[AMA] I am scotty, the Founder of OzBargain. Ask me (almost) anything

scotty on 23/04/2015 - 09:06

Hello OzBargain community,

As neil has advertised, I ended up being the one doing the first Ask-Me-Anything (if you don't count our April Fool's one).

I am scotty, the founder of this very website, OzBargain. It started 9 years ago as a personal blog sharing deals that I found with a few friends, and now turned into one of biggest online community in Australia.

I am not sure what to expect here. I did an AMA with SavvySME back in February but mostly talking about the boring business side of things. However feel free to ask anything here — although there's no promise that I will answer everything.

Some simple rules:

  • Ask questions in the top-level comments, and leave the replies for me to answer your questions & discussions. Top-level comments that do not contain a question might get removed.
  • Please vote up the good questions and vote down the bad ones.

We'll see how it goes. Fire away guys! AMA.

Introduce Yourself

closed Comments

    • scotty on 23/04/2015 - 11:19
      +2

      What @scrimshaw said. Mobile is a fast moving target that I don't see any benefit an app would bring if it is just wrapping around some HTML canvas from OzBargain website. They might useful however for

      • Location-based bargains (although HTML5 can already request the location from browser)
      • Background notifications

      I started doing some location based work about a year ago but never managed to finish it. Priority I guess.

  • bteezy on 23/04/2015 - 11:01
    +1

    What is the 'best' deal that you have seen on Oz and why did you consider it to be the 'best'?

  • jzx100 on 23/04/2015 - 11:02
    +8

    Not really a question, but did you know, your website is worth $1,560,844?

  • sergun on 23/04/2015 - 11:03
    +19

    Did you consider allowing your users to link their PayPal accounts? Let's say, some user has found a brilliant deal, posted it here. Whoever likes it can click 'Donate' button and transfer the amount they believe is fair. Some deals save a lot of money, so people will be inclined to 'thank' with their dollars, even if it's as little as $1-$2. Given the financial reward, much more people will be motivated to locate the best deals out there, giving your site a boost. You could also retain a small percentage of those 'thanks', rewarding yourself for the work you've done.

    • dealman on 23/04/2015 - 13:27
      +3

      Or even have OzBargain points, say something like reddit gold.. Where other users could confer status / credits.

      Have to be extremely careful with cash rewards as that changes the incentives and add a result the kinds of deals that'd be posted.

      More importantly it will change the dynamic of the 'community' that currently shares deals out of the goodness of their heart, sometimes even to their own loss.

    • tyler.durden on 23/04/2015 - 19:08
      +7

      no this is bad idea..

      the site will get spammed

      Also more spammers would be attracted the financial incentive and come here posting junk

  • Evil-Elmo on 23/04/2015 - 11:08

    Are there any areas in your life that you indulge or splurge a little and if so, what are they? or are you an OzBargainer to the core (everything simply must be a bargain)?

    • scotty on 23/04/2015 - 11:28
      +14

      I actually paid for my Spotify subscription! I paid for my Fairfax digital subscription as well whereas everyone else I know use incognito hack. Do they count as indulge?

      Also my two kids are going to private school, mainly because I live in a dodgy suburb as it was cheap when I bought it more than a decade ago, without thinking too much about school zoning. I don't have much hope for them to get into local selective high school either so likely "splurge" on their private school fees all the way 'til year 12.

      • oringal on 23/04/2015 - 15:51
        +3

        I think all parents should make an effort to try and attempt to get their kids into a selective school, I initially went to a private school and luckily got in a selective school in year 11. Even though I had to travel 1.5 hours each way to the selective school everyday vs 30 min to the private school, it was way more worth it. People in selective schools may seem very competitive but they are less judgmental and materialistic. The facilities in the private school was way more up do date compared with the selective school, it is just amazing being around such smart people who can achieve so much with so little.

        • scotty on 23/04/2015 - 17:46
          +5

          Being around smart people — probably one of the best things a young person can do. There are many smart kids in private school as well (and some very resourceful) but unfortunately also many snooty ones. Hopefully my kids growing up in a frugal family would know how to avoid one.

        • tyler.durden on 23/04/2015 - 19:13
          +2

          @scotty:

          One of main advantage of private school is making networking connections with other rich kids (who may inherit their parents business or become a politician one day)

          That's why all politician send their kids to private schools.

          Just look at Tony abbot and his daughter's job recruitment scandal.

        • scotty on 23/04/2015 - 19:42
          +2

          @tyler.durden: But they are the minority. There are also different private schools and people send their kids to those school for different reasons.

        • DavidFong on 24/04/2015 - 21:57
          -3

          @tyler.durden:

          I think the scandal is that private information was accessed and disclosed by a (junior) hacker, not that a company or educational institution decided to be benevolent towards an individual (who had political connections, although the grounds for such a decision does not necessarily need to be made public by a benefactor, any more than I should have to publicly justify my donations to acknowledged charities or child-street beggars alike).

          As a medical practitioner, my clinic holds a vast amount of confidential and private information. I find it distressing to think that some people will make attempts to violate the confidentiality of those documents, targeting a relative of a politician, in order to make a political point, and to receive no disciplinary action for what the perpetrators knows to be an offence.

        • tyler.durden on 24/04/2015 - 22:27
          +2

          @DavidFong:

          Not sure what news you have been reading but I believe the main issue was that Tony Abbot's daughter got a free $60000 scholarship
          while other people who are less financially fortunate students who are just as talent (or even more talented) missed out…

          I believe the decision to choose her was very much politically motivated…
          and it was due to the political connections..

          Surely her father could have paid for her education or loan her the money and she can pay him back..

          The fact that she got a free ride (due to political connection) was the issue..

          Also read about other students who had a tougher time to get their education..

          e.g.
          http://www.news.com.au/national/classmates-express-fury-over…

          And this..
          "He said many of the students had requested scholarships, but they were told there was no scholarship program."

          ====

          She studies almost for free while her father tries to hike tuition fees for thousands of less-privileged students.

          http://thenewdaily.com.au/news/2014/11/10/frances-abbott-mis…

          Even her teacher thinks she didn't deserve the scholarship
          http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/france…

          Both Tony Abbott and Whitehouse have insisted the scholarship was based on merit, despite never publicly congratulating its recipient on earning a scholarship awarded for only the second time in the private college’s 26-year history.

      • heyrosered on 23/04/2015 - 17:57
        -1

        re: the free Fairfax thing, if you just block cookies from each of the Fairfax sites it can't track how many articles you've read

        • scotty on 23/04/2015 - 18:07
          +4

          Yeah I know. I guess now being on the publisher side, I have some understanding how much effort and cost to run a website. The journalistic quality of SMH/The Age has already gone down over the years, and I don't want to see them disappear.

        • tyler.durden on 23/04/2015 - 19:14
          -1

          @scotty:

          Why not just read news.com.au (ie murdoch press?)

          I guess you are labor supporter?

          Most Fairfax readers/supporters are pro labor party supporters.

        • scotty on 23/04/2015 - 19:40
          +3

          @tyler.durden: I try not to read News.com.au unless I have to.

          I guess you are labor supporter? Most Fairfax readers/supporters are pro labor party supporters.

          I think it's a misconception. Yes the paper itself is a bit left-leaning but it really depends on the individual journalist / reporter.

        • tyler.durden on 23/04/2015 - 19:47
          -1

          @scotty:

          Yes, it is okay if you are…

          Do you mind telling us if u support which political party? or in your heart are u labor or liberal or some other..

          I read news.com.au (cos it is free, and easier to use on phones, tablets)
          and have more entertaining articles..

          but I hate the liberals..and I am aware of many of the news.com.au articles are just pro liberals propaganda

          it is just disgusting..

          Also hate murdoch's power and using his media empire to influence voters for his own personal gain..
          e.g. getting liberals into power so that NBN fiber would be cut..so it doesn't affect his foxtel business..

        • scotty on 23/04/2015 - 20:37
          +6

          @tyler.durden: Hehe. Guess what, I actually voted LNP for both the last Federal and NSW State election. Neither candidates got in anyway as I live in a strong Labor area (Kingsford-Smith / Maroubra). As a small business owner I share the ideal (we shall all be lifters not leaners) but don't think the current leaders execute them well though (esp the Federal ones).

      • onlyletters on 24/04/2015 - 12:06

        lol too rich to use incognito, not really a hack..

  • [Deactivated] on 23/04/2015 - 11:14

    Do you like Simon Pegg as Scotty and would you ever consider changing your avatar to a picture of him?

    • scotty on 23/04/2015 - 11:31
      +2

      I like Simon Pegg, but not sure whether he makes a good Scotty. More like just a comedy relief in the reboot.

  • leiiv on 23/04/2015 - 11:19
    +1

    Can you tell us a bit about the web technologies behind OzBargain? Can it scale easily as more users and posts are accumulated?

    • scotty on 23/04/2015 - 11:35
      +2

      See OzBargain architecture in wiki.

      The frontend is mostly PHP and Python/Tornado. A message queue processor is also developed in Python. Backend would be MySQL for database and Redis for caching + handling burst writes.

      Can it scale easily as more users

      The pain point currently is definitely the database. It's currently hosted on a VPS with 4GB RAM and 4 CPU cores, so it should possible to scale it up by adding more hardware resources. The next thing we'll be looking at would be distributed reads. We are currently doing replication mainly for backup, but we could add more MySQL slaves to support read access as well.

  • anonymous01 on 23/04/2015 - 11:29
    +1

    I am sure a lot of your friends and family have signed up for this website, but have you ever become friends or physically met anyone through Ozbargain?

    • constantly L8 on 23/04/2015 - 11:41
      +4

      ozbargain has had a few meet ups, which I attended once (see my badges :D)
      I thought the average ozbargainer varied alot in the meet up, but they all seemed thrifty

      Scott, what is your impression of the average ozbargainer real life compared to online?

      • scotty on 23/04/2015 - 11:44
        +3

        Actually very different from the tightarse image that people might have :) Or maybe the really tight ones don't turn up at the meetups.

        Also it can be difficult to tell how a person really is just from a few face to face conversations.

    • scotty on 23/04/2015 - 11:42
      +2

      Yes some of my friends are on this site, and I have also met a few OzBargainers in person. For example I got to know neil here and eventually employed him even before I actually met him in person but I did end up meet him a few times.

      There were also OzBargain meetups. Met some at CeBit 2 years ago. CeBIT 2015 is coming up next month so maybe some of us should have a get together :) OzBargain was sponsoring UNSW CSE Startup Expo last month and I met a few guys there. There was a Melbourne meetup in 2013 as well but I didn't go, but we are looking at hosting more similar meetups in the future.

      • anonymous01 on 23/04/2015 - 11:52
        +1

        I would love to catch up on next Melbourne meetup. Would be funny if I see some of my friends there, who I already know are tight asses and love bargains. Wouldn't be surprised.

      • constantly L8 on 23/04/2015 - 12:12

        I reckon we should do a meet up for deals that are highly voted (+100) and can be event orientated

        for example: (182 votes) Melbourne ONLY Good Food & Wine Show (2 Max) FREE TICKETS (600 Available)
        https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/191064

        organisers can have time to plan and we can really see if ozbargainers actually go or are just flakey opportunist, lol :P

        edit: maybe put an auto vote/poll for who would be interested/able to come :)

        • anonymous01 on 23/04/2015 - 12:25

          haha yes I also got those 2 tickets, if my mrs. doesn't come, I will gladly share the second ticket with a fellow Ozbargainer.

        • scotty on 23/04/2015 - 12:26
          +1

          Feel free to use the forums to organise meetups!

        • neil on 23/04/2015 - 12:29

          Sure. I can bring some t-shirts. Funnily enough when I went last year, I ended up running into my good friend, who is was also one of the first OzBargainers signed up here (way before me).

        • constantly L8 on 23/04/2015 - 12:43

          @scotty:

          haha sounds good will keep an eye out for a Sydney event to organise, I'm here daily :) and thanks Neil for shirts

          I still got mine from 2013 "keep calm and Ozbargain" :D

          Lastly thanks Scotty for all your hard work in making this site what it is today! LOVE OZBARGAIN

        • CheapCoffee on 23/04/2015 - 16:49

          @constantly L8:

          Haha, I somehow have 2 OzBargain shirts. I think I got one from a competition and an another one from the 2013 Melbourne event. I would love to join if there is an another event happening. :)

        • ev3nfl0w on 23/04/2015 - 19:33

          @koreainhyuk: Will be at least two Koreans there.

  • cypher67 on 23/04/2015 - 11:32
    +1

    How many rage infected 5 year olds do you think you could take in a fight?

    • scotty on 23/04/2015 - 11:52
      +2

      I wouldn't fight a 5yo, rage infected or not. I'll remind the parents to make sure they get disciplined :)

  • Keeegs on 23/04/2015 - 11:47
    +1

    Are you aware of any companies out there that hates Ozbargain?

    • scotty on 23/04/2015 - 11:54
      +12

      Judging from the number of DDoS we've got, yes we are hated. However they don't email me about who they are and how they are feeling, so there's no way for me to know exactly who hated us :(

      • [Deactivated] on 23/04/2015 - 12:05

        (viz. 5UBW4Y)

        (Especially after that free sub and drink thing a few years ago that everyone exploited by making multiple accounts.)

        • scotty on 23/04/2015 - 12:14
          +1

          For 5UBW4Y it's actually their attorney in Connecticut which I imagine would be very remote from the operation here.

        • ItsMeAgro on 25/04/2015 - 18:03

          @scotty:

          Typical lawyer employed full-time with nothing useful to actually do except threatening frivolous lawsuits that drastically hurt their employers image…

    • tdw on 23/04/2015 - 15:21
      +1

      Gerry Harvey, no question :D

  • tightarse on 23/04/2015 - 11:48
    +82

    Hi scotty, and thanks for this forum.

    No question, but rather an opportunity to thank you. I'm sure I speak on behalf of tens of thousands of people that are just blown away by the power of OzB and the affect it has on the community. It's without doubt the world's premier bargain/competition site, and slowly becoming one of the world's best forum sites. You and the moderators are to be congratulated.

    All the best :)

  • thydzik on 23/04/2015 - 11:59

    What is the size of the OzBargain team and what jobs do they perform?

    • scotty on 23/04/2015 - 12:11
      +1

      Also see this reply on the current OzBargain staffs. Currently we also have a a a and JSQUARED on the moderation team on the volunteering basis.

      As of our jobs — everyone moderates, resolving reports, handling support tickets etc however these days neil, hamza23 & JSQUARED do most of them, and they do a lot of investigative work to figure out sockpuppeting and ghost accounts. We only ban them once we have sufficient evidence.

      moocher and I do the development work (when we have time off from moderations). I also do most the sysadmins. For example I have a new storage server at NetPre that I need to setup today. Also the payroll, accounting and other business side of things.

      • leiiv on 23/04/2015 - 12:34

        Does it mean that you do not have an accountant or finance officer to help you with the paperworks? Do you do the taxation paperworks by yourself as well? How much time do you need to spend on the business side compared to the website development side?

        • scotty on 23/04/2015 - 12:51
          +2

          I have an accountant to do the tax return and other company related duties. However I am doing my own bookkeeping (via Xero which my accountant also has access to) and BAS, payment summary, etc. The bookkeeping side is probably less than an hour a week. Business side is more about replying emails from those people who are paying us. Google, affiliate networks, etc. Also replying emails to those who want to work with us (which are mostly waste of time).

          Sorry I don't keep time sheets — we are on flexible time here, myself + all my staffs. It also differs week by week.

  • anonymous01 on 23/04/2015 - 12:03
    +1

    Have you ever been threatened with a lawsuit or had to go to court in regards to this website?

    • scotty on 23/04/2015 - 12:19
      +7

      Lawsuit — no, and hopefully not. We do respond to legal threats and will unpublish content if we think the content posted is inappropriate and might bring too much liability to OzBargain. See previous encounter with WeAllSave & QuiltsDirect.

      • anonymous01 on 23/04/2015 - 12:28
        +7

        haha just checked and both of those websites no longer work.

  • Blockey on 23/04/2015 - 12:05

    What do you do when you're not OzBargaining?

    • scotty on 23/04/2015 - 12:26
      +10

      Spend time with kids? During weekdays however it's mostly supervising them doing their homeworks and practising musical instruments (piano & clarinet).

      Also church. I help out at a church mostly for the overseas students at UNSW.

      I actually don't have much leftover spare time. I would probably just chill out, read a book, jam on my guitar, etc.

  • Charity on 23/04/2015 - 12:10

    Hi, Thank you for doing what you do.

    Do you have any recommendations or tips for people looking at getting into website development?

    • scotty on 23/04/2015 - 12:39
      +3

      It's a bit hard to recommend anything as I've been probably been programming for almost 30 years but you can always start with learning a programming language. Pick your tool — PHP, Python, Ruby, NodeJS etc. Or Golang which is something I've been learning — OzBargain's URL shortener is written in Go.

      Back in the old days you started by typing out all the examples in the books. These days there are heaps of examples and tutorials on the web to get you started. Just have some simple product in mind and work towards it.

  • Paul Atreides on 23/04/2015 - 12:13
    1. What car do you drive
    2. What is your "realistic" dream car
    3. What is your ultimate dream car

    Please don't be a A -> B person

    • scotty on 23/04/2015 - 12:43
      +5

      1. An old KIA Rondo7. Severely under powered, but it's one of few small 7-seaters that can fit into our carport.

      2. A manual convertible Toyota 86 or MX5. Just enough power to go around in style.

      3. Batmobile?! Every boy's dream car.

      Damn I am an A —> B person.

      • tyler.durden on 23/04/2015 - 19:23

        For batmobile,

        which version you like?

        christian bale or micheal keaton version?
        or some other version in one of the other movies?

        • scotty on 23/04/2015 - 19:30
          +1

          Christian Bale's for off-road and Michael Keaton's for the drag? The ultimate dream garage should have space for two. Maybe three — gotta see Ben Affleck's version first.

        • tyler.durden on 23/04/2015 - 20:00

          @scotty:

          How about this one?

          This might be worth more..

          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8Ebu7I-AXw

          Yeap waiting for afflect version too..

  • centrelink on 23/04/2015 - 12:25

    Why did u ban me?

    • scotty on 23/04/2015 - 12:44
      +1

      No I didn't ban you. TWAM?

  • msmhw on 23/04/2015 - 12:40

    Do you buy everything you want/need or do you wait for good deal then buy it?

    If you are waiting, what is the thing you wait for a good deal to buy it?

    What do you feel when you miss a good deal?

  • JimB on 23/04/2015 - 12:48

    Just wondering, is advertising banners/clicks the main/only source of income from Ozbargain?

    I never knew it was so lucrative. Good on you making a living out of it.

    • scotty on 23/04/2015 - 12:59
      +4

      I have replied previously that we have some affiliate links for non-logged in users. If you are logging in we rather have you save your money by going to those cashback sites. However ads via Google's AdSense is still the main source of revenue for us.

  • dd22qq on 23/04/2015 - 12:51
    +1

    I'm actually really curious what sort of advertising/referral revenue a site like this generates and how profitable it would be, but it's probably the sort of question that shouldn't be asked, or at least that anyone should expect to have answered (plus I understand there are ways of approximating such things using Alexa rankings and whatnot).

    So maybe my question should instead be, where is the OzBargain Wikipedia page?

    • scotty on 23/04/2015 - 13:06
      +2

      where is the OzBargain Wikipedia page?

      Here!!!

      This page has been deleted. The deletion and move log for the page are provided below for reference.

      • 11:30, 17 June 2010 Stifle deleted page OzBargain (A7: No explanation of the subject's significance (real person, animal, organization, or web content))

      For some background information see this blog post from 2010.

      • CandyMan on 23/04/2015 - 23:48

        OZB is an animal?

  • [Deactivated] on 23/04/2015 - 13:00

    Why did you start Ozbargain in the first place?
    Did you use a discount code when buying the domain and hosting?
    If so, how big was the discount?

    • scotty on 23/04/2015 - 13:16
      +4

      Why did you start Ozbargain in the first place?

      Must have told this story a million times. It started with a blog to share deals I found with my friends. The traffic grows. People and some merchants started sending me deals to have them posted on the blog. I got sick of it and then I created a website telling them "go & post the deals yourself". That's how OzBargain was started.

      Did you use a discount code when buying the domain and hosting?

      Who doesn't?! I can't remember the discount though. For domain — every registrars are the same so just pick the cheapest ones. For hosting however they can be very different even at the same price point.

      • neil on 23/04/2015 - 13:30

        How many domains do you have now?

        • scotty on 23/04/2015 - 13:32
          +1

          Maybe 30+. Many are just .com/.net/.org versions of the same things.

        • tyler.durden on 23/04/2015 - 19:26
          +1

          @scotty:

          why so many?

          are they just alternatives to spelling ozbargain?

          e.g.

          oz-bargain
          oz_bargain

          etc..

  • cypher67 on 23/04/2015 - 13:06
    +1
    1. What is your end game with OzBargain, what is the nivarna state?
    2. How does the site today vary to the concept you first came up with?
    3. Have you ever considered opening a bargain website where you onsell many of the bargains posted on here, you would be in a perfect position to get in first?
    4. Do you lift?
  • OYC on 23/04/2015 - 13:12

    Has Harvery Norman or any other company complained to Ozbargain regarding:
    1. defamation
    2. taking all the freebies and samples

    • scotty on 23/04/2015 - 13:19
      +2

      Not from Harvey Norman, but we got lots of (1) and (2) from different companies (usually the small business). We do try to work out a solution with them every now and then.

  • tomclancy on 23/04/2015 - 13:24
    +9

    Have you ever met jv in person? And if so are they as fun-loving as expected?

    • scotty on 23/04/2015 - 13:27
      +33

      Nah. We should ask jv to do an AMA so we can all get to know him better.

      • extract on 23/04/2015 - 13:48
        +2

        When you have new positions open up, do you reckon you could give jv a job?. I'm sure working for Ozbargain would be his dream.

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