This is what confuses me. Shouldn't the split have been determined before the contract was signed? I don't understand how they could have made a deal with Groupon, but not worked out who would keep what percentage.
Based on the author's blog post, the split was determined beforehand, but Groupon did not allow them to set an upper bound on coupons sold. This seems to be a recurring story - business owners willing to take a loss for marketing via Groupon, but with no effective ways of controlling an upper cap for this loss.
The part that really tuned my brain anti-Groupon in this article was:
Groupon sold consumers a $13 Posie’s credit for $6, and then sought to keep the entire $6.
I mean, that's a 100% cut with the business getting nothing. If that's serious, Groupon look unethical; if it's not, then the coffeeshop is lying (and others have doubted the sincerity of the figures, too, as well as their ability to run a business full stop). Either way my mind is slightly twisted to dislike Groupon now. Subtle!
This is what confuses me. Shouldn't the split have been determined before the contract was signed? I don't understand how they could have made a deal with Groupon, but not worked out who would keep what percentage.