[Feedback Requested] Should Overseas Deals Be Allowed?

neil on 22/01/2015 - 14:32
Last edited 22/01/2015 - 18:25

We have long had a general guideline of if the deal isn't available to Australia then it shouldn't be posted.

The Accepted Overseas Deals

1) Freight Forwarding

In the very simplest form, an item sold by a US company (e.g. Walmart) is cheap but they don't ship here, then this isn't useful to OzBargainers from Australia. Over the years, mail/freight forwarders have made buying from the US easier as well give you an accurate estimate of your shipping costs. So if the final cost is known (price + forwarding costs) then OzBargainers can determine whether it is a deal.

Example from 2013

2) VPN

Deals that require a VPN (or Hola Unblocker) to access the deal. E.G. Any Origin deal. Choice recommends the use of VPN for online shopping. However if a deal requires overseas payment information or something more than a VPN it will generally be unpublished as not available to Australia. Example

The Gray Area

Deals that are in different countries. These are available to Australians but under the assumption they travel there, for example free tour in Changi Airport. Or the recent NY to Abu Dhabi RT Flights for $178.

While a tour at a busy international airport may apply to many Australians, a free event in say a small town in another country is probably not. So where do we draw the line?

Possible suggestions:

Move to forums (e.g. Changi Tour to Travel Forum)
Pro: Easy to consistently moderate.
Cons: Many of these deals are highly voted on. Possibly against communities wishes.
Do Nothing.
Pro: Popular deals are posted
Cons: Moderation inconsistent as it is up to a moderator's discretion on whether to keep as deal or not. People will post more and more obscure deals to locations outside of Australia (e.g. Free pizza in some small town in the US).
Add a small guideline such as "Deals available overseas are allowed if they are travel/tourist related"
Pro/Cons: As above but with slightly less discretion.
Something else?

We try to tread lightly when possible and don't want to over-complicate the deal posting guidelines any further.

Have a suggestion? Maybe something we haven't thought of? Let us know.

TL;DR: Seeking feedback on deals that originate in foreign countries (foreign flights, events in other countries)

Site Discussion

Comments

akd on 22/01/2015 - 16:32

+3

I agree, the foreign deals (freight forwarding) should be allowed, may be under different/new category.
ilikeradiohead on 22/01/2015 - 16:46

Hmmm… that grey area is a tough one. That ABD-NY deal is mental.
I reckon just leave it unresolved. Good deals that the community value will be upvoted like chromecast deals, ones of little value to people won't make it to the front page.
ycon on 22/01/2015 - 18:10

Unless there's some kind of 'stance' against keeping business in Australia, I don't think it would be a good idea to take them away. Maybe we could put in a compulsory flag (or pre-tag) for an OS deal (requiring either a VPN or Freight forwarding).
Moderatorneil on 22/01/2015 - 18:22

Hmm I guess I wasn't quite clear. The VPN and forwarding deals aren't the issue, those were just given as context. The issue is foreign deals ala travel deals or events originating outside of Australia.
- spackbace on 23/01/2015 - 19:59
  
  In that case, I vote we just keep it on a case-by-case basis. The flights were a good deal, so too is a free tour of an airport (as an on-going deal post, one that doesnt need to be posted every 6 months).
  
  I dont think anyone will put up a deal for say 50% off a meal at McDonalds in Afghanistan, and if they did they'd likely get downvoted, or just 1 or 2 plus votes.
  
  TL;DR leave as is, moderate as needed :)
dylanando on 22/01/2015 - 23:32

Yes ! I want maximum savings!!
juventino on 23/01/2015 - 01:24

deals requiring freight forwarder should be allowed but somehow has to be moderated. Otherwise Ozbargain will be saturated with overseas deals. I mean, I can post a walmart deal where jacket cost $3 now, or various cheap as confectionary from Asda or Tesco. Or $1 of various up-to-date magazines

Hell I can post literally hundreds of items from Amazon that are discounted by 85% to 90% off
GourmetFoodie on 23/01/2015 - 19:57

Move to forums I think is a good idea. If people are active members of the site, they will be in the forums as well. If it is something extra special perhaps it could allow votes on the post and once a it reaches a certain number of votes, it's displayed on the deals pages?