OzBargain inundated with free stuff, not good deals anymore

Lkzrocky on 20/09/2014 - 22:15

Look, the gyst of Ozbargain is to get a good deal, to highlight a bargain like a a good saving.
Lately I have nopticed there are lots of freebies being posted, and they generally get the most positives thus pushing the "so called" bargain to the top of the list.

A lot of the freebie stuff in my opinion is worthless or crap, and I can substantiate it with an example of a pdf download, that is always free, but some person posted it on OZB as a free download and it gets like 50+. Strange. I ask the OP what the original price is but of course get no answer.

So is a free bargain actuall a bargain when its normally free?
I think not. But If I would neg it, I would be shot down in flames.

IN my opinion, for what its worth, I see these sort of examples as a downward spiral to this website.
I love OZB. I have bought a lot of stuff that I didnt want to buy, but I did. I reckon I prop of the economics of this country. But Freebie stuff ads zero value.

Should I neg all free stuff now?
Am I just an old fart with not much to do these days but whinge?
Do I have a point?

Site Discussion

Comments

  • toristo on 20/09/2014 - 22:51
    +7

    It's a fair comment, but I don't think I'd perceive it to be quite that bad.
    eBooks for example I scroll straight past, but I'm sure others love them.

    The good thing is it keeps fresh content flowing through the site, and people clicking. The more people going through the site the more "legit" deals that are likely to get posted.

    • ronnknee on 22/09/2014 - 11:46
      +2

      I do this as well, just scroll pass the useless deals.

      I would like a "hide listing" feature so that I can just hide the useless deals and not see them again later in the day.

    • Serapis on 22/09/2014 - 23:15
      +7

      Udemy Deals… Oh god they're so addictive, like collector's cards

      Have yet to complete 1 course out of exactly 204 courses

  • ilostnemo on 20/09/2014 - 23:22
    +12

    Yes there have been some stupid deals which have got huge positives, ie credit card led light, I must find mine one day.

    The pinch me samples are like $1 worth maximum they always get a lot of votes.

    One deal which didn't get many votes is the continental 2 tyre deal. You get a free pizza a day from Dominos.

    • Shadow54 on 21/09/2014 - 10:21
      +7

      You would have to pay me to eat Dominos pizza!

    • pyro love bird on 23/09/2014 - 02:13
      +1

      Actually I got one of those glad automatic spray thingys, they're worth at least $10? So pinch me isn't really that bad

  • me786 on 21/09/2014 - 00:01
    +2

    Free pizza?

  • zeckem on 21/09/2014 - 01:19
    +8

    The thing is there aren't great deals every single day, and when they're that great then everyone knows about it and it gets 200-1000 votes easily. Otherwise there's numerous submissions daily that get removed due to duplication, sockpuppeting, advertising or not actually being a deal at all.. and then there are deals that only 1-3 people actually find interesting which just get buried anyway. It's not like eBook submissions get front-page priority over other deals. There are some eBook deals that aren't of interest to anyone, and they simply get buried.

    What i'm saying is if there were really great deals to squash these Udemy/Amazon deals then they would have done it easily, but fortunately a lot of people benefit from these Udemy/Amazon deals to actually learn something. This is obvious through the amount of upvotes and comments.

    It's not like there's a limit of 20 submissions a day to OzBargain and the eBook ones are taking up all the slots so no one else can post. Your post is very illogical.

    Plus these Udemy/Kindle deals cost money, and they get sold out or go back to full price after a limited amount of time.

    I don't think you actually check these from the looks of it. "I ask the OP what the original price is but of course get no answer." ..and how fast do you expect someone to reply to your comments? Just remember the people who don't like these posts can always hide it or simply go to the next page to look for the deal they want. Imo, these are quality submissions, and I'm sure hundreds agree with me.

  • Moderatorneil on 21/09/2014 - 01:44

    Just a reminder, you can block any stores or users that you don't want to see. So for in the case of freebies, you can block Kindle eBooks, Udemy courses and Pinchme samples.

    Any book that is always free will be moved to the freebies forum per our posting guidelines. If you suspect a book is always free, then use the report link.

    • [Deactivated] on 21/09/2014 - 08:21
      +9

      I'm getting really sick of the Dick Smith sales postings which are not genuine sales. At what point do you ban this crap?
      The margins on electronic and electrical goods are very slim and genuine bargains are rare. I know I could simply block it (I blocked Udemy long ago) but posting of their misleading deals is a different issue. Raising and dropping imaginary pricing for a fake 30% off sale isn't a bargain.

      • kabigon on 21/09/2014 - 14:11
        +1

        genuine bargains

        Do you define a genuine bargain as the cheapest historical price or just the cheapest available price at the time? This is subjective.

        Multiple deals being posted for DSE e.g. when their daily coupon code/s are released is a different matter.

        • [Deactivated] on 21/09/2014 - 15:39
          +4

          An example from DSE website's today only special - Sony 50" TV: KDL50W700B $999 save $400
          If I could buy this (presumably discontinued) TV today for $1399 from other retailers, it would be a genuine bargain.

        • [Deactivated] on 21/09/2014 - 22:01
          +5

          @mullsie:
          Incidentally the newer model of this Sony TV is at VideoPro for less than $100 more, so I'd call the DSE price a ripoff.

      • humdogg on 22/09/2014 - 13:21

        yeah and in case anyone didn't know… eneloops go on sale to $19.xx

    • Davo1111 on 21/09/2014 - 11:25
      +9

      blocked udemy, thanks :D

    • Chuppa on 21/09/2014 - 14:34

      I'd love to be able to do this and have it reflected in a customised RSS feed!

    • kzrocky on 21/09/2014 - 19:29
      +4

      Thanks, I didnt know you could block.

    • nicksinternet on 22/09/2014 - 07:35

      Thats good, but Mod what I find really annoying is how my daily Ozb newsletter has bargains that are expired.

      When I'm time poor I really rely on the daily newsletter for a quick summary of bargains. Its quite useless if they are expired and there is no way of knowing until you click on them. e.g. the top deal today in my Ozb newsletter that literally just appeared in my inbox was $15 off Orders over $50 at Dick Smith yet when clicking on the link I am taken to EXPIRED $15 off Orders over $50 at Dick Smith.

      • Moderatorneil on 22/09/2014 - 09:29

        Go to My Account - Subscriptions - Newsletters.

        Click the Exclude expired deals and the newsletter will only send you active deals.

        • nicksinternet on 22/09/2014 - 22:57

          Thanks!

        • mooboy on 22/09/2014 - 23:21
          +5

          Shouldn't that be a default setting?

    • twocsies on 22/09/2014 - 20:29

      Since there is a Freebies link, why not a link for non-Freebies?

    • Freighter on 23/09/2014 - 13:53

      Is it possible to block keywords? For example PS4 or Xbox One etc?

  • IdLikeToBeATree on 21/09/2014 - 05:57
    +4

    That's a good idea on the blocking I might have to do that now. The thing that annoys me heaps are free (usually terrible) songs, woo one free song that I could stream on youtube/whatever else whenever I want for free.

    • ShamelessBargains on 21/09/2014 - 08:00
      +2

      Yeah I agree, most people don't buy music anymore anyway so songs are always free. I stream my music via spotify to support the artist and such. I sometimes wonder if people actually use those kindle ebooks or thoses Udemy courses cause they are mostly unpopular titles and a waste of time. I haven't posted a deal in ages because there really hasn't been much around. Hopefully the Christmas sales are better this year!

      • zeckem on 21/09/2014 - 14:02

        Of course people use it, hence why they're so popular. The Udemy courses are actually very good, a full-on structured video course with sections. They sometimes don't have the A+ class presenter or high-end marketing..but the presenter sure knows what they're talking about more often than not. Everyone is mostly intelligent here in the community so when they believe it's a deal they will make their choice. It's kind of like some people are insulting our intelligence in not knowing what a good deal is. Just because it's not a good deal for you, doesn't mean it's not for someone else.

  • tightarse on 21/09/2014 - 09:24
    +5

    I'm really not sure what the issue is here. If people don't like freebie deals, they have a choice to block, or ignore, and move on. There's a voting system in place for a reason. Some freebies get lots of votes as they obviously benefit lots of people, and OPs (myself included) will continue posting them until this stops being the case.

      • kzrocky on 21/09/2014 - 19:33
        +4

        Im not having a cheap shot at anyone, let alone TA.
        This forum post was done before I read TA's post of Udemy. It just happened to be the first deal I read since I posted this topic. As a result, I simply asked TA a few questions. (which by the way was negged for some strange reason). TA has posted some ripper deals which I have been delighted in participating in.

    • MATTDAMON on 24/09/2014 - 03:07

      Well when your consistently on the front page and drawing income off ozbargain questions should be raised.

      • ShamelessBargains on 29/09/2014 - 21:00

        I think you have a point here, some people just seem to post stuff so regularly to gain financial benefit from Ozbargain. Seems the same person has won the monthly prize nearly every month, conflict of interest..

        • Moderatorneil on 29/09/2014 - 22:08

          It's not income, its rewarding good members. $100 divided by the amount of hours TA puts in to posting, certainly wouldn't be a worthwhile employment.

          Perhaps we need to expand member rewards to other members who make this community great?

        • MATTDAMON on 30/09/2014 - 01:52
          +1

          I think its more then that, i would bet a resonable amount of money that he draws benefit from many companies he posts for, given how many he posts per day/week

        • Moderatorneil on 30/09/2014 - 15:20

          @Copie:

          If you have evidence of this for any member, then please start a Talk with a Moderator forum thread. Otherwise, I would avoid accusing members without basis.

        • ShamelessBargains on 03/10/2014 - 07:11

          @Copie: I reckon at the very least to stop potential conflicts of interest, there should be a limit on the amount of times someone can win the Ozbargainer of the month. Some people focus on quantity of deals per month over the quality and I think this is a bit contentious. Wish people would think first before posting average deals or deals that are too good to be true and theretore are not honoured and a waste of time.

        • MATTDAMON on 03/10/2014 - 16:06

          @neil:

          You have the evidence you need already, you only need to look at posting stats to determine trends of users that are always posting. As as below said, there should be a limit of how many times you can win member of the month (2 or 3 a year is a good limit) and should be limited how many deals a member can make for each company (ie no more then 10 per company sort of thing per month)

        • ShamelessBargains on 05/10/2014 - 14:31

          @Copie: yeah that sounds very reasonable. Would create a fairer community for others who want to post deals but miss out due to other people who are just sitting on their emails.

        • scotty on 05/10/2014 - 23:36

          @Copie & @ShamelessBargains

          there should be a limit of how many times you can win member of the month

          …

          Would create a fairer community for others who want to post deals but miss out due to other people who are just sitting on their emails

          If we are only giving one prize each month then I think it would be a reasonable things to do to let other people to have a chance. However we have been giving out 3-4 prizes each month and I have explicitly choose different things to award each month.

  • CyberMurning on 21/09/2014 - 09:40
    -3

    or you can block your self from ozb…

  • altomic on 21/09/2014 - 11:21
    +3

    i use the search function to look for what I want.

  • outlander on 21/09/2014 - 14:43
    +1

    If you feel this strongly about it, you should lookout for free pdfs yourself (or even create some) and post them, once every 15 minutes, saturating the site and forcing people to act. Right now your fighting against the current of the majority, who like seeing a couple of free books a day.

    Personally, I grab each book thats posted because they sound interesting and its easy to do, but as of yet I haven't read one of them. Tbph I'd probably class them in the same vein as a webpage you find on google, as these ebooks rarely reach the standard of a hardbook ie something you might actually pay for. Still, someone finds them a bargain, and the people who post them post tons of other great deals, so I'm fine with it.

    Oh and bytheby if your buying stuff you don't want, thats not a bargain. Thats the opposite of a bargain, its a majin-bargain.

  • adamren on 21/09/2014 - 16:26
    -2

    If you want to pay fom stuff go ahead, but I'd rather get ebooks, movies, data cables etc for 100% off.

  • cibailang on 21/09/2014 - 22:54

    Cheap is good.. Free is best.

  • TekkenDDRagon24 on 22/09/2014 - 07:04
    +1

    I say if you don't like something, just block it. It's good as it is, there isn't going to be killer deals everyday!

  • Pooky1 on 22/09/2014 - 08:27

    I personally love the Pinchme posts as often it is on Ozbargain before anywhere else so I dont miss out on the offer. I love trying new products for free - keeping posting people!

  • Scrooge McDuck on 22/09/2014 - 09:24
    +5

    I think this site needs a culture change w.r.t. negging deals. More often than not when you neg a deal it will be revoked by a moderator.

    I understand that you want to encourage users to post deals but quality is more important than quantity and negative feedback helps to refine that.

    • Moderatorneil on 22/09/2014 - 09:40

      Negative votes are fine as long as you follow the voting guidelines.

      More often than not when you neg a deal it will be revoked by a moderator.

      Most of the revoked negative votes come from the community revoking the vote by negging the attached comment. We only revoke negative votes if they don't fall within the voting guidelines.

      • [Deactivated] on 23/09/2014 - 14:08

        Something in terms of reddit. Where they have upvotes n downvotes and this determines popularity. It is quite hard to ban certain topics/websites as you may miss something anyway so you often can't do that.

  • rilebags on 22/09/2014 - 14:22
    +7

    Free PDF deals makes ozbargain look like a spam email. Free PDFs or junk software is easy enough to get for free at any time and dilutes what makes ozbargain worthwhile.

    • ShamelessBargains on 22/09/2014 - 15:49
      +3

      I agree, it seems most of those Udemy courses are free or are going to be free sometime in the future. Maybe free Udemy courses should have it's own site, seems it would be very popular… Wish people would think first before posting a deal cause it seems half-average deals make front page everyday lately.

  • BlazinPast on 22/09/2014 - 19:02
    +1

    I agree with the ebooks. Every few days, there are repetitive books covering the same topics. I understand people faithfully download these but I'm extremely curious how many read any of them? I'm not just talking 1 or 2, but the entire list. I DO want to block them but I hold it off in the chance that there is actually a legitimately good book for free. I know the term 'good' fluctuates between different users but overall it really does come off as spam, in my opinion.

    I don't see any way to address this so I don't expect anything to change. I still want to see the deal in case there is something good. Maybe a way to hide/archive a deal if you don't intend on using it so the user can unclog the main page?

  • Skinnerr on 22/09/2014 - 20:09
    +2

    What bothers me the most is seeing the weekly coles/woolies catalogue 'deal' that gets posted every week, which isnt really a deal as it comes out every week. This is ok I guess ill manage with that, but what irks me is seeing the 10 more 'deals' that individually scrutinise single items from the same catalogue, like we cant read the catalogue ourselves.

    Overkill.

    • rilebags on 28/09/2014 - 16:28

      Completely agree. Unless its a stellar deal, only one post should represent ALL the weekly deals from coles/woolworths

  • TRENT86 on 22/09/2014 - 20:53

    I don't know anyone who would pay for an ebook yet we see hundreds of free ebook posts.

  • chipstss on 22/09/2014 - 22:27
    +1

    What bugs me a little is the free software and app deals that aren't popular or have a better or on par always free version.

  • [Deactivated] on 22/09/2014 - 23:31

    i'm alway slooking out for the mobile phone deals.

  • singhbo on 23/09/2014 - 00:23

    I stopped clicking anything free unless it is free food.

  • TRANCE on 23/09/2014 - 10:10

    I am wearing my freebie Julius Marlow thongs as I type this, so thanks OzB :) I did also buy a few pairs of shoes from them, so some times freebies increase incentive to purchase, and shouldnt be viewed as bad.

    But I personally don't bother with the courses and ebooks, just not interested.

  • syousef on 23/09/2014 - 10:24

    Should be a way to turn off the freebies if you're not interested. However I absolutely love them and especially the Amazon books.

    @TRENT86 I've paid for exactly 1 ebook as an experiment long ago and I might buy more if not for the rights management because the books listed aren't always the ones I want and I've well and truly run out of room on my physical bookshelves.

    @chipstss Yes some of the software is just garbage and I'm surprised it sells when it's not free but some of it is good too.

    Bottom line I'd rather see people customise prefernces as much as they can and then skim over what they don't like rather than push for restrictions that may mean others who don't share their preferences miss things.

    The one thing I would like to see is stores that reneg on their deals being named, shamed and even banned. My recent experience with Dick Smith was horrible!

  • Mysterious on 23/09/2014 - 19:08
    +1

    Yeah the quality of the deals have been poor lately. I remember the DSE clearance, that ultra cheap printer and big freebies.

  • peterpeterpumpkin on 23/09/2014 - 21:07
    +2

    I prefer the deals that aren't a one day thing to be honest. The 'I never knew you could always get it at that price' deal is the best surprise, with no impulse buying at play. I generally don't buy crap for kicks but I've also found less stuff to interest me once I got what I need. I scored a $20 second hand PC on OzBargain so I no longer follow laptop deals (which stopped becoming more impressive in value per need last year anyway). Mobile plans all suck after Vaya/Live Connected ended the romance. Mobile is still kicking along and prices of my minimal viable product is now accessible. I've already booked my flights so I don't follow that either for now (my main use of OzBargain - waiting for AirAmerica and AirEurope to exist). I have Citibank Debit for travelling already. Maybe dirt cheap quality clothing is one thing I'm missing since Asia rarely has the loose, soft cotton style I like in shirts and shoes don't come in above 12s too often.

    I don't get a lot of OzBargain fetishes - like eneloop batteries? I use a wired mouse just to avoid 1 minute of frustration in the future. But there's clearly a market for some things.

  • djones145 on 01/10/2014 - 10:10
    +1

    every second deals seem to be dse lol

  • cjfamily on 06/10/2014 - 02:25
    +2

    Every second deal IS !!

    DSE or eBay this or DSE/eBay that.

    Pretty sick of eBay discount code crap.

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