[netcan]

Again, I think it may be about messaging. The problem comes from the association with daily deal sites. If you think about it (and communicate it clearly) as an offer/demand/bargaining attempt and less like an existing discount/offer, which it is not, I'm not sure there would be a problem.

Imagine the business had started this way: You have lots of friends who like to do the kind of stuff they're promoting. You have some guy in the group who is willing to call around and bargain. We'll fill 10 tables @ 4pm tomorrow if you give us the free appetizers & desert. Then he decides to create a scalable process for this kind of bargaining to happen. That might look similar to the business they're building here.

[rockya]

That negotiation happens in private and some businesses might be willing to entertain that.

The fact that this happens in the open has significant potential to devalue the brand.

Under very specific conditions, I will do free or discounted consulting. But I don't want "free" or $25/hour associated with my brand when someone does a Google search.