Affiliates, Time to Revise Policy (Yay/Nay)

LUltimateAI on 11/07/2023 - 08:25
Last edited 13/07/2023 - 11:01 by 1 other user

To avoid offending mods, this poll has been closed.
—- Please No Affiliate Links Here —-
It seems that there are many affiliate \ staff deals out there, that as a community we can not share here due to past behaviours or links to Pyramid schemes, I would like to discuss.

Long-time user and fan of the site, and I don't try and spam users, when I noticed a recent power deal I posted a link to Affiliate pricing which for MOST, not ALL provided significantly LOWER pricing and additional PLANS such as solar.

Oh how quickly the comments, NO AFFILIATE links here, go away. So I took my hurt and crawled into a cave. I then sat back and realised how many other affiliate programs\deals I have signed-up for and use that are not my own.

Just putting it out there, if they are disclosed and genuinely offer significant savings\discounts over standard referrals, is outright banning still the appropriate policy?

As for my link, I don't really care it was removed, I have a well paid full-time job but would be open to using other peoples deals.

Again, this is a DISUSSION\POLL, NO Affiliate Links.

Poll Options expired

  • 5
    Yes - If the terms are disclosed and there are quantifiable benefits
  • 8
    Yes - Via an Affiliate Link Randomizer similar to Referrals
  • 14
    No - they are Pyramid Schemes
Site Discussion

Comments

  • UltimateAI on 11/07/2023 - 08:37

    I absolutely think some control\moderation over affiliate links is required, but not sure of the answer. Imagine every deal if a thousand affiliates responded with their links.
    Any many affiliate links, do not offer benefits, just kick-backs for the affiliate.
    This is the battle \ war the mods must face.

    • blitz on 11/07/2023 - 09:59
      +2

      I don't think you've really provided enough evidence of a compelling problem here. The OzBargain system for referrals is time-tested, and the conversation would quickly fill up with people posting their own affiliate links in every post. It would be a nightmare, and the quality of interaction on the site would fall through the floor.

  • mskeggs on 11/07/2023 - 09:02

    Why not just use the random system already in place?

    • UltimateAI on 11/07/2023 - 09:05

      For some this will work, but others it won't because OZB pre-populates the URL as a referral code.
      Also as a user do you want to be clicking on a REFERALL randomizer, only to find out it is an AFFILIATE link.
      Is misleading the user, I am only for affiliate links, if people know what it is they are selecting.

      • blitz on 11/07/2023 - 09:56
        +1

        I don't get your point. The random system works because all community members benefit. That's why OZB pre-populates the referral code. Unless you want to be the one populating the code? Is that fair?

        • UltimateAI on 11/07/2023 - 13:18

          That's not it at all, I could put an affiliate link in the referral field, then then that would be misleading.
          Remember a big difference between referral, and affiliate pricing, I didn't want to mislead.
          Try and do the right thing, and people jump on you.

  • scotty on 11/07/2023 - 10:11
    +12

    No.

    First of all, there is no point of posting a poll. At the end the decision comes from the admin/owner of this website, i.e. me, and the poll result has zero effect. That applies to a few other threads trying to use a poll to get us to implement certain features — it does not work this way. If anything I would actually feel less willing to look into these requests.

    Secondly as an affiliate you are representing a business / an online property. I am not talking about referrals here where you are only representing yourself. There are pages of terms and conditions you have to accept and many hurdles to jump through for a brand to partner with you to provide an affiliate link. In that case, please keep your affiliate links on your own property. And no, you cannot represent OzBargain when you try to apply for affiliate relationships (as some had tried in the past).

    Thirdly, we don't want "getting people to click on my affiliate links" to be an incentive to post deals or comments on OzBargain. We tried that in the past, and the result is undesirable. We have also revised our random referral system many times in the past for the same reason.

    If you are an affiliate of brand(s) or have lots of referral links, there are other ways to put those in front of other people. Promote those on your own websites, set up Facebook groups for that specific niche, etc. However posting those links on OzBargain is not one of them.

    • UltimateAI on 11/07/2023 - 10:20

      Mate your site your rules. I did try asking a mod, but question was closed without a comment, so really didn't get a warm community feeling, when trying to help.

      I would like exposure access to others Affiliate links, if this isn't the place to access those deals then fine.

    • AustriaBargain on 11/07/2023 - 12:57
      +1

      Also if you really do have a relationship with the business, you can negotiate with them to develop an OZB specific deal where you don't get affiliate income but OZB members do get a unique discount. To do that you would really have to have sharing a deal with OZB users be the only motivating factor though, so I would guess most pro affiliates wouldn't bother.

      • Chandler on 12/07/2023 - 01:04

        If an affiliate is arranging a unique discount for a particular group, you would expect the pro affiliates to do so and arrange for them to get their cut from that unique code/discount being used.

        • AustriaBargain on 12/07/2023 - 01:18

          Wouldn’t that be against the rules, though how would Scotty prove it. If it were Spock he could mind meld and know it was happening behind the scenes…

      • scotty on 12/07/2023 - 07:45

        Usually the relationship is with affiliate networks rather than directly with business (except the cases with large marketplaces such as Amazon or eBay). It would be difficult to get the business to change the price but they are usually willing to adjust the affiliate commission if the affiliate can promise to bring in extra traffic/sales. I'll just let Cashrewards/Shopback to do all the work there (hence those extra cashback deals).

        And OzBargain is probably the worst kind of affiliate. We don't negotiate with the business because there's no way we'll provide any favouritism even if some business is willing to pay more. Deals get extra exposure on the OzBargain home page because they got voted up by the community, and you can't pay us to get to those spots.

  • pharkurnell on 11/07/2023 - 11:18

    I'd suggest going with what the site owner wants… seems to work well as it is..

    YMMVIDGAF.

  • deme on 11/07/2023 - 18:26

    Can someone translate what OP is trying to say?

    Also OP you want / it's near the right shift key on QWERTY keyboards.

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