[AMA] I founded OzBargain 13 years ago. Ask me (almost) anything, again

scotty on 25/11/2019 - 19:14

Hi everyone. I am scotty, and I created a website 13 years ago called "OzBargain" — surprisingly that it is still around today. I actually did an AMA 4.5 years ago, and I've been getting PMs asking for another one. So here we go. Ask me (almost) anything, again.

Rules:

  • Ask questions in the top-level comments. I might miss your questions if they are posted as replies to other comments.
  • Vote up good questions and vote down bad ones.
  • I'll try to keep the AMA open until Wednesday (27 Nov 2019).

Also some notes:

  • Good idea to check my previous AMA. Your questions might have already been answered there. For example, I'm still driving that old Kia 7-seater.
  • Bad commenters will get kicked out from the thread. I'm the admin on this site, after all.
  • Don't ask moderation related questions regarding to your account/store. Use TWAM instead.
  • Don't request features or send feature-related feedbacks. Use this thread instead.
  • Don't expect me to answer all questions. I reserve the right to refuse answer some questions without giving explanation.

Fire away the questions! I'm getting off for dinners for now and will be back in 1/2 hour to answer the questions. Just in case someone asks "what are you having for dinner?" The answer would be: wife's cooking (rice + tofu with pork fillings + vegs).

Introduce Yourself

closed Comments

  • kirbycario on 26/11/2019 - 17:14

    What is your opinion on the new Tesla cybertruck?

    • scotty on 26/11/2019 - 18:29
      +2

      That ute is a beaut, mate!

  • vivviv10 on 26/11/2019 - 18:38

    I've looked at your classifies a few times and are scared to buy anything without any kind of seller rating . Also have seen some posts briefly up ( your mods cut them) of people being scammed in there . Are you going to introduce anything to show members who have successful sales in that section ? Also the people scamming in there do you take action against them ?

    • scotty on 26/11/2019 - 21:19
      +4

      Classified needs a lot of work. Yes people have been scammed before, and a good trade history is still not a good indicator on whether someone is scamming or not. For example the account might be hacked, i.e. this case back in Jan.

      do you take action against them

      We don't really want to get into the transaction dispute over trades on Classified. However we do take action if we suspect that account has been compromised. We'll also assist police investigation if reported.

      • vivviv10 on 27/11/2019 - 09:05
        +1

        Thanks for your answer Scotty .
        I think your reference to gift cards page should have more emphasis on being up to date like your Ebay / Domino codes .
        Multi stacking on a great bargain is the pinnacle cream on top for members .

  • Unacceptable on 26/11/2019 - 18:49
    +3

    No question to you Scotty but want to say thank you.

  • raiseyoursteaks on 26/11/2019 - 19:10
    +1

    Hi Scotty, the future on crypto currency and online retail. What are your thoughts?

  • [Deactivated] on 26/11/2019 - 19:31
    +1

    Hey Scotty, nice to see another AMA, with all the hilarious, informative and dumb forum posts, I want to know what your favourite forum post or comment is?

  • Ss-ss on 26/11/2019 - 19:39

    Where do you think Ozbargain would be today if Sanyo didn’t release the Eneloop battery?

    Btw Thanks , Great site which has saved me $$$$ over the years

  • Captain M on 26/11/2019 - 20:08

    How many hours a week would you work on average? Do you work weekends?

  • gstfree on 26/11/2019 - 20:17

    Hi Scotty, What are the chellenges that Ozbargain are currently facing? Do you have any plan to grow the business further?
    Thank you Scotty and the whole Ozbargain team for accompanying me in the past decade.

  • jace88 on 26/11/2019 - 21:26

    Hi Scotty,

    How would you describe the culture of the OzBargain community (particularly the active commenters), where would you like to see it go, and how has it changed over time?

    And, thanks again for launching a great site. It's become one of my visited sites amongst Facebook, SMH and Youtube and often default to opening it first when launching Chrome now :)

    • jace88 on 27/11/2019 - 16:32

      Just to add to my question - what are your thoughts on people who resell or scalp deals?

      • scotty on 27/11/2019 - 17:46
        +1

        Here's my answer regarding "broden". I don't think scalping is right because it prevents other OzBargain users from obtaining the deal. However I don't really have a solution for it.

        As of your previous questions, I definitely would like to see the community to be more respectful & more thoughtful when replying comments. It's something difficult to measure and quantise, but I would like to see it improving.

        • jace88 on 27/11/2019 - 18:37

          I agree with both of your sentiments. Maybe it’s worthwhile asking the community for suggestions on how to tackle it because whilst I love posting deals, it saddens me when I see scalpers buy out the deal and then proceed to PM everyone in the thread offering to sell it for a small markup. Thanks for responding Scotty!

  • WT on 26/11/2019 - 21:30

    never heard of ya mate, stop catfishing

  • matt-ozb on 26/11/2019 - 21:40
    +1

    How is your Singapore business going? It's been a while and doesn't seem to be taking off. Are you happy with progress?

    • jace88 on 26/11/2019 - 23:00

      Are you referring to CheapCheapLah?

      As someone who lived in Singapore for a few years and tried to find the equivalent to OzBargain, I think the nature of the discounts and selling practices over there are significantly more convoluted than here so running a bargain site is a bit of a challenge.

    • scotty on 27/11/2019 - 09:00
      +2

      There ain't much progress in Singapore. We've been there for a few years and have also seen other deal sites come and go — I guess quite a few people tried, and it's not that easy to break into that market. We might stick around for a little while.

  • ashdays on 26/11/2019 - 21:47

    Post a photo of yourself Scotty :)

    Thank you for all the hard work you've put in this site.

  • Nooni on 26/11/2019 - 22:17
    +1

    Why did you decide to create ozbargain?
    and is there a minimum age requirement to join Ozbargain? Because my 11year old niece is the real bargain hunter XD

    • scotty on 27/11/2019 - 08:57
      +1

      Why did you decide to create ozbargain?

      I've been sharing deals on my old blogs. Other people have been sharing the deals on their little online space. I thought it would be cool to have one place where everyone can share the bargains they found?

      minimum age requirement to join Ozbargain

      No minimum age requirement as per our terms and conditions. However the moderators aren't really moderating the deals & comments to be suitable for juniors. So welcome, but be warned!

  • JohnHowardsEyebrows on 26/11/2019 - 23:26
    +1

    Are you ever contacted by organisations to complain about being Ozbargained in a less than straightforward way, e.g. finding and exploiting a loophole around a clear contractual term, or targeting small companies with honest giveaways intended for their local market?

    Also, do you have any opinion on how the banks view the popular practice some of us have, of churning through credit cards for points, with no intention of every becoming profitable customers for them?

    • scotty on 27/11/2019 - 07:05
      +1

      The Merchant Takedown Request thread would be a good starting point. We've been contacted all the time. Merchants usually have those introductory/trial offers or sample packs, and sometimes they send out special code to a small number of customers without binding the code to specific accounts. Those got leaked to OzBargain and "all hell breaks loss" (for them).

      Sorry I do not have any opinion on how the banks see us. They created the incentives and they are also expecting some people to take advantage of them. We'll probably expect less of these introductory offers if they aren't making enough profit for the banks, or merchants in general. Personally I do not churn through credit cards though.

  • 11112007 on 26/11/2019 - 23:27

    Thanks for the journey so far :)

    • Some Human on 27/11/2019 - 09:15
      -4

      I agree with number 2. Too much self righteous “I’m holier than you because I pretend to care about things” going on here. You don’t care, you’re just fishing for internet points - redeemable for…nothing.

    • capslock janitor on 27/11/2019 - 19:24

      Profile Pic checks out…

  • kinghuzi on 27/11/2019 - 00:31

    Are you anti-vaping ? Why has OzBargain not taken a stand on vaping?

    • scotty on 27/11/2019 - 08:53
      +1

      I am not OzBargain. I am not anti-vaping. OzBargain bans e-cigs related deals (see banned items) so not exactly "has not taken a stand".

  • 1Kenobi on 27/11/2019 - 08:26

    What are you asking santa to bring for christmas ?
    (Assuming you've been good)

    • scotty on 27/11/2019 - 08:47
      +3

      Peace & quietness at home so I can take a break.

      • 1Kenobi on 27/11/2019 - 10:29
        +1

        Good luck with that

        • omgilia on 27/11/2019 - 13:47

          Therefore Santa deemed scotty as being on the naughty list

  • SpotTheOzzie on 27/11/2019 - 08:34

    Can the next Q/A be a live stream??

    • scotty on 27/11/2019 - 08:49
      +8

      Problems for live stream are:

      • I usually don't have time to gather my thoughts before being pressured to produce an answer.
      • It's more difficult to avoid questions that I do not wish to answer.
      • Not much a multi-threaded conversation.

      I prefer this AMA format :)

      • whyisave on 27/11/2019 - 16:39

        @scotty,

        I agree with these answers.
        I support you and your endeavours.
        Thank you for turning up, to the North Shore meet-up today.
        It's great to hear your candid views and your humility.

        ( I was seated next to you, serving the water, at times :-D )

        • scotty on 27/11/2019 - 17:47
          +1

          Nice to meet you today.

      • SpotTheOzzie on 27/11/2019 - 17:34

        Thats the best part about a live Q/A :0

        • capslock janitor on 27/11/2019 - 19:37

          Yeah we could ask in text (maybe even start an OzB Youtube just for this) and he just answers what he wants, whatever he doesn't just say so - we can have moderators in chat etc.

          Just a laid back vibe firts thing comes to his mind, take some time to think haha Drink some coffee (lots of bathroom breaks I expect)

  • Andard on 27/11/2019 - 10:08
    +1

    Favourite music?

    • scotty on 27/11/2019 - 11:05
      +2

      For a while it's 80's & 90's instrumental rock, ie Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, John Petrucci, etc. But these days I listen to anything from J-pop to blues rock to trash metal.

      • silverrat23 on 27/11/2019 - 13:23

        trash metal.

        So, Metallica?

        :P

        • scotty on 27/11/2019 - 14:41
          +1

          Yeah indeed turned from thrash to trash :P

  • SnakeCasablanca on 27/11/2019 - 10:30
    +4

    As owner operator of Ozbargain, do you enjoy the privilege of unlimited neg voting? If so I am thinking of learning to code and designing a rival website to crush you. Its a small effort for such a large reward! Hahaha

    • scotty on 27/11/2019 - 10:58
      +3

      Wait. Are you inviting me to use my infinite neg votes against you? Actually I doubt I have used more than 5 a day.

      • SnakeCasablanca on 27/11/2019 - 11:14
        +3

        It would be an honour and a privilege to be negged by you good sir.

        • Andard on 27/11/2019 - 12:15
          +1

          Here, take my neg.. I know it's not much.

          (jk)

  • 1Kenobi on 27/11/2019 - 10:40

    Why not take referral commissions from all users rather than just guests ? Or allow members to turn on referral links to OzB but keep banner ads off.

    Seems reasonable.

    • ESEMCE on 27/11/2019 - 11:42

      Ohh me likey this idea!

  • TheMindsetTraveller on 27/11/2019 - 11:05

    Hi Scotty,
    I just wanted to say Thank You for starting this site which has helped me (and hundreds of thousands more out there).
    You have an amazing day,
    The Mindset Traveller

  • ahly92 on 27/11/2019 - 11:25

    Ever looked at expanding into the middle east, ive talked to many friends there and there's nothing like this there (qatar, uae, egypt) and would be a hit, unfortunately ive got no tech background so couldnt do it but if ever u wanted to venture there, id be honoured to manage it snd get users interacted.

  • pogichinoy on 27/11/2019 - 11:41

    Not a question but a comment.

    I love you and what you have done with this site. :)

  • Ghost47 on 27/11/2019 - 12:16
    +1

    Any chance you can make the Referrals section more easily visible?

    The current way I navigate to that page is through the store page, or through searching for it. If it's more visible (like on the navigation bar or in one of the sections that say "Referral codes" or something that would be much easier.

  • centrelink on 27/11/2019 - 12:35
    -1

    I just want to say thanks for replying my messages sometimes, even though I intend to be passive-aggressive. It brightens my day to be noticed by the site admin

  • wonderluv on 27/11/2019 - 13:40

    Hi! I guess I would say I’m relatively new to OzBargain. I was reading through this forum and saw that Eneloop(?) was brought up a few times, so I searched it up and it’s a rechargeable battery. May I ask what’s so special about it / what significance it has to you?
    Also, my life has changed (for the better!) since my cousin introduced me to OzBargain this year. Thanks so much, Scotty!

    • scotty on 27/11/2019 - 14:47

      It was a popular product on OzBargain around 6-7 years ago because of DickSmith — every now and then there's an Eneloop deal. Somehow it became an OzBargain currency where everyone is expected to have one in his/her drawer. Similar to Xiaomi powerbank from 3-4 years ago?

      • capslock janitor on 27/11/2019 - 19:41

        What else have we missed out on? I wanna be closer to you and OzB in body mind spirit

  • ozbargainer88 on 27/11/2019 - 14:25

    Scotty, what is your opinion on Swampletics?

  • curtturtle on 27/11/2019 - 14:42

    Has there ever been a deal/wrong price that you ever felt bad about it going viral? Not that you should. But I am sure there are companies that have been hit with tens of thousands of orders that they've had to cancel or honour due to a mistaken price that got posted here.

    • scotty on 27/11/2019 - 17:52
      +3

      Lots of them. Mostly price error ones. Or the ones that should be targeted to specific customers but works for everyone. Yup "it's their fault" but to err is human. They ended up wasting time removing the deals, cancelling the transactions and refunding everyone. We also ended up getting all fired up and threaten to call ACCC because they refused to honour the deal. Almost impossible to make it a win-win situation.

  • qq830821 on 27/11/2019 - 16:11

    Is ozbargain making money now? If yes would you consider an exit plan one day? (ie IPO)

    • whyisave on 27/11/2019 - 16:45

      IPO ?! ha.

      Membership fees? :-)
      We could become one of the first unionised consumer groups in the world.

      If governments end up treating us as like customers, instead of citizens,
      then we could then collectively lobby for better deals (read: bargains) with almost all of our consumerist deals.

    • idonotknowwhy on 27/11/2019 - 17:21

      Why would he want to go public when it's making a profit?

  • Magnastar on 27/11/2019 - 16:15

    Is there any plans to allow deals from farmers etc wanting to sell live animals any time soon?

    I’m not allowed back at the markets after making enquires about a lamb, so I think I need to just stick to the internet but there seems to be a real gap in the market waiting for you to capitalise on!

  • Bellpop on 27/11/2019 - 17:11
    +1

    How do you view the humour on ozbargain and how do you ensure the mods’ actions are aligned with your ethos? After the deals, I view the community banter as one of the big draw cards of the site but I’ve noticed that these comments often get removed due to being off topic or similar. I work in mental health, and feeling connected is linked to good mental health and I see the OzB community as doing a lot of good in this regard. Well done :)

    • scotty on 27/11/2019 - 18:06
      +1

      First of all I need to explain that a lot of moderation on OzBargain is reactive to reports. Some humour might need to be moderated but never got reviewed by the moderators because they didn't get reported.

      So here we have humorous comments getting reported, and moderator marked it as Off-Topic. Most of the time it's because they are not relating to the discussions, and a post full of off-topics comments are not helping other people to find answers. Many forum questions are good examples — OP asked for help, and the first few replies are random memes or ridiculing the original poster. Sometimes you get to scroll 1/2 down the page to find a useful reply. Moderators basically have to work out how to balance between allowing the commenters to express their humour, and allowing other ozbargainers to find helpful answers.

      With "Off-Topic", a comment (and its replies) could either be removed (usually because that off-topic comment also contains something offensive), or simply marked as "Off-Topic" which is basically collapsed until you click on "Show" link (i.e. not unpublished). For harmless off-topics, moderators would often choose the later.

      • Bellpop on 27/11/2019 - 20:02

        Makes perfect sense. Thanks for the site. I love it 😊

  • Resin on 27/11/2019 - 17:18

    When are you going to release loot boxes? Im really enjoying the free trial of ozbargain gold pass so far

  • Mr Brown on 27/11/2019 - 18:28
    +1

    Hi Scotty, love the work you guys do!!

    Anyway, remember that you often used to post a lot of deals from Koorong. Just wondering if you come from some sort of Christian background? If so, what does that mean for you?

    Cheers :)

    • scotty on 27/11/2019 - 19:33
      +4

      Koorong is still doing site wide deals — just not as frequent after it got acquired by Bible Society.

      Yes I am a Christian, i.e. trusting Jesus came as a sinless man to take up the penalty for the sinful humanity, to bring salvation on the judgement day. Currently going to the university church at UNSW.

      • Mr Brown on 27/11/2019 - 21:36
        +2

        That's awesome to hear!!

        Funnily enough I also go to a church of campus … wonder if it's the same one? :O

  • Captain M on 27/11/2019 - 18:58

    Have you signed up ozbargain for brave rewards using the BAT token? Brave browser is becoming more popular now and Im sure these rewards will be another income stream.

    • scotty on 27/11/2019 - 19:25

      Actually we are on Brave Creator for more than 12 months, and have received ~1823 BAT (~AU $528.62) so far. Any website that thinks getting Brave Rewards as a business is kidding themselves. Moreover I can't even take that out into an Australian bank account. How about I supposed to pay my next Maccas reward with BAT?!

  • mousie on 27/11/2019 - 21:13

    What do you wish you could save money on yourself, but haven't been able to through this site?

  • lazybones1987 on 27/11/2019 - 21:13

    Hi Scotty,
    I've looked at the architecture of the Ozbargain site. Have you considered using a Public cloud provider (AWS) for running the site given that you are using S3 for hosting static content?

    • scotty on 27/11/2019 - 21:34
      +2

      OzBargain hosting has always been optimised on the price (obviously). Have you looked at how expensive AWS EC2 is?

      Just compare a general purpose EC2 instance in Sydney with 8GB RAM, that's US$0.2664 per hour. After taking 40% off 1-year reserved instance discount it still comes down to around US $1,400 or AU $2,064 a year. That does not include EBS for storage (US $0.12/GB/month), nor does it include any egress (US $0.114/GB). Say if we do 4TB of data it would cost an extra US $456 (AU $672).

      At BinaryLane the 4-core 8GB instance costs $52/month ($624/year) and comes with 100GB local storage + 4000GB/month egress data. We probably use 6-7 such servers to host OzBargain. It's also almost-instant provision, per-hour billing, etc.

      I know AWS has other benefits. However "saving money" does not seem to be one of them.

  • ComfortablyNumb on 27/11/2019 - 21:36

    Hi Scotty, congratulations on making so many people around Australia happy, savvy and providing a vehicle for community feedback. Long Live Ozbargain.

    Three simple questions please…

    What is your proudest achievement from this site?

    What are some of your favourite terms that have come from Ozbargain?
    Ozbargained, Brodened???

    What is your saddest or most regrettable moment from establishing the site / something you would do differently?

    • scotty on 28/11/2019 - 05:45

      What is your proudest achievement from this site?

      OzBargain is my proudest achievement. If anything specific, maybe that this site's overall effect on the retail landscape? It changes how many people shop, and how many merchants reach to their potential customers.

      What are some of your favourite terms that have come from Ozbargain? Ozbargained, Brodened???

      Being a software dev / system engineer, the term "ozbargained" is definitely an interesting one. Back in the late 90's / early 00's we used to have "slashdotted" or "dugg" to describe website brought down to its knees by community websites. I think OzBargain is significantly smaller by comparison but there are still online retailer sites that are so unoptimised they crumbled when getting featured on OzBargain.

      What is your saddest or most regrettable moment from establishing the site / something you would do differently?

      There are regrets, and I've made many mistakes, but I probably won't discuss these in this AMA.

  • Curiouscat on 27/11/2019 - 23:12

    What held you back from not turning into a profit oriented i.e commission tracking/paid per click/ trail commission website?!

    • scotty on 28/11/2019 - 05:45

      OzBargain is a profit oriented website!

  • [Deactivated] on 28/11/2019 - 01:03
    1. How much do you earn from this?
    2. How many hours do you spend a week on this?
    3. If I want to create a website such as this, where should I start? Should I learn python programming or just start with WordPress? How do I get enough users in the first month?
    4. Do you have other ambitions?
  • ro0sta on 28/11/2019 - 02:02

    Not a question, more of a statement. Get rid of this "removal of neg votes" against a deal. If people neg it, there's probably a good reason. Too many goons on here just downvote legit comments/reasons until, you guessed it, a comment disappears and POOF, the deal is blemish free. This can be said for a lot of Ebay stuff people post.

  • scotty on 28/11/2019 - 05:54

    I didn't get to answer everyone's questions,

    • some have been asked multiple times. Please check my answers in other places
    • some are questing features or changes to rules, and as I've stated upfront, I won't answer those questions
    • if you are from ATO asking me how much I make, you have already got the figures and I am sure they are correct

    That's it for the AMA! I might do another one when OzBargain turns 18. Maybe.

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