The use of online coupons has seen a real boost during the holiday season. USA Today reports some of the marquee coupon sites experienced record traffic during key holiday shopping days.

Cyber Monday -- the Monday after the Thanksgiving holiday when many online retailers put their items on sale -- was a boon for RetailMeNot.com and CouponCabin.com, among others.

RetalMeNot.com saw 1.1 million visitors, a 57 percent increase from a year ago. CouponCabin, meanwhile, logged 400,000 hits, which is 65 percent higer than last year.

In related news, Groupon.com -- which offers one local deal for sale per day in more than 20 metro areas -- has reportedly secured $30 million for expansion. The Chicago Tribune reports that the service may be expanded to another 50 cities next year.

GroupOn.com currently is available in New York, Los Angeles, Atlanta, San Francisco, Dallas, Chicago and other metro areas. Many of the daily deals are half-price offers for services, restaurants and activities specifically in big cities.

Finally, are you an eBay addict looking for a more efficient way to steal a deal online? LastMinute-Auction.com scours eBay for auctions that are ending in 60 minutes and are still priced at $1 or less. Sure, you'll find some very worthless things, but there's an occasional real gem to be had at a rock-bottom price.