Your best bargain ever that you kept secret because you didn't want it OzBargained

wizzlesticks on 29/10/2020 - 15:26
Last edited 29/10/2020 - 15:27

There's been some interesting deals in the past which have quickly evaporated due to the merchant shutting down the offer after getting OzBargained. One example is the Maccas buy five babycino get any free loyalty coffee in any size of your choice: https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/449317. So I'm wondering if there were any killer deals you found in the past that you were just too greedy to share in the fear that you would miss out.

My top one was this: Before COVID, the Velocity Rewards store had a price error for Bose Home Speaker 300. It's usually worth $399 (RRP), but was priced at 2,614 points. If you equate one point to one cent, that's about $26.14. I only found it because I was trying to use up some points before they expire, so set the search to look for items under 5,000 points. I remember seeing a Priceline $10 gift card and the Bose speaker! So my dad and I snapped up one each, thinking that they're not going to honour it, but we would take our chances. Sure enough, 24 hours later, the deal was removed and it returned to the usual price 71,830.points. I never ended up posting it to OzBargain in time because I was hoping the order would first ship before realising the pricing error. I knew as soon as I posted it here there would probably be more than a thousand orders, meaning that no one's orders would ship as they wouldn't be able to fulfil them all. Sorry guys! And who knows, they may have gone into administration more quickly.

Anyone else with similar stories? Size of the deal doesn't matter. I think I got really lucky on this one.

General Discussion

Comments

  • theoracle30 on 29/10/2020 - 15:34
    +14

    Did you end up receiving the Bose speakers?

    • wizzlesticks on 29/10/2020 - 15:36
      +25

      Yeah I did, but it took more than a month. The order was marked as 'processing' for about two weeks without action. After a few calls it eventually got moving. If it happened a month later I doubt we would have got them because Virgin then went into administration.

      • ScottEh on 29/10/2020 - 15:46
        +166

        I bet the loss on fulfilling that order for Bose speakers is the straw that broke the back of the company's finances.

        • wizzlesticks on 29/10/2020 - 15:51
          +59

          LOL. I should have been designated a creditor, and sat in on the hearings, along with the unions representing the employees…

          Lawyer: "And on the matter of the two Bose Speakers, for credit receipts totalling $798 dollars only, is thee in favour of the sale of the company to Bain Capital?

          Me: "Nay."

  • burningrage on 29/10/2020 - 15:37
    -1

    I can only say there are a lot. The best one was getting Google Home Nest Max for $188.

    • Scrooge McDuck on 30/10/2020 - 23:54
      +3

      OzPriceError and OzFraud have better deals IMHO.

      • capslock janitor on 31/10/2020 - 01:14
        +1

        OzFraud

        I have a 'hack' that is bit unethical… which I dare not post …
        … maybe on Reddit one day

      • Last Seen on 06/11/2020 - 11:08

        Sharing is caring :-)

  • theoracle30 on 29/10/2020 - 15:43
    +9

    Many years ago, I accidentally discovered a 'hack' that enabled me to have free Qantas Club lounge access and perks before any Qantas-operated flight, without a paying membership. After successfully trying it out a few times, I wasn't sure whether to post it or not as it would have been unethical. It was patched soon anyway so I didn't worry about it anymore.

    • wizzlesticks on 29/10/2020 - 15:45

      Really interested to know how that worked, since it's now no longer available.

      • theoracle30 on 29/10/2020 - 15:51
        +82

        Basically, I started the sign-up process for Qantas Club membership. After going through the application form, it directed me to an old-school bank payment processor page. However, I decided membership was too much and abandoned the application.

        To my surprise, my account tier changed to 'Qantas Club Bronze' soon afterwards, and it hung around for a few days. I had a flight during this time and upon checking-in, my boarding pass showed 'QC Bronze Member'. It let me into lounges with no problems at all. My status reverted back to normal a few days later.

        I tested it a few more times and it kept on working - sign up for a membership, then abandon it at the payment stage. Even my parents got access to the Singapore International Business Lounge at the time. It doesn't work anymore as Qantas has now integrated payment into the application form.

    • ruddiger7 on 01/11/2020 - 12:31
      -2

      I often use that 'hack' too. Its called inviting my in-laws with qantas memberships on our trips and being their complimentary guests.

      • Orion au on 01/11/2020 - 12:59
        +18

        But then you've got to deal with the inlaws..

    • hellothankyou on 01/11/2020 - 13:12
      +1

      I often took more than one guest into the Qantas lounge using number of different hacks.

      The most I ever took was 4 colleagues, it was hilarious.

  • The Lord Genova on 29/10/2020 - 15:52
    +7

    i ate almost a year for free using a known food app :)

    • Fat Horny Ghost on 29/10/2020 - 15:56
      +6

      how did u do that?

    • wizzlesticks on 29/10/2020 - 15:58

      Are you just talking about the rinse and repeat sign on offers?

    • ihbh on 29/10/2020 - 17:32

      Did you become a fat bastard after the year?

      • Scrooge McDuck on 30/10/2020 - 23:34
        +5

        No, because it was patched after 7 months.

  • The Lord Genova on 29/10/2020 - 16:01
    +10

    They offered a $20 credit for sign up so I subsequently made 100's of accounts with fake emails. Basically lunch was free everyday

    • wizzlesticks on 29/10/2020 - 16:02

      You didn't need a unique mobile number?

    • RyanMK on 29/10/2020 - 17:28

      How about breakfast and dinner?

    • Fat Horny Ghost on 29/10/2020 - 18:18

      you can still do this, where did u get the 365 sim cards from?

      • capslock janitor on 31/10/2020 - 01:18
        +1

        let alone 100 SIMs?

        • andyken on 01/11/2020 - 18:16

          there is plenty of free receive SMS or you can buy number online

    • Wazzza on 02/11/2020 - 19:40
      +3

      I know it is tempting, but isnt someone out there losing money over this "hack"?. I personally won't do it.

      • berry580 on 02/11/2020 - 21:18
        +2

        It's as good as stealing.
        But no thief would admit to be a thief, so a nicer alternate name would be provided

  • IIGnomeII on 29/10/2020 - 17:55
    +23

    My best one was a pricing error at Anaconda.
    They marked down their 60L esky to $129 for a sale but incorrectly put it in the system missing the 9.

    Headed over to one of their stores and waited for them to open, got inside and confirmed the price. They were stumped but said if it was on the website it was correct so I bought 3, shortly after they had taken the product off the website.
    I sold all 3 for $120 each.

    • Scrooge McDuck on 30/10/2020 - 23:37
      +31

      I sold all 3 for $120 each.

      To whom? Who buys an esky from a private individual for only 7 % off?

      • TheAccountant on 31/10/2020 - 05:28
        +3

        People on Gumtree and Marketplace thinking they're getting a bargain just because it's not on the retailers site.

        • AustriaBargain on 01/11/2020 - 03:05

          If it still looks brand new then it must be one hell of an esky, maybe they thought.

        • pharkurnell on 02/11/2020 - 19:07

          Same as ebay… not on manufacturers site = win :)

      • snackerjoe on 01/11/2020 - 08:49
        +1

        Might have been a bargain to them because $129 was supposed to be the discounted price, and it was no longer available on the site by then.

      • IIGnomeII on 02/11/2020 - 09:04
        +2

        At the time I sold 2 of them the sale had finished and the price had gone back up to around the $200 mark, now it looks like they are listing them at $329…

      • Nalar on 02/11/2020 - 14:11
        +2

        I watched a bunch of people pay above retail price on a auction site with 22% fees for new products that don't have warranty. People are stupid.

  • Axelstrife on 29/10/2020 - 18:10
    +30

    Kinda a bargain more so a way i made a few hundred in a few hours easily.

    Big W was selling iphone SE for a good price (i don't remember the price it was a few years ago) and https://au.webuy.com/ bought the phones at a higher price than big w sold them for i know i made $75 profit on each phone.
    Three trips to big w buying three iphones each time and sold all the phones to webuy the same day since they have a store close by, i'd of done it more but after the last trip they told me they wouldn't accept anymore.
    Made like $600 or so from this.

    • SupeNintendoChalmers on 31/10/2020 - 18:44
      +2

      I did this too!!

      Made almost $300 from this little venture.

  • Austaurean on 29/10/2020 - 18:13
    +5

    Not what you asked but…

    I liked the Bunnings drone error, didnt get it, but did get the 250 voucher

    Also the nest hub max for 129 back in April, had JB price match it.

    • ngengerous on 03/11/2020 - 05:13
      +1

      Jumped on the Nest Hub Max deal too - best score from this website so far! Almost offsets the amount I've unnecessarily spent thanks to this place…

  • bitesized on 29/10/2020 - 18:33
    +5

    Back in Nov 18, Myer had a ~50% off sale for Oakley sunglasses online. I was after Snow Goggles for Christmas skiing in Japan, and though the Oakley Snow Goggles weren't listed on the Myer sale page, a specific search priced them at 50% off too. Couldn't believe my luck!

    Oakley Snow Goggles are rarely on sale and the max discount is 10% off. I ended up buying two pairs. They were stuck at shipping and I thought it would be cancelled, but I used Myer chat to follow up and the assistant shipped them out to me.

    Steals:
    - Oakley Canopy Goggles for $114 (RRP $242)
    - Oakley Line Miner Goggles for $80 (RRP $155)

    • dandandan on 24/11/2022 - 01:10

      Oakley snow googles are always on sale, even now at 50% off with 15-20% cash back going as well through Oakley and Sunglass Hut.

  • deeevan on 29/10/2020 - 19:04
    +3

    Just for this thread, I hunted down the bargain. I kept quiet until I got it, expected someone else to post it given it was on Whirlpool but no one did
    $680: https://whrl.pl/Rd8Ebg

    I'm gobsmacked that 6 years on and one less lens, the price is higher
    $1049: https://www.jbhifi.com.au/products/sony-alpha-a6000-mirrorle…

    • bs0 on 01/11/2020 - 09:25

      Hey, I think I bought this deal too. Sold the 4yr old camera body, 30000+ shutter count, by it self last year for about 500$ too

  • jackinyourbox on 29/10/2020 - 19:06
    +2

    Enroll in the RSS feed and filter for removed listings

    • ChipsChicky on 05/11/2020 - 17:22

      Can you enlighten on this ? RSS feeds is a myth for me 😔

    • pegaxs on 30/10/2020 - 08:18
      +15

      I highly doubt that…

    • Neoika on 01/11/2020 - 18:13

      It is OK to share when it was a past thing.

  • nomoneynoproblems on 29/10/2020 - 19:37
    -4

    I purchased 5, popular at the time watch models from a retailer that were in short supply. By fluke this watch was in stock (rare) and on sale via their usual sales. I made a $100 profit on each watch and kept one for "free".

    Those 27 inch Dell monitors that are popular here, I managed to get one before everyone thinking it was a price error. A few days later Dell ended up taking the product down. I missed out on massive upvotes but meh I got it before you lot lol.

  • msmhw on 29/10/2020 - 22:21
    +2

    for me, was with ADSL2+ TPG. I got a discount of $20/$30 monthly on my bills for over 5 years.

    • BuyOrNot on 30/10/2020 - 08:37

      How?

      • DASHCAM NOW DUDE on 31/10/2020 - 18:41

        If they told you, it wouldn't be a secret because you didn't want it OzBargained anymore.

      • idonotknowwhy on 02/11/2020 - 11:05
        +4

        I knew a customer who did this with his friends many years ago.
        Sign up for ADSL2 with TPG and then cancel it. Then get credentials from a friend/family member with unlimited, put them into your modem, and it'll work. You can both be online at the same time on the same account. He has like 3 or 4 people sharing an account from different houses, splitting the bill.

        • BuyOrNot on 02/11/2020 - 12:53

          Hahah, nice. Cant believe TPG's system could not catch that.

        • msmhw on 03/11/2020 - 01:40
          +1

          exactly right! this what we did before moving to NBN.

        • Splashtash on 03/11/2020 - 23:56
          +1

          Haha, i did the same thing with exetel way back. all you needed was their name, address and phone number from the phone book which I already had. It was more like when my service was frozen due to parents asking the company cause i played too many vide games. Used my mates and bang, up and running again.

    • mccarthyp64 on 02/11/2020 - 02:18

      If you somehow still have ADSL (especially if it's with iiNet) and an ABN, you can switch to their Business Value plan which includes the PSTN and unlimited quota for $79.99/m. Once that's done, switch to Business Essentials for $59.99/m which doesn't include the PSTN and only allows for 500GB quota.

      Due to someone not setting up the bundling correctly, the included PSTN doesn't charge after the plan change and the 500GB quota isn't enforced due to a 2018 TPG directive.

      Same price as residential ADSL but with business support and a static IP.

  • kthomas on 29/10/2020 - 22:28
    +29

    I have 2.
    The first wasn’t that I kept it a secret, I just didn’t think it could possibly go through.
    Last year David Jones had 20% off Trenery items, but actually anything that I added became $20, including $500 blazers and stuff.
    Every order was fulfilled, my sister and I ended up getting $5000 worth of clothing (actual worth obviously not that high), for a few hundred dollars.

    The second I also didn’t think would go through so didn’t share it.
    Last year the iconic has 2 for $150 on all the RM Williams belts, I added 2 and in the cart they were actually coming up as $50 for the two
    All the men in the family got belts for Christmas last year.

    Those were the only two times I’ve found a real bargain myself, and they were absolute rippers.

    • wizzlesticks on 29/10/2020 - 23:06
      +2

      That's insane DJ filled those orders.

      • kthomas on 30/10/2020 - 14:31
        +11

        Yep I couldn’t believe it!
        Once they picked it up they actually cancelled the last order and refunded me, but then that order was delivered too, was amazing.
        Unfortunately/fortunately my partner has lost a bunch of weight and barely any of the clothes fit him anymore, but he was looking very sharp for about a year.

        • lachhelix on 24/11/2022 - 02:55

          That is legit amazing haha, ozbargain hunting goals right there 🥹

    • kiitos on 30/10/2020 - 08:54
      +5

      All the men in the family got belts for Christmas last year.

      Were you torn between keeping quiet about the bargain and appearing very generous to your family, or bragging about the great deal and appearing cheap?

      • kthomas on 30/10/2020 - 14:31
        +23

        I came clean, didn’t want to set a very high standard for future years haha

    • pharkurnell on 02/11/2020 - 19:09

      2 for $150 on all the RM Williams belts

      2x Belts for 150? Diamond encrusted?

  • moto on 29/10/2020 - 22:37
    +1

    My favourite one was Hungry Jacks when you buy a $1 frozen slurpee and the receipt says do the survey after spending anything for a free bbq cheeseburger, I did it so many times I think they stopped doing it and changed the promo to free fries and drink if you buy a normal priced burger.

    And another rare one was eBay’s birthday offer I asked customer support for a 10% discount and complained that I didn’t receive one, so over the phone I told them I wanted to buy something $1000 so they gave me $100 coupon. That was my best one that only worked once. And nowadays they no longer do the 10% birthday deal and now they do Eligible deals :(

    • sss333 on 30/10/2020 - 08:19
      +4

      At my local if I used the survey to get the cheeseburger on the next receipt they gave me they'd tear the survey part off the next receipt despite how much I was spending.

  • gibspmuh on 30/10/2020 - 07:31
    +2

    The best bargain I got was a Wii U Skylanders Bundle for $24 from Big W - I did comment in a thread about it at the time - https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/148583?page=1#comment-2058… but didn't make a separate post as it seemed to be perhaps too good a price. But come November that year it was actually delivered.

    • ccrap on 02/11/2020 - 14:06

      lol they sent it, but 5 months later! wow :)

  • Raulioli8810 on 30/10/2020 - 07:34
    +4

    Sign up a fake email from anywhere
    Get YouTube premium for free for a month.
    Cancel as soon as you sign up. Rinse and repeat every month.
    Been doing it for 2 years. Haven't never paid for YouTube premium once. Have seen ads ever.
    Can be done with other services like prime video, stan, etc they don't check IP addresses

    • Lanushi on 30/10/2020 - 09:44

      They don't check CC/PayPal credentials either

      • DOGGYWOWWOW on 31/10/2020 - 21:10

        asks for CC credentials for me and random numbers dont seem to work for me

        • BartholemewH on 31/10/2020 - 23:32
          +1

          Why would random numbers work?

          • DOGGYWOWWOW on 01/11/2020 - 00:28

            @BartholemewH: The comment above said they don't check cc/PayPal credentials so I assumed they meant random numbers was all U need but guess I understood wrong.

            • Lanushi on 02/11/2020 - 11:27

              @DOGGYWOWWOW: It has to be a legitimate credit card number in order to work. Lol

    • tete on 31/10/2020 - 03:57
      +17

      I just use an ad blocker.

      • virhlpool on 03/11/2020 - 19:29

        Which one works for YouTube? Any recommendation - for desktop and mobile?

        • OssieA on 04/11/2020 - 12:36

          the best part is for watching youtube on your tv. i dont believe theres any easy fix for ads besides youtube premium.

        • matthiew on 04/11/2020 - 18:13
          +1

          AdGuard is great for desktop and mobile. It works system-wide so in-app ads get blocked as well as in your web browser. It's currently on sale too.

          If you want a free option uBlock Origin works well, but it's only a web browser addon so ads won't get blocked in other apps.

          • anonymous_coward on 04/11/2020 - 19:14

            @matthiew: AdGuard costs money??? I've only ever used the free one and never get youtube ads.

    • TheAccountant on 31/10/2020 - 05:33
      +2

      To much of a pain with subscriptions though

    • Skinnerr on 31/10/2020 - 15:01
      +5

      I just use YouTube Vanced.

      • BartholemewH on 31/10/2020 - 23:33

        I used to, but then it didn't work for a long time. Might have to look into it if it works again.

        • extract on 01/11/2020 - 23:38

          The secret is not to update the Youtube App.

        • rorypitt on 02/11/2020 - 22:49

          Don't use the magisk version anymore, it isn't updated. Get the manager from their website and it's super simple to install

      • Hahuh on 03/11/2020 - 21:36
        -2

        SHUT UP people. Jeez

    • McOzbargainer on 01/11/2020 - 18:21
      +2

      But then your reccomendations are not there

    • whirlpool_guy on 03/11/2020 - 11:40

      Ways to watch YT ad-free, without creating google accounts

      1. Use Kodi
      2. Alternative app such as NewPipe
      3. Many more
    • Splashtash on 03/11/2020 - 23:59

      my mate was doing that for a year and then got caught…… lol

  • pegaxs on 30/10/2020 - 08:29
    +2

    This whole thread seems to be full of pricing error deals or Brodens flipping for profit.

    Anyway, was at Bunnings a few weeks ago, needed to buy some work bench/shelving for home. Someone had done up a sign and stuck it to a stack of flat pack rack type stacking shelves and had flipped two of the numbers. Instead of writing something like $292, they wrote $229.

    Didn’t bother sharing it because a: just another pricing error, b: I don’t think other stores would have honoured the price, and c: I needed to go and get the truck from work and load up as many as they had in stock. I needed 3 for home, but ended up taking the truck back and taking the lot (about 9 flat packs). The girl at the trade desk scanned one, said it was the higher price, I showed her a photo of the sign, and she just said, “oh, ok, I’ll put them through at that price…”

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