How to Cheat Groupon
Ladies and gentlemen: the ideas you are about to read are true. Only the presentation has been changed to make me look like less of an idiot.
Groupon is great. I love it. I’m addicted. Each day they “feature something cool to do at an unbeatable price” and when enough people buy-in the deal is “on” (see: woot.com). There are thousands of restaurants in Chicago, and I can’t get out to all of them. But when I see that I can get double the value for half the price, I am immediately tempted (read: brainwashed) into buying the Groupon of the day.
How Groupon Is Supposed To Work
The system is supposed to serve customers who see unbelievable offers to local businesses. I buy a coupon; I either print it or present it on my smartphone; and I usually have an enjoyable experience. The experience is almost as great as the business model.
Groupon’s Problem
Most businesses are still 10 years behind when it comes to interacting with customers. They want you to print a copy of everything. If you use Groupon’s iPhone app (saving you, the customer, from printing a meaningless piece of paper), Groupon’s client just jots down whatever number you show them on the screen.
PROBLEM:When you use their iPhone app, Groupon expects you to “Mark As Used”.
“Expects” is where the vulnerability lies. The Groupon system never marks it used. They rely on the honest user. I’ve flashed my iPhone at a crowded lunch spot and had someone from high school come up from behind and surprise me so I hurriedly locked my phone and shoved it in my pocket.
The next time I visited the same establishment (as I had multiple Groupons), I realized that the coupon I didn’t “Mark As Used” last time was still valid. An honest mistake that exploits the honesty system.
Another situation arose while I was out trying to use a Groupon on my iPhone where the manager had me email him a screenshot of the number. I mistyped his email address; he said he never got it; and had me write it down on the receipt. It was never claimed.
How To Cheat Groupon
Disclaimer: You’re not really cheating Groupon. You are cheating the small businesses who place their faith in the great Groupon community. I’m sorry Groupon, but if you didn’t think of this you should hire me or someone with half a brain regarding security.
I am not responsible if you use these for personal gain. Please don’t!
Photoshop the printouts by changing one digit. Save as PDF, open in Photoshop or Gimp, erase whatever digit you want, and put another digit in there after matching the font. The restaurant or bar won’t run the number until you are long gone. Sleezy? Yes. Guaranteed to work? Yes.
iPhone app user? Take a screenshot of your Groupon code, edit just like I previously mentioned, bring up saved image/pdf/html to server or cashier. Same principle, less paper. The cashier will jot down whatever number you show them and charge you the difference.
Until Groupon fixes this loophole, you will be able to reuse and duplicate coupons endlessly (or until the Groupon expires). I’m sorry to all the small business who will lose money because of this post. I really am. There’s always one guy in the crowd that has to ruin it for the rest of us. Sorry to be that guy.
Groupon, please fix this! I’ll post a follow up with some of my ideas.
Hi Max -
Most merchants cross check the Groupon # (whether using a paper groupon or the iPhone version). So if you try this, chances are you will get caught, and then you can get into all kinds of trouble.
But regardless, we’re trying to build the kind of business where everyone does the right thing not because there are rules preventing them from abuse, but simply because… it’s the right thing.
Want to cheat Groupon? Here’s a way easier way: http://groublogpon.com/cities/the-groupon-promise/ Go use your Groupon, have a great time, and then call us up and tell us it sucked and we’ll give you your money back.
We’ve accepted the fact that a business can never create enough rules to prevent bad people from taking advantage of them. So we just try to cultivate a community where everyone is cool to everyone else. I’m disappointed that you’re not on board with that, but I believe that you’re the exception and not the rule. We don’t want to make things more difficult for the 99.9% of the population that is honest to stop people like you — we’re happy to bear that cost (and we eat it, not the merchants).
Also, sorry you had trouble redeeming your Groupon on the iPhone — it’s usually seamless, but chances are that Southport Lanes didn’t get the notes we sent them about the iPhone app. We’ll follow up with them and make sure it doesn’t happen again.
- Andrew, Groupon founder/CEO
Andrew, thanks for your comments. Your openness and transparency personally and as an extension of Groupon are admirable and exemplary.
First, I want to clarify that I’m not out to cheat Groupon. I’m a loyal customer and purchase a Groupon about once a week using them as they’re intended. I’m on board with the trusting and open community.
But, I work in security and we’re programmed to trust no one and put checks in to make sure people are following the rules. Cross checking a list of numbers just doesn’t seem like the best solution. You have a hip and tech-savvy company who has the ability to address these issues. I’m planning on posting some ideas on how to fix these loopholes this afternoon as a follow-up.
I did submit a complaint and received a personal reply from your support staff along with a $10 credit. Thank you! I love Groupon and don’t want the 0.1% to ruin it for people like us in the 99.9% of the population.
I don’t know if this is really a cool tip or not.
I mean, if you lie and cheat – yeah – you can scam just about anyone.
Furthermore, the whole lying process can be simplified because Groupon has a no-questions refund policy. You can simply call them and mislead them, and they’ll give back your money. No Iphone Fumbling required!
Is that a loophole? Is everything supposed to be an arms race where people are expected to act like thieves, so businesses cut off their options, so people need to scam to get their money’s worth?
Great Blog! I also like your smooth and clean design.
I also have concerns about the damage done to restaurants just buy participating in groupon — i think harvard should do a case study — help or hurt— I compete with groupon with Dining Perks — soon to be national — 20 years in busines — we mail our certificate and emboss them with foil so the can’t be copied — 20 years no problems — joe somerville
PS. we give the restauants $1 of $1 advertising for accepting our certificates so it helps the restaurants.
This is not a personal attack, just something that eats at me constantly. My cousin Joel once replied to one of my emails stating that I should respect myself by not signing emails as ‘max’. I’ve taken that to heart. So…
Capitalization is important. Are you diningperks or Dining Perks (logo vs )? You entered “—-@diningPErks.com” as your email address. Why? Taking the time to hold the shift key must signify something. What do all of these capitalization inconsistencies have to do with your brand? I think they poorly effect your brand.
want an even better deal??? when groupon posts the daily deal, call the merchant yourself and ask for a 30% discount from what groupon is offering. why would the merchant give this to you? it’s simple…each sale is shared 50/50 with groupon. so, if a deal is $10 for $20 worth of stuff, the merchant will get $5…now the merchant is in business to make money and maximize his returns. so it is in the merchants interest to give you the deal for, let’s say $7…this is a win/win situation between customer and merchant. don’t kid yourself about groupons almighty openness, kindness and the almight savior of small businesses…they are ruthless and prey on the vulnarability of small merchants. most merchants lose money and will likely never see the customer return. false promises made by groupon and duping the less educated business owners in a crapy deal all while groupon is making a ‘killing’. so, see what the daily deal is, contact the merchant, get a better deal and it will be better for the business in the long run you. read in between the lines of what someone or in this case this business is trying to portray…
I had a question about a groupon item. Yesterday I attempted to purchase the nordstrom deal. Every time I got to where I click confirm order it would give me server error. Then site crashed. Later my sister and I attempted to purchase again. Got through but had to enter my credit card info…which is new thing to me…usually they ask use card on file. My sister had same thing happen. Later that evening I looked at site..I had saved on phone and address was buy.groupon. is this legit? Or do I need to cancel cards? I have looked for this online to see if anyone else has had this happen.…
The Groupon service was overwhelmed after being featured on Oprah for that Nordstrom deal. The errors you saw were a result of a deluge of new and returning customers all trying to cash out at once. While it is unusual, my best guess for Groupon having you re-enter your credit card information was that their database that normally stores your information was not accessible. They are a reliable and trustworthy service who have taken strides to provide better security measures since I originally wrote this article. Happy shopping!
Group on is a rip off! I have still not recieved my refund and tried of their customer service hotline. Its pointless and no one answer. None of them respond to my email and THEY ARE A RIP OFF. I can not believe they get this much hype with bad customer service. Boy, what a fool I am.
Let andrew mason shut up since he is at every site adveristing for them and talking about heir good deeds. He must work for them.
He’s actually the CEO of Groupon.
I like giovanni’s idea… business gets a bigger cut, you don’t have to worry about expirations or conditions, etc.
However, I strongly disagree with the idea that groupon is taking advantage of anyone. If you are a business owner (small or large), and not smart enough to read conditions, terms, contracts, etc, you deserve to go under. You go to all the trouble to start a business and then aren’t smart enough to understand your relationship with groupon, cmon, don’t be an idiot, and stop hating groupon just because they have an fantastic business model for themselves. For some types of businesses, they do get new customers and grow their base.
Part of the Groupon benefit is exposure, even if the deal doesn’t make the company a profit. Any effective marketing and advertising is an investment into the long-term value of a brand. Great post, thanks!
Groupon and all the copycat sites seem like great deals for the consumer, but they destroy business. Yes it is up to the business owner to read the fine print and understand what he signed up for, but really most of these business owners understand there business and not the marketing business. These cannibalistic sites prey on anyone stupid enough to buy into it. If you can afford to give 25–50 and even up to 90% discounts then you can afford even the best advertising. I was asked to do some market research for a copycat company. I never heard of Groupon until then. I did my research and found that the only way this model makes any sense, would be if I could, with a straight face, be willing to hurt another business owner. And yes, I agree with those that said to just call the business and ask for the same discount when you show up. It’s better for you and the business. Also more secure then sending your credit card information through cyberspace.
As an employee of a company that uses Groupon, I can tell you it can be a great benefit to the company itself. The exposure for us was to a new set of the market that was either previously unaware of our business or unwilling to pay for our services. They would have never tried us without seeing a Groupon deal pop up. We ended up basically breaking even after Groupon’s fees, but I have personally seen many of the customers brought in by Groupon return. We will most likely use it in the future again.
As far as contacting our company to just get the deal directly, that would not have worked. We are not similar to the local restaurants of which you speak, having approximately 500 employees, but we already have loyalty programs and discount coupons that you would have been directed towards. They are not quite as good of a deal as the Groupon.
It has been some time since Max’s original post about security concerns, but we only accept the print out coupons. We have to keep them for auditing purposes, and the actual barcode on the coupon is scanned. Our system prevents multiple uses, so it seems some of these concerns have been answered. Without the help of an employee, it would seem very difficult to run a scam with the current Groupons.
To print detailed descriptions about how to “cheat” Groupon, and then add a disclaimer that says “oh, gee, please don’t” is about as hypocritical and childish as it gets. The great beauty of the internet (I feel) is the collective value systems driven by voting, rating, etc. Self-policing behavior that we were never able to police in the past.
It isn’t “semantics” when you cheat Groupon and their clients. It is theft. And when you encourage it, you don’t get a free pass just by telling people to disregard your instructions. Shame on you. My last visit to this site.
This post is now over a year old, yet the small, easily fixable security holes still exist which exert comments like yours. If Groupon took their billions of dollars in valuation and a month to address these issues, I would look like another internet loon rambling about problems that don’t exist anymore.