It’s the 100th post on prasadgupte.com and it’s time to celebrate! For long, I envied the Americans for having Groupon until I realized that there are several deal of the day websites – in fact, with better business models – to serve us. I have been a regular user of these websites, having bought at least 15 deals totaling over INR 15,000 with overall savings of 69%.
5 reasons to save your riches with these shops
1. It saves money: What’s more important that saving some money?
2. It’s easy: There is no upfront payment to receive these deals – they’re delivered to your phone & mailbox for free.
3. It’s safe, either ways: I have always (knock on wood) had a good experience transacting on the internet, and these sites are safe to use as they transact over a trusted gateway. If you fear spending online, you can always have the coupons delivered to your doorstep – free of cost!* So its safe either ways.
4. Keeps you aware: One huge benefit I found out of following these deals (even if you don’t want to buy) is that it keeps you aware of the new places in town and the margins that you can possibly cut in when striking a deal.
5. It’s cool: There’s no reason to be shy – like my dad likes to make me feel. It’s any day cool to be spending smart!
I’ve put together a list of the creme-de-la-creme in the order of *my* choice:
1. DealsAndYou
I purchased deals worth Rs. 9100 for Rs. 2593. This is one of my favorites! The website is neat, and the deals are fabulous. They take the entire payment upfront – so its a deal in the real sense as against a discount coupon. It covers for roughly 60% of my deal spend and growing, ever my trust in the brand was bolstered by their quick justification email. This was when I had challenged one of the reviews from Burrp they had posted with a deal, which couldn’t be seen on Burrp – but the restaurant had changed its name so the review was lying elsewhere. You should go at this one first!
2. SnapDeal
I purchased deals worth Rs. 5250 for Rs. 1187. SnapDeal has been going loud with TV commercials and banners all over the internet. You have to pay a portion when you buy the deal, and the rest is to be paid directly to the vendor.
3. SoSasta
I’ve never purchased here. This is Groupon’s Indian venture – yes, the real Groupon! This does requires a minimum number of people to buy for the deal to be available to all. But I’m a foodie, and most deals here are around spa’s and other shopping websites, so it hasn’t quite worked for me.
4. MyDala
I purchased deals worth Rs.2000 for Rs.200 and that’s when I realized two things: never buy coupons for a third-party shopping website & NEVER EVER buy from mydala. Don’t be mislead by their grandeur customer support statement – it’s only a rant! They offered no support after selling me discount coupons for a blundering and clumsy shopping website (run by the India Today group where I even missed a deal because of the website going down). When I reported it to myDala, they took 4 days to revert. That’s enough for me to say good-bye forever!
I’m sure this post will help you getting around these deal websites. I also trust that you will break our cultural endowment of not sharing, and generously share this post with your friends & family – there’s enough for everyone! Share/Tweet: http://bit.ly/save-smart
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