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Oct 26, 2009 10:28 pm US/Central
New Website Offers Local Discounts With A Twist
DALLAS (CBS 11 / TXA 21) ―
You know the phrase "There's strength in numbers"? A new money-saving website is taking that philosophy one step further by proving that being in a group can really pay off.
Jan Petree of Dallas says she's been on the hunt for good deals for a while.
"My husband's trying to start his own business, and things are tight," Petree said.
With two kids at home, and a bunch of animals too, Petree has plenty of mouths to feed. After digging around the internet for some deals, she came across a new website called
Groupon.com.
"It was saying 'Would you like to have discounts on your favorite places?' and I said 'Of course, yeah!'," she said.
Andrew Mason created the
Groupon.com site. It's a combination of the words "group" and "coupon" and works just like it sounds.
"The idea came from just living in a city with so many different choices out there," Mason said. "[With Groupon] you only get the deal if a minimum-sized group actually signs up to buy it."
The site usually sets the minimum at 20 people. So, if 20 people buy into a particular deal, those 20 and anyone else who buys it can take advantage of it.
"You have one day to buy the deal, and you have a long time to actually go and use it," Mason explained.
Take Friday's Groupon deal: You could purchase a $25 coupon for
Gators Croc & Roc Restaurant in the West End for just $10. That's a savings of 60%.
"We give the merchant what they want, which is a huge number of new customers and the consumer gets what they wants, which is an unbeatable deal," Mason said.
Petree has purchased several groupons including one for a steakhouse in Grapevine. That gives her $75 and she paid just $25 saving nearly 70%.
"It's such a good deal, and I figured it'd be a good time to take my husband on a date," she said.
Shelly Prowell runs the group sales for
Amazing Jakes, a video game and food shop in Plano. She says their first deal on the site - four hours of unlimited food and games for just $18 - was a success.
"We sold almost 700 passes within two days," Prowell said. "Just to get that kind of result with no out of pocket expense and to know that we were in front of thousands of people with very little effort was fantastic."
Petree grabbed four groupons for Amazing Jakes and plans to use them for some inexpensive fun over the upcoming holiday break.
"It's like a whole outing and it's already pre-paid, so I'm not going to have to stress at Christmas time when money's already going to be tight," she said.
If you buy a particular deal, but it doesn't reach the minimum number to complete the group, your credit card will not be charged. The deals change every day and can range from massages, to meals, concerts, and even sky diving.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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