Tippr Coming to Honolulu

Tippr, one of the web's hottest "group buying" sites, is setting up shop in Honolulu. Tippr already offers deals in eight other U.S. cities, including New York and San Francisco, and it will launch its Honolulu program on Friday with a launch party at Honolulu Design Center.

Mashable's Pete Cashmore singled out group buying as a likely million-dollar web trend. And like similar sites, Tippr puts out great offers from local businesses... provided enough people join in on each deal. For example, you could get 50 percent off designer cupcakes, if 100 people buy in.

Tippr promises "discounts of 50-90% off at your favorite restaurants, bars, sweet shops, salons, spas, fitness studios, and more." But Tippr's secret sauce is that its deals are "accelerated," meaning that if even more people buy in, the deal gets even better. So if 200 people go for the cupcake deal, everyone could save 70 percent, instead.

Daily deals are sent out via an e-mail newsletter, and you can sign up for Honolulu already. There's also a @TipprHonolulu acount on Twitter, and a Tippr Honolulu page on Facebook.

Friday's launch party is being put together by my friend Sakara Blackwell, who's widely known for awesome events and who was key in organizing the big "LOST" weekend in January. There'll be complimentary pupus and hosted cocktails and live music by DJ Rob Boller. So RSVP while you still can!

Tippr is going up against Groupon, the 800-lb. gorilla in the group buying space, and PLAYHawaii.com, which are already offering Honolulu deals. And LivingSocial is preparing to launch here, too. But Tippr has been on a roll, acquiring smaller sites and bulking up its patent portfolio. Fortunately, the competition can only be a good thing for local bargain hunters.

So sign up for Tippr, and Groupon, and PLAYHawaii.com, and LivingSocial, and get a ton of great deals delivered to your inbox every day.