How does Groupon know which customers have redeemed their coupon if they keep this money?
Groupon doesn't know which customers have redeemed their Groupon for their daily deal product. However, with their recently announced self-service platform, merchants will enter redeemed Groupons into an online redemption system in order to get paid by Groupon.
How do I know a merchant has redeemed my groupon voucher?
Usually you would pay upfront to the merchant but before the transaction is finalise you would enter either online or in person the Grupon so you would pay a so much lower price than the original price.That is how you know that the merchant has reedemed your groupon voucher because you paid a lower amount. Otherwise, you would have paid full price for the item or service.
How do merchants redeem vouchers from Groupon?
merchants are provided with a portal for redeeming the vouchers and tracking the sales ...its called merchant centre. Every merchant gets a unique credentials for logging in the portal...There is also a merchant centre app
When you pay tax for redeeming a Groupon at a restaurant, do you pay tax against the Groupon purchase price or the actual full normal price of what you are receiving?
I'd imagine each state or location treats it differently.However you should at least pay tax on the $25 you paid, because you received $25 in gift certificate value for that payment.That's the part that can't expire, and that is the part where you pay tax for sure (just like you would with a gift certificate, you pay tax when you redeem the value, not buy the gift card).For the other $25, I think, unless some state has a specific rule about discounting, you do not have to pay tax on that. I don't pay tax in CA on the "full price" in the supermarket when I use my club card. I don't pay tax on the discounted portion of an item when I've received an employee discount somewhere, or other discount. BOGO offer? Just paid tax for the amount I paid.The only exception I know of in CA is that you do have to pay full tax on a "subsidized" price, i.e. cell phones. Since you can attribute the coupon vendor payment as payment toward the $25 gift card, and not payment toward the $25 "promotional value", I do not see this applying.I'd go with the "Double Discount" part of this PDF: http://www.boe.ca.gov/pdf/pub113...My vote: In CA, the merchant should collect sales tax on $25, but not $50. $0 is very wrong!
How do groupon merchants handle redemption at multiple locations?
This can be done by using an Online Coupon Management Sysytem, which is a hosted system (by the provider) - that allows for multiple staff members from e merchant to individually go to the system - 'use' the voucher, and it will not be possible to use it again by another staff member. The end user can bring either his printed coupon, or simply show it off electronic devices.. Barcode /QR can also be used to facilitate the coupon management.Bo/Bangkok
Why doesn't Groupon ask purchasers to review the merchant after they redeem their deal?
I suggest this is one of the 5 flaws in the Groupon system that will limit growth beyond a clear mathematical limit. We have seen the Growth of Groupon through our sales force in the streets of Chicago in the first few weeks of the company's start up. Clearly we saw a very successful business plan and very motivated sales people through a high commission structure. It was wildly successful.However we noticed that our mutual merchants had a number of issues with the program that could have been solved with better, active and interactive system based feedback and after the fact communication. This was also clear on the customer side. The customers, in many cases, did not completely understand the details of the offer. This created issues with the merchant and the customers that could have been corrected with communication. This lack of communication created animosity with both customers and merchants. The "Award a business" button or "Report a business" button on the Groupon website does not really deeply address the issues directly. They are far too simple to deal with the problems we have seen. The information does not need to be part of a Public rating. It can be used to really understand the entire experience beyond a simple vote up or vote down. The data should also be used in evaluating Merchants and Consumers and potentially block either from using the system.Sometimes, the wild growth and success of a great Startup Company leaves some very important issues, that do not seem obvious because of the extreme growth, on the cutting room floor. In some cases, the problem becomes systemic and may inflict major damage to a company's reputation.Without a relentless feedback loop by all involved, Groupon will hit a mathematical limit to growth. There is simply no way around this issue.
Social Shopping: What percentage of vouchers sold by Groupon, LivingSocial, Tippr, etc. are never redeemed?
When they went public the published split with a merchant was 50/50 on what was collected. So in the scenario you proposed a merchant would typically get $5 regardless of whether the customer redeemed.That said, in reading more recent post Groupon and LivingSocial have seemingly relaxed their 50% margin rule and are often willing to do deals with select merchants at 40% (ie merchant gets 60%).One minor note, historically payment on vouchers was based on redemption with one final payment coming AFTER the voucher had expired. So regardless of the split there would be timing elements to the funds associated with unredeemed vouchers.Also historically its been reported by a bunch of sources that on average 15-20% of vouchers go unredeemed.
What happens if the local merchant closed down before the GroupOn Deals were redeemed?
Don't count on Groupon's promise to "make things right". I am going through this exact situation right now. The merchant I had a Groupon for changed ownership and the new owner would not honor the previous owner's Groupon deals. I wrote to Groupon's Customer Service and they replied back that they'd talk to the merchant and the owner would contact me within 3 business days to resolve the issue. No one called. I contacted Groupon again and this time, instead of doing the right thing again and refund the money I paid for a service I did not receive, they offered to credit my account with Groupon Bucks for the value I paid, which EXPIRE after 180 days. Meaning, that if I don't get to use the Groupon Bucks after 180 days, I end up with no money and no service.I'm still trying to get my money back and I am planning to involve the Department of Consumer Affairs in my state to check how legal Groupon's refund practices are.
What happens to profit from expired Groupons?
The above is essentially true. Activated vouchers are distributed in thirds on 5 day/30 day/60 day schedules. To alleviate liability for taxes and unclaimed funds, this gets shifted to the vendor per that clause as well.Merchant TermsSection 1.4 Payment1.4 Payment. Groupon shall remit payment to Merchant according to the schedule and terms set forth in this Section 1.4. Groupon will pay Merchant the Remittance Amount for each Voucher properly activated for which a purchaser has fully paid Groupon. Merchant is registered for sales and use tax collection purposes, and shall be responsible for paying all sales and use taxes related to the goods and services described in the offer. Groupon shall forward one-third of the then-collected Remittance Amount Total to Merchant within five (5) business days after the Run Date, one-third of the then-collected Remittance Amount Total within thirty (30) business days after the Run Date, and one-third of the then-collected Remittance Amount Total within sixty (60) business days after the Run Date. Amounts retained by Groupon are compensation to Groupon for the service of advertising and selling the Vouchers for Merchant.