TOPIC: Groupon for marketing your Business?

Have any of you guys thought about or tried "groupon.com" for marketing?

I'd love to hear about your experiences.

I've seen this and a more local e-coupon (CrowdCut.com) but not sure it would work well for what we do.  The premise is that Groupon or CrowdCut purchases a set number of items from a company and offers them to the public at 40%, 50% savings.  They're counting on a large number of folks buying (today from CrowdCut was a coupon at Dunn Brothers Coffee, buy for $1, use for up to $5) to make their profit.  Last I checked, the total sold was almost 5000...
Anyone else?

At one time I thought it would be a great way to generate business but after looking at how Groupon works I decided against it. Groupon will develop an ad for you and advertise for you with no up front fees. They do want you to discount your product or service 40% or more. You can set a minimum limit as to how many items are sold before the deal is good (lets say you want at least 50 items sold, if they only sell 49 Groupons the deal is off and those who purchased the item get a refund) and it cost you nothing, on the other hand if you agree to take whatever is sold they collect the money and within a few days send you a check for half minus a commission then after 90 days (i believe) they send you the balance minus commission. Now here is the kick in the pants, lets say you want to offer a home inspection, regular price $400.00 Groupon savings of 50% so potential clients pay $200.00 minus groupons commission of 50% so you get $100.00 to do an inspection, and with my luck the people who would buy them would be the furthest from my location. I believe Groupon works great for Brick and Mortar stores as it can drive new and repeat business to them. Not for me

Robert, that's what I was thinking.  How many $100 inspections would you need to do to even make it worth your time???  At that point, you may as well be the lowballer and flat advertise it yourself instead of filling someone else's pocket.  You could never make up your time in report writing, research, drive time, etc, etc, etc...

Robert, that's what I was thinking.  How many $100 inspections would you need to do to even make it worth your time???  At that point, you may as well be the lowballer and flat advertise it yourself instead of filling someone else's pocket.  You could never make up your time in report writing, research, drive time, etc, etc, etc...

BINGO, that is exactly what I was thinking.

I'll let you know how it goes...