Groupon: Collective Buying Power

I was turned on to Groupon a few days ago by my coworker and since then have participated, consumed, and have been hooked. For those that aren't familiar with the site, you are going to be kicking yourself that you have been out of the loop for so long (I know I was).

Since November 2008, Groupon has been offering "a daily deal on the best stuff to do, see, eat, and buy in a variety of cities across the United States" and they're not kidding. Just last week I purchased a groupon for $9 that allows me to get TWO sandwiches ($21 value) from one of my most favorite sandwich places in Chicago, Hannah's Bretzel.

Here's the scoop, you visit their site, see a deal you want to partake in, purchase it before the time runs out (or the deal is sold out—this does happen), wait until the selling time expires, your credit card is then charged (you are able to cancel your order up to that point), you receive an email with a link to print your groupon, you visit the vendor, you consume or participate in the product, you hand over the groupon when asked for payment, and you leave—happy and silently applauding yourself for saving loads of money.

Just looking under their Recent Deals page, I see that I have missed out on uber-cheap tickets to a Chicago Fire soccer game, 1/2 price mani-pedis, 1/2 price gift cards to some of my favorite restaurants, and many other offers.

I am posting today to share the wealth. For my friends who are not in the Chicago area, Groupon has sites for many other cities including Minneapolis, Dallas, Kansas City, Madison, etc.

Tell me, what deal did you score?