount)
4 Refried Beans $.50 each (with 10 item discount)

Coupons used:
3- $.75/2 cake/frosting coupons
4- .50/1 beans coupons
3- doublers
total: free (paid $.26 tax) for each transaction

Then I did 1- other transaction:

5 cake mixes $.50 each (with 10 item discount)
5 frostings $1.00 each (with 10 item discount)

Coupons used:
5-$.75/2 cake and frosting
3-doublers
total: $1.50 (plus $.32 tax)

So I paid $3.12 out of pocket at the store. If you add in the $10.22 I spent on coupons then I only paid $.22 for each item (this includes tax). This is a great price point for everything that I got. Although I had to spend a little bit on the coupons; I was able to lower the amount of money spent at the store therefore it was worth it to me.

About 98% of the time this is what happens when I have purchased coupons. The trick is to order them as early as possible and to be prepared that maybe the deal wont work out.
I have had several times when I have gotten coupons and the deal was not as good as the one I had planned. This isn't a problem because I take the cost of the coupons out of the weekly budget no matter whether I used them or not; that way I don't go over budget that week.

Also I also would mention that I only purchase things from ebay. I have looked into coupon clipping services and just don't feel like they are a good enough value for me. On ebay I choose to buy only the buy it now coupons with free or very low shipping. And I only buy from sellers that have really good feedback. By doing this I have always gotten my coupons on time for the sale and it is always what I expect it to be.

Overall buying coupons for me is a great way to stock up on things my family uses. What have all of you experienced when buying coupons? Do you find it a help or a hindrance?


Side Note: My family is not going to eat all the cake mix and frosting that I got. I am going to use it for gifts to neighbors, and teachers around Christmas time. My friend has a really yummy recipe on how to make cookies out of cake mix. I'll post it when I get it.