Best Group Buying Sites: List and Review
Posted by missmelon on June 10, 2010 in Daily Deals
Deal a day sites are nothing new. Everyone from Woot to 6pm and eBay now offer a daily deal – a great item marked down to a great price for a limited number of time. Now, if you take the time urgency of the deal a day offer and combine it with the power of collective bargaining and you have a wonderful, new money-saving concept: the group buying site.
Group buying sites work like this: they get businesses to offer a limited number of products or services at a huge discount. The catch? In order for the deal to be valid, there has to be a minimum number of deals purchased. Therefore, there is incentive for you to tell all your friends to get in on this deal.
My favorite kind of group buying sites are ones that have a local, service or food-focused emphasis. Since I can already buy most products at a discount (thanks to coupons and deals found on Dealio), I don’t always find the deal a day offers terribly appealing. But, local buying sites that offer discounts on local restaurants, massages and fun activities – now you’ve got my attention. We all know that times are tough. Local group buying sites allow you to sample from smörgåsbord of local delights. Doing so allows you to support a local businesses (warm & fuzzy) and indulge a little…without feeling too guilty. Win!
The good news is that the local group buying site phenomenon has really taken off…the bad news is that there’s now so many options, that it’s hard to separate the worthwhile from the…not so much.
We’ve surveyed and tried many of these sites and have put together a handy reference list of local group buying sites including their coverage, the inside scoop, and any bonus opportunities to help you figure out the best group buying site to try.
Feel free to leave us a comment if we’re missing out on a new site as we’ll continuously update this article.
Groupon
Coverage: Nationwide
Scoop: First ones out the gate with the local group buy concept – great coverage & very helpful customer service team. They also launched a new “Groupon Rewards” program where you earn points for actions (such as viewing the daily Groupon) and cashing in those points for service or restaurant coupons. Offers are usually available for 24 hours though some have quantity limits.
Bonus: Refer a friend and earn $10 Groupon Bucks when they make a purchase.
Similar sites: Town Hog, Plum District, BuyWithMe (no bonus), Tippr ($5 bonus)
Living Social
Coverage: Nationwide
Scoop: What separates this site from Groupon is that their deals are always “on” – no minimum necessary. They also have “city experts” who provide insider tips such as “365 things to do in San Francisco”.
Bonus: Get 3 others to purchase the deal and you get it for free.
Similar sites: SocialBuy ($10 Referral)
Yip It
Coverage: San Francisco, Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York City, San Diego
Scoop: Yipit aggregates content from other group buying sites and lets you select the offers you want to receive. This is a very helpful to see at-a-glance what’s being offered and cut-down on the number of daily emails.
Coverage: Nationwide
Scoop: Of all the local group buying sites, HomeRun has done the best job of adding fun twists such as: earning points for certain actions (e.g. commenting, viewing a deal, voting on a deal) and each deal has “avalanche” which is when the price falls as more people purchase the deal. They also offer multiple deals per day.
Bonus: Earn 30 points and $10 in credits for every referral that makes a purchase.
Savvy Avenue
Coverage: San Francisco, Cleveland, Dallas, Denver, Nashville, Seattle
Scoop: Not only do you get a great deal each day (sometimes the offers are longer than 24 hours), but for every deal you buy, a dollar amount will be donated to a great cause like the SFSPCA.
Bloomspot
Coverage: San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York City
Scoop: They offer multiple deals per day though many offers last longer than a day. Some deals are limited. However, their categories are a bit confusing as they have listings that don’t have associated offers. Perhaps it’s meant to be more of an editorial guide of the city?
Bonus: Get 2 others to purchase the deal and you get it for free. This applies to a limited number of deals.
Scoutmob
Coverage: Atlanta, New York City
Scoop: Aside from their killer design (way to put some effort into your concept rather than cloning Groupon). They’re big on the iPhone application (hence the name) and provide tons of “local scoop” information.
Eversave
Coverage: Nationwide
Scoop: This social group buying site offers local daily deals. After the deal is purchased, the consumer takes the printable coupon or coupon code and uses it towards a purchase of products or services from the merchant.
Twongo
Coverage: Nationwide
Scoop: A group deal site that uses group buying power to obtain highly discounted prices on local products and services. Twongo offers extra features that include email deal alerts, live web chat support, public discussion forum, and Twongo Charities which donates a portion of revenue to nonprofit organizations.
Free Monee
Coverage: Nationwide
Scoop: Free Monee is a ‘gift network’ that allows consumers to register with banks & financial institutions and receive ‘cash gifts’ from retailers and businesses. The cosumer then ‘gifts’ the business’s website or brick & mortar location by making a purchase with a credit or debit card linked to the bank or financial institution. The ‘cash gift’ is then applied to the purchase before using the customer’s funds.
Coverage: Nationwide & Select Cities
Scoop: Wow.com is AOL’s answer to the deal a day website craze. Wow offers nationwide online deals as well as local deals in select US cities.
Coverage: Select US cities
Scoop: Still in beta form, Google Offers boasts savings of 50% or more off the places you love. Currently the deals are for select US cities including Portland, NYC, Oakland, and San Francisco, but you can subscribe to be notified when they launch deals for your city!
Facebook Deals
Coverage: Select US cities
Scoop: Facebook Deals offers deals for select US cities including Atlanta, Austin, Dallas, San Francisco, and San Diego and is focused primarily on deals at brick & mortar businesses.
CitySmart.com
Coverage: Boise
Scoop: CitySmart.com is a regional daily deal website that offers up to 90% off savings on the best of Boise!
Sharing Spree
Coverage: Select US Cities
Scoop: Sharing Spree takes a different approach to the deal a day model by donating to a local charity every time a deal is purchased. Each time you purchase a deal, you help your local community!
Coverage: Select US Cities
Scoop: YP Deals (Yellow Page Deals) is owned by AT&T and provides deals for ‘real-life needs’ like dry cleaning and dinner. Currently YP Deals only offers deals for Atlanta, Dallas/Fort Worth, and Los Angeles but has plans to launch deals for other cities. Sign up and get $10 towards your first deal purchase.
Local Group Buying Sites
Doozy of aDeal
Coverage: Phoenix
Scoop: Works with local organizations and charities to assist in fundraising.
Bonus: Gives 7.5% of each sale back to a charity of your choice.
Certifikid
Coverage: Washington DC
Scoop: Focused on family-orientated activities.
Bonus: Refer a friend and earn $5 credit when they make a purchase.
Spreadsy
Coverage: Austin, Dallas, Fort Worth, Houston, San Antonio (Texas)
Bonus: Get 3 others to purchase the deal and you get it for free.
Deal Gooder
Scoop: Not launched yet, but…
Bonus: They’re giving away a free Apple iPad, daily American Express gift cards and (AND) 50% of the profits will go back to the community.
Two Buck Duck.com (Chicago)
Weekly Plus (Denver)
CrowdSavings (Nationwide)
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Mindy Jill
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http://www.dealcanvas.com/2010/06/yipit-the-group-deal-aggregator/ Yipit, the group deal aggregator « DealCanvas
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marc
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http://www.quizzle.com/blog/2010/11/never-pay-retail-again-4-ways-to-save-money-shopping/ Never Pay Retail Again: 4 Ways to Save Money Shopping « Quizzle Wire
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Will
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http://BiteSaver.com Robert Brown
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http://www.jvbuyer.com.my/ Jvbuyer