Groupon

You can save money, but you need to check all the small print and restrictions. Some offer say $40 worth of food for $20, but not including specials or deals or you may have to book or have only certain days you can use the voucher.

I've used them many times and they can be good value. There are so many offers now, you can afford to be picky with other sites like Living Social,and often people forget to use the vouchers.

 

When Groupon was first launched in my country, the site offered a lot of great deals. Everyday I would check their website and I would never log-out empty-handed. They would have various offers like dining, for the gym or for the salon.

I first noticed their decline when one establishment was very strict and not treat me like a regular patron. I called to schedule for an appointment but the establishment will give excuses and say they are full. Good thing though, Groupon accommodated my request for refund. Now, I do still check their websites for deals and I noticed that they only offer good deals every 6 months or so.

 

You can save a lot of money indeed with some of the deals on here, however you do need to make sure that you're careful. Many have small print with regards to time limits and restrictions, and also a lot of people get carried away when purchasing offers, meaning that they get things that they're never going to be able to use. If you do this, then you're wasting money rather than saving it, which is of course never a good thing at all. So yes, Groupon can be great to save money, but you need to make sure that you understand the deal, and that you will be able to use your offers, before you finalise your purchase.

 

Totally agree with you. Groupon was an innovative concept that came with tons of good offers and deals, but as time went by, actually there is not much to get from it because offers are rarely updated.

I got better promos and coupons for online and offline deal from the website DontPayFull, which are now also available for both the USA and Canada, besides worldwide for many online offers.

 

I never use Groupon because the deals for places I like to eat at can be hard to come by. We do not eat out often, but I like to look around at the offers. Sometimes you can get a free meal with the purchase of one.

 

I don't know much about Groupon and I am not a member but my nephew who stays in Hongkong is into it. He would tell me that he saved almost 50% when he bought an item using Groupon. He said that all he checks are the sales and promos offered in Groupon that is from clothing items and accessories up to restaurants and even travels.

 

Some cities have better deals than others when it comes to Groupon, and then you always have to watch out for businesses that try to not honor their own Groupon deals. Perhaps more importantly, you should watch out for expiration dates on deals, and you should realize that the promotional value expires, but your original payment amount doesn't expire. Groupon is a fine place to snag deals if you're on top of things, but not everyone stays on top of things well.

 

Some of the deals I got from Groupon are okay like the half-priced cake from a start up home bakeshop business. But I also have some bad deals like the hair treatment, 80% off and I thought I had a good deal but the result was short-lived. It was a Brazilian blowout treatment that was supposed to last for 2 months but only lasted for 3 days.

 

I avoid using Groupon primarily because as a business, I think they do more damage than good. They have caused some small businesses to close down because they gave away so much stuff via their Groupon promotions, lost money, and barely got any return customers out of it in the long run.

Groupon gets a commission on top of the steep discounts they pressure the business owners into offering, so in many cases the business owners are not only not making any profit at all, they are more often losing money on the deal and giving stuff away for free at their expense, with the hopes it will translate into more paying customers down the road.

It's not a sustainable business model, because it devalues the products or services being offered too much to the point where people will no longer be willing to pay full price for such things. Also, let's say one restaurant is running a Groupon promotion and another competing restaurant isn't. The one running it will get a surge of business but not make any money, and the other restaurant won't get any business either because everyone is flocking to their competitor with their coupons, so they don't make any money either.

Don't get me wrong, I appreciate a good bargain once in a while, but I don't expect to get everything for free. I would rather take up an offer directly from the establishment, than go through Groupon to get it, mainly because it's just more fair to the business owners. Groupon is like a slimy middle-man to me.

 

I know many people who benefit a lot from regularly using Groupon, people who swear by it. But the one experience I had of it wasn't the most positive of experiences. It was for a hair salon, and although I loved what the guy did with my hair, he didn't apply the discount! He said that advertising his service on Groupon actually lost him money, that's why he didn't apply the discount. I gently suggested he stop using Groupon as it's counter productive anyway, and could actually lose him customers.