I think of Daily Deals as equivalent to payday loans.

A lot of small businesses have cash flow issues. Daily deals sites propose to give extra liquidity in exchange for something your business is already offering. Seems like a great deal until you realize that the fees are egregious. And daily deal site fees ARE just as egregious, but they do a better job of marketing themselves/their fees.

Running a daily deal is great for a lot of businesses, but in many cases the cost to the business is much, much higher than advertised.