According to PromotionalCodes.net, a website that links consumers to discount deals, shoppers in the U.S. have embraced frugality in a big way. While many Americans were forced to live a more frugal lifestyle during the 2008 downturn, consumers have continued to hold on to the money saving habits they adopted four years ago, despite a recent upswing in the economy.

PromotionalCodes.net’s research show that consumers are clipping coupons, buying generic goods, cutting their gas expenses and saving money by daily deal shopping.

Among the findings of PromotionalCodes.net:

· ✔ Consumers now have access to 30,000 deals from more than 650 daily deal websites.

· ✔ One in six residents of the United States participates in daily deal shopping.

· ✔ Americans are taking on half as much debt as they did in 2005.

“Frugal is the new black,” says PromotionalCodes.net. Check out their newly released infographic that lays out all the facts visually.

Source: Promotional Codes

How much tax should you pay on a daily deal? Many states in the U.S. are pondering this question now and the answer could change how much you invest in daily deal shopping in the future.

Why taxation matters

Let’s say you pay $50 for $100 in restaurant food courtesy of a daily deal. Local sales tax rates currently average 9.6% nationwide in the United States according to Vertex, Inc.,which means that imposing a tax on the value price of your voucher ($50) would add approximately $4.80 to your bill. This is how the state of California treats discount vouchers, and how most seem to think taxation should work. In New York and other states, however, daily deal vouchers are taxed at full face value. At those rates, bargain friendly shoppers are paying $9.60 in taxes for a $50 voucher--or a 19.2% sales tax. That's not such a good deal any longer, is it?

24 states get behind the Streamlined Sales Tax Agreement

By and large, most U.S. states have made no formal taxation rules regarding daily deal vouchers. Back in early 2011, Forbes Magazine ran a headline story questioning the perplexity surrounding daily deal purchases and tax laws.

That confusion may finally be starting to clear up. There are 24 U.S. states that are now part of the Streamlined Sale Tax Use Agreement. The group's Governing Board hopes to devise a uniform tax policy. Sherry Hathaway, a senior tax policy analyst for the Tennessee Department of Revenue and head of the group in charge with coming up with new policy, says that there is consensual agreement among states that tax issues need to be clarified, discussed, and adopted. The map below shows current Streamlined State Status as of late 2011.

Based on a recent survey, it seems that most of the 24 states are leaning toward charging consumers taxes based on the actual purchase price of their daily deal voucher and not on the retail value. Good news for bargain hunters!

The two dozen states that have made themselves a part of the Streamlined Sales Tax Use Agreement say that new policy could be adopted as early as May of this year.

A new survey by Epsilon, a Dallas-based marketing firm, shows that Canadians know their daily deal stuff. The report, issued this week, found that Canadians are more tuned into group buying and deal of the day websites than Americans.

The numbers

The Epsilon report surveyed Canadians only, comparing findings to similar studies carried out in the past. Among the findings:

· ✔ 53% of surveyed Canadians are familiar with at least one More...

When AmazonLocal launched in mid 2011, the welcome news reverberated everywhere, making headlines around the world. Amazon.com, considered by experts to be a more mature company than many of the original daily deal website kings, was expected to score big in the social buying network arena. Add to that the fact that AmazonLocal launched itself in Chicago, home to daily deal giant Groupon, and you had the makings of a superstar arm of Amazon. This week, Amazon offered a deal that was not only a hit in the daily deal market, but outsold every other daily deal that came before it, and made daily deal history.

The Amazon deal that rocked the web

On Tuesday, March 20, AmazonLocal offered members the More...

Daily deals are still relatively new, at least as far as the internet is concerned. Though flash sales websites have been aroundsince 2001, daily deal websites weren’t introduced to the masses until the late 2000s.

MightyDeals.com has put together this fascinating infographic which shows the evolution of group buying and daily deal websites.

Daily deals have always had a social aspect about them. Sometimes termed social buying or social shopping, those participating in daily deals often share their bargain news with others on social networking websites like Twitter, Facebook, and Google+. In addition, many daily deal websites now allow users to comment publicly about deals from their website, giving shoppers a new way to communicate with other shoppers. A 2011 study by The E-Tailing Group detailed social shopping trends and reported that consumers are spending more time researching across more sources, and expecting certain social tools. And that hasn’t changed. If anything, daily deal shopping became More...

Evernote, a note taking software suite that launched in 2008, provides an easy,free way for users to store information in the cloud, and then access that information from any Internet connected computer, smartphone, or mobile device. And it’s perfect for pennywise daily deal shoppers. Not using Evernote yet to track your daily deals? Here are four ways to get started.

Log gift ideas

We all have a list of gifts we need to purchase each year for More...

The daily deals market has been criticized heavily in the past for driving low quality business to merchants. Groupon responded to the unflattering accusations by rewarding shoppers who became repeat buyers and LivingSocial recently announced that they’re introducing a credit card that will do the same. Are daily deal shoppers really only taking advantage of one-time deals and never becoming loyal brand consumers? Not according to new research.

The Foresee data

Foresee, an analytics company that measures customer experience, released the results of a study this week that More...

LivingSocial is soon to change the daily deal landscape. The second largest daily deal company will launch their very own credit card in the near future, according to Chief Financial Officer John Bax, in a move that’s meant to benefit both consumers and merchants.

Why a credit card?

The idea behind the LivingSocial credit card is to encourage consumers to More...