Expiring coupon? Head to CoupRecoup

All you Groupon-like deal-haters, this is for you. I confess that I've purchased too many of these half off coupons, leading me to eat at restaurants where I can't say I'll go again and ride a surrey bike in Minnehaha Park (bumpy ride, hard to peddle, not so fun). I've let one $10 coupon expire and if I don't drag myself out to eat this week, I'll lose $15 more.

Fortunately, the webpreneurs are at work. This week, San Francisco-based CoupRecoup.com launched in the Twin Cities. The concept? Craigslist for half-off deals coupons. (I did a quick search and Craigslist itself also has some listings for Groupon-like deals). Here's a q&a with co-founder Aren Sandersen:

Q: Where did you get the idea for Coup Recoup?

Last spring, my co-founder realized that a hotel Groupon she'd bought for her parents for $160 was about to expire. She tried selling it on Craigslist, but got no takers. She then desperately asked friends and posted to Facebook - and finally had to sell it for $100.

The transaction went smoothly using email and PayPal, and she realized that there was a need for a site where people could trade old Groupons. It would be win-win for both buyers and sellers! We launched the site in June are live in 13 cities, with more planned.

Q: How does the site work?

Sellers post deals from any local deal site for free by filling out a simple online form. They post the deal URL, provide an email address, and set their price (and tell us if they will accept lower offers from buyers). Once they confirm their address via email, the deal is live instantly. This all takes less than a minute. Buyers come to CoupRecoup.com to browse available deals. If they see something, they make an offer to the seller using our online form. The seller receives an email with the buyer's offer, and the seller's email address is kept anonymous until they decide to reply.

Q: Do certificate owners sell for less than face value?

Some sellers do sell the vouchers for less than face value. They can select an option called "or best offer", which allows a buyer to make a lower offer for the voucher. Most are sold for face value, and occasionally some of the more popular certificates sell for above face value.

Q: How do you make sure the certificates are valid?

If a buyer really wants to make sure that a voucher is valid, they may ask the seller for a portion of the voucher ID number, and call the merchant to confirm it's still valid. For additional precaution, buyers can ask sellers to contact the merchant ahead of time to notify the seller that someone else will be validating the voucher. So far we have not had problems with fraud. We'll continue to closely monitor it however, and will innovate and change our approach if needed.

Q: Do merchants object to this? In addition to generating new customers, aren't companies hoping some of these certificates will expire?