Get to know how daily deal resale sites work
Published 12:01 am Sunday, July 24, 2011
Daily deal websites like Groupon and LivingSocial have exploded in popularity in the past year. But an estimated 20 percent of the daily deals go unused, according to Daily Deal Media. Now resale sites like DealsGoRound, LifeSta and CoupRecoup give consumers a chance to unload their unwanted coupons.
Here’s how the sites work:
DealsGoRound.com. It’s free to list coupons for sale. If a coupon is sold, however, the seller has to pay the site a 10 percent cut. There’s no fee for buyers.
The site works like eBay, in that it acts as an intermediary so that buyers and sellers don’t need to interact. Sellers are required to provide the coupon voucher for the deal they want to list and have an active PayPal account.
LifeSta.com. Listings and transactions are handled much like on DealsGoRound. But sellers pay 99 cents plus 8 percent of the purchase price if a coupon is sold. Buyers don’t pay a fee. The site guarantees refunds if buyers find out within 60 days that the coupon they bought was invalid or was already used.
CoupRecoup.com. The site works more like Craigslist and lets buyers connect directly with sellers. If you see a deal you like, you contact the seller by filling out a form with an offer price. There’s no guarantee the seller will respond, however. It’s also up to the buyer and seller to arrange the payment and exchange of the coupon.
