Are You Suffering From Daily Deal Fatigue?

Image by paulamarttila via FlickrIf your Internet experience is one notch above e-mail then you certainly are the victim of the daily deal syndrome. When surfing the Internet you have signed up to some of your favorites sites and get their interesting daily or weekly emails. If your a smart shopper you have searched the Internet to find the best deal for your purchases. Not wanting to miss out on those good deals you have signed up to the deal websites so you don't miss that next great deal.

You see the ads saying "We have saved 50 to 80 percent at restaurants, tickets to movies and hotels stays." You can get deals to almost anything, even skydiving. With nearly 500 daily deal sites it's easy to get lost in the emails.

But some bargain hunters are feeling bombarded by e-mails coming from the sites. I have had to unsubscribe from many deal sites, I just don't have the time. Now I just use a deal aggregator. They collect the deals from multiple sites and send them all in one e-mail. Yipit.com, for example, compiles deals from nine sites. It's a lot simpler.

Being overrun with e-mails isn't the only problem. Some buyers say that they find so many deals that are too good to pass up that they overbuy or let the vouchers expire. Unlike traditional coupons, which are free, vouchers let you purchase at a discount, but they cost money. Letting a voucher go can cost a buyer $5, $20, or even $100, depending on the purchase.

But what many voucher buyers might not know -- and what the daily deal sites don't advertise -- is that customers can use a daily deal voucher for the price paid, even after expiration. For example, a customer who paid $40 for a massage worth $80 can still get $40 credit toward a service after the voucher expires.

Groupon-style deals are becoming too much of a good thing for businesses, as well. Some local business owners say they're growing tired of sales calls from daily deal reps.

Daily deal sites typically charge businesses 40 or 50 percent of the cost of the voucher. Businesses keep the rest. But some deal sites are so desperate for deals that they are settling for 30 or 35 percent commission. As more startups join the fray, some run deals at no cost to the business just to build an audience.

Sometimes it feels better to take a break and unplug from the daily deals. It gets to a point where you hope the Internet is down so you just don't have to see another deal.


Reader: How about you, do you suffer from daily deal fatigue?