(Guest Post)
In the past few years, social buying sites like Groupon and LivingSocial have become incredibly popular. There is no doubt that if you use them correctly, you can save a considerable amount, but if you aren’t careful, deal sites may actually cause you to waste money if you do any of the following:
Let the deal expire
Most deals have expiration dates. If you forget about one that you have purchased or don’t find time to use it before it expires, either the terms of the deal change significantly or the deal is completely void.
Buy something you don’t need
If you don’t practice yoga, buying a deal for a yoga studio probably isn’t necessary. Similarly, if you don’t typically wash your car, a deal for a car wash isn’t the best use of your cash. That’s not to say that these deals won’t save you money on things you might have been meaning to try; just make sure you use some discretion!
Spend more than you would have without the deal
If you purchase a “£20 for £50” restaurant deal and would only usually have spent £35 at the restaurant, you may find yourself adding things like wine and dessert to your tab in order to get your money’s worth. Oftentimes, the bill will end up higher than £50 and your deal will not have saved you nearly as much as you originally thought.
Forget to read the fine print
A few weeks ago I purchased a deal for making a photo book online. However, I never read the details of the description and ended up making the book in the wrong size. After spending so much time on the book, I didn’t want to change the size so I ended up paying full price and losing the amount I spent on the deal.
Have you ever actually wasted money on a “deal?”
Join our newsletter
Subscribe to get the latest "Engineer Your Finances" content via email.