Customer Transparency Policy

At Groupon, we want customers to trust the Groupon marketplace on all levels, and this starts with the small businesses and merchants that are offering their products and services on Groupon (our “Merchants”). All Groupon Merchants are required to provide customers with clear and accurate representations regarding the goods or services they offer for sale on Groupon, so that customers can shop with confidence on Groupon.

Deal and offer descriptions, as well as categorization information, must be accurate. Merchant deals and offers should never lead a customer to believe something that is not true.

Merchants offering products or services for sale on any of Groupon’s channels must: 

• accurately describe the products or services being sold; 
• not make any claims about products that cannot be substantiated, particularly with regard to any claims regarding medical benefits of a product or service;
• only advertise products or services that are available, in stock, and which merchants are capable of fulfilling; 
• abide by all shipping representations and timeframes; 
• ensure that the products and services are of reasonable quality, and free from defects in workmanship, materials and design; ensure that their products are genuine and bona fide; 
• comply with Groupon's pricing transparency statement; and 
• ensure that their products and services otherwise comply with all applicable laws.  

Any disclaimers attached to Merchant deals and offers must:

• be prominent and visible;
• not be obscured by images, graphics or text; and
• not undermine or contradict any other language on the deal page or in the fine print.

In addition, customer reviews must contain authentic feedback, whether positive or negative. Groupon does not tolerate Merchant manipulation of customer reviews, including by submitting product or service reviews through false customer accounts or incentivizing customers to submit false reviews. If Merchants choose to offer compensation of any kind to customers in exchange for submitting accurate reviews on Groupon, Merchants are required to ensure any such compensation is disclosed in the customer review.  

Any attempt to misrepresent deal or offer descriptions or categorization information, or to manipulate customer reviews - including by directly or indirectly contributing false, misleading or inauthentic content - is strictly prohibited on Groupon. Such misconduct may also violate applicable laws and regulations, such as the Federal Trade Commission Act or the EU Unfair Commercial Practices Directive, and can lead to legal action and civil and criminal penalties.

If we determine that a Merchant has attempted to falsify or misrepresent deal or offer description or categorization information, manipulate customer reviews, or otherwise violate its applicable Merchant agreement or our Vendor Code of Conduct, we may immediately remove particular Merchant deals and offers, remove manipulated customer reviews, suspend or terminate the relevant Groupon Merchant account, and/or withhold or forfeit any Merchant remittances or payments.  Further, we reserve the right to pursue legal and/or equitable action, including indemnity for any and all damages incurred by Groupon, against dishonest Merchants for deal or offer misrepresentations and manipulation of customer reviews, as well as against any parties who provide and post any inauthentic customer reviews. 

We encourage you to contact your Groupon merchant representative or merchantsupport@groupon.com (if you are an existing Groupon merchant), or legalcompliance@groupon.com, if you believe any deal or offer description or category information is inaccurate, if you believe customer review manipulation is taking place, or if you believe our Vendor Code of Conduct is being violated in any other manner. We will investigate the concern thoroughly and take appropriate action, whenever necessary.