An example of a Groupon voucher.
A recent post on WalletPop, a site I blog for, triggered this money morality question. Are people giving Groupons and daily deal vouchers from sites like Tippr and SocialBuy as gifts this year? Daily deal sites sell vouchers at steep discounts – sometimes as much as 90% off. Is it tacky to give someone a $25 gift voucher to, say a nearby restaurant or yoga studio, if you only paid $5 for it?
If you give a Groupon or daily deal voucher, watch out for expiration dates. These vouchers are not gift cards, so they are not protected by a federal law that requires them to be good for a minimum of five years. The vouchers are usually good for about three months. It’s a good idea to highlight the expiration date in a card that accompanies the gift or on the voucher itself.
Let the recipient know about any exclusions, requirements, or hoops they need to jump through to redeem the voucher. Stay away from giving vouchers that require more than a few simple steps to redeem. While you might be willing to do a lot to get a great deal, don’t assume that everyone else is.
Make sure the daily deal voucher is for a service or store the recipient already uses or has expressed interest in. If your sister has never tried tanning, don’t think your gift will get her interested. You will come off as thoughtless and the recipient will likely toss the gift aside. Or sell it on CoupReCoup.com!
Lastly, take extra time to make the gift voucher presentable. When I’ve used Groupons in the past, the voucher is a plain 8 x 11 printout. Fine for personal use, but it feels like shoddy work when it is a gift. Tuck the gift voucher into a card with a personal note, or include it with a handmade card on beautiful paper.
If you follow these four steps, I think giving a daily deal voucher as a gift is perfectly acceptable. Would you give a Groupon as a gift?
Welcome to Bargain Babe! I’m Mara, and I’m so glad you’re here. I am an obsessive bargain hunter and penny pincher, and I am determined to live a full life without EVER paying full price. 
Absolutely! I think its a win win situation. The giver can spend as much as they can afford and the recipient gets a greater gift.
Giving these as gifts just feels wrong. I have noticed that on Living Social and some of the others there is an option to “give this as a gift” and for one I bought today I might consider it (it’s good for 5 years).
Another thought on how to make it presentable, frame it (then they get the voucher and a frame they can use for something else). Or perhaps combine it with an item similar to what they would get at the store the voucher is for.
I’m with @Linda. In this economy, we all want to give great gifts but just can’t afford to. Groupon just gives us the ability to still give great gifts without spending a fortune!
Honestly? Yes! Groupons and the like are great, and almost everyone has used them at some point now.
The rules I follow are twofold:
1. It must go with something else. Like my cousin asked for a drawing kit, and I added on a Groupon I bought for a few bucks for $50 worth of framing services so she can frame her artwork.
2. It must be something that they have talked and talked and talked about trying, but haven’t got the money for the investment to do it.
3. Its for an unemployed friend or family member to get a treat to keep their spirits up.
Between the three of those, people have always told me they like getting the gifts, and almost everyone I’ve given them to have redeemed theirs.
Its like giving a gift card – I usually try to do a nice card and that’s about it when it comes to presentation.
Yes! In giving a gift, it is the THOUGHT that counts, NOT how much money you spent on it. With the economy in shambles and many people unemployed, recipients of ANY gift should be grateful. I know my sister loves to get a carry-out at a local restaurant to eat on for several days so she doesn’t have to cook. She knows that I am on a fixed income and will appreciate a Groupon to this restaurant, no matter what I paid for it. I don’t see that it has anything to do with “money morality,” nor is it a “cheap gift.” It is a practical gift!
I would likely do this for a close friend or a family member. I don’t know that I’d do it for someone outside of my close circle.
Sure, I would give one, but it would be with respect to what I paid for it. Like a massage that is fully paid for for that cost $25 and is a $50 value I would be perfectly content giving to someone as a gift that I was planning on spending $25 on, if I was planning to spend $50 on them I would give them something else also. Restaurant.com gift certificates are something I might through in as an extra bonus gift because they require the recipient to pay more. The only problem I saw with the framing type deal on Groupon is that I think the prices are so overinflated when they pay the partial, that you may not get it any cheaper than say if you went to Michael’s with a 60% off coupon(their regular prices are also overinflated
You definitely have to be careful with any of those deals and know what you are buying. Some of them aren’t good deals at all (like one local wine shop here that offered $20 for two wine tastings on Groupon – or similar site – when their wine tasting are usually only $10/person anyway. Sure they threw in a wine glass you could keep, but is that really worth it? I didn’t think so).
So many people get totally caught up in “getting a deal” that they don’t stop to really look at the deal and see whether or not it’s really a good deal or not.
Yes I would , it is hard enough trying to pinch all your pennies just so everyone in the family gets something. *Santa bring our jobs back)
I wouldn’t have a problem giving a groupon type gift as long as it covered shipping/parking/or whatever costs and I would have to present it nicely as a gift. I’m not comfortable giving a restaurant.com certificate though because of all the restrictions and the recipient has to pay to use this gift (to me that really isn’t a gift) – if I want to give a dinner to someone I’d rather purchase a gift card to their favorite restaurant so they could use it whenever they wanted without restrictions.
I have picked up 3 great deals that I used for gifts- 1 was from canvas on demand that we bought 2 deals for my dad who loves to take photograpsh (they turned out great too- his photos actually look like paintings), one was for a wine tasting (we combined for my parents anniversary with a gift certificate to a restaurant in the same town for a fun night out), and one was from Kodak for a deal on a photobook to give to grandparents. I think it’s fine as long as it has meaning to the person whom you’re giving it to!
I agree with @Linda, too and appreciate @Connie’s nuanced rules about the most appropriate times to give Groupons as gifts.
@Mitch you are right. Groupons are practical gifts, not cheap ones. But I have to agree with dkw1975 that I would only give a Groupon to a family member or close friend. Maybe after I give a few of these I’ll change my mind.
I think it is a great idea to give a gift from any of these discount websites.
Let’s be honest, in this economy, anyone is lucky to receive a gift. It is not tacky, it’s all in the spirit in which it is given. Besides, since when does anyone go around blabbing how much they spent on a gift anyway? If you give the discounted gift with a pure heart, then surely it would be accepted as such.
PLEASE SOMEONE GIVE ME GROUPONS or a GROUPON gift certificate to GROUPON! I love me some GROUPON!
I love Groupon too, and I see no issues in giving as a gift. It would be just like giving a gift card in my opinion.. In fact that’s the ONLY deal a day site I use. I’ve found the others are HORRIBLE customer service, and nowhere near Groupon Status. Does anyone else have better luck with other deal a day sites?
i havent given a groupon gift, but i did give both my son & daughter 20 certificates each from resturants.com. i bought them when they were 80%off & then printed them onto the fancy christmas letter paper (the kind you would send out as “this is what my family did all year” greetings). it was a great gift because the kids use them during the whole years with thier friends & other family members!