Time to Flex! What Deal You Most Proud of?

I don't care if it's from a price error, bug, genuine sale, word of mouth…. whatever.

What service or product you got that you felt you got an amazing price for and was it worth it?

  1. My Beats Studio head phones for $201 which was the biggest steal at the time in 2015. Dicksmith ebay had it online at a sale price for $407 (Think RRP was around $450 or more at that time), then Dicksmith had a massive online ebay sale. I jumped on the sale and got it for $201. Not even 1 hour from the sale started, later my brother wanted it as well, he jumped online and Dicksmith bumped up the Beats back to RRP and excluded the Beats from the discount code. I got very lucky! I am still using those beats today and they are still going strong, no plans on replacing them.

  2. My LG 28" Ultrawide monitor with 144hz refresh rate I got second hand but pretty much brand new for $150 because the owner was going overseas the in next few days and just posted the monitor up the same day as he needed to get rid of it ASAP. I got it I think around 2017-18, I was just browsing on Gumtree for a monitor and I was the first one to message him, picked it up within 1 hour and paid cash. When I searched the RRP of the model, it was well over $700+. No dead pixels, everything looked brand new and I couldn't believe I paid $150 for it. When I made the deal, the seller said he got 10+ messages for the monitor. I am still using the monitor today and still going very strong!

What are your crazy deals?

Comments

    • +1

      Thank you for your service.

  • +1

    Ozito batteries 3 for $99. The new Eneloops

  • +4

    The price error for the drone at bunnings where they gave everyone a $250 gift voucher instead. Free $250, haven't been able to beat that yet
    https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/490475

  • +5

    The craziest one i've had was from a motorcycle warehouse closing down sale. You bought a ticket to be present at the sale, then it was "take as much as you can carry". Managed to get two exhausts, jackets, helmets, etc etc. I think the directors got divorced and the sale was apart of the settlement. It was at Smeaton Grange.

  • +31

    Many years ago, I registered for an Amex promo that gave you 1,000 rewards points for every purchase that you made. There was no minimum spend and no cap on the number of points that you could earn. Everyday, I would find new ways to spend small amounts on my Amex card whether it be buying 40c worth of grapes at Coles or $1.50 worth of petrol at the servo. I know of one guy who used his Amex card to put 50c into the parking meters of random strangers!

    By the end of the 3 month promotion, I managed to rack up over 1,000,000 rewards points. Back then, the transfer rates to Singapore Airlines was 1:1. I treated my wife to a first class ticket on Singapore Airlines to New York whilst I got the opportunity to try out Singapore Airlines' A380 first class suites. For several years after that, my wife and I enjoyed business class whenever we travelled. Alas, those days are behind us and I doubt that Amex will ever make that same mistake again. I often wonder whether the Amex marketing executive who came up with the promo got to keep their job.

    • +7

      Geezus, this is the stuff of dreams.

      Can see people going to coles and doing 100 transactions to pay for an apple.

  • +2

    A manual Ferrari F430 with 8000km for 165K, but this was around a decade ago.

    • Why was it so cheap or weren’t they in such demand then?

      • +1

        Like many other things, certain cars that are very sought after now weren't so a decade ago. Another example is Porsche 911 Turbo 997.2 (specifically the 997 Series II), which I also owned.

    • +1

      that's a nice flex as invited to do so… damn!
      The $300K question is… still have it?

      • The answer is no. I'm not a car collector or a classic car enthusiast. I buy them, I take them to the track, I enjoy them until I've had enough then I move on. If they happen to sell for a lot more later on, that's a bonus, but it all requires informed decision-making.

  • +8

    Sorry this is a long one - it's not a huge deal but I do get a loophole to work in favour of me instead of the big company which is a deal enough for me! So, a little bit ago I needed to compare PDFs kinda urgently before COB and needed something good that would work well, but since it was like 15 minutes to COB I didn't have time to find a good online solution, so just subscribed to Adobe Pro, since it's a feature they offer. I really didn't want to pay Adobe, but I really didn't have much of a choice with the timeframe so just decided to pay them. There was a possibility I'd need it again after the comparison, so I didn't immediately cancel, but saw I had 2 weeks to cancel for free otherwise they'd go ahead with the plan, so I made a note to cancel before then.

    Unfortunately, I missed the deadline by a day (I thought it was a Thursday but it was the Wednesday - oops!) - I went to cancel and their website said it was going to cost $120 to cancel my plan! Turns out, Adobe didn't make it clear (to me in my rush) that they don't actually do monthly plans, just yearly ones, and if you cancel after the 14 days is up, you have to pay 50% of the remaining amount (boo Adobe). I probably would have known that if I wasn't in a rush and paid attention, but then I wouldn't have this story, so yay?

    I spoke to customer care and even though it was only a day late, they wouldn't waive the $120 cancellation fee for me. But, the lady said she could give me a great deal on a different plan - instead of the Adobe Pro range, I could get a plan for some of their other products, like their photography suite or something. I told her I didn't want that since I'm not creative, but she was REALLY pushing me about how good this deal is - instead of $22/month it would be $14/month, plus we can do a special of 3 months free so I'd only pay for 9 months! You'd be crazy to turn it down! In theory it would bring the cancellation fee down since the total cost is less, but it's still a lot for missing things by a day.

    Just then I had an idea - I asked her very specifically what would happen with my old plan, and she said they would cancel it, give me a refund for the 2 weeks of the rest of the month for plan I'd already used (like $11), and then start a new plan up for me. I asked for the Ts & Cs (which I read a LOT better this time) and lo and behold, the magic words: "If you cancel within 14 days you will be given a full refund, otherwise a 50% cancellation fee applies". I confirmed that I'll be starting my new plan as of today's date, to which she said yes, gave her my card details for the refund/new plan and said goodbye.

    Then I started a new chat with a new agent, told them I had just started a new plan and I wasn't happy with it and would like a full refund. He looked into it, said "ah yup, I see you're in the 14 day grace period. We're sorry to see you go but we'll organise a full refund for you for this plan, and hope to see you again as a customer!"

  • +9

    Free parking for 5 years. Required proving the council wrong in court (twice).

    • That's a good & worthy win.

  • +8

    Buying a vintage portable CD player at an estate auction for $25, and selling it to a collector in China in an eBay auction for $1800.

    • Wow, did you know it's value or just put it on eBay for the hell of it?

      • +1

        I had a good idea it was worth at least $500, but I was shocked to get $1800 for it.

        It was a specific model from the 1980s, never used and with its original box, but despite it not working the demand for it was enormous.

        I have never come across a bargain like that again.

  • I still pretty stoked I picked up an Xbox Series X with brand new controller and rechargeable battery pack for $350 on markeplace.

  • I signed up for a $2/month student deal for online access to a major news service. It said on signup it would auto cancel after a year (still had the emailed offer).

    It didn't….. I noticed a charge of $26 on my card and I wasn't paying that a month!

    I emailed to complain. They said it was normal for it to renew and charge you for the whole year. brain ticking over, per year?!?! I withdrew my complaint and for 4 years now I save about $500 a year on this subscription. Every year I get another charge of just $26.

  • +6

    Oooo my moment to shine!

    Bought a genuine Rolex GMT Master for $3.5K about 7 years ago…

    • Disgruntled divorcee?

      • Nope. Just a guy who wanted to buy a hulk and needed to raise funds. Wouldn’t go lower than $3.5K though so didn’t want to tempt fate so got some cash out in a hurry.

    • Wow that's a super price well done

  • +3

    I bought 2 pairs of Women’s Air Max 95s for $30 each on Hype DC

    🤭😌

  • Occasionally Coles does 20% off for orders over $150 Dollars stacked with $10 off voucher.
    If you go online and buy 5 Cases on beer with pickup and only 1-2 is available you will still get the discount off the total price for 5 cases.
    I ended up with 10 cases of beer across 5 pickup locations for 9-19 each.

  • +2

    i have a few that still think of as the best deals gone down for me.

    1. i purchased a 68cm CRT (just as plasma TVs came onto the market) and enjoyed my new purchase through Kmart. 2 years and 2 months and the TV jsut dies. take it back to K mart for a warranty repair/ replacement and they gave me a full refund instead.
    2. very late night at work, put my phone on the roof of the car while shuffling through my pockets to find my keys etc and drove off, basically ran over my samsung galaxy s3 limited edition 32gb model. spoke to my service provider and told them the story, i was offered a new note II for $20 extra on top of my plan which i was ok with at the time….. fast forward to bill time and i was seeing a $20 reduction on my bill rather then an extra $20 to pay on top of my plan. this went on for 5 years (plan lasted 2 years) they honored the credit on my account until it stopped obviously but i never kicked up a stink.
    3. mobile service provider $1/ month pixel 6a deal.
    4. scored a google pixel 7 pro
    5. scored a laptop (dell 7480), did the usual upgrades and works like a charm.
  • +4

    everyone forgot about the Myer 20% off on ebay that you can buy and then return instore for $500 profit each time ?

    • There’s fraud. And there’s FRAUD. Good for you.

    • Nothing better than making money out of thin air. Though I’m surprise they let you given the invoice would have been net of the 20% or was it simply an eBay coupon?

      • Myer gave an invoice with the proper pricing.

        The discount only showed up in ebay invoice because it was eBay coupon thus enable the loop hole. Pretty sure some member on here net almost 5k in profit.

        • Wow, no wonder they are basically going bust.

        • Woah…. And what refund via same credit card per eBay purchase?

          It’s amazing what us humans can think of sometimes. We literally went, hmmm there’s an abritrage opportunity here… let’s hit it.

  • +1

    9,900 Velocity points from Perth to Amsterdam (price error). Only paid about $150 in taxes. I booked the return sector for the same price (and a bit more in taxes). They fixed the error about 24 hours later.

  • +10

    6x Emirates First Class A380 flights to/from Europe in 2018, using Qantas points from all the many credit card deals posted here. I've never had so many showers. Cheers credit card Ops! 🥂

  • +2

    a mis-priced 4 pack of powerboard for 25c at Bunnings.

    Turned around and bought another 10.

  • +6

    PS5 from Harvey Norman back when it was super hard to get. A friend told me they restocked online around midnight and I jumped on and purchased one. A day later I got an order cancelled email as they had no stock and was refunded. Fast forward a few weeks later I get a giant box on my doorstep with a PS5 in it. Thanks Jerry!

    • +3

      Wait so you got it for free? Nice one.

  • +2

    TCL 98inch TV for $4,444 delivered. Some people say size doesnt matter… it does!

    • What's it like? Happy? Any issues? I run a Sony VPL-HW45ES projector @ 96" and have always wondered 'what if' when prices come down.

      • +1

        I was running an Optoma UHD 60 @ 110" and the TV is better image and oh so much simpler for the wife and kids to use. The calibrations not that great for the colours unless its Dolby Vision content (so good). I dont use the default speaker but its better than the projector one :p

        Gaming is easier too.

        If the new model turns up in Aus it has more betterer dimming zones but for $4444 I cant really complain that theres a bit of dimming zone weirdness when you deliberately look for it.

  • +8

    Once upon a time, in the bustling realm of online deal hunting, a legendary event known as "Click Frenzy" cast its spell upon avid deal-seekers far and wide. This magical phenomenon promised incredible discounts and jaw-dropping bargains, attracting hordes of zealous Ozbargainers eager to seize the day.

    And I won :p

    • +2

      That is ace. I got an iPad from this for $10.. winning!

  • +5

    Back when the PS4 was announced I placed a $100 deposit for a pre-order on two of them at a certain big brand retailer as soon as I possibly could. Arrived on launch day and was about to hand over $900ish for both of them and was told it was only $400 remaining to pay. For 2. I asked them are you sure? Was told it said I'd paid in full for one and a $100 deposit for the other. I told them I don't remember paying for one in full, and to check, the guy was insistent I only had to pay $400. So I did, and walked out of there much happier than I expected!

  • +1

    Free Julius Marlow leather sandals when website allowed a coupon to reduce price to zero.

  • +1

    Thanks to Ozbargain, recent scores include $593 Delonghi Magnifica Evo coffee machine and $99 Airpods.

  • Menulog GO-BIG

    https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/743414
    Based on numbers.

  • recent jetstar deal to japan. cheaper than flying to see taylor lol.

  • +1

    Apple gift card 15% off. A certain 25% discount at Apple. Salary sacrifice.

    Total effective discount: 70.6%. Top spec MBP for about $1,600 out of pocket.

    • You could have then got 10% GST back at the airport, if you travelled, haha

      • Yeah it's a bit of a risk. Getting stopped on the way back. The double dipping of the GST refund.

        • It doesn't have to be brought back by yourself.

  • +2

    ALDI toilet. Marked down to $99 including install, I thought it was a bargain.

    • Bargain.
      Did it all fit ok? How old was the old toilet? No extra work like fixing tiles or anything?

  • Gildan deal. Cheap apparel delivered. Quality was great. Still kicking myself that I didn't stock up more on Platinum Cloud socks ($5 for 6 pairs). Beats any expensive stuff and going back to the cheap stuff is like torture.

    Doordash $1 menu item deal. Dug into options and re-ordered from there. Due to an oversight in their app my order went through for $1 again. Lived off this high for at least a week.

    Myer hack. Tried to order an out of stock item but the button was greyed out. I noticed that the button was initially blue before greying out again. A couple of refreshes and speedy clicking and I managed to hit the button before it greyed out and got the item in cart. Checked out and pick up went fine.

  • I got a free ticket to Knotfest 2023 (worth $200)

  • +4

    Dealbot's Sign up to Uber One and Get $100 off Your Next Order @ Uber Eats

    For whatever reason, my brother and I kept getting the promo over and over again on our accounts even after already using it, typically popping up in the app a few hours after we had used it for that day's lunch/dinner.

    Ended up getting the better part of June's lunches absolutely free through this weird bug, probably close to $1K of free food between the both of us over the few weeks the promo was active.

    Definitely put on an extra kg or two by the time it ended…

    • Wow… $1000 worth of meals.

      That's an awesome bug.

  • +12

    Ubank had some promotion buy a news apper and get a 20 dollar deposit.

    I read the tcs and c's and realised nothing stopped you from doing it multiple times.

    Drove around town getting news papers and getting the missus to redeem them, made just under 2K lol.

    • +2

      God-level OzB!

  • +1

    My private health fund had a deal where all fresh fruit and vegetables at Coles was free for a while. I never received any correspondence about it and I believed it was targeted. Nevertheless it was loaded on to my Flybuys account. We ate only the best fruit and veg for that 4-6 weeks it was active.

  • +5

    I won a new car that a I picked up a couple of weeks ago and just sold my old one. I had to buy mats for the new one at a rip price but hey rego all paid for and it’s free can’t complain on that deal. Very lucky!

    • Nice! What car and through what sort of competition if you don't mind me asking?

  • +1

    Using a 20% eBay promo on videopro eBay page to get a 55 inch UHD LG TV for $713. Still going strong that TV.

  • Not really crazy deals but I got some wicked thing with stuff I bought got delivered twice.

    Sofa from ikea, xiaomi air purifier, penfolds 389 * 6, positive grid spark 40, to name a few that i remember. There are more but I can’t remember them.

    Also the drone hiccup from bunning and they fork out $250 giftcard was pretty memorable for me

  • +2

    Quilton Gold for 3c per roll!

    From this deal
    https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/192255

    Here's my comment
    Just picked up my order - 20 packs and 6 bottles of wine. I think they may be canceling those orders for only the quilton. I added the wine firstly because I wanted some, secondly it was nearly 50% off with the coupons and thirdly so I went over $70 and got another $5 off. The final price of the paper was $16.20 for 20 packs. After the $10 discount, that worked out at $6.20 or 3c per roll. No need to use both sides of the page now :)

  • Brand new apple keyboard for half price, but never used it till now 😔

  • +1

    Free movie tickets worth 2000$ on oz bargains, and accumulated about 10$ each, that's 200 tickets, they still work today sitting in a Google drive, have about 179 left.

    Was good times. Please down vote makes me happy.

    • How do you get free movie tickets? or you mean you bought 200 tickets for $10 each ?

      • Someone posted a link on Oz, and I harvested as many a 1.5 year ago, used automation tool before chatGpt scrape the site of movie tickets.

        They had no captcha.

    • When’s expiry?

  • The XM5 from the JBHIFI deal.

  • +2

    About 8 years ago I somehow managed the most ridiculous sequence of promotional one way airfares, with multi day layovers in between. Planned my entire holiday around the dates and destinations of the cheapest fares. It was something like Melbourne to Kuala Lumpur to Bangkok to Chiang Mai, overland to Vientiane, flight back to Bangkok then KL again, then to Manila and eventually back to Melbourne. It was about $600 combined for all of the flights. I remember the KL to Manila leg being under $20. Fantastic trip.

    • +1

      I love flight sequences like that, just to save a buck, haha…
      …and the only casualty are the passport pages
      getting stamped at all the immigration checkpoints,
      meaning your passport actually runs out quicker.

      (Spoken from experience ^_^ )

  • Back around 8 or 9 years ago if you transferred Telstra pre-paid credit you would get bonus data, so you could have 2 or more sims and just bounce the credit around each day and rack up massive amounts of bonus data. The cost of the transfer was something like 25c but the data you got from it was worth a lot more than that.

  • +1

    Not gonna lie,

    But I think the <$30 I spent on a massage cushion from Kogan (but I believe any massage cushion would be good FOR LOWER BACK etc pain) was probably the best money I ever spent on anything.
    Help me so much when back is literally Fu**ed up from either overworking at job or other things like car work, or just random things at house needing heavy lifting.
    Without massage cushion I would probably be in bad condition for at least like 8-20 hrs on bed resting. But massage cushion's pressure just makes it so good, and all very close to fully fixed in less than 30 mins, (and best of all it doesn't need massage gun, as its auto massaging no difficulty in reaching back with it, just lay flat on it on bed)

  • +1

    Purchased a cooperate fleet of laptops through cashrewards at 14% back……$$$$$$

  • +3

    My best deal was my mortgage. Settlement was in July 2021. Probably will save about $150k!!

    My rate: 2.49% 5-year fixed rate @ 80% LVR with ZERO fees from P&N bank.

    • Best deal I’ve read in this thread. Very envious

  • Got a pair of technics 1210 m3d for $400 off Gumtree back in 2011 or 2012.

    I remember seeing the ad and thinking, it might be 400 each so i messaged. Ended up being for the pair.

    So i went to pick them up straight away that day. Turned out the seller was a woman and the turntables belonged to her ex husband who moved back to the UK.

    Too bad i had to sell them years later due to some financial struggles at the time

    Another deal was scoring an Ikea Jerker desk for about $1 off ebay. Was in great condition and i gave the guy a tenner as he helped me move it into the car. But i remember these desks were very popular at the time, someone even created a facebook page for it lol

  • +2

    Bought a 2.5kw hisense split system for $340 click and collect from thegoodguys ebay with afterpay code ontop of some other discount.

    After that they disabled Click and collect on all split systems.

  • +4

    This was about 2009. Qantas had a sale on fares to LA for $980 return.
    BUT… you could get an onbound flight to JFK for just another $10pp – on a Qantas 747, with an Aussie crew. We hastily figured out some dates and I ran (literally) to a travel agent's and booked the fares.
    BUT… 2 weeks before the outbound flight I noticed that the booking code was not the usual E for discount economy but another code (B, I think). So I rang Qantas and asked whether the bookings were points upgradable and they were. So I used the points I had saved up for 4 years to upgrade four of us, and did not tell the Mrs of the 2 boys until we were checking in.
    Had to pay a fee for the upgrades but 4 return Business Class trips to NY for $4400.

  • +1

    Closing down office sale in 2017, picked up a second hand Herman Miller Aeron chair for $200!

  • Joined NRMA and received a $50 voucher for there online store. Purchased two oztent Goanna chairs for $100 as they had a two for one deal and the RRP is $150. Five year warranty on chairs. 4 and a half years later, slight rip in both chairs. Warranty claim, two new chairs sent out.

    Got a HP touchpad for $99 when they where clearing them.

  • +1

    Was waiting for a pizza order at dominos, decided to have a browse the cash converters next door. Found a stackable PoE Cisco Catalyst switch on the shelf for $300 (Cisco Catalyst 3750G-24PS-24 Ethernet 10/100/1000 ports with IEEE 802.3af and Cisco prestandard PoE and four SFP uplinks).

    Sold it on eBay for $4000 or $6000, can't quite remember. This was like 10 years ago, maybe more.

    • four SFP uplinks

      Were the SFPs also in the switch ?

      • +1

        It’s been a while but yes I think so.

        • The SFPs alone, were worth more than $300 !

  • +1

    I bought a $3.5 chicken and veg coles brand pies. 4 pies in a pack. ON the day they changed the price to $5. They hadn't changed the price tag on the shelf only in the system. I GOT THOSE PIES FOR FREE!!!!

  • +1

    In 2019 there was an offer by JBHIFI for a $500 Gift Card if you signed up for a Tesla Sim-only plan for 24 months. Except they made this contract a no lock-in contract. I called up Telstra after leaving the store with my gift card and didn’t even have to pay for the first month.

    Easiest $450 I’ve made having sold the gift card to a mate the same day.

    They still offer the $500 gift card deal but now with a proper lock-in port-in contract.

  • I once bought 10x https://www.amazon.com.au/Philips-Hue-Ambience-Extension-Ped… which should have been $240 each, but they were were reduced to $12.50 🤷‍♂️🤷‍♂️🤷‍♂️

    https://ibb.co/YTrwBJv

  • Bose Headphones from Myer for $27.

    Felt good to go in and pick them up.

    Also back in the days when Big W was clearing out a lot of their games for $3 I picked up a lot, played them once or twice and then ended up trading the back in to EB games for more than I paid.

    • 'Trade bait' were the coolest days.

      People that know, know.

  • I bought a ham leg for Xmas last year around 2.5Kg that was priced in error at $2.10. It was $21 per kilo but was mis-weighed as 0.1kg. I was so excited when I saw it and thankfully thought to go through a cashier checkout instead of self-checkout as the latter process would have pinged me for an incorrect weight when I put it on my purchase pile. I picked the most distracted looking cashier and it went through without a hitch. Saved just over $50, or 94% of what it should have cost. Merry Xmas to me!

    • 30 plus of then under $2 back in 2013 at badly place Woolworth homeless service enjoy them.

  • 399 EM7000 coffee best investment of my life 16 year after only just replace it.

  • +2

    Extended holiday in the US and Europe in 2011/2012. Everything felt dirt cheap with the AUD worth more than the USD.

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