Offers from "Commercial Interaction" forum supporters

Vexorg

I have invited Komplett, one of our commercial interaction forum supporters to post their Weekly Offer on the Bargain Alerts Board. I am hoping that we will have another shop using the CI forum in the very near future who will also have offers to post here.

This facility will only be available to our Commercial Interaction Forum Supporters and is not a free for all for anyone to spam or pimp their wares, nor is it an invite for anyone to troll these offers saying I can find that cheaper elsewhere.

mcgovern

If any normal person posts a bargain alert, and if someone knows its cheaper somewhere else, then they'll post saying so.
I know the maintenance of the site is probably costing a fortune, but you have to remember that people put a lot more faith in bargain alerts here being genuine bargains than they would in an ad.

Vexorg

but you have to remember that people put a lot more faith in bargain alerts here being genuine bargains than they would in an ad.

Absolutely - but it is the trolling of an offer as opposed to a valid comparison that is the issue, this may not happen at all. Secondly it will be pretty clear that an offer from the company as opposed to a "Shill" offer.

Any other thoughts?

johnny_adidas

does it not defeat the purpose of a bargain alert if the seller is posting a bargain as they will obviously think its a bargain? is it not the same as someone posting an item such and such is a bargain that they have for sale on ebay or the for sale section (for example) to generate sales?

Fnz

Why bother?

If the bargain's good then someone will post it to the Bargain Alert board anyway.

There has been some truly awful "weekly offers" in the past and IMHO it would be wrong to give a company permission to post up whatever they happen to be calling "a bargain" every week without any sort of vetting process.

BendiBus

Will these 'Weekly Offer' threads be open threads so posters can reply with cheaper alternatives they've found?

Ruu_Old

I would imagine so and also Komplett pay for their interaction forum so I don't see why they shouldn't be allowed post here. Bring it McKomplett (maybe knock a few quid off for boards members).

neacy69

Fnz wrote:

Why bother?

If the bargain's good then someone will post it to the Bargain Alert board anyway.

There has been some truly awful "weekly offers" in the past and IMHO it would be wrong to give a company permission to post up whatever they happen to be calling "a bargain" every week without any sort of vetting process.

I agree with this...if the offer truly was a bargain then surely someone will put it in the bargain alerts thread anyway but komplett and the like throwing up there own specials offers does not always constitute a bargain especially if we start to post links to other sites which have the same or similar products for cheaper.

A special offer is not always a bargain!!!!

EDIT: Also I have always taken peace in the fact that a bargain posted here has been posted by someone with no vested interested in the offer (ie its not their product they are promoting and they are not just tryna make a profit from us). If advertisers start to post here that could be challenged

Linoge

Fnz wrote:

Why bother?

If the bargain's good then someone will post it to the Bargain Alert board anyway.

There has been some truly awful "weekly offers" in the past and IMHO it would be wrong to give a company permission to post up whatever they happen to be calling "a bargain" every week without any sort of vetting process.

I agree to a certain extent, but whats the difference between this and ibood? Every other day someone posts up iboods offer. Sometimes they are decent (as in decent products), but they are no cheaper than an ebay shop. People see "an offer" and jump at it. If those jokes for posters on the ibood forum are anything to go by it seems that people get greater enjoyment out of getting their daily bargain rather than a product that they want at a bargain price.

Almost all of the bargain alert threads that do well in here are electronics (Tesco LCD TV anyone?!!), so I think that Komplett may compliment this forum.

I would be strongly against any kind of censorship of discussion of the product, service, price or alternatives. If it truly is a bargain (and not just an offer as Neacy was saying) then there would never be a problem:)

5h4mr0(k

I agree with the majority of the replies so far.

If there's a bargain to be had in the newsletter people will post it, and discuss it. It's merits, it value, or otherwise.

Starting to add in postings from vested interests defeats the purpose of the thread. Maybe just get them to post to a similar one on adverts.ie

forbairt

I say let them post their bargains so long as people are allowed to question them ... and post alternatives ... or else its just not a bargain alert its an advertisement ...

Helix

Linoge wrote:

whats the difference between this and ibood? Every other day someone posts up iboods offer

its punters who deem the items worthy of being in here who post up ibood offers, not ibood themselves

thats the main difference for me anyway

komplett posting their offers up here will probably just result in people going out of their way to find offers cheaper than kompletts and posting them in the thread, which in a perverse way, may turn out to be a very very good thing

Linoge

Helix wrote:

its punters who deem the items worthy of being in here who post up ibood offers, not ibood themselves

What I was trying to say was that the people who look at ibood automatically assume that it is a bargain when it generally is not. The reason why its products are posted in here some days are totally down to the items themselves.

Eg. 30" LCD @ EUR700 will get posted. D&G ladies @ EUR10 won't. Which is the bargain though?

Try it, look through all previous ibood posts. They all can all be plugged in. Then, look for that same item on amazon or ebay.

horgan_p

i would say o.k. as long as komplett or whoever wont mind if we "critique" the offer e.g. komplett or whoever offers a 500gb hard disk for say 200 and someone else comes back and says that the drive is crap or overpriced.as long as komplett dont take it as boards.ie being hostile towards them and understand that it is the offer being crticised.

i would hate for the idea to go ahead and then for komplett to complain about criticism being levelled at the offer.in the end of it all they are a "sponsor" and criticism has a knack of frightening them off.



i like the word criticism, i use it way too much though;)

Mr Magnolia

forbairt wrote:

I say let them post their bargains so long as people are allowed to question them ... and post alternatives ... or else its just not a bargain alert its an advertisement ...

Tend to agree with this, would the creation of a Bargain Alerts sub-forum suit this?

kaizersoze

neacy69 wrote:

A special offer is not always a bargain!!!!

True but a bargain means different things to different people.

I think it's a great idea. It's not like it's any company. Komplett are regular participants on Boards. They know what Boards is about and how tech savvy the members are.

Fnz

Linoge wrote:

Every other day someone posts up iboods offer.

True... and how often do Komplett have "bargains" mentioned on this site - aside for the mispriced items which (understandably) aren't honoured?

Linoge wrote:

Sometimes they are decent (as in decent products), but they are no cheaper than an ebay shop.

Not everyone trusts Ebay shops - we hear of a lot of "fakes" going around.

Linoge wrote:

People see "an offer" and jump at it. If those jokes for posters on the ibood forum are anything to go by it seems that people get greater enjoyment out of getting their daily bargain rather than a product that they want at a bargain price.

I suppose that's true of some people but the posters on the iBOOD forums are often, as you say, jokes.

Vexorg

Thanks for the feedback guys

Clearly the desire to post "better" value items is something a lot of people would like to do and probably something Komplett would be interested in if it comparing like for like, eg similar postage and including VAT and duty paid.

I am interested to see how it goes, clearly they will be normal Offers, but some of these offers are Bargains compared to other stores, is limited to our Commercial Interaction Forums supporters and is just a weekly offer and not something posted every day. These people support Boards.ie and its just a way to give something back to them and hopefully get more bargains thrown into the mix.

A sub forum could be a good idea, and one I had thought of, but in that instance the sub forum would always be visible, however a thread will fall off the front page pretty quickly if it not such a good deal. Having this sort of interaction with a Company can bring real value, if they post and no one is interested, they will have to do better next time or it becomes a pointless exercise.

Do you have any thoughts on how we could make this work? clearly Its important that this works to your advantage.

Ruu_Old

I would be afraid of a subforum being overlooked and not getting the attention a thread would get in the main forum, I could be wrong.

forbairt

Ruu wrote:

I would be afraid of a subforum being overlooked and not getting the attention it would in the main forum, I could be wrong.

I doubt a subforum would get a lot of people looking at it as there would be what .. 2 ? companies posting in there ? ...

I still think people need to be able to comment on the items and link to alternative sources for these items ... if people can't comment on the items can it really be called a bargain alert. It would also show kompletts confidence in what it is calling a bargain. I personally think their customer service is a factor ... even if people link to a site with it cheaper ..

old boy

a bargain is usually only a bargain in the eyes of the purchaser

David Michael

old boy wrote:

a bargain is usually only a bargain in the eyes of the purchaser

Not really. Dell 26 inch LCD etc.

I would not be for the commercial forum posting here unless it was an EOL or "B" product sale. Weekly offers are just that and they have their own forum for it. Double posting would deregate both forums.

They should be allowed to post their proper one off bargains though as stated above....and not seen as "taking advantage"

So thinks I.

Fnz

old boy wrote:

a bargain is usually only a bargain in the eyes of the purchaser

I think you're confusing 'bargains' with 'beauty', beauty!

Zaph

Rather than a sub-forum which might be overlooked, why not allow Komplett a sticky on the main forum for when they have genuine bargains, and not just the regular offer of the week from their own forum. This would allow people to post comments about it and McKomplett could then post when the item is sold out or the price changes and the thread is unstickied and allowed to drop.

Basq

zaph wrote:

Rather than a sub-forum which might be overlooked, why not allow Komplett a sticky on the main forum for when they have genuine bargains, and not just the regular offer of the week from their own forum. This would allow people to post comments about it and McKomplett could then post when the item is sold out or the price changes and the thread is unstickied and allowed to drop.

Yep.. i endorse this product and / or idea (and / or thread)

smashey

I would go with the "sticky" idea.

Fnz

zaph wrote:

Rather than a sub-forum which might be overlooked, why not allow Komplett a sticky on the main forum for when they have genuine bargains, and not just the regular offer of the week from their own forum. This would allow people to post comments about it and McKomplett could then post when the item is sold out or the price changes and the thread is unstickied and allowed to drop.

The problem with that is; you are implying that the regular weekly offers are (at least sometimes) not "genuine bargains".

I don't expect Komplett to come along to Bargain Alerts and deny that any of their weekly offers are bargains - in which case will there be a new replacement sticky every week? If there is, then Komplett will have at least 2 threads on the first page of bargain alerts for part of the week. I'd have no problem with this if I was in any way confident that we are going to be regularly alerted to decent bargains.

subway

whats the idea behind this?
a favor for komplett or a few euro for boards?

honestly, if people actualy thought these things were bargains theyed be getting posted up already.
im sincerely of the opinion that komplett knock a euro or 2 off the price of a "special item" and hope for an impulse buy.
putting the offers up for scrutiny in here could actually lose them that impulse buy.

i cant see this ever getting off the ground as i dont see any benefit for komplett.