Regretting the fact that you sprang for that daily deal for a full spa treatment? There may be a chance for you to recoup your money.

Daily deals sites like Groupon and LivingSocial offer limited-time discounts of as much as 90 percent to buyers, but the short time frames and steep discounts can often lead to impulse buys and buyer’s remorse.

Now, a market is emerging for daily deal resale sites, which help buyers recoup some of their money—for a fee. But since about 20 percent of daily deal offers that are purchased go unused, according to industry trackers Daily Deals Media and Yipit, consumers are turning to them to help unload some of their unwanted purchases.

The sites essentially act as an eBay for the daily deals market, in that they act as intermediaries between two parties.

Among the daily deals resale sites:

• DealsGoRound—sellers are not charged for listing items, but the site does take a 10 percent cut if the item is sold.


• LifeSta—charges 99 cents for each listing and takes an 8 percent cut of the sale price. Buyers are guaranteed a refund if they find out within 60 days that an offer has expired or already been used.


• CoupRecoup—works more like Craigslist, in that buyers and sellers contact each other and negotiate payment methods.

Daily Deal Media estimates that there are almost 400 daily deal websites and that the industry will take in about $1.9 billion this year.

Sources:
When the daily deal triggers buyer’s remorse, try this [Boston Globe]
Get to know how daily deal resale sites work [HeraldNet]
At last, a cure for Groupon regret [Business Week]