Dec 28 2011

What You Need to Know About Daily Deal Sites

Daily deal sites offer steep discounts, often 50% off more, for a pre-determined period of time. Some daily deal websites require a certain number of people buy into a deal before it is good, while others don’t. These deals are focused on individual cities and counties, and there’s probably some that are close by your community.

Deals For The Taking

Have you heard the story about Josh Stevens who lived off of Groupon This is a third party link. Please review the third party content guidelines by clicking here for more details. for an entire year? He was challenged to live off Groupon for 365 days for $100,000, and did it successfully. We’d never encourage you to live off of daily deals, but Josh’s story illustrates that if you use daily deal sites wisely, you can find almost anything for a discounted price. Lots of activities like going out to dinner, taking a vacation, or shopping are offered on daily deal sites, and could help you save money.

How To Use Daily Deal Sites

To get started, search and sign-up for some different daily deals sites, and elect to receive notifications of new deals. We’ve created a starter list if you live in Hartford, CT. If you live in another city, visit each site and type in your specific city. Also, check to see if there’s an app for your deal site, and download it to your Smartphone. You can set up push notifications to get messages sent each morning via SMS so you’re always in the know.

What To Look For

When reviewing a deal online, look for its expiration date, and if there’s a time limit to purchase the deal before clicking “Buy”.  Some deal sites give you only one day to purchase, while others give you longer. Read the fine print. Sometimes there are restrictions as to what days you can use the offer, and other variables that you must take into consideration before buying. If you’re buying a service and 1,000 other people have also just bought the deal, it may take a while to schedule your appointment, especially if it’s a small boutique or shop, so keep those things in mind. When in doubt, call the vendor directly and ask before you buy. Remember, buyer beware!

Avoid Impulse Buying

It’s easy to impulse-buy on deal sites. Make sure deals are in your budget, or alternatively, allow a pre-set amount to spend on deals each month. If you plan ahead, you can save up for a splurge, and get a bigger bang for your buck! And these days, who can’t use that? I just got myself a nice cozy set of pajamas from Groupon’s pajama gram, and it a $59.99 item.  With shipping only cost me around $28.00. I had received $5 off from referring someone, which brings us to our next tip.

Spread The Word And Get Rewarded

Some daily deal sites, like Groupon and Living Social, reward you for referring them. Each site has different terms, but generally speaking, you can send out a personalized link to your friends and family and post it on your social media profiles to spread the word. When someone makes a purchase from your link, you may receive points or dollars in your account as a thank you for making the referral. Many deal sites rely on the word of mouth distribution capabilities that social media can offer to get their message out, so they have built a system incentives to encourage people to share. And if it’s a great deal, your friends will thank you for telling them. Just be sure not to overdo it, or you may alienate people.

 

If you look around online, you can find some great deals that aren’t available in stores. It pays to shop around and keep an eye on daily deal sites because you can get huge discounts on things you already buy, or wish you could afford.. It also helps local businesses that are up against big box stores. If you give yourself a budget to spend on deals, read all the fine print and help spread the word, you could save yourself some money while enjoying those splurges without the guilt.

What’s been your experience with daily deal sites?

By Dawn Melesko • Adults • 12 • Tags: , , , , , , , ,