^^^This is an accurate and very important rebuttal. Groupon has taken flack precisely because its cash flow depends on delayed payments to vendors. The vendors

^^^This is an accurate and very important rebuttal. Groupon has taken flack precisely because its cash flow depends on delayed payments to vendors. The vendors emphatically do not get paid up front. If they did, Groupon would actually not be in business right now. The amount it owes vendors exceeds its cash, but by the time it has to pay it has sold more Groupons. In other words, Groupon pays old liabilities with new ones (this is, obviously, a point of intense controversy). http://www.businessinsider.com/groupon-low-on-cash-2011-8?op=1 http://www.businessinsider.com/groupon-low-on-cash-2011-8?op... "...it collects cash from Groupons the moment it sells them and doesn't have to pay some of the cash to merchants until 60 days later..."