New Zealand has a multitude of deal and discount websites. There are two main types of discount sites in New Zealand. Groupon style websites and discount cards/books/passes that cost money. I have ranked the top seven Groupon style/booking websites and listed the discount cards/books available. Many of the discount websites are geared towards tourist areas and large cities. If you live in places like New Plymouth or Palmerston North the number of local discounts that are available are far less than Hamilton or Queenstown.
Discount Booking and Groupon Style Websites
1. BookMe
BookMe is the largest deal website in New Zealand. They break New Zealand into 12 sections, but also have Australia and Fiji deals. They have deals that don’t really fall in the logical boundaries of their sections, and these appear on their map view. When using the map view, it is important that you are zoomed in enough because if you are not some deals will not show up, even if they are the only deal in your map section. They have activity deals for all areas and in some of the regions have dining deals also. BookMe varies from a traditional Groupon style deal site in that you book specific time slots for dining or activities, and the prices can vary by time slot. They do not have any merchandise for sale. BookMe is the first site that I go to when I am looking for a deal.
2. First Table
First Table offers a new approach to restaurant discounts. They allow you to book the “first table” at select restaurants and you get 50% off all of your food for two to four people, no discount on alcohol. Restaurants are available in over 20 areas on both the North and South Islands. You create an account and book through their website, not the restaurant directly. They charge you a $10 nonrefundable fee per reservation. Reservations can be made roughly a week in advance and the set time for the reservation usually is between 5 pm and 6 pm, depending on the restaurant. First Table is more geared towards locals than tourists.
3. Grabone
Grabone is a Groupon-like discount site that is owned by NZME, the same company that owns the New Zealand Herald. They have a wide selection of deals and are the best Groupon style deal site available. They list a lot of merchandise, which makes it seem like they have more deals than they have.
4. Backpacker Deals
Backpacker Deals is a Groupon style website that only has activity deals. They have a fair number of deals, but far less than BookMe. They are based in Auckland and have ~300 deals over seven countries. You need to make sure that you are just searching New Zealand deals to avoid wading through a ton of deals that are not relevant. If you are a student, there is a button at the bottom where you can get a code for an additional 5% off.
5. Treat Me
Treat Me is yet another Groupon style website. They offer deals in 8 areas, and they tend to have fewer offers than most of the Groupon style sites. When you search by category, it rarely shows items in other categories. Some of the other sites will show you merchandise when you are searching for restaurant deals.
6. Everything New Zealand
Everything New Zealand offers discounts on activities. There are no merchandise or food deals. The deal list tends to be pretty limited with just 32 deals for all of New Zealand the last time I checked. I did not find any deals that were already listed on the higher rated sites above.
7. Groupon
Groupon has a small presence in New Zealand and is more limited than the other Groupon style sites listed higher on the list. I find that most of the offers on Groupon are for products or health and beauty services. Larger metropolitan and tourist areas tend to a more diverse set of offerings. If you have used Groupon in other countries, you need to create a new account for Groupon NZ.
Discount Cards/Books
Student Card
You need to be a student enrolled in New Zealand to get the student card. They require your student ID for registration. Student Cards cost $20 and offer a wide range of discounts from cell phone plans to fuel to shopping to discount online shipping to dining discounts. If you are a student, I recommend getting the student card. It is very easy to get more than the cost of the card back in savings.
Entertainment Book
Entertainment Books are fundraiser books sold by community groups (20% of the sale goes to the community group). The standard price is $65-70, and the books cover a specific region in New Zealand. They offer very good deals including buy one get one free and 30% off restaurant coupons. The deals tend to more geared towards locals than tourists like some of the Groupon style websites. You need to use several deals to break even since the initial cost is very high.
Goody Card
Goody Card is an app based discount card that has over 600 shops throughout New Zealand. Shops offer specific deals that you can get scanning your card. At some locations, the Goofy Card acts as a buy one get one free card, but at most places, it acts like a punch card and rewards repeat business. It covers a very broad range of businesses from fast food to cafes to motels to dentist. They offer more deals in larger cities. Since many of the deals are based on repeat business I would sign up if you are in a location with a lot of offers available. You can find our full review on the Goody Card here.
Rankers Deal Pass
This pass boasts 200 travel deals and is aimed at tourists. It costs $1 per person per day that the pass is active. Most of the discounts are 10% of holiday parks. There are a few discounts at tourist sites that would be useful. I would only consider signing up for the pass for a specific time that I was traveling domestically and still would probably no because I think you would save more money using BookMe.
Other Discount Sites
Choice Cheapies
Choice Cheapies is New Zealand’s version of Slickdeals.com, but with some beneficial index pages. One component is that users list sales and other discounts that are available for items in New Zealand. I find that it does have some useful sales listed, but you need to wade through a lot of stuff that is not relevant to find something that interests you. Another component is their wiki which lists a lot of deal related information.
If you want even more discounts, check out our guide on fuel discounts. What is your favorite discount website?
