Groupon recently launched Groupon+ (aka Groupon Plus), a new savings service that offers customers exclusive savings at local restaurants. Be sure to take advantage of it because the program offers up to 50% off your purchase!
What is Groupon+ (aka Groupon Plus)?
Everyone is familiar with Groupon, a service that saves you money by buying discounted vouchers for local places. I’ve used Groupon to save at restaurants, hotels, and even zip-lining experiences. It’s a great service and there’s something offered virtually everywhere you go.
However, it’s not ideal for everyone, because in order to save money you’d have to buy a coupon or voucher up-front. For example, buying a voucher for $20 to get $50 worth of food at a restaurant. Even after you’ve bought the deal, there’s usually restrictions attached – stuff like only valid on certain days of the week, good for lunch only, alcohol not included, etc.
Enter Groupon+, a new service from the parent company that removes a lot of the red tape from its traditional business model. It’s a free card-linked program that will refund you up to 50% of your costs at restaurants, cafes, pizza shops, ect.
There are no online coupons or vouchers to buy and redeem. Instead, by connecting your credit card, the program automatically knows when you spend money at participating restaurants and will refund you back on your credit card as a statement credit. It could be as much as 50% cash back depending on the merchant!
How do I sign up for Groupon+?
You need to separately enroll in Groupon+ even if you already have a Groupon account. The sign up process is easy though:
- Go to the program’s sign-up page to enroll
- Link the credit cards you want to use for this (all major credit cards work including American Express, Visa, Mastercard, and Discover)
That’s really it, only two steps and now you’re officially signed up. That was easy (thanks Staples)!
How do I use Groupon+?
Browse the available offers by navigating to the “My Stuff” tab (found at the upper-right hand corner for desktop or bottom-right hand corner on the Groupon app) and click on “My Groupon+ Deals”, which will bring you here.
Once you’re on the program’s main page, it will show the cash back you’ve earned so far, your linked credit cards, and any deals you’ve claimed. A claimed deal means you have activated a particular place to get cash back there when using your credit card. You MUST claim a deal prior to paying, otherwise Groupon won’t recognize your purchase.
How do you claim deals? Scroll down on this page; at the bottom there is a map you can click on. It will search for all nearby places around you that are part of the program and will list how much you’ll get back. Once you find a place that you’d like to go, click “Claim for Free”. You can claim as many places as you want. Your app will list all your claimed spots, the cash back amount offered, and when the offer will expire.
Like I said earlier, there are no coupons or vouchers to print or redeem. Groupon will automatically recognize your credit card transaction when you use the card at a participating restaurant.
I usually get an email confirmation a few hours after my visit congratulating me on using the offer and the amount I’ll get credited back to my credit card.
What else do I need to know?
A lot of people worry about their privacy. Like other card-linked programs, there’s questions on how much information you are giving them access to. I looked this up and thankfully, it’s limited.
Apparently, Groupon tells the credit card company which merchants you have a deal for. When your credit card company sees a purchase at those merchants, it lets Groupon know so they can process a cash back credit on your behalf.
They spell all the details out in their terms and conditions if you want to read it.
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The Bottom Line
Groupon+ is another service you can use to save big while going out. Although all of the places right now are food and drink related, Groupon plans to expand this program beyond restaurants to categories like beauty, retail, and home & auto services.
I’ve personally used this program for the past 2 years and love that it has so many different places available. They’re not just hole-in-the-wall restaurants either, but good ones I would actually go to regardless if I had a Groupon deal or not.
The best part about Groupon+ is that it stacks with other programs like Seated, Uber Visa Local Offers, and airline dining programs. I plan on writing a post on how to best figure out this deals later this month so check back often or just subscribe to my site!
You’ve probably seen by now from my posts that I love deals! Sometimes I think I enjoy the thrill of finding how to save money more than the money saved… just maybe.
I got what you mean , thanks for putting up. Woh I am lucky to find this website through google.