Minimum quantities, limited deals. New guidelines required

[Deactivated] on 06/04/2012 - 07:22
Last edited 06/04/2012 - 07:32

There have been a large number of members here complaining, and voting down deals after these deals expire due to the limited nature of the offering.

Especially susceptible to complaints are deals from representatives

These rep deals are rightly held to higher standards that those of posts by members, as they are seen as directly benefiting the company and tapping into the goodwill that they can generate by promoting their business here.

The issue is that we do not have any defined standards other than a minimum of 10 of a product being made available. Obviously with a huge number of members and others visiting the site, 10 may now be too small a number for a deal post. As of writing this - 7 am Good Friday - a non trading day for most businesses we had 65 members and 526 active users. 10 of a high demand product would probably be gone before you could read the post heading.

I started this thread to help discussion and the mods to see what we should do. Many are using negative votes to complain about the inequity of the limited number of items being offered, be it from app codes to whatever.

Now before jumping in you might want to understand some of the practical issues things we as mods will have to consider, like, How can we truly determine any criteria set is actually met and how do we discover when its not. No point setting a benchmark we can't measure.

Are there alternatives. Like setting up a limited off section, where deals can be posted but we understand that it is limited in time, quantity

Or even requirements we haven't had before, like if a rep wants to post a limited offer deal, that they must expire the deal here, within x minutes of it expiring on their website. When it expires it is immediately removed from the front page, no matter how many votes it gets.

Over to you.

But also keep in mind, the limits that we set will only mean we wont have the frustration knowing that we missed a deal, rather than increase the quantity of the deal.

Site Discussion

Comments

  • ozhunter on 06/04/2012 - 08:54
    -1

    I think a minimum of 20 would be enough, though at the moment members are still posting deals with a limit of 5 or 6 every now and again. Ebay should stay minimum of 10 as there is no way to tell if the seller has more stock.

    I agree with the idea of removing if from the front page, especially those deal that are over within a few minutes.

    • andy19363 on 06/04/2012 - 11:14

      I agree that 20 would seem an appropriate number…….

  • bargdebarg on 06/04/2012 - 09:45
    -1

    No limits should be set. A deal is a deal, first come best dressed. Setting limits will discourage reps from posting. My view is expired deals should be removed from view on main page.

  • daydream on 06/04/2012 - 10:31
    +1

    If someone is posting a limited offer they need to make the offer clear (eg. indicate quantity, conditions, etc).

    The also need to monitor the deal and mark it expired as soon as it is sold out (otherwise people will misuse the offer/site to just drive traffic/get cheap advertising rather than making a fair offer).

    I have no prob personally with limited numbers but it should be stated ie, A rep advertising "Ten ipods for $1 each" is fine with me as long as the rep promptly marks it as expired once the last one goes.

    No different to an offer advertised in a physical store and the standards expected there.

    Deal posters/reps should think through basic likely scenarios before posting, not just react after all the traffic comes in (which is probably what they are hoping for as reps, lets not be naive about it)

    Just because someone posts a deal that is good doesn't mean it's ok to post it badly (ie, unclear, lack of quantity for limited offer) etc. The same posting expectations should apply for all.

    People should not neg if they miss out but they should voice their concerns if they feel the offer was misleading/unclear. Similarly people should be able to offer constructive feedback -without- being lumped together with those just disappointed they missed out or negging inappropriately.

    • andy19363 on 06/04/2012 - 11:09

      The also need to monitor the deal and mark it expired as soon as it is sold out

      That's fine…… if it is a rep posted deal….. but (I think), the majority of posted deals are not by reps…. (although I suspect that ratio is changing as less and less people want to post deals and expose themselves to possible abuse, humiliation and posting bans thanks to the neg warriors)

      eg, the dick smith mess was not rep posted…..

      • daydream on 06/04/2012 - 11:31

        Agreed, intended for rep posters.

        Others should just post based on their knowledge to give reasonable clarity. eg, "Only 5 left as clearance at this store", "No idea if there are any more", "Just a rumour, not confirmed". All provide useful info for other readers so they aren't misled.

  • andy19363 on 06/04/2012 - 11:20

    Perhaps there might be a way of developing a new 'flash sale' category, in which these short lived deals can be posted?
    There should be clear guidelines about the category…. small numbers, short time frame, etc. Perhaps there might be an auto expire on the threads… 1hr, 2 hrs? There would be an understanding that these deals are very limited and likely to run out quick.
    These deals should also probably be kept off the front page…

    just some musings……

  • neil on 06/04/2012 - 12:33
    +2

    Yes similar to what andy said, maybe lock voting for both positive and negative votes after expiry is hit IF expiry is hit within say a couple of hours of posting.

    As for quantity, I think you need to factor value item and demand into the guidelines. USB sticks probably need 10 or more while say a car or $450 corporate box tickets can probably get away with less than 10 as it is a high priced/low demand item.

    • pauly on 06/04/2012 - 15:38
      +1

      As for quantity, I think you need to factor value item and demand into the guidelines. USB sticks probably need 10 or more while say a car or $450 corporate box tickets can probably get away with less than 10 as it is a high priced/low demand item.

      But where do we draw the line? While the threshold for high pricing can be objectively decided, demand is very subjective.

      And I too think locking voting (not revoking though) on a deal after its expiry soon after the deal is posted is a good idea.

  • Domingo on 06/04/2012 - 13:02
    +1

    What about a separate deals section for 'Low Quantity Deals'. Can stick a nice disclaimer at the top stating the purpose and have strict rules on voting/commenting in the area. That way all the people who want to try and get a $150 Galaxy Tab can try while all the people who elect not to go for low quantity deals won't need to see it.

    They could be completely separate to the main page and potentially come across under certain promotion criteria (can't think of any right now but I'm sure much smarter people than me are here).

    Now that I read the thread properly, similar to andy's suggestion…

    • dealman on 16/04/2012 - 07:02
      +1

      I actually like this idea, Since I have never bought anything fast enough. And in most of those cases the quantities are so low anyway that in most cases the rep just does that to get traffic.

    • Belistic on 16/04/2012 - 12:30
      +1

      I agree, would be better if the "Low Quantity Deals" could be viewed by members only.

  • soupiejr on 06/04/2012 - 13:16

    Limits for deals are fine, as long as it's CLEARLY communicated beforehand. This puts the prerogative on the end users. They see that there's a limit and it's up to how fast they can be in grabbing the deal. If I don't see a limit placed on a deal, it's only reasonable for me to assume that they should have enough stock to last at least a few hours into the deal.

    It is fair that the reps monitor the deal closely and mark it as EXPIRED as soon as all the stock is gone. EXPIRED deals should NOT appear on the front page anymore.

    Also, once the deal has been posted on OzB, the rep should NOT be allowed to change ANYTHING about it aside from marking it as EXPIRED. The deal constitutes as an offer, and you can't change that offer unless someone makes a COUNTER-OFFER to you. If you want to change the deal, then mark the original as EXPIRED, and CREATE A NEW DEAL! Then that new deal will be judged voted on, based on its own merits. Otherwise, it's known as bait and switch, and ACCC can be involved.

    • dealman on 16/04/2012 - 07:03

      EXPIRED deals should NOT appear on the front page anymore. I like that idea a lot , in fact so much that I think it should become the rule in general on the front page…

      If it expires , its no more on the front page..

      • scotty on 16/04/2012 - 13:00

        Depending on what you use OzBargain for. If you only use it to check bargains that are still available, then maybe there is no point showing expired deals on the front page for you.

        However for some they use it to discover hot deals, participate in discussions, etc. I would like to see expired deals stayed there on the front page — especially those short-lived ones that got 100+ votes within an hour and then expired. I like to see what's hot for the day.

        Anyway I've just put in an option so you can exclude expired deals on the front page. It should be pushed out to the site today or tomorrow.

      • scotty on 17/04/2012 - 10:39

        The code is live now.

        • Go to New Deals page
        • Click on "Preference" near the top of the page
        • Under "Front Page", check the box "Do not show expired deals"
        • Save

        No more expired deals on the front page!

  • hm on 06/04/2012 - 16:51

    "There have been a large number of members here complaining, and voting down deals after these deals expire due to the limited nature of the offering"

    Id like to know how large that number is proportionate to the numbers of members and people who use OB, or is this the small minority who sook over everything and neg because they have nothing else to complain about?

    There should be no limits and as soon as a deal is finished it should be marked as expired,
    if you miss out you miss out, you are not ever going to catch every deal and if you miss out on a deal then bad luck, not to say that there are probably deals that these people have gotten and others missed out under the same conditions

  • foobar on 06/08/2012 - 10:20

    I had a look through the guidelines in the wiki, couldn't see anything about what I'm about to suggest.

    Could it be added somewhere that when a deal is posted that requires a facebook like, that this MUST be mentioned in the title of the deal? Getting lured into clicking a deal only to find out you need to give a like is a bit irritating.

    • Moderatorneil on 06/08/2012 - 10:31

      I assume you are referring to http://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/76640 which does state that in the description. Surely, you have a special Facebook account dedicated to OzBargain deals?

      • foobar on 06/08/2012 - 10:36

        It does state it now but didn't to start with. It probably wouldn't make any difference if the guidelines did ask this anyway as it seems very few if any actually read them before posting.

        The same post had 16 tags on it before moocher altered it and that info was right in front of them as they created their post so if they can't follow what's on the screen as they get it wrong, there's not much chance of them burrowing through a wiki beforehand.

        Easier to just forget I asked I think :)

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