7 Things You Should Know About Groupons

The money-saving phenomenon’s food-focused reputation obscures some of its most useful features

September 29, 2010 RSS Feed Print

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[For more money-saving tips, visit the U.S. News Alpha Consumer blog.]

5. It might get you to spend more money, not less. You might not even be thinking about buying a cupcake or splurging on a massage until you see a tempting offer come in from Groupon. The power of suggestion can get you to spend more, not less. But for users who had already planned to spend the money, there's only upside. Burke found her Gap coupon right before she had planned on buying jeans anyway. "I would tell people not to buy a Groupon just because it's a good deal. Make sure it's actually something you would use before buying it," she says.

6. Users aren't your typical coupon clippers; in fact, they make a lot of money. Most Groupon users are women (77 percent), work full time, and about half are single. About half earn over $70,000 a year and 29 percent earn more than $100,000, according to Groupon.

7. Groupon developed out of a charity site. Groupon grew out of ThePoint.com, a site for collective action and charity work. It allows people to start and promote campaigns, the same way Groupon promotes discounts. While the company has focused on Groupon recently, Mossler says it is now starting to revitalize The Point.

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I am having trouble with purchase it just shows processing.
Customer service number is no longer working as of 3-19-2012. How can I contact them for support

Dora Karnes of OK 11:04AM March 19, 2012

Another nice site for Southern California, Las Vegas, Nashville, New Orleans and Washington DC is www.YourBestDeals.com.

David of CA 11:07AM October 14, 2010

Groupon has to rely on many coupons going unfulfilled for the model to work. Based on a recent golf round discount in our area, I looked at the number of days for which the coupon was valid, the average time between tee times for a course, and the number of coupons Groupon says it sold, there was no way the course could provide tee times before the expiration date for the number of people who purchased a Groupon. That's not counting the course's other customers.
Check the expiration date. If it an outdoor promotion and it rains, you may have trouble getting the vendor to honor the coupon, like Cox Farms in Centreville. From their web site, here's what they said to their Groupon customers after it rained almost every day during the valid promotional dates:
"Contact Groupon for a Refund
You purchased your groupons from Groupon.com (not from Cox Farms).
Please contact Groupon customer service for refund requests, questions or concerns about your groupons."

Read_the_Fine_Print of VA 5:13PM October 04, 2010