First 200 Mississippi businesses are Founding Merchants
Switch from Groupon
Groupon can keep ~75% of your sale. Good Circles takes 1% of profit.
A Groupon deal usually means discounting ~50% and handing Groupon about half of what's left — so you often keep just ~25% of your list price, frequently below cost, to acquire one-time discount-seekers. Good Circles is the opposite: a 1% fee on profit, your customer saves ~10%, a local nonprofit gets funded, and you keep about 89% of your profit. No ad spend, no merchant card cost. Free to join.
A $100 service, side by side
A $100 service that costs you $30 to deliver. Groupon shown at the common 50%-off voucher with a ~50/50 split — the structure most local businesses are offered.
| Per $100 service | Good Circles | Groupon (50% off + 50/50) |
|---|---|---|
| Revenue (list value) | $100.00 | $100.00 |
| Less: customer discount | ($10.00) — 10% | ($50.00) — 50% off voucher |
| Less: platform's cut | ($0.60) — 1% of profit | ($25.00) — ~50% of the voucher |
| Less: COGS | ($30.00) | ($30.00) |
| Less: donation (deductible) | ($6.00) | — |
| Pre-tax profit | $53.40 | −$5.00 (a loss) |
| After-tax profit (25%) | $40.05 | −$3.75 |
| Customer saves / community funded | $10.00 / $6.00 | one-time deal / $0 |
| Total local value created | $56.05 | −$3.75 |
Groupon's revenue split is negotiated and varies (the merchant-kept share is commonly reported around 50–70% of the voucher); the ~50% discount plus the split is the structure most local businesses are offered (verified 2026-06-22, groupon.com/merchant). Good Circles takes a 1% fee on profit, with no ad spend and no merchant card cost (the customer pays credit card processing if they use a card). Illustration, not tax advice.
Calculator
Run your own numbers
Your price, cost, tax rate, and current ad spend. This uses your numbers — not a sales pitch — to show your after-tax profit on each platform and the total local value of every sale.
Your platform
$0.00
after-tax profit / sale
Good Circles
$0.00
after-tax profit / sale
Total local value created per sale
$0.00 on Good Circles vs $0.00 on your platform
your after-tax profit + your customer's savings + community funding
Line-by-line, per sale
| Per sale | Platform | Good Circles |
|---|---|---|
| Revenue (list price) | ||
| Less: customer savings (10%) | ||
| Less: COGS | ||
| Less: platform fee | ||
| Less: ad / marketing | ||
| Less: card processing | ||
| Less: donation (deductible) | ||
| Taxable / pre-tax profit | ||
| Less: income tax | ||
| After-tax profit | ||
| Memo: customer saves | ||
| Memo: community funded | ||
| Memo: your after-tax cost to deliver that value | — |
Illustration only — not tax advice. Deductibility depends on your entity, income, and how the arrangement is characterized; confirm with your CPA. Competitor "fee" is the typical published all-in rate (verified 2026-06-22); set the fee and your ad spend to your real numbers.
Discounting 50% to be found isn't marketing — it's a hole
Groupon's pitch is exposure. But the structure asks you to halve your price, hand over half of what's left, and absorb the cost of delivery — to reach customers who came for the discount and tend not to return at full price. For a lot of local businesses, every Groupon redeemed is a small loss they hope to make back later.
Good Circles flips the model: the platform takes 1% of profit, your customer saves about 10%, and a local nonprofit your customer chose gets funded on every sale — so the people sending you business are invested in your community, not hunting the next coupon. See the full picture on the full marketplace comparison »
Questions
Groupon vs Good Circles — FAQ
How much does Groupon actually cost a business?
On a typical Groupon you discount your service about 50% to set the voucher price, and then split that voucher revenue with Groupon — commonly around 50/50. Stack the discount and the split together and you often keep only about 25% of your original list price, before you've paid a cent to actually deliver the service. The split is negotiable, but the structure routinely runs at or below cost.
Will I make more on Good Circles than on Groupon?
Almost always, and it isn't close. On a $100 service that costs you $30 to deliver, a typical Groupon can leave you at a roughly $5 loss, while on Good Circles you keep about $53 pre-tax (around $40 after tax) — and your customer saves ~10% and a local nonprofit gets funded. Good Circles charges a 1% fee on profit instead of taking three-quarters of the deal.
Don't Groupon customers come back and pay full price?
Some do, but Groupon's model attracts deal-seekers, and studies and operator experience consistently show low repeat rates at full price — you can end up training customers to wait for the next discount. Good Circles customers come to you through local nonprofits and their supporters, so they're community-rooted repeat buyers, and you're never discounting 50% to be found.
Can I use both Groupon and Good Circles?
You can. But once you have a community channel that funds local causes and keeps your margin, most businesses find they no longer need to give away half their price plus half the rest. Good Circles is free to join with a 1% fee on profit, no ad spend, and no merchant card cost.
Stop discounting your way to a loss
Free to join. A 1% fee on profit only when you sell. The first 200 Mississippi businesses are Founding Merchants.