[AMA] scotty here. OzBargain has recently turned 18. Ask me anything

scotty on 25/12/2024 - 21:50

Merry Christmas! Landed in Kingsford Smith this morning, after spending almost 3 weeks with family in Hong Kong and Taiwan. I did my first AMA in 2015 and a follow up in 2019. OzBargain has turned 18 in November and due to request, ask me (almost) everything, again. Sorry about this delayed AMA, and I'll try to answer them in the next couple of days.

Rules:

  • Ask in top-level comments, otherwise I might miss your questions.
  • Vote up good questions and vote down bad ones.
  • Please check comments for similar questions. I won't answer the same questions twice.
  • I also won't reply to your question if I do not think it's worthwhile to answer. For example "why did you start OzBargain?" that has been asked a zillion times before.
  • Do not ask about new features or issues. Use this post instead,
  • Do not ask about moderation decisions. Use TWAM

To get started, I'm opening some cans of worms

#1

OzBargain has been sponsoring many meetups over the years, but personally I found going to one quite draining. I have only been to one meetup this year (Ippudo @ Chatswood). I guess it's just a personality thing, as I have to force myself to get to those events to meet the users. Don't get me wrong — I am more than happy to chat with other ozbargainers (although sometimes found myself obligated to get the conversations flowing). But yeah, it is just tiring.

Used to go to conventions at those marketing companies as OzBargain often get invited. Way too much "energy" in those events that make my head spins, so now days I'll have to make up excuses to skip. Sometimes it's just plain "sorry, I'm too old for that".

#2

Not joking when I said that I am getting old, but I am actually in the process of retiring from OzBargain. Yes it has been 18 years seeing many ups and downs that consumed a big part of my life. My time spent on OzBargain has also been spread thin over things that I'm not really interested in. Again, felt a bit tired, so I decided to step down a little bit.

No, I am not leaving OzBargain (yet). You'll just see less of scotty as the face here. I'll still code and try to make sure the infrastructure stays up especially during busy time of the year, but neil and hamza23 are stepping up to look after the daily operation of OzBargain.

#3

Another reason for semi-retirement is being able to spend more time with family especially my ageing parents. Like 30% of all residents here, I wasn't born in Australia — my family immigrated here from Taiwan when I was in year 8. My dad wasn't born in Taiwan either, but was part of the exiles from China when he was 2 years old. Parents are now retired in Queensland with gradually reduced mobility so I'll need to think about how to best assist them.

Introduce Yourself

closed Comments

    • scotty on 25/12/2024 - 23:22
      +23

      Sorry had to sign an NDA for that. At the end I just can't see how OzBargain can stay the same if someone else acquires it. Or maybe it can be a good thing?

      • neoleo on 26/12/2024 - 00:31
        +7

        Look what happened to Reddit …

      • bargaino on 26/12/2024 - 00:35

        You must have thought about under what conditions you would sell. Even if all is good now. Some future challenge that you cannot overcome? Is there some ideal buyer you would be comfortable selling to?

      • Mixhael on 27/12/2024 - 07:16
        +3

        Can you tell us your second best offer? Or the next offer that didn't require an NDA haha

      • TimApple on 27/12/2024 - 20:25

        Reminds me of catchoftheday dot com.

    • NotReallyaMoneySaver on 25/12/2024 - 23:04
      +1

      a woman is a woman. You're welcome :)

    • Cluster on 25/12/2024 - 23:06
      +1

      A woman is not a man :-)

  • Low Battery on 25/12/2024 - 23:08
    +10

    Are you really the Head of the Kwik E Mart?

  • Paul Atreides on 25/12/2024 - 23:12
    +1

    Fave movie of 2024?

  • Iwantthebestprice on 25/12/2024 - 23:14
    +3

    What’s your take on the new Chinese cars flooding the market. Any good or steer away?

    • scotty on 25/12/2024 - 23:25
      +8

      I think there will be a consolidation of Chinese EV brands next year. While it's good to have some price pressure, do steer away from small brands.

      • Iwantthebestprice on 25/12/2024 - 23:33
        +4

        Definitely agree the price pressure is great for all Aussie consumers. And the penetration of the EV market from Chinese brands will help drive the WV evolution and bring prices down.

  • TEER3X on 25/12/2024 - 23:18
    +1

    Among other things, I'm thankful ozbargain is unlike slickdeals (USA site, no referrals)

    I've saved thousands, with minimal effort, thanks to the referral system alone.

    • NotReallyaMoneySaver on 25/12/2024 - 23:22
      +5

      I'm grateful for this website. I'd be lying if I said I haven't neglected homework for this site lmao.

    • Clear on 25/12/2024 - 23:26

      I'm thankful ozbargain is unlike slickdeals (USA site, no referrals)

      And reps don't need to pay 3-5 figure bribes to be able to share deals.

  • altomic on 25/12/2024 - 23:47
    +1

    Ozbargain is currently at 497,223 deals posted.

    What were the stand out deals for you?

    (Or too difficult to name as too many, or simply forgotten?)

  • foxmulder on 25/12/2024 - 23:55
    -4

    Thinking to buy IKEA $500 floor umbrella for protect car from harsh sun. What do you think of the idea? You think I also have to think about security as people may come and steal the umbrella?

    foxmulder on 25/12/2024 - 23:55 (Collapsed - Offtopic. Show)
  • p1 ama on 26/12/2024 - 00:35
    +9

    Have you ever felt that OzBargain has become "too mainstream"?

    It used to be that you would have to put in a lot of effort to find bargains - I'm old enough to remember scouring catalogues, going store-by-store and chatting with the salespeople, and even in the internet age, it was a heck of a lot of Googling, keeping my eye out for things, refreshing tabs…etc. Even when this site first started, there were many more niche bargains, and everything felt a bit more like a community.

    Now it seems like bargain hunting has become too "easy", where there are a large group of people who just come here to snipe bargains, never really contribute anything to the community.

    Has this all made "bargain hunting" as a hobby less fun and enjoyable for you?

    • scotty on 26/12/2024 - 09:03
      +11

      Have you ever felt that OzBargain has become "too mainstream"?

      It's definitely well known amongst some circles, but yet many still have no idea what OzBargain is. 2 things that are changing here — OzBargain itself and our own perception of what OzBargain is.

      I think OzBargain itself has probably reached its peak quite a few years ago — those who are doing their own researches on bargains in Australia would have found us already. So yeah, we are "mainstream" amongst bargain hunters. Like any society, there are producers and moochers, and I don't think it's less a community than when it first started when most people are posting.

      On the other hand, we all age and our perception changes. Every year we have people posting about the "good ol' days" and how the deals were better before.

      • whyisave on 26/12/2024 - 20:49
        +2

        Every year we have people posting about the "good ol' days" and how the deals were better before.

        Today is worse than yesterday, but better than tomorrow.

      • beach bum on 27/12/2024 - 11:11
        -1

        How about you have a tutorial for us older folks who don’t want to be moochers but didn’t grow up with a computer, so don’t have the natural skill set to post deals .
        Explain as if to a bacterium with memory issues.

  • shima888 on 26/12/2024 - 00:50
    +11

    Immensely grateful for your work, scotty.

    You've built a place like no other - the community, the helpfulness, the humour.
    Good to create some space for yourself now.

    How are you thinking about spending your time? (your #3++)

    And besides deals, what philosophies are you passing on to your next generation?

    • scotty on 26/12/2024 - 09:12
      +15

      spending your time

      I also have IRL community — family, friends, church, etc. I would like to slim down my Steam backlogs too :) Turning 50 in 2 years and one of my goal is running a 50k ultra (hence the need of upgrading my watch).

      philosophies are you passing on to your next generation

      Figuring out need and want can get you far in life.

      • mandelbrot on 26/12/2024 - 22:24

        Good luck with the ultra training. Have you done any marathons?

      • Kiz on 29/12/2024 - 08:31

        Oh nice, what ultra are you doing? I'm doing my first 50 plus in two weeks at 2 bays in Melbourne (56km).
        Trail running is fantastic for going a bit slower and enjoying some incredible scenery. Good luck with the training mate!

        • scotty on 29/12/2024 - 08:44
          +1

          I don't race (too cheap to pay :) so the distance is more of a personal pursuit (of midlife crisis or whatever).

          Planning on just doing a road ultra in Sydney. From Kingsford to Gordon via harbour bridge, and then back to Kingsford via Anzac bridge.

          • freekay on 29/12/2024 - 18:03
            +1

            @scotty: You should share your planned route, so some of use can join you/cheer you on!

          • Kiz on 07/01/2025 - 18:00

            @scotty: Fair enough! If you haven't already, you can download a lot of courses on event sites so you can do it without paying.
            Hardest thing about running long distance solo is the prep for drink stations etc. I have to carry my hydration best ok training runs packed with gels/fluid

  • try2bhelpful on 26/12/2024 - 01:50
    -5

    Just wondering how people can apply fur the job of moderator? I promise I’m not thinking about revenge.

    • try2bhelpful on 26/12/2024 - 07:39
      +5

      I seem to have some people worried.

      • mousie on 27/12/2024 - 09:50
        +5

        You'd make an excellent moderator

  • ECE on 26/12/2024 - 02:33
    +1

    Thank you Scott and may yoy have a good semi retirement ahead. Enjoy life while you can 💪🏿🙏🏿👏🏿

  • Jolakot on 26/12/2024 - 02:38
    +13

    How does ozbargain manage to avoid enshitification?

    It's one of the few websites I use that hasn't noticeably deteriorated in quality/greed since 2020, which is commendable.

    • Nugs on 26/12/2024 - 09:18
      -1

      "hasn't noticeably deteriorated in quality"
      Except for losing muzeeb
      .

    • scotty on 26/12/2024 - 09:27
      +52

      Probably because we just haven't really changed much over the years.

      From the business perspective, (1) we are currently profitable/not making loss (2) I am the sole shareholder (3) I think I am rich enough so little desire to be richer. I think many online business spiralled into enshitification due to their desire to turn profitable or make more money, mostly due to shareholder pressure. Hence mechanisms were implemented to generate more revenue but also annoy users at the same time.

      That's one reason that I don't want to sell OzBargain or take on investment. All the buyers / investors would promise to "keep the site exactly the same" but who knows when there's pressure of ROI.

      • htc on 27/12/2024 - 09:53
        +1

        The food provided in the annual ozbargain events are much better than the food provided in annual share holder meeting of some large corporation.

      • rompastompa on 27/12/2024 - 23:31
        +1

        their desire to turn profitable or make more money

        Exactly. Progress isn't always progress. I've always felt that this is the way here.

      • Windows7forever on 28/12/2024 - 19:31
        +1

        Thanks for your insights, Scotty. I met you about 10 years ago. You are very humble and a quiet achiever. I love the fact that ozb is independently owned and not subjected to the parasitic forces of capitalism.

  • Candeal on 26/12/2024 - 02:43
    +7

    Really like your thoughts towards ageing parents bro.
    If you had the option to retire in any country, where would you stay?

    • scotty on 26/12/2024 - 09:30
      +33

      Australia? Seriously we are really in a lucky country.

  • Fat Horny Ghost on 26/12/2024 - 04:53
    +4

    Must be a tough time dealing with the elderly parents and I admire that your prioritising them over work which many fail to do or do too late.

    My questions are:

    Has Ozbargain ever been sued given some legal matters/threats and how much was spent on legal costs?

    What is your favourite deal this year and all time?

    • scotty on 26/12/2024 - 09:40
      +9

      Sorry I really won't answer those "favourite deal" questions. I actually don't buy that many things.

      Has Ozbargain ever been sued given some legal matters/threats and how much was spent on legal costs?

      We've got plenty of legal threats, but never sued. The legal counsel we use is the one recommended to us by a senior mod at Whirlpool, who helped us communicating with lawyers on the other side. The most costly case is with the RHC Solicitors' C&D case in 2022, but that only costs us just a bit more than $2,000.

  • Charity on 26/12/2024 - 05:27
    +1

    What is your salary or earnings from OzBargain?

    Hope it is lots. You deserve it.

    • AustriaBargain on 26/12/2024 - 05:29
      +7

      Forbes estimates a net worth of a little under 300 million. There is speculation that OZB will be sold to Condé Nast, which would put Scotty's net worth north of 700 million if government regulators allow the sale.

    • scotty on 26/12/2024 - 09:46
      +27

      OzBargain earnings varies year by year, but we aren't doing that well for the last 2-3 years due to economy downturn, slightly reduced traffic, and reduced ad spend from companies.

      Personally I don't take salary. Often I don't even know what dividend I get from OzBargain earnings, until my accountant declares them in March the following year. However I do feel that I have more than enough.

      • Thenarrator on 27/12/2024 - 23:20
        -3

        can you spill more juice on this. more on the deets.

      • Windows7forever on 28/12/2024 - 19:32

        So humble. You deserve a billion dollars for your effort and genius.

  • AlienC on 26/12/2024 - 05:27
    +11

    I honestly have no idea how I would be here where I am now if ozbargain was never formed.

    Can you imagine a world without ozbargain we would all probably be in whirlpool forums or something.

    Haunting, so thank you scotty I really mean this is a great addition to the oceanic community and australia as a whole.

    • nosey on 27/12/2024 - 14:07

      Agree. I dont use social media or any other forums (where i might occasionally post comments at least). Ozbargain earnt a special place in my heart. Between the good deals and banter, its a one stop shop besides my news feeds.

      • AlienC on 27/12/2024 - 18:28
        +1

        Well said my friend they have really built the nicest warmest community I feel at least for my personality and needs.

        You don't realise how great something is until you try to picture your life without it.

  • welcomeUniverseWorld on 26/12/2024 - 05:44

    Have you ever thought of putting a portion of OzBargain’s revenue into hard but risky assets like Bitcoin?

    • scotty on 26/12/2024 - 09:49
      +27

      No. I don't like Bitcoin as an asset type — not because it's risky, but because it's non productive. I will invest in productive assets, into companies that are actually making something. However I don't have time to do the research so I often just ended up buying ETFs.

  • Dollar General on 26/12/2024 - 05:52
    +1

    Do you believe Australia encourages entrepreneurship?

  • TEER3X on 26/12/2024 - 06:39
    +4

    Do you miss slavoz?

  • Lucille Bluth on 26/12/2024 - 07:40

    1) How often do moderators deal with personal attacks or harassment from users?

    2) A recent example of a deal that is dodgy is the Solar Panel MAGA guy offering a deal in 2024 for customers not vaccinated against COVID-19 where there would have been quite a lot of reports needing to be moderated. Serial pest, where it is clear he is trying to be extreme to get publicity. Thoughts on permanently banning reps who cause a lot of wasted time moderating posts that are trying to elicit rage?

    3) Are moderators compensated, and if so, does it affect their neutrality?

    4) How many legal threats from reps has OzBargain received in 2024? Is it on par with previous years?

    • scotty on 26/12/2024 - 10:00
      +8

      While each individual moderator has his/her own agenda and opinions, as a team we do want to be as unbiased as we can. However I do detect there are some bias in your questions. No, we do not ban users because other users feel that their time was wasted.

      Moderators are directly compensated by the company publishing OzBargain (ABN in the footer below). All moderators are full time salary employees with super, workers comp, etc. Not sure how being compensated by OzBargain is affecting their neutrality?

      Legal threats? Too many. An actual letter from a lawyer? Only one this year.

  • theHMASfriendship on 26/12/2024 - 07:45

    What is your favourite pizza topping

  • macca22 on 26/12/2024 - 08:04

    thanks for price reductions to our good friend scotty .Been a member since 2008 I check OZ everyday and never buy till researched through your site .
    getting old here as well could go on pension but like the good things too much.

  • try2bhelpful on 26/12/2024 - 08:12
    +2

    Thanks Scotty for the work you do for us.

  • tightarse on 26/12/2024 - 08:23
    +10

    Thanks for just being you scotty. Wishing you nothing but continued success and good health ☺️

  • hentabara on 26/12/2024 - 08:34

    How much is operational cost of ozbargain (in term of server, 3rd party software license)?

    • scotty on 26/12/2024 - 10:07
      +8

      Servers — maybe ~$600/month for all the VPS & one dedicated server. We also have CloudFlare business plan on OzBargain which is US$200.

      I need to do some calculations on 3rd party licenses. A few things we pay:

      • Google Workspace
      • Slack (mod team communication)
      • Sentry (exception monitoring)
      • ScraperAPI
      • leiiv on 26/12/2024 - 22:53

        Do you think there is a better tech stack that has better efficiency than the current one? That is, faster speed/performance and better scalability with the same cost.

        • scotty on 27/12/2024 - 06:46
          +2

          For sure.

          What's the time & cost of rewriting OzBargain in that latest & greatest stack though? Not worth it.

      • rompastompa on 27/12/2024 - 23:36
        • Slack (mod team communication)

        Any plans to open this up to Power Users (Single/Multi chan guest?)

      • AllHopeIs404 on 30/12/2024 - 09:48
        +1

        How do you keep the server costs so low? I would've imagined it to be a lot higher with the amount of traffic you receive. Surely database cost would be a lot higher than this too?

        Would you mind sharing what's the general tech stack for the site?

        • whyisave on 30/12/2024 - 13:27
          +1

          Would you mind sharing what's the general tech stack for the site?

          Mentioned here

  • JakeyJooJoo on 26/12/2024 - 08:34
    +3

    Are there any safety measures, blockers, filters, automated solutions to detect and block non people accounts on ozbargain? Ones making posts and ones up/down voting their agenda.

    The site has grown a lot over time, and just recently there seems to have been politically motivated accounts that haven't passed the smell test for me. If my hunch is correct, expecting to see more and more of this. Would be a shame if not addressed as historically ozbargain forums have been very authentic.

    • scotty on 26/12/2024 - 10:11
      +5

      I've stated this before — half of the traffic on OzBargain is from bots. We can turn a switch on our CloudFlare panel to block all bots, but then lots of people will start complaining about their tools no longer work. As of bots doing the posting / voting — they get detected very quickly and removed. Sorry to say that your hunch might not be correct, and there might just happen to be other users whose agenda are different from yours.

    • welcomeUniverseWorld on 26/12/2024 - 10:34
      +2

      There are bots here? What is their purpose? It is simply a site for bargain hunting??

      • Switchblade88 on 26/12/2024 - 12:33
        +4

        Have you never seen JV pop up in the comments??

      • neoleo on 26/12/2024 - 17:39
        +1

        Maybe the bots are being used to check certain deals and inform or purchase certain deals that are profitable or give other benefits for the bots owner? For example very cheap phones for reselling maybe or other great deals such as "profitable" Pizza Hut deal from Shopback :P etc.

      • tonka on 06/01/2025 - 02:13

        All the brands measuring their exposure. There's people whose job is watching TV and listening to radio to collecting data on how often brands are mentioned.

  • SnowDragon on 26/12/2024 - 09:14

    Has any business ever offered you money to make a deal post which isn't a very good bargain?

    • scotty on 26/12/2024 - 10:12
      +8

      Multiple times a day. Those requests almost always go straight to bin.

      • DontNeedThis on 26/12/2024 - 10:41

        almost? can you please elaborate?

        • scotty on 26/12/2024 - 10:43
          +9

          Very rare case I actually bothered to reply saying we don't actually do paid posting.

  • soggypotato on 26/12/2024 - 09:15
    +1

    Hey scotty, did you just turned 18?

    • scotty on 26/12/2024 - 10:12
      +5

      I wish.

  • nearbyghost on 26/12/2024 - 09:30
    +1

    Thank you for building an amazing thing and sharing it with us. I hope your plans to step back five you what you want from life!

  • nahi11 on 26/12/2024 - 10:22
    +1

    I miss the good ol days when there were 1,000+ vote deals everyday (like delivery hero) and felt like there was an active competition to post the best deals
    It feels quieter now which I presume is due to COVID impacts. Does ozbargain just have to ride the wave or is there anything under consideration to increase engagement again? Again, I presume the meetups are partly for this reason?

  • 2025 on 26/12/2024 - 10:36
    +1

    Ozbargain demonstrably allow, and sometimes feature on the front page, discussions about unlicensed software, piracy and other intellectual property theft, often promoting these as bargains.

    What is your personal view with consuming digital content? Do you personally adhere to and respect the digital media content creators’ wishes (whether it’s software, music, movies) regarding licensing and distribution?

    • scotty on 26/12/2024 - 20:03
      +6

      Personally I pay for the digital content that I consume — either by viewing the ads, or subscription or once off fees. As I stated in this comment 2 months ago, people can also choose not to consume if they don't want to pay. IMHO I think piracy is immoral because it rips off the content creators, but I also understand that everyone has different moral compass. So on OzBargain there are often things that I am not comfortable with but are legal. Who then am I to judge?

      You'll find that linking to piracy sites or warez sites are already banned on OzBargain. However discussing them or links to related discussions aren't illegal so they can stay.

  • mmd on 26/12/2024 - 11:06

    1 how has inflation affected ozbargain?
    A. Is there an increase in user traffic since interest rate rises as the public are trying to stretch their budget as far as possible?
    B. Does it affect ozbargain at business level? I.e. increase rent etc etc.

    • scotty on 26/12/2024 - 12:26
      +10

      A. No increase in user traffic. It has been asked quite a few times before. I don't think people look on OzBargain when their budget is tight — often quite the opposite.

      B. I own my own house and "office", i.e. the granny flat out in the back. It does affect people's view on bargains. For example $8 Maccas meal is somehow a deal now, when you used to be able to get one for $5.

  • htc on 26/12/2024 - 11:13

    What car do you drive? Do you buy a used or a new car?
    This q was inspired by your daughter wanting to spend 50k on car.

    • scotty on 26/12/2024 - 12:33
      +7

      2020 Mitsubishi Outlander ES. Bought new. Please note that in my comment, she did not want to "spend 50k on car", but rather suggested that we could buy a second car from the money we spent on OzBargain meetup. She would want to get a Lamborghini but also understand that she just needs a reliable and relatively economical car to get her from A to B (which we already have).

      • whyisave on 26/12/2024 - 16:49
        -1

        She would want to get a Lambo

        That's her subtle nudge at getting her some BTC 🥸

  • suchan on 26/12/2024 - 11:48

    Do you play games on a Console? What's your all-time favourite game ?

    • scotty on 26/12/2024 - 12:40
      +2

      Bought an Xbox 360 when the kids were young, and played Kinect and those LEGO games with them. It's still sitting in the TV cabinet but hasn't been turned on for years.

      Don't really have an all-time favourite. Some memorable games — my teen years Ultima 6/7. Oblivion and Skyrim from 10+ years ago. Recently probably Elden Ring.

      • nosey on 27/12/2024 - 14:15

        Ultima 7 so memorable for me. Was one of my first PC games that i got on holidays in Singapore without knowing anything about it (was just a good price and it looked cool). Blew my mind.

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