BEWARE: Advice for Groupon, KGBDeals, etc.

Groupon: a successful site that promotes deals and discounts through vouchers for products, services, and other businesses in your local area. 

It's no wonder Groupon has become a multi-million dollar company. 

People love to shop, and even more so, love to "save money".....BY SPENDING.

Doesn't make a lot of sense to me. But that's beside the point....

Groupon and other discount sites offer multiple deals everyday. You come across one of their many offers and it may seem like a great deal at first...but even if it is a good deal, chances are that the shipping cost you will have to pay out-of-pocket will make the "good deal" seem "not-so-good" after all. 

Example: Groupon is offering "Cute clutches for only $5 each (reg. $50)." You think to yourself, "Wow that is such a good deal, that could be a good gift for some friends for Christmas this year." So you buy 3 of the clutches, a total of $15 on Groupon. 

But then you have to apply the voucher code to the clutches' website (clutchesmaniac.com) and you end up having to pay an additional $24 for shipping/handling, a total of $39 for the clutches.

Then you start to think you could have bought cuter clutches somewhere else or even something different for your friends for Christmas at a better overall price. 

Moral of the Story:

Groupon (and similar sites) do have good deals, but sometimes the shipping cost that you have to pay in addition to the vouchers on the discount site will balance out the cost of buying a similar item in a store....if not more. 

WOULD YOU HAVE PURCHASED THAT ITEM FULL PRICE AT A STORE? WERE YOU GOING TO BUY THE ITEM ANYWAY? 

IF NOT, DON'T BUY IT ONLINE! 

Just because it's online, or on a "discount" site, it doesn't mean it is TRULY a good deal.