OzBargain Misrepresented by Other Individuals or Sites

Recently it has drawn to our attention that some people and some websites have been misrepresenting OzBargain, claiming to be OzBargain staff, having previously worked at OzBargain, or being "certified by OzBargain", etc.

I am now writing this post to have things clarified.

There are various level of memberships on OzBargain. However, not all of them are "OzBargain staff".

Merchants / Store Representatives

You have some users who are official store representatives of certain stores / websites. These are usually listed under the store's page on OzBargain, i.e. http://www.ozbargain.com.au/deals/<domain name>. You will also find the stores they are representing in their user profile page. For example user TheMensShop would list the store TheMensShop.com.au as being represented.

They obviously DO NOT represent OzBargain, nor do OzBargain represent those merchants. If you have issues with the product or service that you have purchased, contact the merchants first.

Power Users

See wiki entry. They are normal users with some editing abilities. They are picked by moderators (based on their contribution to OzBargain and the reports they file). Currently there are 26 of them, and they might be auto-retired if they haven't been editing deals for a while.

Power Users are not OzBargain Staff, and they do not represent OzBargain.

Moderators

See wiki entry. They are users with moderation abilities, that allow them to see submitted reports, see all threads in Talk with a Moderator forum, ban users or stores, unpublish deals or comments, etc. They are the ones discussing the direction OzBargain is going, and helping out governing the website. They are voted in by existing moderators. There are currently 7 of them, 4 of them are not OzBargain staff, and only about 2-3 are actively moderating.

Moderators are not necessarily OzBargain Staff. Most moderators help out voluntarily, and they are not on OzBargain payroll. Neil was invited to become a moderator in 2008 to help out with the site, before becoming a staff member mid-last year.

OzBargain Staff

There are only 3 of them — scotty, neil and moocher, that are on OzBargain payroll and handle our support emails. These are the only 3 that can call themselves "OzBargain staff" and can officially represent OzBargain. More might come later (if I have the budget to hire more), but we will definitely announce if we are adding more staff.

Fake Reps?

The current issue is some users claim to be a OzBargain staff when clearly he/she is not. I also have merchants telling us that they have been approached by "OzBargain sales staff", which simply does not exist.

If you have received this kind of communication where someone who claims to be from OzBargain when clearly not — try to be authoritative on this site for example — please report to us. We take mis-representation seriously.

The best way to reach OzBargain staff is by using the Contact form. If you leave the Category as "Support", it will be seen by all OzBargain staff.

Certified Websites?

We have also been notified this morning that one website is claiming to be "Certified by OzBargain". We run a community website and this kind of "certification" simply does not exist. It is no more than a dodgy way trying to boost its credential. The said website is however not under Australian jurisdiction, and all we can do is to ask the logo to be removed.

If you have spotted something similar — sites with OzBargain logo as though they have been officially endorsed by us — please report them as well using the contact form.

Thanks.