Unlike other online communities/forums, at OzBargain we encourage merchants, service providers or store owners to post their specials on OzBargain. The reason is simple – if it is a good bargain, we want to know about it! However, there are a few points that a merchant might wish to consider.

• Make sure you have a social media policy
• Only 1 representative is permitted to post on OzBargain per company.
• Ensure that staff including contractors are aware that they shouldn’t comment or vote on your company’s deals.
• Sockpuppeting is strictly forbidden and may result in a permanent ban from OzBargain. You should not create multiple accounts and pose as a customer. You should not ask your existing clients/customers to sign up on OzBargain to post positive reviews.

Posting as a merchant does not give your offer any special treatment, and it will be voted by our members in the same way that member-posted offers will be voted. If the offer you posted is not deemed a bargain by the community, it will be voted down (which may result in a temporary ban for your site). Too many negatively voted offers may result in more longer bans in the future.

To make affiliation between deals and posters more transparent, OzBargain requires all store representatives to declare themselves as a store rep. When submitting a deal or posting a comment, please choose the I am a Store Representative checkbox.

By posting as a rep you receive:

• A REP icon next to your username on your deals and on the Who's Online page.
• The ability to edit your Store Profile page.

Please ensure your profile information is accurate, up to date, includes the business you are representing.

• Make sure your email address is current, so that members and moderators are able to contact you.
• Make sure your location field is accurate.
  • If you are a non-Australian user, please put in your country of residence in the *location* field. Do not claim that you are from Australia (or elsewhere) and deliberately deceive other members. This WILL result in a ban on your account.

Currently there are some limits on how frequent can a store representatives post on OzBargain. Representatives can check to see when they can post next by checking their store page. The store page can be accessed by going to http://www.ozbargain.com.au/deals/samplestore.com.au where samplestore.com.au is your store's URL.

• Maximum 1 deal per 24 hours
• Maximum 2 deals per 7 days is the norm, however…

• If the vote average across the recent rep deals is 0 or below, the domain is temporarily banned until the vote average is corrected over time.
• If the vote average across the recent rep deals is between 0 and 3, the domain is temporarily banned for 2 weeks from the last post.
• If the vote average across the recent rep deals is between 3 and 8, it is reduced to maximum 1 deal per week.
• If the two most recent rep deals made the front page, the limit is increased to 3 deals per week.

Notes:

• Posting limit is calculated using a rolling window down to the precision of seconds. So for example if a rep posted at 4:45PM yesterday, he/she will not be able to post again until 4:45PM today (assuming 1 per 24 hours limit apply).
• Recent deals currently include deals from the past 30 days.
• Vote average is calculated by taking the sum of (positive vote - negative vote) for each deal post, divided by the number of recent deals.

• Frequently Asked Questions for Merchants