Even if you don’t define yourself as a “budget bride,” and even if you’re not putting together the best party you can get for $1000, I’m sure you’re looking for bargains. I’ve finally hopped on to one of the latest shopping trends, and I’ve been getting some great wedding deals!
The trend is social buying. Basically, the website advertises great deals on just about anything, but a certain number of people have to sign up to buy it before the deal goes live. Once they’ve reached their tipping point, the deal is for realsies and people can keep on buying the coupon until the deal expires. All that technical stuff (how many people is the tipping point, what the deal is, how long it is available) is agreed on by the vendor and the website. There are lots of different sites, most are divided up by city, because there is no point me buying a discounted yoga membership to a place in NYC if I live in Calgary, now is there?
I imagine they’re great for the businesses involved because they get that money up front, it gets their business out to tonnes of people, and I’m sure they are hoping that some people will forget about the coupon until after the expiration date. I’m certain there is some percentage of that going on!
There’s a really great graphic here that I don’t want to steal, but think you should look at! It shows all the various social buying sites that have popped up over the years in a really cool way.
So anyway, how have these sites helped me with the wedding?
I subscribe to Groupon for Calgary; Groupon is one of the larger social buying sites. I’ve bought one Groupon so far—I paid $69 for a 16″x20″ wrapped canvas from 44 Wide. It includes shipping from their studio Toronto, and is usually a $200+ purchase! Originally when I saw it, I thought I’d get it and use it for a wedding photo, but then I checked the fine print—you have to use it by a certain date which is only a day or two after our wedding. Fine, I decided it’d still be worth it for an engagement photo. 658 people bought this deal, and the tipping point was 20.
Social Buying Tip #1: Read that fine print! Most deals have time limits or other restrictions.
I also subscribe to Living Social for Calgary. So far, I’ve found that I’ve seen more things I’ve almost bought on Groupon than I have on Living Social, but I think it is worth it to continue getting the emails. If I don’t want the whateveritis, I can just hit delete. The one thing I’ve bought on Living Social so far is a 25 class punch card for use on yoga or pilates classes at a nearby gym. I’ve spent money on yoga memberships before (at another place) but I think I don’t go often enough to make a membership a good deal. I’ll go 5 times a week for a month, and then never for 2 months. So, I decided to use this deal to see how well a punch card will work for me. It is extra-fun because this is a uber-fancy gym, and a 25 class card is usually $500! 2749 people bought this one!
Social Buying Tip #2: Don’t just buy it because it is a good deal. Buy it because you will use it. If I only bought that deal because I thought it was too good to pass up, and not because I think I’ll use it, it’s $20 wasted, not $480 saved. (I try to make this my mantra for all things on sale.)
The last social purchase I made was through The Broke-Ass Bride. It was for a coupon through Social Buy to get a 34% discount on a KnotPic membership. I’d been thinking about making a Flickr account for our guests to upload photos to after the wedding, but after reading about KnotPic I was completely sold on their service.
Social Buying Tip #3: It’s not just services in your city! Keep a look out for online services too, if you need them.
You can buy all sorts of services this way. I got three different things in my three purchases: an online-only service (KnotPic), an in-my-city service (the gym pass), and a physical object + domestic shipping (the canvas). I think it is completely worth the couple extra emails you get each day to keep tabs on these types of websites.
If you live in a major US city, your city is probably on the list!
Is there a social buying website you love? What has your best deal been?
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