And if somehow it becomes our issue, you, the merchant owe us money to fix the issue. Groupon’s stance is that it’s the merchant’s issue, not ours. If you’re running a small coffee shop, restaurant or nail salon, you likely have no idea what any of this stuff means.īecause Groupons are so new, no one really does. These are issues that multinationals with armies of lawyers struggle with.

Groupon puts the onus of incredibly complex issues like taxation, compliance with gift card regulations and escheat on the merchant. The Groupon merchant agreement is incredibly lopsided in favor of Groupon, as are most agreements where one party doesn’t really have the ability to negotiate.

Also keep in mind that this agreement is a bit more than a year old. I usually gloss over things like implied warranties because that tends to be boilerplate and if there’s something wonky, I don’t have the expertise to catch it anyway. I focus on things like pricing, payment terms, exclusivity, branding, intellectual property, liabilities and indemnification. My background is in product management and business development. It’s simply an analysis of the key points of the agreement. When reading this analysis, please keep in mind that I am not a lawyer and this is not legal advice. Last night I posted a Groupon merchant contract I received. See the Groupon, LivingSocial and daily deals merchant FAQ.

Groupon merchant services