Groupon Help

[Nana2Callie]

Can someone explain this to me and actually how it works? Anything to be concerned about?

 

[vicki_c]

It's just a site that negotiates deals with companies & places, then offers them to the general public. If enough people purchase the deal, everyone gets it (which seems to happen 99.99% of the time).

No real downside except you are paying in advance for something, and you need to make sure you use the deal before it expires (although in most cases - maybe all - you are still offered the amount you paid for the Groupon at the selling location. So if you bought a $20 coupon for $10, even if you miss the expiration date for the $20 value, you still get $10 in value for a much longer time - 5 years, I think).

There is also Living Social, Landmark Deals and I'm sure numerous other sites - some structured towards kids as well that I've seen.

 

[KarenAylwood]

You sign up, set your location and get emails for deals in your area. Then you go on and buy when the deal comes up if you want (some are good until they run out, some only for a day, or some for a few days). Then you go on and print your groupon and set up whatever service you bought - sometimes you have to make an appointment depending on what you purchased (it will always say this on the page). They are very self explanatory.

Ditto on the using before they expire (I'm notorious for waiting until the last minute).

I've gotten some great deals off Groupon and have always liked the vendors...

$95 bike tune up for $35
$9 for climbing pass and rentals at a local climbing gym we already go to ($32 value - bought two for DH and I)
$49 for $100 worth of carpet steam cleaning (loved these people!!)
$20 for $40 of food at a local restaurant we frequent
$59 for a half day photography seminar priced at $300 (with my wedding photog actually)

And some others. I think the carpet cleaning was the one I was most excited about.

The only groupons that I definitely won't buy anymore are the ones for photo books. I make them through shutterfly and have bought some groupons to try out other companies to check out their quality and all three times I didn't like the quality as much as shutterfly, and with being able to stack discount codes I come out ahead without the groupons.

I just scheduled a 3 hour house deep cleaning session with a groupon I bought - I think I paid $59 for it and they seem super nice on the phone. I've never heard friends complain about groupon.

 

[ssawka]

Totally legit! We use it all the time. DW and I have gotten some inexpensive date nights out of it.

 

[mackeysmom]

I finally caved in and purchased my first Groupon recently.

I got a great deal at a local bowling alley - 2 hours of bowling and shoe rental for two people for only $15.

- Laura

 

[KCMiller]

I love Groupon, and use it frequently, and have never had a problem redeeming them - and I save huge amounts of money with their offers.

Love saving money!

KC

 

[muffyn]

I have bought stuff from groupon & have 5 places where I am signed up for.. & they mostly have different stuff.

is there any place that actually lists ALL the groupons available each day? I don't want to sign up for more cities.

 

[usnuzuloose]

I love it. I have never had any problems. My husband has an iphone so no need to even print it out. I also use Living Social

 

[navywifetill2002]

Love Groupon and have bought a lot of them.

My only problem was the one place said I owed sales tax on the total "value" of my sale (I didn't get anything extra and I've never had to pay the tax before). It was a $30 value so I owed $3 in tax and I didn't take my purse in so I wasn't a happy camper. Not a huge deal on that one but if it happened on something huge I can see where I could run into trouble.

 

[pixiewings71]

Love me some Groupons!!! I live in wine country and we regularly get offers for wineries that we wouldn't normally try, I just keep an eye open and I've signed up for multiple locations, that means I get a lot of emails from Groupon but I go a lot of places.

 

[Nana2Callie]

Thanks so much for all the replies - we will give it a try. However, we live in a small town so our benefits will be when we are traveling.