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Comment by mrtksn | Hacker News Reader

Not Groupon specifically, the whole concept died off. Here's why I stopped using the genre:

1) Deals are not good. That is, the price reduction is not real or comes with reduced service.

2) Problems with honouring the purchase. The experience is not as purchasing something at reduced price from the shop, you need to go through separate process and the vendors act as if you forced them to sell you the deal. Some try to upsell a bit too hard, degrading the experience if you refuse. Some claim that your coupon is not valid and you need to deal with customer service to resolve issues.

3) Social stigma. It's uncool to take someone somewhere with a coupon, so all the deals for two are not good.

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And as others have noted, it also often isn't great for businesses either; it tends to attract price-sensitive customers who are willing to put up with all of the above for some savings and many won't be repeat customers at regular prices.

Definitely. Everyone was greedy, the customer is trying the pinch a penny and the vendor tries to screw the customer since doesn't expect repeated business.

IMHO it could have been like a trail session, have it been framed correctly. Instead, it was structured as race to the bottom from every side.

Which became a self fulfilling prophecy in my experience: you buy a deal on a personal service like a hair salon, the staff assume you won't be a repeat customer so they give you terrible service which does not inspire you to return.

Everything you guys say rings true to me. It ended up not adding a great amount of value for either businesses or consumers, and without true added value there's no revenue bite for Groupon.

The stigma of using a coupon didn't bother me so much, most restaurant servers were always cool about redeeming them (and of course I always tipped on the pre-Groupon bill.) But I would sometimes get an (unintentional) negative vibe from higher ups, like great another money-losing customer that I'll never see again. That reaction is what discouraged me from using Groupon, if it just ends up generally being a bad proposition for businesses I'd rather just avoid the whole thing.

Oh man, this reminds me I still have a much of credit at Restaurant.com, which I stopped using a few years ago too...

I'm not sure it's so much a "stigma" from using a coupon as an additional step you need to at least make sure the server is aware of. And there are probably circumstances like early dates where coupons may send off vibes you don't want to send off.

But, yeah, online if there's a new customer discount or a periodic 20% off one item discount I'll use it to buy something I would probably have bought anyway. For most in-person things, I don't go out of the way to find/use coupons unless it's a very transactional thing like a museum admission.

Social stigma really? Weeeeeird I feel like it’s almost the opposite, getting a Groupon is a good excuse to go do something with someone. “Hey I’ve got a Groupon for this place, wanna stop by and help me use it up?”

Maybe it depends on the relationship you have. Probably there wouldn't be a stigma when done with close friends.

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