Oneupweb : Social Buying Power for this Holiday Season

During my morning read I stumbled across this post at one of my favorite blogs, Design You Trust. At first I was intrigued by the the infographic below.

I hardly ever buy things online. I have a hard time trusting some sites. And the sites that have sellers (like eBay), forget it. I tend to be a little impatient when it comes to waiting for my item in the mail. For some reason I like the experience of going to the store and being able to see, feel and inspect items in my own hands. This year I have begun to do my holiday shopping way in advance. It’s nice to find an item that’s perfect for someone at 50%-75% off— something that isn’t easy to do when you are last minute shopping.

This year it looks like I might just have to start jumping in on the internet shopping. For one, my boyfriend asked for an out of print movie called Rad, and Its practically impossible to find in the stores. It’s time for me to dive into online shopping.

I’m really new to the whole Social Buying world. And because I’m not an expert online shopper, I needed to understand the concept of Social Buying, so I began to do some research. Most of the Social Buying sites feature a local store and a discounted “item” each day. How does it work? You purchase the daily deal and they send you a link to your voucher the next business day. Then you can take the voucher and enjoy your half off meal or spend $25 on a wardrobe that’s worth $60. The deals are amazing! Some sites feature only one item per day and sell only that one item until it is sold out. I like this concept because it allows for quite a bit of conversation about the product and people usually post price comparisons and reviews. Some sites require a certain number of people to purchase the deal in order for them to get the deal. The sites can be all chance; If not enough people agree to purchase the deal, you may not end up getting the product or service. Don’t worry, you do get a refund if the deal doesn’t go through.

Here are just a few of the Social Buying sites:
Woot
Living Social
8coupons
Groupon
Yipit
DealOn
BuyWithMe

I have maybe 6-10 online shopping experiences (completed purchases) under my belt, and I practically have to cut my big toe off to make myself shop online. So as you know I am terribly new with the online shopping experience and I could always use a few tips to make the experience enjoyable, so feel free to comment and let me know how you feel about social buying.