OzBargain

As a small business owner, I feel compelled to share my experience with the OzBargain website… an experience that has been nothing short of appalling. From the forum users to the moderators, the site fosters an environment where bullying, harassment, and even discriminatory behaviour are not only present but often ignored or entertained. Rather… Read more

than supporting local businesses, the community frequently engages in hateful, destructive commentary aimed at tearing down brands and small operators. Constructive criticism is one thing, but what’s happening here is toxic and harmful. The site appears to have no proper moderation or accountability, and in some cases, it seems moderators even find amusement in the negativity that runs rampant.

This platform has unfortunately become a hostile space that damages reputations and livelihoods under the guise of “deals” and “bargains.” It’s not only disappointing, it’s disgraceful and deeply un-Australian.

I urge fellow small business owners and consumers who value fairness to be extremely cautious when engaging with OzBargain. A platform like this should not have the power to unjustly impact hardworking businesses.

I was made aware of OzBargain's entry on Product Review via a negative review on the OzBargain's Chrome extension. As an early adopter and long time user of OzBargain, I feel compelled to write my own review to defend the website's reputation. 1. The low rating score of OzBargain on Product Review does not reflect the usefulness of the website. I… Read more

mostly use Product Review to research potential business I would like to deal with, or leave negative review for business I had very poor experience with to warn others from engaging with them.

I imagine that's how most people also use this site, hence the mostly very negative and low rating of most business listed on this site.

2. At the same time, I'm surprised at the low rating OzBargain has received on this site. A website setup to help people save money. Who would be against that?

I spent about half an hour reading the recent negative reviews. They range from, this site restricts free speech to it has no moderation. One person even said that the site is pro Beijing but also allowed general Western leftism. Someone complained about having a negative experience promoting their business on OzBargain. Another person complained about the website promote cheap Chinese goods.

Below are my responses to those people.

- OzBargain is primarily a website to help you save money, so take advantage of the deals that applies to you, and ignore the rest, including the comments and discussions. The majority of users on the website do exactly that. They don't spend time arguing with strangers on the internet.

If you choose to engage in the comments, people have the right to downvote your comment if they don't agree with them. Don't call it lack of free speech just because you are used to living in an echo chamber.

- Similarly, I don't believe OzBargain is pro Beijing, or Israel, or Palestine, or vaccine. The general user base are more woke and left leaning. It's call progress. We want to leave the world a better place than we found it. You are welcome to spout your anti-vax conspiracy theories, just don't be surprise if you get down vote. I don't recall seeing the OzBargain moderator banning anyone for posting their anti-vax opinion. They leave it to the community to vote those comments up/down.

- OzBargain is a website to help user discover bargains. It's not a platform for you to promote your business, unless you have a genuine bargain to share. The users come first.

- I estimate about 5% of the deals are cheaply made Chinese products. The rest are expensive, high quality Chinese made products like iPhones, plus a wide variety of products and services that has nothing to do with China. Again, if the bargain does not apply to you, move on.

I subscribe to their RSS feed. I probably see hundred of deals each day. I bookmark a few, but I only jump onto a deal about once a week.

- To the person who got banned for making a post, asking how to block ads on OzBargain. The website make money from showing ads and affiliate fees (when the user is not using their own affiliate services). You are supposed to do your own research, or ask this kind of question elsewhere. Imagine going into McDonald and complain that their prices are too expensive, and ask loudly "How do I get McDonald for free?" You think McDonald won't throw you out?

I have been using ad blockers for almost as long as they have existed. Many people on OzBargain also use ad blocker. No one has ever been banned for using an ad blocker. Just don't be stupid about it.

This place lists deals and discounts discovered by regular people and posted on the site. Sometimes merchants themselves will list a deal. It also hosts a vibrant community, with all walks of life, and many different viewpoints. Oversight is limited in the forums, allowing a generally open discussion about almost anything. There are many… Read more

regular users, infamous for their own traits, and friendships and feuds are sometimes played out in realtime.

A fantastic feature is the voting system on comments. When viewing another users comment, you can choose to leave the comment as is, up vote it, or down vote the comment. If a comment is downvoted enough by other members, it is hidden from view, with an option to unhide it once logged in.

In some cases it clearly indicates contentious comments - those with as many up votes as down votes can be polarising. Other times, with many downvotes, it can indicate that perhaps the comment missed the mark.

Some reviewers here obviously hate receiving feedback about their comments, whether from a vote or via moderation, and can’t cope when they aren’t well received.

Other features that are exciting to mention include the ability to tailor the news feed, subscribe to emails and notifications of products, brands or stores that you’re interested in, and the old deals, even when expired, are still visible.

Not sure about the hate about this site. I've been watching this site for decades, and while I rarely buy anything listed, it's interesting to see what's there. The site is not targeted at people on a budget, it exists more for discounts on high end tech, entertainment products, mens' clothes, etc. The community aspect has never been of interest to me, it's easy to just look at the products and ignore that aspect, if you wish.

Excellent site, I visit frequently and it has helped me find many bargains. I particularly find the subscribe and email alert functions helpful to keep track of new deals. Come for the bargains, stay for the forums - I personally recommend saying hello to Pam and completely ignoring JV.

An excellent website/App for bargain hunters – I honestly don't understand all of the negative reviews. For start, OzBargain is free and it is the best platform for bargain hunters in Australia hands-down. I love hunting for bargains and have been an active user of Ozbargain for 8 years. Over the years, I have learnt so much knowledge about money saving from other members and found so many bargains as well because of other members' efforts.

Don't get sucked in and think that there are heaps of bargains on this site. A lot are people just take info that others have shared elsewhere and then post on ozbargain. It's basically another social media site where some lonely people come to get some self worth. E.g. the regular posters get all worked up when someone votes negative on their comments or posts.

Geez there are some bored people on this site. The active posters throw their weight around but then just posts useless "bargains". One of them is basically using the site as if it's his own social media to show off where he's going or been. It's very clear that this site is mainly used by immature people who just want attention.

BIGGEST SCAM Website ever! You try to post or submit something and they don't approve and ban you for no reason. I don't know how they allow these types of websites to run.

Was good to find deals sometimes, and competitions - but ultimately the messageboards/forums are Full of racist cis males with more internet points than braincells, often using sock-puppets to up vote each other. There's little commentary on topics that doesn't devolve into political, Trumpy, racist, N@zi nasties. Nothing but bullying and bigotry here. Says a lot about the mods and owners. Show details

It was once a fantastic website, unfortunately it has been infiltrated by political wokeness which sways the vote on many bargains. Its so sad to see, can we have no space without politics? I just want to chill and find bargains, leave the politics out of it, move to reddit.

The Ugly Truth Behind OzBargain What was once a go-to hub for genuine deals and community-driven savings has devolved into a toxic echo chamber of sarcastic man-children, aggressive trolls, and unchecked moderators on power trips. The quality of bargains has dropped significantly, now dominated by low-grade Chinese imports, rehashed game deals,… Read more

and affiliate bait. If you're not parroting the forum's hive mind or worshipping the self-proclaimed deal gods, expect ridicule or outright bans—especially if you're a new user trying to contribute.

Moderation is arbitrary and opaque. Legitimate feedback is often met with silence, mockery, or punishment. Criticism isn’t tolerated; dissenting views are met with shadow bans or "penalty boxes" without explanation. Meanwhile, troll users and cliques are left to roam free, drowning out useful discourse with unhelpful, smug one-liners.

Despite branding itself as a community, the atmosphere is anything but welcoming. From overreach in data collection to allegations of ideological bias and potential censorship, the platform’s governance raises serious concerns. OzBargain no longer serves its user base—it enforces conformity, rewards toxicity, and punishes critical thought.

Come for the deals. Stay quiet—or get silenced.

The site has went down hill with land-fill-product-loving supremacists's attitude. They looked down to people and brands that go for quality and reasonable price. Instead, they look up to themselves finding cheap deal trash products from China

For deals, especially price error deals and the like, it is quite good. I have got some real bargains from there. The big let down is the number of regular posters who still think they are 5 years old and equate good conversation/posting so sarcastic one liners like they are all mutually backslapping themselves at a birthday party after telling… Read more

a poor joke.

I cannot understand how so many low IQ serfs think sarcasm and innuendo is valid conversation. Moderation supports and actively participates in this rubbish allowing a certain number of users to do what they like whilst banning others just for breathing.

I got booted last year for replying to a regular poster talking about population control being needed and all I said was "let's start with you then if you want this so bad" and that was it. I was agreeing with him and making a suggestion based on THEIR words but, no, mods protected their regular.

These ridiculous mods don't even realise you do not need to be a member spouting child like cliches at people to view the deals. You can see them without being a member, its not some secret club!

They are bagging out the reviews on here right now, same old faces spouting the same old rubbish.

Today I noticed a post in regards to this exact page, highlighting the sheer amount of negative reviews. It's fascinating how this post openly invites "honest" feedback while simultaneously existing in a space where dissent is often met with bans, suspensions, or mockery from moderators. The irony is palpable: asking for transparency and genuine… Read more

opinions within a platform that, by many accounts, struggles to tolerate criticism.

Rather than confronting the volume and consistency of negative feedback across multiple threads—which point to a pattern of over-moderation, dismissiveness, and a lack of accountability—the response from insiders often borders on ridicule. That kind of defensiveness speaks volumes.

What's more troubling is the apparent ease with which ownership and moderation can trace reviewers. It calls into question the psychological safety of anyone daring to share an unfiltered experience. In environments where people fear retribution for being critical, is it any wonder the “honest feedback” skewers toward praise or silence?

If the goal was genuine introspection, this would have been handled internally, or at the very least, independently. The need for a third-party post highlights a more fundamental truth: when people don't feel safe giving feedback in the actual space where the problem occurs, you don’t have a review problem—you have a trust problem.

A concerningly pro Chinese website that wraps itself up in mediocre deals that largely don't work or check out. It had a period of months where it was probably pretty good. but that was years ago. The comments are heavily regulated with a pro Beijing viewpoint always prevailing. General western leftism is accepted as that's seen for what it is divisive and harmful to Australian society so naturally it's allowed to proliferate. STAY AWAY!

There are some real loud mouths on this site that try to put every person down just because they are an active user. A place for bored single men to hang out in.

I'm not one to normally post negative reviews, but the state of the OzBargain community and its moderation has really nosedived over last several years. While there are still some great people around, the loudest voices belong to the toxic and bigoted. Unfortunately, the moderation team seems to turn a blind eye to hate speech and the increasingly… Read more

toxic culture, likely because it drives engagement. It’s disappointing, especially when it goes against their own stated policies and erodes trust in the community. Looks like the culture wars are there to stay.

[Content Removed] [Content Removed] toxic consumerist far right community. Even the "Voting guidelines" state that: Use a positive vote when: "you feel the deal is good" Don't use a negative vote when: "I don't think it's a good deal"

The forum is toxic. you go there and post a genuine issue and then get the trolls such as "brendanm" "MS Paint" and "randomusername2017" filling the thread up with insulting and unhelpful bile. and the moderators refuse to moderate the thread. I really would recommend avoiding this forum if your looking for any purchasing advice because it will get drowned out by the trolling and insults.

The deals are trash these days as those who post deals get their content reappropriated is not in their arbitrary format. It's plagued now by game deals and terrible quality USB cables. Looking elsewhere. Used to be great founder retired with monkeys at running the circus.

The mods and lack of accountability have ruined the community – The current crop of mods are ruining OzBargain in my view. Just look at the huge number of one star reviews lately. One mod I had a bad experience with is 'hamza23' who does not even bother to justify his actions or reply to me. This lack of accountability has made OzBargain a lot worse than it used to be.