# Have you participated in those group deals ala Groupon, LivingSocial or Swamjam?



## canabiz (Apr 4, 2009)

If so, care to share us your experience? I have not seen anything that caught my eyes and there is always that catch-22: OK I can save some money going this route but _do I really want to do it?_

Case in point is local Midas is offering $17 for an oil change, half off from regular price of $34. I normally go to Costco for the same price ($34 all in) and got some shopping done while waiting...Do I want to save a few bucks and have unknown people work on my car or do i keep it simple and continue to go to the same place that I have been going for the past few years and where I fully expect everything is hassle and problem-free?

Mind you, you don't have to be a rocket scientist to change oil and I have nothing against Midas franchises but I have not had any kind of work done there before.


----------



## andrewf (Mar 1, 2010)

I've only ever used them for restaurants. I actually was pleased with the food at all the places I went to, too. Great deal and an exchange to meet up for dinner with some friends.


----------



## Jungle (Feb 17, 2010)

Never done this groupon thing. But $17 for an oil change is a great price. I don't see how they can make a profit on that , so yes I see why you are skeptical. Recycled oil or upsells?


----------



## slacker (Mar 8, 2010)

I have used Groupon for getting some Raptors tickets. It work ok, Groupon and Raptors had some communication problems, but the tickets worked.

On Midas, I will tell you a story... It's a franchise, so the quality vary quite a bit from shop to shop. The one time I went to a Midas for an oil change, the guy came back with a printout of an analysis of my battery. He told me that it wouldn't last through the winter, and needs to be replaced. I told him I will think about it.

It was 5 years ago, and my battery had been humming along just fine through the years. (knock on wood)

Another story on Midas. Once upon a time, I had to replace my brake pads. The Midas guy gave me an awesome offer, brake pads with LIFETIME WARRANTY !! I can get replacement brake pads forever !! Labour was extra of course, but that still sounded like an incredible deal !! I checked it out on Google, and sure enough those pads are hard wearing long-lasting pads, but will wear down my rotors in no time.

Ironically, the service I've been getting from my local dealer had been fine. I research and shop around all the repair jobs, and the dealer almost always came in at the low side. The one exception was when I had an engine indicator light, and the dealer wanted $100 for reading the code. I bought a reader from Princess Auto for $40 instead, told them what the code meant, and got them to do the necessary repairs. (they were not pleased. )


----------



## slacker (Mar 8, 2010)

Jungle said:


> Never done this groupon thing. But $17 for an oil change is a great price. I don't see how they can make a profit on that , so yes I see why you are skeptical. Recycled oil or upsells?


The usual practice is to get your car in the shop, and find work to do.


----------



## CanadianCapitalist (Mar 31, 2009)

I signed on to Groupon a couple of weeks back. I haven't seen anything yet I'd like to sign up for. I got that Midas oil change deal too, which was the only deal I even considered. I'm not taking up on it because I like to stick with my mechanic


----------



## K-133 (Apr 30, 2010)

Jungle said:


> Never done this groupon thing. But $17 for an oil change is a great price. I don't see how they can make a profit on that , so yes I see why you are skeptical. Recycled oil or upsells?


They get value in a few ways:

-1- Bulk sales may be considered more valuable than small sales. 

-2- They get the money up front. I highly doubt 100% of buyers redeem their coupons. 

-3- If you do redeem it, its a guarantee that you'll go to their store. There is then an additional probability that you'll spend more at their store on other products.

-4- If you're buying through Groupon, then there is less probability that they'll have to market to your demographic, therefore spending less on other marketing channels (i.e. advertising). With the online bulk buy comes what I refer to as Google-tising i.e. Word of mouth advertising.

There are no guarantees that they'll make profit, but their marketing folks have hopefully run the numbers to find that they'll make more selling bulk in cheap through the above than they will waiting for customers to walk in to their stores.


----------



## Sampson (Apr 3, 2009)

My wife and I have used several to try out new restaurants, and for ones we already go to. Last one was >50% off. 

It's a great excuse for us to eat out at nice places we normally would be to cheap to pay full price at.


----------



## Sampson (Apr 3, 2009)

Jungle said:


> But $17 for an oil change is a great price. I don't see how they can make a profit on that.


Easy, oil changes are the cheapest thing in the world. Lets go through the math.

I'll list consumer retail prices first:
Oil filter: $4
Engine Oil: $10 for 5L
15 min of poor schmucks' time: $2.5

=$16.5 (no overhead costs obviously)

Now, bulk rates:
Oil filter: $2
Engine Oil: $4-8 for 5L
15 min of poor schmucks' time: $2.5

=$8.50 to $12.50

Now the majority of people pay $35 for a regular change...

DIY - you can use good filters, full synthetic oil, and not have the drain pan threads stripped by some 15yr old kid, or use of reused products. You can easily get your favorite synthetic, good Wix filters, and no problems for $25 DIY.


----------



## the-royal-mail (Dec 11, 2009)

This is a really interesting thread. Back in the '80s my family used to go into the city with these restaurant coupon books. They were great. The deals were something like "buy two entrees and get two free". No tricks or strings. The more recent restaurant coupon books I've seen have been much more restrictive. For example, "get 15% off any second regular priced entree with any purchase of entree and drinks after 4PM, limit 1 coupon/discount per table." Stuff like that.

Also, the last time I looked through a sample book (again, not saying they're all like this) I couldn't find enough places to buy from that would have made it worthwhile. For instance, a discount on flooring doesn't help me as I live in an apartment. Same for duct cleaning and fast food restaurants that I don't eat at.

Bring back the 2 for 1 deals of the '80s! We dined the entire city on those books. (cards actually, now that I think of it)


----------



## HaroldCrump (Jun 10, 2009)

I find the food in most chain restuarants so ho-hum and unappetizing that I wouldn't eat there by choice even if they paid me to.
The ones I have really enjoyed are almost all smaller ethnic restuarants and almost all abroad.


----------



## Kim (Jan 10, 2011)

I used a "groupon" for a sports store and it was very good and easy. Don't know that I will ever go to that store again due to the location but thumbs up.


----------



## GeniusBoy27 (Jun 11, 2010)

I have used Groupon for some things that I needed done ... like car detailing, 75% off. Or a specific restaurant that I go to ...

Similarly, I also like Entertainment Books, because well, 1 golf green fee equals the cost of the book.

But the buy has to be worth it for me ... to do it, and not change significantly my pattern of practice.


----------



## MoneyGal (Apr 24, 2009)

What he said. 

I don't like the coupon books because I have to remember to carry them around, find a place in my house to store them, etc. 

Groupons and the like just store on my iPhone. Easy peasy! 

I like Groupons - I'm probably right in their target market, someone with sufficient disposable income who likes spas, teas, and restaurants. I haven't gone crazy with Groupons but have used them to either get discounts on stuff I already buy or to try, in a low-risk way, new restaurants and personal service biz things. So far I'm happy with my results.


----------



## Larry6417 (Jan 27, 2010)

I've subscribed to Groupon and Living Social. I find that I'm not interested in most of the deals. However, the deals are quite good for the few that I do want.

I'm a bit skeptical that this sort of thing will last, at least in the same incarnation. Groupon demands at least a 50% discount off regular price and splits half of the revenue with the company/vendor i.e. the vendor receives only one quarter of the regular price. For extremely high margin items, the vendor can still make money, but vendors with lower margins (e.g. restaurants) likely lose money. Obviously, vendors hope that consumers like the product or service so much that they'll come back for full price, but only about 13% of customers do so. www.cjr.org/the_audit/the_groupon_bubble.php


----------



## Cal (Jun 17, 2009)

I am not too familiar with these sites mentioned above...are they similar to:

www.livingdeal.com


----------



## LBCfan (Jan 13, 2011)

Sampson said:


> DIY - you can use good filters, full synthetic oil, and not have the drain pan threads stripped by some 15yr old kid, or use of reused products. You can easily get your favorite synthetic, good Wix filters, and no problems for $25 DIY.


Not to hijack the thread, but where do you pay $25 for 5L of Mobile1 and a filter? I do DIY and would love to patronize them.


----------



## Sampson (Apr 3, 2009)

$20USD for Wally-world. It's one of my 'staples' during my cross border shopping trips. You can get 4.73L of Castrol Syntec for $21 CAD from time to time, also Walmart.

As for filters, online, or NAPA branded filters when they go on sale, WIX made.

Just noticed your are 'North of Montana'. Kalispell is our stop of choice


----------



## groceryalerts (May 5, 2009)

canabiz said:


> If so, care to share us your experience? I have not seen anything that caught my eyes and there is always that catch-22: OK I can save some money going this route but _do I really want to do it?_
> 
> Case in point is local Midas is offering $17 for an oil change, half off from regular price of $34. I normally go to Costco for the same price ($34 all in) and got some shopping done while waiting...Do I want to save a few bucks and have unknown people work on my car or do i keep it simple and continue to go to the same place that I have been going for the past few years and where I fully expect everything is hassle and problem-free?
> 
> Mind you, you don't have to be a rocket scientist to change oil and I have nothing against Midas franchises but I have not had any kind of work done there before.


I used one at a fancy barber in Vancouver (16 dollars for a 45 dollar haircut) but I would not buy them on a regular basis - just at places where I typically couldn't find a coupon.

But I am not common - I run groceryalerts.ca - and I love saving money.


----------



## Barwelle (Feb 23, 2011)

My experience with Groupon & Kijiji Deals has been decent so far. I signed up 2 months ago. So far, I've bought a 2 for 1 deal at a local ski hill, $10 for a $25 gift certificate at Chapters, and a couple of above-average price restaurants that I've always wanted to try but was to cheap to do so. 

You just gotta watch that you don't start buying every deal they advertise simply because it is a deal... I know some people who do this. They'll go into a store and buy stuff on sale because it is on sale, not because they need it. I imagine some people are doing this with Groupon/etc and then getting stuff they don't need, or end up not using their credit because they forgot about it, lost it, or never had the time to do it.

They have had some good deals on physical activities like yoga, martial arts, and gym passes though, so if you're a health nut or looking into getting more active, one could make good use of group buy sites.


----------



## 14dmoney (Jan 20, 2011)

I have bought two $20 for $40 restaurant deals from Groupon and both have been very enjoyable "dates" for me and my DH. We don't buy drinks with our dinners so our total bill is very reasonable after tax and tips... otherwise the cost of going out for dinner seems to be not worth it anymore... and yes, I miss the good old days of Entertainment books that had a lot of our favourite eats. 

I have also bought two fitness deals that seemed "too good to be true"... $29 for 20 classes. I signed up for the first deal several weeks ago and I am still waiting for the trainer to get back to me so I can sign up for my first session since they are "full". I just attended my first class for the second deal without any issues of "full" classes but I did not enjoy the instructor's style at all and I will not sign up for his classes again. 

Some of the other offers I considered but did not buy were the "buy $50 for $100 non-sale merchandise" at retail specialty stores. I did the math in my head and realized the minimum I would likely spend would be $250 so then it was only a 20% discount which is what I could just get on sale price anyways. 

So I think there are good deals to be had but there are also buyer beware caveats to those deals as well.


----------



## Barwelle (Feb 23, 2011)

$29 for 20 classes? That's $1.45/class... I'm not surprised that his sessions are full! That's too bad about the instructor. How much did that "deal" cost you?


----------



## Seth (Aug 16, 2010)

Paid $15 for a $50 dollar gift card to an italian resturant here that my spouce and I have enjoyed in the past.

It was a no brainer. The waiter said they were very well recieved... with lots of them being redeemed.

I'll do it again.

PS if anyone want's an invite to Groupon, let me know!

I get $10 Groupon Bucks everytime I sign someone up.


----------



## atrp2biz (Sep 22, 2010)

Booked an appointment for this weekend for a car detailing voucher I bought last fall.

My wife has also purchased those DIY photo albums for pictures from our wedding, honeymoon and son.


----------



## canabiz (Apr 4, 2009)

I bought 4 coupons ($12 value for $5) from SwarmJarm for a local restaurant. I ended up going there for lunch and dinners couple of times in the last 2 weeks.

I only paid nominal fees for taxes and drinks. It was a good deal and we actually enjoyed the food.


----------



## canabiz (Apr 4, 2009)

The Star has a story about using group coupons for travel deals

http://www.thestar.com/travel/artic...-group-coupon-craze-to-save-on-vacations?bn=1

I wouldn't mind getting a chopper ride over the Grand Canyon or a NYC cruise for a good deal. Guess we just have to keep our eyes open and watch for the fine prints.


----------

