New group deal services

The latest craze in the money-saving world is the group coupon — or Groupon, the name of the biggest group-buying site.

If you enroll at www.groupon.com, you get an e-mail with each day’s deal, usually 50 percent or more off the goods or services of a local business. When you sign up for a deal, you enter your credit card information. If enough others sign up, your card is charged and you are e-mailed a coupon to print out and take to the establishment. If there aren’t enough takers, the deal is off and your card is not charged.

This week, Groupon offered a $140 jewelry-making class for $45 and $45 worth of children’s goods at a consignment store for $19. Other recent deals have been for restaurant meals, portrait photography, yoga classes, laser hair removal and membership to the Miami Art Museum.

Most of the deals are in Miami-Dade, but there are some in Broward. So far, Groupon is in about 50 U.S. and Canadian cities. The company, which started operating in 2008, is based in Chicago.

Groupon has spawned several competitors including LivingSocial, which says it is coming to South Florida, BuyWithMe and DealOn. I recently was followed on Twitter by a site called FortLauderDeals, which sounds similar but is not yet in operation.

Some of the sites give you points, money or free deals for signing on more people. Of course, you can also follow them on Facebook and Twitter. LivingSocial will send the deals to your mobile phone.

I can’t give you a personal review of Groupon, or any of the other services, because I have not used them yet. Some of the deals sound great, but it’s only a great deal if you’re sure you’re going to use it.