Exclusive cashback offers and terms

• 

  randomusername2017 on 13/10/2023 - 13:34

  respected businesses

  Sauce?

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  Jimothy Wongingtons on 13/10/2023 - 13:36

  +1

  when another user has been requested to post on the websites behalf

  I havent read all the hamboi CR posts but the ones I did see they didnt say CR asked them to post it…

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  spackbace on 13/10/2023 - 13:37

  +3

  Ah the things people will do for $2 here and there

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  netjock on 13/10/2023 - 13:38

  Skip the coffee ordering app also did the mastercard amazon thing

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  chrisie on 13/10/2023 - 13:49

  @Munnday why the L plates, notice you completed 64 posts?

  • 

    Neoika on 13/10/2023 - 13:51

    +1

    First forum post.

    • 

      chrisie on 13/10/2023 - 13:54

      Oh Ok Thanks

• 

  Moderatorneil on 13/10/2023 - 14:06

  There are several different issues brought up here.

  Unlike a lot of other deals posted here, ShopBack, CashRewards and TopCashback all use OzBargain as a marketing tool to generate more income for their respected businesses. Yes other business also do this, but not to the same scale as the cashback websites. How many $2 bonus cashback deals do we see on giftcards each month posted by reps,

  Do these cashback websites need to be held to stricter posting guidelines ?

  • Reps/Associated users are subject to posting limits. This is uniformly applied to all deals posted by associated users for a store.

  or by people in the community they reps have organised to post on their behalf.

  And on a side note, when another user has been requested to post on the websites behalf, shouldn't they be required to have a Rep tag associated with their account? eg. HamBoi69 and CashRewards.

  • If a store is asking a user to post or the user is associated, then they need to mark themselves associated. See sockpuppeting.

  • If a user is contacting a store for a deal, then the user isn't considered associated. They don't work or contract for the company, not a friend, family, receiving $ or goods in exchange.

  With the multiple issues ShopBack are facing at the moment (https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/804764 and https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/804307), and with the Westpac x Amazon offer they are still promoting it (on their website), even though it isn't obtainable by a lot of people (https://www.shopback.com.au/westpacxmastercardxamazon).

  • If a deal is unobtainable, then it is removed and put in the forums. See "Unobtainable".
  • 

    Munnday on 13/10/2023 - 14:25

    -1

    If a store is asking a user to post or the user is associate then the need to mark themselves associated. See sockpuppeting.

    This isn't being followed all the time though is it? Take the two CR posts from HamBoi69 this past prime day (https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/804421 and https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/804848). Posted exactly the same time, the deals were published at CR.

    I don't have an answer or even a strong suggestion for the other points, just thought a community discussion might be a good start. Maybe nothing changes, and that is ok.

    • 

      Moderatorneil on 13/10/2023 - 14:32

      This isn't being followed all the time though is it?

      Where in either of those posts is a rep asking a user to post?

      Maybe your question should be is how are some users finding out about deals so fast?

      • Are they scraping the site like say how Dealbot does it?
      • Are the reps give users a heads up ahead of time?
      • Something else?
      • 

        Munnday on 13/10/2023 - 14:55

        Where in either of those posts is a rep asking a user to post?

        Nowhere…

        Are they scraping the site like say how Dealbot does it?

        Possible, but from what I can see they don't have any endpoints that leak upcoming deals.

        Are the reps give users a heads up ahead of time?

        Wouldn't this be a form of representing the company in someway – shouldn't this be tagged if it was the case? In the sockpuppeting rules posted, this should be flagged as being associated, wouldn't it?.

        Something else?

        Yep possible

        • 

          Moderatorneil on 13/10/2023 - 15:11

          @Munnday:

          Wouldn't this be a form of representing the company in someway – shouldn't this be tagged if it was the case? In the sockpuppeting rules posted, this should be flagged as being associated, wouldn't it?.

          By signing up to some sites, you'll receive early access newsletter to when their deals are on. Would that be considered associated as you are finding out before the general public?

          A great example today, is that our affiliate network emailed a bunch of deals that will be running for ClickFrenzy. The purpose is for some sites that have blog posts where they list deals (e.g. an article on Womens Day) to add them now in order to publish in time for ClickFrenzy. Now, all of the deals are in this case pretty ordinary but if there was one on the list that I thought was OK, would that make me associated with the store?

          Does someone telling you a deal earlier than the general public knows about it being associated? No, I don't think so. It's however another case where a store is telling you this is the deal and to post it regardless if its a good deal or not.

    • 

      HamBoi69 on 13/10/2023 - 15:35

      +3

      Hi. I can assure you I receive no motivation to post Cashrewards deals. I personally use them a lot and I generally post deals I use and I like to share these with the community. I do continually harass tightarse to give me early access to killer deals, and most of the time he says no due to confidentiality and simply can’t oblige. I'm by no means the only user who does this.

      Almost all the deals I post I do off my own bat. I did reach out to TA for the two Amazon Prime day deals, asked him what Amazon deals were coming up for Prime and he told me - pure and simple - he did however warn me not to post prior to midnight. Should we ask dealbot to mark himself associated for posting this right on midnight?

      • 

        Munnday on 13/10/2023 - 17:17

        https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/741741 - It's not every day I see a post where a rep/company has wished a user a happy birthday. Maybe CR should give all users exclusive early news on deals when they reach a milestone.

        I'm by no means the only user who does this.

        Where has it been stated you have? I simply used your two Amazon deals as a recent examples. Yes, you are not the only user on the website that is provided early news on deals to post on behalf of websites.

        Should we ask dealbot to mark himself associated for posting this right on midnight?

        Yes, if the end user has been pre organised to post a deal then they should disclose this information - the same rule should apply to everyone.

        Looking at the sockpuppeting rules

        Are you guilty of sockpuppeting? (Posts/Comments)
        Are you….
        ……
        have you….
        * been asked by someone to post on this site?
        * been offered money/prizes/incentives to post this deal?
        If yes, its okay! All you need to do is declare your affiliation when posting a deal or making a comment.

        The bold rule is the one I am questioning. Even if 100% of the time it's you reaching out to TA (as an example), TA knows full well it is a benefit for CR to allow you to post deals. He doesn't need to reach out to you to make a deal for them, as he knows you will reach out to them.

        I'm pretty sure if I asked TA for the Amazon Prime deals it would have been a no, same for the majority of users here.

        Anyway, I'm not here to argue - just raising a concern. Maybe I'm just wrong, maybe I'm right. I know many others share the same view, some just are not willing to post about it to avoid the backlash around the topic.

        • 

          spackbace on 13/10/2023 - 19:22

          @Munnday:

          It's not every day I see a post where a rep/company has wished a user a happy birthday.

          To be fair, looks like he reached out to post a deal:

          Sure, when I asked TA for a post for my anniversary, I didn’t expect this! Such a good deal! He even included my name in the URL!

          A note that this has occurred on here for years, members asking stores for deals etc

          • 

            Munnday on 13/10/2023 - 19:33

            +1

            @spackbace:

            To be fair, looks like he reached out to post a deal

            Yes your right and I did overlook that. It's good to see when a post has been solicited that it is mentioned.

            A note that this has occurred on here for years, members asking stores for deals etc

            Again, correct - doesn't mean the rules can't be reviewed.

            Let's be honest here…there is incentive for business to allow users to post on their behalf (it allows them to get around posting guidelines). And there is incentive for users to post major deals (higher chance of their referral link being used).

            • 

              nocure on 13/10/2023 - 20:13

              -1

              @Munnday:

              (higher chance of their referral link being used)

              Referral links are random and have been for years

              • 

                randomusername2017 on 13/10/2023 - 20:24

                @nocure: Who needs referral links when you can just spam affiliate links.

              • 

                Munnday on 13/10/2023 - 20:30

                @nocure: Yes they are

                If the OP of the deal has their own referral code for that merchant, and the deal gains enough votes to be featured on the front page, there will be a higher chance that the OP's referral link will be selected from the random pool.

                I'm checking out of the topic for now. I've made my suggestions, if people agree or disagree then it's up to them.

                Thank you to the people that have reached out to me onsite and offsite mentioning to me that they agree with my statements - it's a shame they don't feel comfortable posting here.

• 

  esq on 13/10/2023 - 15:30

  +1

  I personally prefer to see more deals posted, it is the discussion around it that is valuable. Every now and then a comment is a good laugh also.

• 

  pointless martyr on 13/10/2023 - 16:16

  +1

  Great post – I too have been thinking along similar lines lately.

  My thoughts are stricter guidelines from Ozbargain are not required – this site is inherently democratic by the upvote system.

  I think self-regulation is the key – on two fronts:

  1) Ozbargain users should be more selective and self critical of upvoting deals of little real-world value.

  2) Cashback companies themselves (and their associates and fans) should be more selective of putting up deals of little real-world value.

  $2 style giftcard deals are a real bottom of the barrel approach – essentially valuing a user’s time/web traffic/clicks/detailed personal information at $2 a pop.

  Real savings come with 20+% off deals with $20+ caps, which are becoming few and far between.

  I fear it may well be the cashback bubble of the past few years has burst.

  Associated top tier companies are seemingly becoming less engaged with cashback companies after several years of frequent deals.

  Perhaps after extensively collecting and collating data over several years they are not seeing the impacts on their sales volumes and profit margins that they first expected.

  Technical/non-tracking/no payout issues seem to be increasing – surely if a dedicated team of competent IT professionals was retained on-payroll and on-call this simply would not happen at the frequency it does?

  We all saw Cheddar/CBA come and go in the blink of an eye…Shopback/Westpac and Cash Rewards/ANZ may be under increasing pressure to retain relevance to top brands, and indeed to users… a pending chicken and egg scenario.

  I do hope that the cashback companies can stay relevant to both merchants and users into the future… but offering 1-2% - or indeed $1-2 – as the incentive to generate web traffic and sales will not cut it IMO…

  • 

    HamBoi69 on 13/10/2023 - 19:55

    $2 style giftcard deals are a real bottom of the barrel approach – essentially valuing a user’s time/web traffic/clicks/detailed personal information at $2 a pop.

    But usually they are on Amazon gift cards. Equivalent to 11% off.

    • 

      Neoika on 13/10/2023 - 20:08

      +1

      100% discount is far better, e.g.

      • 

        nocure on 13/10/2023 - 20:32

        Shopback kills the deal…

    • 

      pointless martyr on 13/10/2023 - 21:46

      not sure of your math exactly…but for example $2 off a $20 card is only a 10% discount if you spent that exact amount….any purchase past that $20 mark and you reach a point of diminishing returns.

      And if you are banking on further 'upsized' discounts on any given deal, you are gambling with the recurrent non-track/non-pay conundrum

      And is $2 off anything really worth getting excited about?

      Here's a fun experiment - glue a $2 coin outside any busy home/office window on the pavement - wait, watch and tally how many will actually bother to bend down and attempt to pick it up….IMO it's a very fitting analogy in this case…. to further this, if they were then told they could provide their name, address, age, gender, bank details, shopping and browsing habits to receive the $2 how many do you think would proceed?

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  Dslrfirst on 14/10/2023 - 08:57

  Please don't use "in regards to" -its a bad expression.