When I was approached by Guacho to check them out, I loaded up their brand new application on my iPod touch and began scrolling through some of the current deals. There were some gadgets on sale – and my interest was piqued. I decided to visit guacho.com to create my own personal Guacho account. And it’s okay.
Gaucho has a devout community dedicated to delivering deals from all over the web. This in part may be due to its reward based system (Guacho points), but casual passerby such as myself will appreciate having an instant list of everything cheap or free on the web. People will list anything from coupon codes to giveaways, and I’ve found some spectacular legit finds for developer books and headphones.
I am a little weary of some of the listings, because items occasionally look like spam. Then again, someone may be listing a coupon across many retail chains in hopes of racking up lots of points. As always, verify links before you click on them, and apply the same caution you’d employ anywhere else online. The Intent is good; as a young service Gaucho will have to focus on ensuring a safe and reliable shopping experience.
Two important features of Gaucho are the stream (RSS link) and the blog. You can subscribe to all of the hottest deals by subscribing to the stream via RSS, and you can get the scoop on shopping tips, contests, and more through the blog. To supplement your Guacho experience, they also have that iPhone application I was talking about earlier.
Gaucho for iPhone and the iPod touch has a WebOS feel to it that allows you to quickly scroll between cards of categories. Both online and in the application, I feel these deals are way too generalized – what if I want to see just coupons for a specific store, or class of product? Admittedly I was quite happy with the ‘free stuff’ category, as it was chock full of free fonts, templates, and icons for websites.
Tapping on a card brings those deals into view, where you can scroll through all of the current listings and get details about each item, such as its coupon code and web link. Yet in some categories, like Sale & Deals, there usually isn’t any website link at all. Hey, if you’re going to entice me with that coupon code, don’t make me type in the web address if applicable.
Just like you can online, you can login in with your Gaucho account to post the amazing deals you find. In this process, however, Gaucho removes you from the application and makes you log in via Safari. Granted, you’ll be returned to Gaucho once you’ve logged in, but you shouldn’t be removed from the application. Though once logged in, posting works great. Quite effortlessly you can choose a category and enter valuable information. I suggest, however, that Gaucho should force users to enter recommended information before being given the ability to submit a ‘Stamp.’ I was able to effortlessly post blank content.
What if you want to write a review? This is where things are broken; Even if I’m already logged in, if I go to write a review I’m asked to, “Join Gaucho for free.” So I use the link to sign in again, and this time I’m required to sign in through the Gaucho application. Once I’m logged in (again), I’m taken to Guacho’s website inside the app. That too, doesn’t always work (I often get an error). Gaucho: you need to refine how users log in, and improve your mobile experience with these extra features.
I won’t be using Gaucho on the iPhone to list much information anytime soon, but for finding content, it’s fine. As a relatively young service, I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt. Hopefully they’ll work to improve their mobile experience to make it less frustrating. In the meantime, you can download the app for free and check it out for yourself. But first, I’d visit gaucho.com and check out the community - it’s a neat idea that’s full of great deals if you’re willing to plow through some redundant listings.
