[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

  • supaderp on 23/04/2015 - 19:05

    Let's say if a group of retailers gathered together to only upvote deals for their own benefits to appear on the front page. Hence, the comments are skewed and bias.
    What methods of prevention does Ozbargain have to avoid this?

    • scotty on 23/04/2015 - 21:03
      +3

      There are dodgy activities almost everyday and the moderators are working hard behind the scene preventing these from happening. Some of the moderations also automated, done at voting, commenting, posting, etc. However if you are suspecting anything, please report it so we can investigate.

      • CandyMan on 24/04/2015 - 09:03

        Yeah im always warned when ec and I are OZBargaining from work that I might know him or be related to him

        It's so annoying

        I'm surprised there's isn't more ozb's on the same network

  • Tuttorix on 23/04/2015 - 19:37
    +2

    How do you really feel about the presence of jv ?

  • chipstss on 23/04/2015 - 19:47

    Would you start a bug bounty paid in Eneloops :)?

  • [Deactivated] on 23/04/2015 - 19:47

    hi Scotty :)

    My question is about your profile pic. Why him? …and have you always been him?

    Cheers,
    wiki

    • tyler.durden on 23/04/2015 - 20:00
      +1

      Cos he loves star trek, why else?

      and I guess he identifies with scotty's persona/character..

      ===========
      No one could tell a story quite like Chief Engineer Montgomery Scott. Though primarily focused on his world within the engineering bay, he had an exuberant personality that drew in the people around him. He was prone to the occasional emotional outburst, but only because he wasn’t afraid of expressing his feelings to the people around him. He was likeable, funny, and talkative. Always telling stories and making jokes, Scotty had a sharp sense of humor and loved a good party. It didn’t take much prodding to get him to agree to take out his bagpipes and play a song or two. Like many I personalities, though, he was a bit challenged when it came to time management, as shown by his tendency to constantly quote repair times incorrectly.

      • [Deactivated] on 23/04/2015 - 21:34

        Thanks :) I'm married to someone who was a nerd before being a nerd was cool. So I know almost everything there is to know about star trek.

        Btw, did you know that these real life technologies were inspired by Star Trek?

    • scotty on 23/04/2015 - 20:31
      +6

      You put scotty in Google image search and that's what you get. I have been using "scotty" as login name for a long time, as my name is "Scott" and surname starts with "Y".

      • silverrat23 on 23/04/2015 - 20:59

        My Response.

      • [Deactivated] on 23/04/2015 - 21:17

        You put scotty in Google image search

        oh :(

        You do realise that every time I read one of your comments, I always imagine you saying it with a thick scottish accent. A bit like this :)

  • tyler.durden on 23/04/2015 - 20:07
    -1

    Here's some interesting questions for Scotty..

    What valuable lessons have you learnt?
    -in life
    -creating a startup
    -being an entrepeneur
    -how to run a successful business..

    What's the meaning of life? (don't say 42)

    ===========
    Inside the actor studio last questions…

    e.g.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhxRym2O37Q

    What is your favorite word?
    What is your least favorite word?
    What turns you on creatively, spiritually or emotionally?
    What turns you off?
    What is your favorite curse word?
    What sound or noise do you love?
    What sound or noise do you hate?
    What profession other than your own would you like to attempt?
    What profession would you not like to do?
    If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates?

  • battler on 23/04/2015 - 20:23

    What did you order for dinner (via Delivery Hero, tonight/this week/last week)?

  • chonghe on 23/04/2015 - 20:42

    Which one do you think is harder?
    i) starting the site (from nothing) or
    ii) maintaining the site (so that it has traffic and not get hacked etc)

    • scotty on 23/04/2015 - 21:55
      +2

      That depends on the goal that you wish to achieve. I started up OzBargain not aiming for anything thus it felt pretty easy. We launched our New Zealand site last year and tried to recreate the success that we had here — and that was hard.

      Maintaining the site is actually very straight forward when you are just looking at patching the software and making sure the hardware stays up. However the constant new feature development, moderation issues etc — those are the real challenges.

      • tyler.durden on 23/04/2015 - 22:16

        why not called it ozbargain.nz?

        Keep the same branding..

        Btw with the new zealand and soon to launch SEA site
        Will you also look after (mod, program, maintain) those sites

        or have someone else look after them?

        • eug on 23/04/2015 - 22:35
          +7

          why not called it ozbargain.nz?
          Keep the same branding..

          That's like saying we won't mind OzBargain being called kiwibargain.com.au. :)

        • tyler.durden on 23/04/2015 - 22:45

          @eug:

          I see, you make a good point…

          The problem is cos his company name is so oz specific

          it hard to maintain the same branding logo/name/identity..for different countries..

          So it would be hard and more costly to trademark each of the branding name
          and registering all those alternative other ozbargain domain names

          Maybe it would have been better to give a company name that was not country specific…

  • Gnostikos on 23/04/2015 - 21:05
    +1

    Who are some of your favourite posters on here? (Regarding both deals and general OT discussion)

    • scotty on 23/04/2015 - 21:59
      +5

      I mentioned some here. For commenters maybe scrimshaw — always found his comments informative & useful. No, not jv.

      • tyler.durden on 23/04/2015 - 22:18
        +4

        is JV a bot created by you?

        Why does he/she/it make comments in almost every thread?

        What is their motivation?

  • 4V4R1C3 on 23/04/2015 - 21:16

    Scotty, well done with the site. I've been using it for most of it's existence back when buckscoop was having just as many deals.
    Do you think with growth that the quality of the deals has perhaps declined. Eg lots of headphone, free app, rep from small business spruiking deals being posted?
    Do you think the website has forced major retailers to change marketing strategies? I am thinking of Dick Smiths Electronic and Myer… they are perpetually on sale now and "ozbargainers" are constantly posting these deals.

    • scotty on 23/04/2015 - 22:08
      +3

      Nope. I think people have tendency to remember the "good old days". However when you actually compare the stats, I think we actually have better deals these days. DSE deals — why people keep on posting them and voting them up if they aren't actually any good?

      • tyler.durden on 23/04/2015 - 22:23
        +1

        The reason is cos of this…

        ppl vote first as a way to bookmark the deal…
        and then comeback to it later

        (yes you can bookmark but it is very cumbersome method compared to just simply +voting it..)

        When they come back to find out the deal is not as good as it seems..
        Or there is very limited stock
        Or dicksmith pulled a shifty and re adjusted (ie increased) the price

        There's no way to neg a deal once you have voted already..

        I suggest you fix this issue, ie let us neg a deal if we revoke our vote

        That's why..

  • zeckem on 23/04/2015 - 21:16

    Love the AMA, very interesting to know about the founder and the openness of the answers.
    Question is once you're daughters start buying online (or if they already do).. will you try to teach them every tip & trick in bargain hunting? and What if they were to buy something that cost a lot without checking OzBargain first, will they get in trouble?

    • scotty on 23/04/2015 - 22:14
      +5

      They can start buying online when they make their own money which I then have no say what they can/cannot buy. However yes I agree on the education bit which is what we have been doing — explaining how money should be used. When to be frugal and when to be generous, etc. Not necessarily through OzBargain though.

  • altomic on 23/04/2015 - 21:20

    If you could ask Gerry Harvey or Dick Smith 3 questions then what would they be?

  • tightarse on 23/04/2015 - 23:11
    +1

    Hi again scotty. Wanted to ask you about ChoiceCheapies. How difficult is it proving to sell this concept to the Kiwis? The uptake seems to be extremely slow as evidenced by the live feed, the number of deals, and in particular that most deals are posted by the same 4 or 5 people. What are your plans to make it as successful as OzB? Would you ever consider pulling the plug if its success is limited? Thank you.

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

      First of all I need to remind myself that it took OzBargain almost 8.5 years to get this far. New Zealand is also a smaller nation comparing to Australia, and according to Shaw not as bargain-savvy either.

      Would you ever consider pulling the plug if its success is limited?

      I am planning to give it at least 2 years to prove itself. Then again what is "success" — it's already helping kiwis saving money. I guess you cannot compare the volume with OzBargain, but it's still a useful resource for bargain hunters there.

  • chonghe on 24/04/2015 - 00:46

    Being the founder of OzBargain I presume you should manage your finance very well.
    Do you invest in stock market/derivative products to protect your capital against inflation?
    If so, is it only in AU or you invest in overseas as well?

    • scotty on 24/04/2015 - 06:56
      +1

      Nah. Don't have time for all that "trading" stuff. Do I have publicly traded shares? Yes I do, but only in the companies I like, and I am keeping those shares for long haul.

      • tyler.durden on 24/04/2015 - 12:55

        Do you buy blue chip or software based companies?

        Or do u have some mutual fund type of shares..

  • Mister Popo on 24/04/2015 - 00:59
    +7

    Would you mind if we nominate you for Australian of the Year Award? You've influenced so many people's lives: P

    • onlyletters on 24/04/2015 - 12:11
      +2

      Really, scotty is a one of a kind non greedy business owner, he could have chosen to take all the profits for him self, not donate any and not have any staff.. like i said, he is one of a kind..

      • tyler.durden on 24/04/2015 - 12:56
        +1

        You need staff to run/mod such a big site like this..

        So not possible to have no staff
        unless he work 24/7
        no sleep..

        • onlyletters on 24/04/2015 - 13:38

          No you dont, users post up all the deals, block all profanity words/keywords,

        • tyler.durden on 24/04/2015 - 16:32

          @eXtremist:

          Profanity keywords can be gotten around with clever spelling which would passed those filters but would be understandable to human beings.
          You can also use words with double meaning, metaphors, Double entendre etc..

          And what about non profanity/keywords

          -Flamming issues
          -arguments
          -socket puppeteer
          -Adverts instead of actual deals..

          All those rules listed on ozbargain
          Any of them broken…
          There would be need for human mods to moderate and make judgement.

          Computers can't mediate and are not that smart.

  • leeroys_dad on 24/04/2015 - 04:38

    How much money does the site make in revenue per month?

    • Charity on 24/04/2015 - 09:54
      +2

      regarding ur negs, not sure why financially-unintelligent folks think talking about money is impolite.

      upto Scotty (a businessman) if he wants to reply or not.

    • tyler.durden on 24/04/2015 - 12:57

      It would be nice know what the ball park figure…in revenue per month is..

  • anderstand on 24/04/2015 - 08:55

    How did you at first marketed / get people coming to the site?

    • scotty on 24/04/2015 - 10:59

      No idea. For a while I was mainly talking to myself (via blogging) and then people just turned up. Through googling I guess.

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

        Organic always works best, tells you you're up there..

      • Evil-Elmo on 24/04/2015 - 12:36

        I found you (fairly early on) through Googling for fee free credit cards - back then the fee free for life Citibank Gold, which I found through your blog, was all the rage.

  • SupeNintendoChalmers on 24/04/2015 - 10:34
    +1

    When is the next Melbourne meet up?

  • hishaken on 24/04/2015 - 11:01

    Hello Scott,
    I have got a business idea and product.
    Do you know where can I get funding?
    And how to approach JB hifi, Dick Smith to be put on their shelf (easy or not?)
    Thank you:)

    • scotty on 24/04/2015 - 12:02

      No idea. You should go & see JB or DS directly I guess? Or why not put it on your own website and give OzBargainers a big discount bypassing the middleman?

    • tyler.durden on 24/04/2015 - 12:58
      +2

      Shark tank?

      Then we can watch it
      and the sharks will tell u if it is good idea or not

  • pyramid on 24/04/2015 - 13:12
    +15

    @tyler.durden - can you please stop posting in this thread. Its all about AMA with scotty and you are replying to almost every post. Thanks.

  • Richard Axe on 24/04/2015 - 14:10

    Hi Scotty,

    Being you a father and also a successful programmer, what languages would you recommend for kids to get started in programming?

    Congratulations on the awesome site! Cheers!

    • scotty on 24/04/2015 - 23:11
      +1

      Python. It's very easy to pickup. In my previous job we used to hire developers with no Python experience as they probably pick up the language within a week or two provided you have good programming skills.

  • CandyMan on 24/04/2015 - 19:25

    Will we ever see OZB merchandise?
    I would love to have some OZB mugs for example :)

    • scotty on 24/04/2015 - 23:13
      +2

      You can probably do it yourself. OzBargain Logo + Vista Print. Wait for the coupon code of course.

      • CandyMan on 24/04/2015 - 23:19
        +1

        Won't I be infringing your copyright?

        • scotty on 24/04/2015 - 23:52
          +2

          Fixed up the OzBargain logo link above. The logos are there mainly for people to use in mashups. I am fine as long as you don't claim that you represent OzBargain. Perfectly fine for personal projects or with attribution to OzBargain.

  • stringbean402 on 24/04/2015 - 19:33

    When you released the sites new look and feel in Sep 2014 did the initial negative feedback from so many people…. get you down ? or make you angry? or stress you out?

    https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/159877

    • scotty on 24/04/2015 - 23:14
      +3

      Haters gonna hate…

      • Fobsessive on 25/04/2015 - 01:00

        I didn't like the change but after not long I didn't even remember it changed!

  • Colombian on 24/04/2015 - 19:36

    Hi Scotty, when you drive your car, do you throttle it slowly to save petrol?

    • scotty on 24/04/2015 - 23:15
      +4

      No. My car (7 seater with a 2litre engine) is so powerless you won't feel any acceleration if you "throttle slowly".

  • tyb1987 on 24/04/2015 - 19:45

    Hi Scotty,

    May I know where are you come from?

    Which nationality are you?

    How do you compare you origin county with Australia? Which one is better?

    • scotty on 24/04/2015 - 23:18

      While I wasn't born here but I've been an Australian citizen for more than 20 years. Hard to compare when you spend a lot more time here.

  • schwinn on 24/04/2015 - 20:55

    Scotty, would your site generate more income if we clicked more on the advertisements? Do you get paid per click or per load?

    • scotty on 24/04/2015 - 23:20
      +2

      CPC or CPM? Google says a bit of both, however don't click on ads, unless you are really really really really interested in what's in there.

      • Fobsessive on 25/04/2015 - 01:02
        +1

        I keep ads on to support the site

        • x d on 25/04/2015 - 10:16
          +1

          Never thought about this issue until this AMA. Switched mine back on :-)

  • windrc on 24/04/2015 - 21:34
    +1

    Have you ever neg voted anyone?

    Do you enjoy reading people's comments more than learning a bargain?

    Have you taken any of the Udemy courses?

    • scotty on 24/04/2015 - 23:24
      +2

      I am pretty sure I have negged some deals, and the deals I've posted got negged a few times as well.

      Well, I'll say I enjoy both the comments & the bargains. This site is about bargains, but it's also about the community of people who enjoy conversations on bargains.

      Udemy? I'm sure I have quite a few in my account. Have I done any? Nah — those are just for collections.

  • Thenarrator on 24/04/2015 - 23:05

    So you work from home and you mentioned you meet people in their offices or in local cafe.. Does your job require you to meet people? people just randomly come up and contact you? im confused.

    • scotty on 24/04/2015 - 23:37
      +3

      I usually work from home but I do have meetings to go to as well. This morning I have to travel to Sydney CBD for a 40 minutes meeting from a startup trying to get us to integrate their widgets on OzBargain (which I declined). There's an "investment company" wanting to have a "coffee & chat" next week although I am pretty sure I am not interested but need to think a polite way to decline the offer. So in some sense you are right, people just randomly come up and contact me.

      At the same time there are meetings with google, affiliate events, etc. Some are fun to go to (especially if free lunch is provided), and some are just awkward.

      • CandyMan on 25/04/2015 - 15:00
        +1

        +1 for free lunch

      • muncan on 25/04/2015 - 15:09
        +2

        Let us know if you need any help claiming these free lunches.

        • scotty on 25/04/2015 - 16:36
          +3

          You can go to the meetings and I can have the free lunch? :)

        • muncan on 25/04/2015 - 16:56

          @scotty: you drive a hard bargain!

  • scotty on 24/04/2015 - 23:10
    +2

    AMA officially only run for a day, and it's supposed to have finished yesterday (23 Apr). I can see that people are still asking questions however I probably won't be doing much answering. Next AMA would be next Thursday with maximum (multiple comp winner). Stay tuned.

    • CandyMan on 24/04/2015 - 23:21

      Thanks boss
      Have a great w/e

    • tyler.durden on 24/04/2015 - 23:31

      Will you still ocassionally have another AMA?

      I would also like to know something…
      Hope you can answer this sometime soon…

      What valuable lessons have you learnt?
      -in life
      -creating a startup
      -being an entrepeneur
      -how to run a successful business..

      If one day you decide to retire or sell the site..
      How would you ensure that it remains like it is now..
      so that it does not become commercialized or lose it's values/principles

      • scotty on 24/04/2015 - 23:49

        Will you still ocassionally have another AMA?

        Maybe not. Someone else should have a turn.

        What valuable lessons have you learnt?

        Wait for my autobiography. Well, maybe.

        How would you ensure that it remains like it is now.

        You can't. You are no longer the boss and it's outside your control. Whoever paid top dollar for your business would want to maximise the profit and monetise the property to the max — which can be a pain to watch.

        That's the last question from you tyler :)

        • spackbace on 24/04/2015 - 23:58
          +2

          That's the last question from you tyler :)

          You're a good diplomat ;)

        • tyler.durden on 25/04/2015 - 00:43
          -1

          Thanks, for answering the last questions..

          Though I wished you shared the valuable lessons learnt, cos it would have been insightful
          and taught us something..

          It would have have been a nice way to leave some valueable lessons learnt for future entrepeneurs..

          It was a good AMA..
          good to know more about the founder of OZbargain..

          I found your picture on Linklin a while ago (before this AMA).
          And I was surprised you were asian, cos of your avatar.

          Too bad you won't do any more AMA..
          Personally I don't think other people on OZbargain are that interesting or have enough material to do an AMA.

          It will be a sad day, when you retire or sell this site to some other company…
          Cos it will be commercialized and no one would care about it anymore…
          Or it would be killed off or phased in with their own product like some of those yahoo purchases etc..

          Anyways whatever happens in the future
          Thanks for creating a good site.

          Good bye

          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CnQ8N1KacJc

  • moza on 25/04/2015 - 07:19

    Do you constantly battle companies who 'abuse' the ozbargain page simply to advertise? Like… Posting "ozbargain specials" or things that aren't really good bargains? It definitely gets companies like Dick Smith more publicity for their promotions.

    Or do you find the opposite, are you surprised at the lack of companies piggybacking on this page to promote their deals? I notice a few common companies promoting here, but not as many as you would get in the local newspaper or other avenues of promotion?

  • T1OOO on 25/04/2015 - 07:39

    Dosn't sell it. That would suck. Unless u got offered a million bucks in that case ok I understand ;-)

    • tyler.durden on 25/04/2015 - 09:58

      Unfortunately it is inevitable.

      He won't live forever.

      He will also think of retirement in maybe 10 years time.

      No one wants to or can do this forever, even if they love it.

      Other factors might come into being like health issues etc..

      He would also want to leave a nice chunk of money (from his hard work) to his family and kids/grand kids etc..

      Once it gets sold
      Whoever buys it would try to make as money from it as possible.
      e.g. Google purchase of Youtube, now look at what's happening to Youtube
      Youtube ads, paid subscriptions to remove ads etc..

      Once this site becomes too commercialized
      and if members hate it
      then they would move onto somewhere else.

      • T1OOO on 25/04/2015 - 10:57

        why cant it be a turn key run by members for members? run adds to cover costs? i mean thats what its all about isnt it?

        • scotty on 25/04/2015 - 17:20
          +1

          Did that with another online community I ran a few years ago. Ran that for 4 years but needed to focus on OzBargain. Passed on the baton to someone I thought I could trust, and he sold it within 12 months.

        • T1OOO on 25/04/2015 - 19:50

          @scotty:

          LOL!!!! Which community ?

  • pyramid on 25/04/2015 - 11:03
    +5

    It seems we need to Have AMA with Tyler.durden. This man or woman can talk endless..

  • DatBigTigrex on 25/04/2015 - 14:35

    So I have been on OZBargain for years and never thought about registering an account (shame on me)

    But Scotty, do you guys hiring? I really want to work for OZBargain.

    • eug on 25/04/2015 - 14:56
      +5

      A pre-requisite might be to read his previous answers in this AMA. ;)

  • gstfree on 25/04/2015 - 16:12

    Hi Scotty,

    Agreed Ozbargain is the most successful deal-share website in Australia. What makes you so successful while other Ozbargain-like websites is not so successful?

    Can you foresee any chellenge in the future? For example, as a business grows bigger, there will be more legal issues, HR or other compliance issues.

  • readannie on 25/04/2015 - 20:40

    Hi Scotty

    As you mentioned that you are a Christian, what denomination are you if I may know?

  • mrjames on 25/04/2015 - 21:04

    Hey Scotty,

    Do you exploit the 5 cent rounding trick when you're filling up with petrol? Eg. $50.02 when paying with cash.

  • ACTGBilly on 26/04/2015 - 08:16

    Hi Scotty,

    I would just like to say that I am very grateful for the site. I do spend way too much money through here, though!

    Thank you for all your work. I am glad you can make a living off Ozbargain now.

    Regards,
    G Bill

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