A Have List (or havelist) is a phrase used in the coupon trading world to describe a list of coupons you have and would like to trade. The benefit of this is so that other potential traders can view your list of coupons to see if there is anything they can trade for.
Depending on how often you plan on trading, and how much time you have to invest in making such a list, it may or may not be worth it for you to create one. It can take some time to keep your have list up to date. Some people are faithful about making a have list and keeping it up to date; others feel it is a waste of time.
Starting your have list for the first time can be a big job. Depending on how long you have been couponing, and how many coupons you have already collected, it can be time consuming entering all your coupons for the first time. It’s always the hardest getting started, but after that, it shouldn’t take anymore than perhaps 15-to-20 minutes to enter in your Sunday insert coupons every week, and any other new ones you might have.
Before getting started, separate the coupons for your have list into categories. You can make them into simple categories like food or non food items, or you can be a little more specific and create categories for food, baby, pet, cleaning, etc.
A simple way to make your have list is by going directly to the Have List Forum and starting a new thread titled, “(Your Username) Have List.” When typing the coupons you have for trade, type in the product, size restrictions, amount/how many you need to buy and lastly the expiration date. For example, if I had a coupon for Orville Redenbacher’s Gourmet Popcorn, I would type the coupon entry as follows:
Orville Redenbacher’s Gourmet Popcorn .40/1 (2/28/07)
After you get all of your coupons listed, you can go back to your have list, click ‘edit’ and update the list anytime. You will want to keep your have list up to date by purging any expired coupons, coupons which have been traded or new coupons which need added. You can also ‘bump’ your have list every couple of days to let people know you are still interested in trading.