Deal A Day Websites – Money Saver or Money Waster?
Recently we have seen the rise of ‘deal a day’ websites. These websites rely on group buying to ‘activate’ a special deal at a special price and serve to only exist for 24 hours before you ‘miss out’ forever.
This deal might be a dinner for two at 50% off, perhaps even a spa day normally valued at $200 for the small fee of $30.
Sounds fantastic doesn’t it? Sometimes the offers are truly amazing and really do save you good money, though we look a little deeper into this business model and why it isn’t as great as it is made out to be.
Money saver or money waster? We want you to be the judge
Some examples of ‘deal a day’ websites include:
- Cudo (www.cudo.com.au)
- Catch of the Day (www.catchoftheday.com.au)
- Ouffer (www.ouffer.com)
- Our Deal (www.ourdeal.com.au)
- Spreets (www.spreets.com.au)
So, how does it ‘propose’ to save you money?
The idea is simple. If enough people purchase the daily deal, it will unlock a reduced cost for everyone. For instance, a day at the spa could be reduced by 70%, giving you the notion you are getting a super deal.
This does sound like a good and easy way to save money, though there are a few things you must consider.
Do you really need it?
Regardless of whether it is a good deal or not, were you really in the market for a spa day or massage? It is impulse buying at its finest, covered with the notion of a super great deal and price.
Stop and think ‘do I really need this?’. Don’t ever let a discounted price draw you in, be smarter than that and take note of whether what you are about to buy is neccasary and needed.
They aren’t giving you this deal because they are nice people
It’s a marketing technique. They sell these deals to be used on ‘special days’ – these days are normally week days, aka the times when they struggle to get business.
Every retail front has its quiet days, if you are purchasing a deal through one of these websites, odds are you are buying your place in this down time where even $1 would be better than nothing.
The only time I think it saves you money
Is when you truly were going to buy that item, dinner, spa or whatever it may be in the coming week. For instance, one of the websites last week had a Blow Dry Bar coupon for sale, offering half price services.
We knew someone who ACTUALLY needed their hair done for a wedding and in turn bought one. In this instance, they did actually pocket a solid saving and got a great deal.
So, are deal a day websites money savers OR money wasters?
You be the judge and tell us your thoughts below.
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5 Responses for Deal A Day Websites – Money Saver or Money Waster?
I definitely think they are money savers. Even though it seems like an impulse buy, you usually have up to 1 year to use the voucher. I bought a restaurant one from Cudo (the one with all the ads on TV), and havent used it yet, but ill take out my Fiance some time in the next year and it will dfinitely save me money. So although you may not need the item on that day, chances are you’ll need to get a haircut or go to a restaurant some time in the next year, so I think they are great!
Money savers. But only if those businesses provide the same quality of service as if we paid full price. I have not bought anything yet from those websites but looking at spreet’s deal today, for example -an SME (they don’t even have a website yet?) offering a deal on laser hair removal- how can they possibly cater to 155 people (who have bought the deal as at 2.45PM) and the voucher itself is only valid for 3 months?
I have bought some deals in the past, they where deals that I actualy wanted and waited to come up, so they where not an impulse buy. However I have found that most do not offer the normal service, eg, you can never get a time that you want, as soon as you mention the voucher, or they have sold so many that it is full for weeks, and often they do not offer fully what they said, for instance, the extras like deep treatments of hairdressers, the drink, the ” presents” are often forgotten.
Cudo seems better, living social deals, hit and miss, the deals of spreets are realy never what they say they will be. they last deal I had to call 6 times just to make a bookings as they never call back, than they cancelled the booking on the day, and rescheduled again 3 weeks late as they are too full. never again a deal for me
Complete waste of money. It’s like saying that buying a pizza that someone else didn’t want is a bargain. You’re buying leftovers, and buying vouchers for business down times where 9 times out of 10, customer service is at it’s worst (ie: training hours/when juniors are on). But buy if you must, you’ll just be conforming to capitalism at it’s finest.
I used to think they were money savers and I subscribed to so many.
Result of that is I ended up buying vouchers I normally would not buy, if for example, the same deal were advertised in the papers.
I think the ‘one day only’ makes us impulse buy more. Sure they are good value, but often times you find yourself scrambling to meet the deadline just to use it and it becomes a source of minor stress.
I have cancelled my subscription to all those sites now.
1) Saves on junk mail reading time.
2) ACTUALLY save money.
