Groupon sells marketing. The daily deals sites, and everything on them, is finely honed marketing. It's a beautiful psychological play. The % off, the timer, t

Groupon sells marketing. The daily deals sites, and everything on them, is finely honed marketing. It's a beautiful psychological play. The % off, the timer, the social pressure - an automated version of the used-car salesman pitch. It doesn't matter what the absolute price is - studies have shown the consumers are more willing to buy a product that is at its "everyday low price", even when it's that price... every day. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if the deals had special "Groupon only" pricing. Gilt Group went through this a few months back with their "Made for Gilt" specific items - they were selling inventory which had ridiculously inflated "retail prices" pulled out of thin air.