site we’re psyched about: yipit.com
Attention, all ye deal hunters and coupon-clippers: If you’re anything like me, you have a whole folder and filter in your e-mail dedicated to all the sale websites you subscribe to. Groupon, LivingSocial, Gilt Groupe, BlackBoardEats…you name it, and I’m probably receiving the New York blast, which means I’m getting a barrage of discount e-mails to peruse daily. Yipit puts an end to all the clicking by aggregating and recommending deals from all your favorite deal providers in one convenient location. Drawing from 591 sites and serving 32 cities, the service allows you to specify the types of deals you’d like to hear about and then filter the results by location, category, price, source, discount percentage and so on. Sale shoppers, consider this your bargain-hunting headquarters. – Sarah C.
Editor’s note: A few months ago we reported on heartsy, a Groupon-like site serving the etsy shopping community. Commenter Heidi noted that she doesn’t appreciate such sites, saying: “I personally have unsubscribed from all coupon sites that I originally signed up for. I don’t need a constant daily deluge of “super deals†and things to buy that I don’t really need. The buy now, buy cheap, act fast mentality is in exact opposition of my desire to support local business and artists, makers and creators.†We appreciate all opinions and she raises a very interesting point, so I’d like to throw it back out to you, readers. Do you shop deals sites, or steer clear on precedent?
No Yipit in my city, but it is ok. My new favorite deal site is Offermatic I was a little wary but I’ve received $15 since May based on my spending and as a kid who loved surveys I am in no way bothered by my spending habits getting auto-rolled into more stats,
In general, I do send deal sites like all other offers, even places I shop regularly to my “junk” address. At that junk address I have rules setup to forward anything of particular interest or merit (golf, sailing, very local, gap over 30%) on to my “real” email. The result is I only get an offer in my email about every other week or so and I’m glad to have it. Also, it is easier when I do go to buy something I can check the history of the junk email box in a few seconds and see oh yes here is the free shipping code for LL Bean and in spring that department is usually 20% off or other related info.
I have a habit of subscribing, getting one deal, and then losing interest and unsubscribing. I always hope I will get turned on to something new that I will really love but so far, not so much. Right now I am using my first Groupon for a gym and am really enjoying it, but there’s no way I will be able to afford it once the Groupon runs out, so I sure hope they are getting repeat business from their other Groupon customers! I just worry that it’s not better for the small businesses than a regular ad or flyer would be. Groupon seems to be the one raking in the dough in all this.
@anne, I think the high number of unredeemed groupons really help out places. It is even a recommended way to go for failing business as a last ditch influx of cash.
My favorite groupon hand’s down was yesterday’s: 2 for 1 tickets to King’s of Leon concert. still giggling about that, or even more so today.
I’ve had bad luck with those kind of sites. The first “deal” I bought was for a restaurant that went out of business two weeks later. The next one was for a photography session. I found out that the photographer would hold all of the appointment slots for people who paid full price and then parcel out any remaining spots for people who had bought the groupon (and she had done four different Groupon type promotions in a year so she had a lot of customers with coupons). Even though it was good for two years, I was never able to get an appointment and, since she already had my money, she really didn’t care. Never again.