The Internet is now loaded with different websites promising to give you
the best daily deals and specials around. But some of these daily deal websites have loopholes and some of the daily
deals aren't really deals at all when you consider that you might have to travel far and spend more money on gasoline than
the deal or savings is really worth. So here we will sort though the various websites promising deals and specials and
help you find the true best buys.
DAILY DEALS WEBSITES, TOO MANY TO SURVIVE
Update June 25, 2012 We're not surprised to find out that SaverTime -- which we promoted
here and on our Best Buys TV Show -- is shutting down. There are just too many Daily Deals websites, and it is too easy
for businesses to set them up. Unfortunately there wasn't enough business to go around. SaverTime was created
by the publisher of the Pennysaver, and a few days ago this notice appeared on their website www.SaverTime.com:
As of Wednesday, June 20, 2012, SaverTime is
no longer featuring local daily deal offers on our website or delivering local offers via email. Please download any unused
vouchers you purchased previously by no later than Tuesday, July 31, 2012.
Of course this doesn't mean that the brand can't be brought back or that the business can't be brought back.
But right now, the advertising market is tough. I am surprised that SaverTime couldn't make a go of it since it had
the sales staff of the Pennysaver also selling for SaverTime and there was an "economy of scale" and other savings
in that business model.
But you have to ask, if SaverTime could not succeed what
about the others?
Below is the video that was featured on our Best Buys TV Show. The Pennysaver invested
a lot of money into SaverTime, but perhaps not enough. There really wasn't much advertising done in mainstream media
and as the Pennysaver launched SaverTime other newspapers launched their own daily deals websites, and of course there were
independent marketing companies who also created their own sites. But in this tough economy, there just wasn't enough
business to go around. Also, there were horror stories about small businesses who found that when they did business
with a daily deals websites that their profits vanished by running the various promotions and there was a lack of follow-up
business from the new customers.
If there is a lesson here it is this: use those daily deals coupons
and offers when you get them and don't put them away for a rainy day. You never know when the daily deals business might
close or if the businesses offering the deals might close or stop honoring the coupons.
SaverTime
had this on their website:
Any unused vouchers that
you purchased previously will be honored through their expiration date by the merchants according to the terms of the voucher.If you have any questions, please email us at help@savertime.com.
However, there are no guarantees in business
because businesses can close, file for bankruptcy, or just flake out and refuse to come through with what they offered.
Do you have some tips on how to get the most for your money from a daily deals
website? Talk about it on our Forum by clicking here. If you have some reports about the daily deals websites, please share them with us on our Forum.
Here on our new media website "Moneyman" Alan Mendelson who is the original Best Deals TV Show reporter
on KCAL9 and consumer advocate, shows you the best deals on TV, and the best buys, bargains and where savvy shoppers
go to save, and how to get the most for "your money" with the best of Los Angeles, Orange County, Ventura County,
Riverside County and San Bernardino County. Our Best Buys TV Show has the best TV deals and is the only regularly scheduled
weekly best deals TV show in Southern California. We show you the best buys and best deals on TV and more
deals and bargains on www.alanbestbuys.com and for our Las Vegas TV show www.vegasbestbuys.com. Some of the content can come from paid advertising and from our advertiser paid TV infomercial programs. The
Best Buys TV Show is a paid infomercial program which may also include news and information which is not sponsored or paid
for by advertisers. AlanBestBuys.com has the highest ranking among competitive sites in Southern California according
to the independent website ranking companies Alexa.com and Quantcast.com and our Best Buys TV Show is the most watched
shopping and consumer information show in Southern California.
