Looking for where you can get a great daily deal in New York? Here’s Yipit’s definitive guide to the best daily deal sites in the Big Apple:
25 Tuesdays
Base: New York
Other cities: No
Deals Offered: Spa Treatments, Health and Beauty
Specializing in health and beauty and spa treatments, 25 Tuesdays’ mission is to make these seemingly luxurious services affordable to everyone. Each Tuesday, the website puts up a different deal which sells for no less than $25. Users can purchase the deal any day that week up until the next Tuesday, at which point a new deal comes online. Purchased deals are good for one year from their purchase date. Additionally, users can choose to upgrade from advertised service for a nominal fee.
Beer Menus
Base: New York
Other Cities: Yes
Deals Offered: Beer Flights, Food Festivals, Nightlife
Started by two New York brothers with a passion for beer, Beer Menus is the authority on where to get any brand of beer in the city. In addition to listing daily deals on bar tabs, beer flights, and craft beer tastings, Beer Menus also features a running database on where users can purchase specific brands of beer within New York, even microbreweries and hard to find labels and brands. Moreover, another database contains bars serving specific types of beers as well as where users can purchase and fill up growlers (a must for the true beer connoisseur).
BlackboardEats
Base: New York
Other Cities: Yes
Deals Offered: Dining
BlackboardEats is a foodie’s dream. Edited by food critics and industry specialists, BlackboardEats offers great daily discounts on trendy restaurants and dining specials, such as prix fixe menus and wine tastings. Available exclusively in New York and Los Angeles, each deal is live for 24 hours and deals are valid for one month. Not only are the deals great (free appetizers, 30% off the check), so are the restaurants. Past participants have included places such as Kampuchea, Il Buco, and Aquavit. BlackboardEats plans to expand to San Francisco later this year.
Bloomspot
Base: San Francisco
Other Cities: Yes
Deals Offered: Fine Dining, Fitness Classes, Health and Beauty, Spa Treatments
Bloomspot’s mission is to give its users “a short lived special opportunity to enjoy yourself close to home.” Based around local merchants and businesses, Bloomspot offers 1-2 deals per day in categories such as beauty and relaxation, casual and fine dining, fitness, weekend getaways, and local events and favorites. Unlike larger sites, Bloomspot maintains its intimate feel by limiting itself to only a handful of U.S. markets and selecting local, boutique businesses as advertisers. In addition, members can share their favorite businesses and past deals through photos and discussion. Lastly, Bloomspot offers its subscribers the unique opportunity to view upcoming daily deals in advance of their launch.
More after the jump!
BuyWithMe
Base: Boston
Other Cities: Yes
Deals Offered: General
Boston based BuyWithMe offers not one, but several daily deals in multiple cities across the country. Usually opting more for services and entertainment as opposed to restaurants and bars, BuyWithMe is a simple, no-frills way to getting daily deals, usually at 50% off the retail price. Moreover, BuyWithMe also offers its users the ability to purchase gift cards to use on future deals.
Daily Flock
Base: New York
Other Cities: No
Deals Offered: General
Daily Flock isn’t just a daily deal site; it collects and scours information from multiple daily deal sites in New York to deliver its subscribers an email containing several deals for a wide range of products and services. In addition, most of its deals are offered from rates of 50-90% off the retail price, from some of the most reputable daily deal sites such as Groupon, LivingSocial, and kgb deals.
DealOn
Other Cities: Yes
Deals Offered: General
Unlike other daily deal sites, DealOn has the unique distinction of adjusting the price of the deals offered depending on how many people buy. For example, if a deal starts at $20, and enough people buy the deal, the price of the deal drops in relation to the number of committed purchases (i.e. deal may drop to $15 by midday and $10 by the evening). The price at midnight of that day is the final price of the deal and the price that is paid by everyone, regardless of when the deal was purchased. Currently available in over 35 US Markets, DealOn sells everything from discount gift cards to fitness classes and fun life skills lessons. Moreover, users can gain store credit from recommending DealOn to new customers.
Gilt City
Base: New York
Other Cities: No
Deals Offered: Fine Dining, Luxury Services, Events and Entertainment
A staple of the New York luxury deals scene, Gilt City and its parent site Gilt Groupe offer top quality services, restaurants, and entertainment in New York for a discount price. By offering membership upon request as opposed to automatically signing new customers via email list serves, Gilt retains an air of exclusivity that it’s able to carry out through its simple, clean website and high end clientele. Partner sites such as Gilt Man and Gilt Woman offer daily discounts on high end designer fashions and accessories.
Groupon
Base: Chicago
Other Cities: Yes
Deals Offered: General
Arguably the leader of the pack, Groupon is the go-to daily deal site, offering one deal per day at an unbeatable price. Since starting in Chicago, it has expanded to 65 unique North American markets and 13 additional countries. Groupon relies on what it calls “collective buying power”, in which it offers users a daily markdown if and only if enough of the site’s users agree to purchase the deal. Deals offered on Groupon range from entertainment to clothing, restaurants to spa treatments, and travel to theatre tickets.
Half Off Depot
Other Cities: Yes
Deals Offered: Gift Cards, General
Half Off Depot doesn’t bill itself as a daily deal site. Instead of offering consumers a “deal”, they promote at least 50% off gift cards to a wide variety of different local retailers depending on the user’s market. However, while other daily deal sites limit the time you can buy a deal, Half Off Depot limits the amount of deals it sells, allowing to deal to remain live until all available units have sold. Currently, Half Off Depot is available in over 60 U.S. and Canadian markets.
HomeRun
Other Cities: Yes
Deals Offered: General
Similar to Groupon, HomeRun uses collective buying power to activate daily deals which it features on its website. While it features one main daily deal on the home page, it also puts up about 4-5 side deals that users can also purchase. Furthermore, HomeRun further classifies its deals based on prior experience. New users can take advantage of Beginner’s Luck, which features an array of small deals aimed at getting new users oriented with the website. Seasoned veterans can apply to access to The Private Reserve, small-batch high-end deals that are exclusively available to HomeRun’s most loyal customers.
InBundles
Base: New York
Other Cities: No
Deals Offered: Dining, Nightlife
InBundles, which is still in development, specializes in food and drink specials from anywhere from 50-90% off the retail price. In addition to offering dining deals, they also promote foodie events, such as exclusive restaurant tastings and discounts in wine shops.
kgb deals
Base: New York
Other Cities: Yes
Deals Offered: Spa Treatments, Entertainment, Daily Services
Kgb, the service that can respond to any question via text message, now offers users daily deals in addition to trivia answers. Deals tend to focus more on spa treatments, family entertainment, and daily services as opposed to dining and nightlife. Unlike other daily deal sites, offers are valid no matter how many people choose to buy.
LifeBooker Loot
Base: New York
Other Cities: Yes
Deals Offered: Spa Treatments, Health and Beauty
If getting pampered for pennies is your kind of deal, then Lifebooker is the daily deal site for you. Focusing almost exclusively on spa, health, and beauty treatments, Lifebooker offers a variety of daily deals, breaking them down by specific category to ensure you find EXACTLY which service best suits you. You can even use Lifebooker to make appointments, helping you reduce your wait time at exclusive salons and spas that the site partners with. Moreover, its sister site, Lifebooker Loot, offers one deal per day at a fantastic price for a local business in your city.
LivingSocial
Other Cities: Yes
Deals Offered: General
LivingSocial offers daily deals on a wide variety of goods and services, including travel, health and beauty treatments, local restaurants, and classes. Users purchase the deal on the site and receive it the next business day. While other sites simply encourage collective buying power to activate deals, LivingSocial smartly encourages its users to forward featured deals to their friends. If a user signs up for a deal, forwards it to three friends, and gets them to all commit, the user pays nothing!
Real NY Deal
Base: New York
Other Cities: No
Deals Offered: Dining, Fashion
This New York-based blog delivers a one-two punch to its users: highlighting some of New York’s best sample sales, restaurant deals, and discounts on its main blog page, as well as offering exclusive unpublished deals on it’s email list. Readers not only save from clicking the links provided by the blog, but can offer their own deals and tips as well. Real NY Deal is also perfect for the budding paparazzo; news updates report celebrity sightings at featured locales.
RelishNYC
Base: New York
Other Cities: No
Deals Offered: Dining, Entertainment, Activities
RelishNYC is committed to finding New Yorkers great deals on places to eat, things to see, and activities to do. Deals are live once they hit the site, regardless of how many people buy the package (although they encourage you to share with your friends). Deals range from tourist activities and casual restaurants to spa treatments and fine dining. Plus, users can get a sneak peek at next week’s deal. A discussion board also allows users to ask questions about the deals and provide feedback.
Scoop St
Base: New York
Other Cities: No
Deals Offered: General
Scoop St is a New York-centric daily deal site which utilizes collective buying power to bring New Yorkers unbeatable daily deals. Offerings range from restaurants to health and beauty services, with an emphasis on local businesses. Clearly marked terms and conditions, as well as Google Maps showing business locations, make the deals easy to understand and read. Additional discussions pertaining to the deals also allows users to get feedback and reviews not only from the Scoop St staff, but also from fellow users.
SocialBuy
Other Cities: Yes
Deals Offered: General
SocialBuy offers its consumers one main deal per day with a plethora of side deals to choose from. Deals on this site tend to fall into the middle-high end range, with past offerings including exclusive concert tickets and whiskey tastings. SocialBuy also emphasizes the importance of sharing the deals through various social media channels as a way to encourage more users to purchase deals. Lastly, celebrity-endorsed deals also appear on the site, a feature unique to SocialBuy.
The Dealist
Base: New York
Other Cities: Yes
Deals Offered: Spa Treatments, Health and Beauty, Entertainment, Nightlife
The Dealist promises lists a daily deal of “something great to do” at a local New York business. While it advertises a main deal on its home page, users can click to see other deals being offered simultaneously. Deals cover a whole host of different goods and services: dining, health and fitness, and local attractions are among the most featured. Other deals might be featured individually via their own tab on the main page. Moreover, users have the power to suggest and vote on upcoming deals, allowing the site to truly reach out to deliver exactly what the customer wants.
Tippr
Base: Seattle
Other Cities: Yes
Deals Offered: General
Tippr, which is only in a limited number of US Markets, prides itself on finding deals that aren’t only at huge discounts, but personally tested and purchased by the staff. Deals cover a wide variety of services and goods, from fashion to daily services and spa treatments. Daily emails provide up to 3 deals in the city of your choice and as more subscribers purchase the deal, Tippr allows the discount to gradually increase.
Village Vines
Base: New York
Other Cities: No
Deals Offered: Fine Dining
Similar to Gilt Groupe but exclusively for restaurants, Village Vines boasts deals and discounts at some of New York’s finest and most popular restaurants. Another deal site that requests that new subscribers apply for membership, Village Vines specializes in securing restaurant reservations for a nominal fee. In exchange, diners receive discounts of usually 30% off the final bill at the preferred establishment. And the best part? Because the discount is applied discreetly, nobody will ever know you’re using a coupon!
Zozi
Base: San Francisco
Other Cities: Yes
Deals Offered: Local Excursions, Activities, Entertainment
With its emphasis on connecting users to local businesses, Zozi is the deal site when you’re searching for a fun, exciting thing to do in your city. Deals usually emphasize outdoor activities, such as sailing, rafting, or paddleboarding to name a few recent deals. With discounts usually hovering in the 50% range, Zozi is a great resource if you’re looking to try out a new active hobby, or just want to get away from it all for a day. >