Groupon rant

swoop_ds · Jan 21, 2011

I think that running groupon for event photography is a bad idea, what happens if two people have the same fate?

swoop_ds · Jan 27, 2011

It looks like the ad will run mid-february. I'm getting my 'groupon faq' blogpost ready so that I don't have to answer a million questions over and over again. My plan is to book sessions at 3:30 and 5:00pm on weekdays, and then 4 or 5 sessions on sundays. I'll keep you guys updated.

dnavarrojr · Jan 29, 2011

My brother used Groupon to promote his restaurant. He sold a $20 gift certificate for $10 and Groupon took 40% of that, so he got $6 for a $20 gift certificate.

I advised him to limit it so that only one certificate could be used per meal and it expired after a year.

He sold almost 200 of them and after 6 months about 65% of them had been redeemed. He thinks it brought in about 30 to 40 new repeat customers which he's happy with.

krisesch · Feb 3, 2011

This is the featured deal of today in San Francisco: Karina Marie Diaz Lifestyle Photographer Deal of the Day | Groupon San Francisco

The photographer already has over 800 sessions purchased, yet the deal expires on August 5th. Can someone please tell me how he or she is going to shoot over 800 sessions in 183 days? I declare shenanigans and have already contacted Groupon on the fraudulent nature of this "deal."

What really pisses me off is the fact that the general public is going to see this and think ok, so that's what a professional photo session should cost, therefore setting an impossible precedent that will only hurt our businesses. Grrrrrrr.

GerryDavid · Feb 3, 2011

If they do 5 sessions a day, 183 days is no problem, they will have 23 days off.

If they are mini portrait sessions and they have someone doing the processing and office work, is possible, although not desirable.

quiddity · Feb 3, 2011

businesses make projections all the time. of 800 you figure a 75 percent redemption then odds are very good they can meet this. i can see how photogs after the atl groupon fiasco get a little uppity but cmon man.

swoop_ds · Feb 4, 2011

My feature is supposed to run on the 8th. Ill keep you guys informed. I think it'll be a good thing as I'm not giving away much. I think the above boudoir session is okay as its only 45 and min, they don't get much so there's lots to be upsold to.

swoop_ds · Feb 8, 2011

My groupon is running today. It's lunchtime and it's at 46 sold. So far I've only had to answer 6 emails and 1 call. But I think it'll be worse tomorrow.

swoop_ds · Feb 9, 2011

I ended up selling 87, which is more than manageable. I'm glad that there's still a good chance of lots of upselling since all they get is a 11X14

Robin Usagani · Feb 9, 2011

nice... let me see the link

swoop_ds · Feb 9, 2011

I'm not sure if this link will work (the link used to be www.groupon.com/regina but only while the deal was on):

Last Mountain Photography Deal of the Day | Groupon Regina

Also, I didn't write that cheesy description in the link...

Robin Usagani · Feb 9, 2011

cool gl to you man. I cant do a groupon because I have a full time job. It looks like you did it right. You will get additional money I am sure.

GerryDavid · Feb 9, 2011

Once you do groupon, you have a full time job for half a year.

I wish they would come to my area, there should be enough people for it.

nmerrick · Feb 11, 2011

I have had personal experience with Groupon as a photographer, and one has to be very careful with the offer and in the up-selling. Groupon takes 50% of the fee, and I found that so far about 20% of the buyers have redeemed it after 8 months.

On the good side - I was able to convert a $59 purchase into a sales average of over $500 per client through careful selling, but it wasn't easy.

Bad side - You can't spend the money until the client has redeemed their coupon, since you'll need it to fund their minimum order. Also a lot of the clients are of the coupon mentality and won't come back. If you do sell a lot (I capped mine at 50), then you are in for a monster headache of scheduling, plus you just committed a year to servicing people who may not pay you any more money.

I actually wrote a blog piece about this last year, which you can find here:

http://www.zenologue.com/blog/2010/10/groupon-%E2%80%93-a-cheesy-deal-for-photographers/

There are too many Groupon horror stories out there for my liking and I won't be doing it again any time soon.

Nigel

GerryDavid · Feb 11, 2011

I thought groupon paid you right after it was done, and the money was free to spend. Or do you mean you do not touch the money until they schedule, so you can use it to pay for the prints and stuff they order, so you wont be out of pocket later?

I think groupon sounds great, as long as you dont give them to much so they wont buy more, but give enough so it looks like a great deal. Also keep things local so you do not have to travel and waste time traveling.

What do you mean it was hard and had to be careful to upsell?