A new study is raising concerns about the possible pitfalls of the daily deal model of offering steep discounts through services such as Groupon Inc., MSNBC reported.

Utpal Dholakia, an associate professor of management at Rice University, surveyed 324 businesses in 23 markets that had participated in daily deals with third-party coupon websites.

More than half of the businesses surveyed made money on the deals, but more than one-fourth said they lost money. The rest said they broke even.

Retailers said about 36 percent of users spent beyond the deal’s value, and only about 20 percent of customers returned for a full-price purchase.

About half said they’d run a deal again, and around 20 percent said they would not. The remainder were unsure.