Does The OzBargain Website Need an Overhaul to Better Deal with Subscriptions, Game Codes, and rare RRP items coming into stock?

As far as I'm aware the structure of the OzBargain website has been pretty static for a while. But things have sort of evolved around it. I see subscriptions and game codes/giveaways coming up a lot- and let's not forget the constant "OzRRP" quips. I think there are some pretty valid arguments for why each should/shouldn't be a deal.

Game codes/giveaways

  • A lot of these don't have any monetary value. There's no real savings to be had here. They help improve your game status in some way, but you don't really save anything.
  • However, they're still a freebie. Maybe it's a people who like games/don't like games sort of thing, but it's still an item that has some intrinsic value that you otherwise wouldn't have. Sure, the game creator in a way sets the real world value of that item, but it's probably not right to consider it valueless. Especially in a lot of situations it saves time, and time is money. Whether that time is well spent is up for debate.

Subscriptions

  • Each month we get the Playstation Plus and Xbox games added to the site. These are certainly great freebies which saves you money on buying the actual games…
  • Wait, or are they freebies? I mean, we pay a subscription. If the fact that we get 24 games a year for one subscription price is a bargain… well that's probably the bargain, not the monthly games.
  • When Netflix adds good value options and its posted there's a bit of controversy around that too. But really, it's the same sort of thing. Subscription you pay for has new goods that would otherwise cost money.

RRP items

  • Items which are hard to get going up for pre-order or coming into stock are useful community announcements. Given these items are often very pricey on the open market, savings can be had by grabbing stock when they arrive.
  • But surely OzBargain isn't a stock tracking website? When posted at RRP there's no real savings to be had here, just some avoidance of scalpers. Sure savings are made compared to the open market, but is there really a bargain there?

At this point I think it's worth remembering the OzBargain tagline.

Deals, Coupons, Vouchers, Discounts and Freebies

By that definition, you could argue all of the above stay, or go. I think you could make an argument for them being one of the above, or for them being none of the above.

Overall, I think part of the problem is that the OzBargain website isn't structured particularly well to deal with how markets (for lack of a better word) have evolved. A lot of this stuff should maybe go to the forums, but you can't underestimate how much people want internet points. If your option is a short forum discussion or lots of upvotes with medals for making it a bargain, then of course people will favour making it a bargain and let the mods move it to a forum post if they feel it's appropriate.

I'm not proposing a great solution here, but I'm proposing it's worth thinking about a restructure of the website. Maybe there needs to be better tags to let people filter out the sort of stuff they don't care about. Maybe there needs to be clearer mention of what should and shouldn't be on the deals page. Maybe something like subscriptions should each just get a monthly post in forums with all the new content listed. Maybe there should be more tabs for types of deals. Maybe forum posts should get upvotes and medals too? Maybe one solution can deal with all three of these points. Maybe each point needs addressing in a different way.

What does everyone think? Because I don't see these sort of problems (depending on your viewpoint) going away, and there'll be continued discussion about why these sorts of deals should/shouldn't stay. And I think they're valid. And I think the OzBargain rules stating that once a post gets enough upvotes it stays isn't necessarily the best way to deal with it.

Poll Options

  • 58
    The OzBargain website is fine
  • 13
    The OzBargain website needs an overhaul (minor or major) to deal with some of these odd cases

Comments

  • wouldn't this be more suitable for a gaming forum or group on social media?

    • Do you mean wouldn't all those categories I listed be better suited to a gaming forum or group on social media? (Sorry, just trying to clarify your remark)

      • well yes.
        to the general public these wouldn't fall under a 'bargain' per say but for gamers with a keen interest in things it's a good to know XXX is available or a deal is available on said game.

        • I think you could make that argument about a lot of topics though. Personally I don't give a rats whenever I see a discounted external HDD, or cheap eneloops. There'll always be some categories of things we don't care about on OzBargain.

          I do agree with you though mostly, I think there's probably a better place within the OzBargain website for these deals. The fact that they're mixed in with all the more standard **Save $XX on product Y* deals feels out of place. But I do strongly feel like while there's incentive (in the way of votes, medals, and being on top of the front page) to post as a deal rather than a forum post or the likes, we'll continue to stretch the definition of what makes a deal, coupon, voucher, discount or freebie.

  • +2

    Thanks for you concern. However game passes / subscription "deals" were previously discussed here. It's not really about "restructuring the website" but just policy updates, and then features / fixes that support the updated policy.

    • Thanks for this. I wasn't aware! Good to see some policy updates have been made to deal with that. I used 'overhaul' loosely to include stuff like this.

      Have there been any similar discussions on game codes or RRP items coming into stock or for preorders? Could the same sort of system help these cases?

  • +3

    There's value in simplicity and accessibility.

    At some point, adding new features and functionality (this is assuming the premise of your post is valid) becomes counter productive because it decreases usability in a way that turns away people.

    Think of it as like the Apple vs Android difference in usability vs functionality.

    • One must not be too invested in simplicity and accessability and risk stagnation.

      Whilst I disagree that we need an "overhaul", some additions would be great. Maybe a "hard to find" section. It shouldn't be used as a pre-order list-all but can be of value to categorize phenomenons like the recent digimon phenomenon.

      A growing business/website/forum is a difficult thing to juggle hence why there are some CEOs that are well adapt at young companies and some that are better at managing growing pains.

      I think OzBargain is having growing pains. The team has been great thus far but a younger and different demographics now begs attention.

      • +1

        I should apologise, I think 'overhaul' was the wrong word for me to use. I don't think the website needs to start again. I really was just trying to indicate some structural changes rather than bandaids. E.g. maybe adding a new section like your "hard to find" rather than using existing tags and just adding a "hard to find" tag. I think it would help differentiate things a lot better. Somehow at the time I felt "overhaul" sounded better than "structural change".

        • No harm done. I didn't for a moment think anyone wants to overhaul the website. It was only ever done once when this site moved from being a forum.

  • -1

    I agree the site needs to stay up to date with community expectations. But not sure what the solution is TBH.

    One of the main problems IMO is largely due to the 'internet points' as you put it. People post ANYTHING for the good feels of hitting the front page and up-votes. It's clear from all the subscription games being added that this is the case. To counter this, the site relies on + or - votes, however it feels like the algorithm needs work. It's so difficult to neg a deal without your neg being neg and wiped out by fanbois or whatever reason. So it often feels like EVERYTHING hits the front page regardless of mixed opinions whether its a deal or not. It seems to me that + votes are too powerful and - votes can too easily be negged out by others, even if your neg is legitimate.

    For example I could post a really popular product as a deal even if its not on sale, and get 100 +votes and 10 -votes but all the fanbois neg the neg votes and wipe them out so it looks like an epic deal, even if its not. It's just weird.

    In summary - I believe the front page +/- algorithm needs work as too many shitty deals appear like epic deals simply due to popularity of a product or service even if its not actually a deal/discount/etc under regular price or whatever the situation may be.

    • There's already enough people abusing the Samsung EPP, items in the EPP go (permanently) out of stock quicker thanks to these resellers.
      These offers are limited to selected groups on purpose, hence the larger discounts.

      Having these exploited hurts the viability of the vendor in the long run. When they realise some hackjob are making money off their generosity, next time around the discounts will be shitty, and everyone loses.

  • +3

    Phone is fine

  • I have no issues with the current structure. The front page positive votes threshold is there to stop things that are spammy and not popular with the community from getting there.

    If it was taking a significant amount of moderator time then perhaps something could change to make life easier from that perspective, but I have no issues with the way the site is showing deals at the moment.

  • Get rid of the stupid neg votes on comments. People don't use them properly anyway.

    "That comment triggered me and made my butt hurt" or "They didn't agree with me, and I'm offended." or "That person made me look like an idiot, and I must passively-aggressively let them know about my butt hurt."

    Seldom is it used as "Hey, that comment is wrong to the point it's misleading or dangerous"

    • Get rid of the stupid neg votes on comments

      Would be like Facebook then, Like button but no Dislike
      IMO the negs do the job most of the time, and there's usually ozB members correcting it when it doesn't.

      Plus its endless entertainment for the Admins who can see who are negging stuff

  • -1

    OZB won't react in time and will be replaced with another more advanced site within a few years.

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