The community guidelines are a rough blend of what this site was intended for and the changing attitudes of the community. They have been written to try and help make your experience here more pleasant. Please note these are guidelines and are at the discretion of moderators.

Summary of Guidelines

POST a clear title including price and location.	DO NOT post duplicate deals.
DECLARE if you are a merchant or have some relationship with the merchant.	DO NOT sockpuppet or artificially vote for your deal.
LINK directly to the deal.	NO Adult websites.
CHECK competitors prices before posting.	NO Freeware or Free Websites.
MAKE sure there is sufficient quantity.	NO Gambling Sites.
BE respectful to others.	NO Banned Items or Websites.
REPORT any problems to a MODERATOR.	NO Charity Links.
POST only active deals for group buy sites.	NO Competitions.
DEALS that are available to New Zealand.	NO Affiliate Links anywhere. NO Referral Links in the URL field (only description).
COMBINE deals from the same merchant.	NO Price Matching deals.

• Did someone else post the deal already? Search for your deal.
• Is this really the best price on the web? Check for the lowest prices.
• Is the cost of postage, fees or other costs included?
• Is this deal available to New Zealand?
• Is there enough quantity? Ensure there is adequate quantity.

Do not post the following:

• Auctions.
• Competitions or contests. More information.
• Adult sites or adult items. Check banned items.
• Gambling or Betting websites.
• Deals that resemble work or a job.
• Deals available only to staff or employees.
• Do not ask for users to vote for your deal.
• Refrain from creating any contests or competitions within the deal as this detracts from the bargain.

Be transparent about why you are posting a deal here:

• Declare upfront if you have a relationship to the business.
• Declare upfront if you will benefit from the posting or if someone asked you to post here.
• If you are affiliated with the company.

If any of the above is true, check the *I am a Store Representative* box.

Someone else might have already submitted the deal. In that case, vote on the existing deal instead. Duplicated deals will be removed.

There are 3 ways of searching to see if your deal has been posted.

1. Use the search function to find the product or special you are posting.
2. See deals by domain to see the recent deal posted from that store.
3. See product tags to see recent deals posted that are tagged with your product.

* New users shouldn't write I'm new, don't flame me etc.

For first time posters, it's best to avoid telling the community that you are new and asking them to take it easy on you. The “L-plate icon” will be shown to indicate if this is your first post.

• Please check Title Guidelines on how to write a descriptive title for your deal.
• Please check Tagging Guidelines on how to correctly tag a deal.

Please explain clearly what the deal is about:

1. State the merchant and product model, and provide a brief description if you wish.
2. State the price.
3. State the location (city and state) if it is specific to an area.
4. If it's a deal for walk in customers, mention that
5. If shipping is required, state the shipping cost to major New Zealandn cities if this information is available; approximate range is ok if the exact cost is variable or not available. (Store representatives must provide this information - there should be no reason to hide this from potential customers.) At the least, state ”+Shipping”
6. State any relevant terms & conditions, such as expiry date and any “hidden catches”.
7. Summarise briefly why it is a bargain - why did you buy it or consider it worth sharing? How does the price compare to elsewhere? Can you comment from personal experience on the quality of the product?

• Do provide the most relevant details but do not copy pages and pages of specifications from the link.
• Please use the > sign at the start of any line of text copied from webpages, flyers, etc. The Markdown Markdown Extra syntax will mark this text as a quote (with a left-hand orange border), rather than appearing to be your own words.
• Each deal should be specific to one store as far as possible. All deals posted for a store are listed on the appropriate store page, and the store page is often used by users to check for duplicates. If you have multiple deals from multiple stores, post them as separate deals so that other users can easily find them by store.
• Note: If you know someone who works for or owns that business or if someone asks you to post or comment, state this when posting or commenting

• Always link directly to the specific product page.

• Do not link to the company's top-level website unless there is no specific page that can be used instead.

Linking to a top-level website, especially when there is a direct link to the product, is often regarded as spam-like conduct and is not welcomed.

• Do not post affiliate or referral links in the URL.

If you have an affiliate or referral link, please put the URL in the description only. The unaffiliated link that links directly to the specific product should be put in the URL field. More about affiliate links.

• If the link is from a third-party site like Facebook or Twitter, please complete the Store Domain field (located below the URL field) if it has not been automatically pre-filled.

For example, if you are linking to a promotion for Woolworths that is published on Facebook, enter 'woolworths.com.au' in the Store Domain field.

• Do not link to a picture.

There is no need to link to a picture on a website. A screenshot will automatically be generated from the URL of the linked website.

* Use only when there is no direct link to the bargain or information supporting the bargain.

The Media File Uploader is not needed in the vast majority of cases. The uploader should only be used for scanned images (e.g. catalogues, flyers) and photos (e.g. receipts, pricing displays) when there is no webpage or website that could be linked to instead.

If you are using the link generated by Media File Uploader as the URL for a deal, please complete the Store Domain field if it has not been automatically pre-filled.

If your deal has limited quantity, please mention it in the description. If the quantity is too small then your deal may be removed. As a guideline, less than 10 quantity of items is not enough for a deal unless the item has a high price.

Where a seller is unknown, has very little history to establish a sales history, or there are other problems identifying that the end organisation really is a retailer, wholesaler or manufacturer, the deal might be unpublished or modified.

We've had a number of stores trying to just dump links to their site without identifying anything on their site that would be a bargain.

So, please make sure to identify a bargain on your site or don't post until you have one or you may even get your site banned or worse.

If it's a listing on a site such as eBay, quicksales etc please follow all other guidelines to see if the listing should be excluded for any reason.

Remember to consider whether it really is a bargain as compared with stores.

If it still looks okay, next look at the history of the seller. If they've been selling for a while and still seem to be active, the listing is more likely to be allowed.

• Related article – Posting Guidelines on eBay Items, Posting Guidelines on quicksales

Think twice if you are posting more than one deal from a site. Are they all really good deals?

It's also possible to post a deal, mentioning the best offer, and mention ”+ more” in the title, then put details of the other bargains in the same posting (along with direct links to those items too)

If more than one post is found for the same site per day, some posts may be removed to reduce clutter (especially where postings are not considered bargains).

Some merchants offer Price Match against the same product listed online or in other shops. However, price match itself is not a deal, but rather a method to make a merchant to sell you the same product at a lower price than another merchant's publicly listed price (which is usually the lowest price around).

Therefore, instead of posting the price match as a bargain, the real deal should be from the merchant who is offering the lowest price. Price matching is a bonus, and other members of ChoiceCheapies need to arrange their own price match. For example a specific model of HP laptop is cheapest at DickSmith, and you get Officeworks to price match at 5% less. To post this deal:

• Use the merchant you are price match against. For example:
  • Title: HP Laptop $500 at DickSmith ($475 at Officeworks via Price Match)
  • URL: URL of the product at DickSmith's website.
• Mention that you are able to use price match at a competing merchant.
• Remember to have a link to your receipt as a proof that (in this example) Officeworks do allow price matching on this product. Use Media File Uploader if you need to.

Affiliate links are generally not welcome on ChoiceCheapies. Many members of ChoiceCheapies are already using various cashback schemes (e.g. StartHere, Qwibble (formerly Buckscoop)) to get cashback from various affiliation networks. Therefore by using your link, our members might miss out the chance of getting cashback, which makes your deal more expensive!

Moreover, we do not want to encourage people sharing low quality deals just for the sake of earning affiliation commissions.

Main article: Referral and Affiliate Link Differences

• Referral links or referral codes give referrers credit for the store. We usually allow referral links at the end of the deal description, but not as the main deal URL (some exceptions apply).
• Affiliate links are links that pays affiliates financially. As of 23 Oct 2013, we do not allow affiliate links anywhere in deal or forum posts.

Both referral and affiliate links are not allowed in comments.

• Does the merchant already offer commission cashback via sites like StartHere or Qwibble?
• Is the deal you are posting part of a Group Buy or Daily Deal site? Due to the influx of Daily Deal and Group Buy deals, affiliate and/or referral links on such deals are not permitted.
• Is this your first post or has it been 6 weeks since your first post? Users with a or / next to their name on deal posts are not allowed to post referral links or codes.
• If you are posting a discount code deal AND the site does not allow referral code use on discounted deals with code (eg Vitacost where only one code can be used - either discount or referral code).
• If any of the above is true, stop! Referral codes are not allowed anywhere in the deal, not even in the deal description. Otherwise, continue.

Steps to take to post a referral link for stores that are allowed:

• You need to post the non-referral link in the main URL/Link field.
• You are then allowed to post referral links at the end of the main post body. Make sure you declare your referral link. For example,
  • It contains my referral link, and if you click through and make purchase, I will be getting commission from your purchases.
• Your post will be marked by the system as a referral post which places an Referrer tag next to your username.
• Posts containing referral links (deal or forum) are subject to posting limit restrictions.
• Do not post referral links or codes in the Coupon code section. This supports the requirement for the link to be placed at end of text.
• Do not mention ways to circumvent a sites referral rules - eg multiple sign ups.
• Do not link to your referral deal elsewhere on ChoiceCheapies (forums, comments in other deals).
• At ChoiceCheapies, we consider the main beneficiary of referral votes must always be the user. NOT the poster.

Note

• Either put your referral link at the end of the deal description or don't mention it at all - do not solicit referrals.
• Moderators still hold the right to unpublish offers or remove referral part of the links, if found inappropriate. Requests for removal by the OP will be denied unless there is a sufficient reason.

• You may post a deal that is about a retailer's referral system as long as the referee also earns credit, if it has not already been posted as a deal before.

• Is this your first post or has it been 6 weeks since your first post? Users with a or / next to their name on deal posts are not allowed to post referral links or codes. Post your deal without the referral links and codes and a moderator will create a wiki page for referrals.

• All subsequent “announcements” about the referral program shouldn't be posted as new deals, including updates to the referral program.

• As ChoiceCheapies is a community website, deals that you have posted will be judged and voted by our community members. Post when you have a bargain and not just for advertising purposes. Generic advertisements may be removed or may make it difficult for you to post, when you have something that really should be popular. Reps posting deals which are constantly attracting negative or no votes may also see the account and/or domain banned by the mods.
• Merchants should note that small reductions, excessive conditions, and other costs related to the deal will NOT be well received. Users will likely vote negative for your deals and moderators may BAN or restrict deals, reps, or sites that are not well received.

Price comparison website operators need to follow the Price Comparison Website Operator deal posting guidelines in addition to the guidelines here. Deal posts are subject to posting limits.

Physical Goods - Only post deals that can be paid for using New Zealand payment methods. If the deal does not ship to New Zealand and freight/mail forwarding is required, your deal MUST include the final price including shipping and the name of the freight/mail forwarding company used for the calculations. Deals without a final price will be removed.

Virtual Goods - Some deals require a VPN or similar to access them, including the Hola browser extension. These deals are acceptable but please write clearly in the title 'VPN Required' or similar and give basic instructions in the deal.

Deals in Overseas Countries - Deals available overseas may be applicable to New Zealanders traveling to that destination. Some deals located overseas may not be applicable to the majority of New Zealanders in reasonable circumstances however. Currently only travel/tourist related deals should be posted on ChoiceCheapies, these include but are not limited to: Flights, Accommodation, Tours, Airport Facilities/Transport, Special Events (World Cup, Olympics etc) & Communication (Sim Cards, Roaming internet etc). Deals outside of these categories or not realistically applicable to the majority of members may be removed by a moderator.

People generally value their time.

If you know there is a good bargain or two in a sale, catalog or store, it's a good idea to mention one or even two bargains, in the title, and provide direct links where possible, to those items.

If there are multiple bargains in the same sale, catalog or store, it is still advisable to post once only. Then multiple items can be listed in the same posting; probably with what looks to be the best or most popular bargains at the top.

Deal posts that reference an upcoming sale without information about any specific offer will be unpublished. Please post only when at least a product price or a specific discount is known, and include that in the description.

Postings that reference a sale, catalog or store but don't provide enough information to find at least one bargain, may be unpublished. Multiple postings for the same sale and/or catalog may be unwelcome and may be unpublished. Multiple postings for the one catalog and/or sale are especially unpopular if they all occur on the same day and if they all come from the same person.

If someone else posted earlier from the same sale or catalog as you now want to publish from, please post under the other person's listing.

If you do post separately it should be an especially good bargain, it may attract a more critical eye from some readers and it might still be unpublished.

If the airfare is part of an advertised sale, please include both the booking period and travel period. If it is not an advertised sale, please provide at least one sample itinerary that shows the discounted fare as described.

Since fuel prices at petrol stations can fluctuate without warning, please post the latest observed fuel prices in a fuel watch thread in the Forum and not as a deal. However, if there is a special promotion, such as a bigger-than-usual supermarket discount, or a special price with a defined timeframe for which the price is valid, then the promotion can be posted as a deal.

Group buy sites such as Jumponit & Scoopon sell their items after reaching a certain number of people who agree to buy their items.

• Only deals that are active are allowed to be posted on ChoiceCheapies. A deal is considered active when a user goes to purchase the deal and their sale is immediately finalised. A deal is inactive when a site requires X amount of people for the purchase to go through and that number hasn't been reached. (e.g. 35 bought, 65 more required to get the deal)
• No Referrals. Due to the recent influx of such deals, referral links or codes are not permitted (including the description) for such sites.
• Please remember to include the state that the deal is applicable to (e.g. $49 for a $100 Dinner Voucher & a Bottle of Wine at Example Restaurant [NSW])

Don't post duplicates (deals that are already on the site). Please search ChoiceCheapies before posting.

Exceptions:

• The original deal is older than one month, and was expired or sold out between then and now.

• The original deal is active but older than 6 months.

• The duplicate gains an excessive amount of positive votes (50+) and reaches the front page.

• The original deal is a list of multiple items and the item is not contained in the title of the original deal. Related forum discussion.

Note if the expiry date is not specified on a deal post, our system will automatically expire the deal after 45 days (90 days for freebies). It is the posters responsibility to set an expiry date or report the deal to have it not auto expire.

Don't post auctions.

Competitions are not deals, so please do not post competitions, contests or anything that only a small number who have registered might win. Please do not run contests or competitions within deals as they detract from the bargain. If you have a competition that you wish to share with other members at ChoiceCheapies, feel free to post in our competitions section.

There are so many useful free software programs and websites out there that if we listed every great one, then we would be inundated with deals. Feel free to discuss any of these in one of our forums. Alternatively, add the freeware to its dedicated free software wiki page – Useful Free Software.

In general, software, apps and e-books that are always free should be posted in the forums, but if something that's not usually free is offered free for a limited time, it qualifies as a deal. In some cases, decisions on whether a post should stay as a deal or be moved to a forum post is at moderators discretion. As this is an evolving subject, community feedback is welcomed in our Site Discussion forum.

Examples of what you shouldn't post:

• Software: Mozilla Firefox (Free Browser, Always Free)
• Websites: Google (Free Search Engine, Always Free)

Examples of what you should post:

• Software: DVB Web Scheduler Pro is now free (Normally you have to pay for it, now free)
• Websites: Used Car Ads Free on Carbuddy.com.au (Free for now but later on not free)

Just like free software and freeware, there are many great charities out there. Charities are not a bargain but feel free to post any charities or good causes on the forums.

Sites with adult themes should not be posted on ChoiceCheapies.

• More discussions in the forum section.

Store representative posting limits:

• 1 deal per 24 hours
• 2 deals per 7 days - provided the votes on past deal are not too low. This can be reduced to 1 deal per 7 days if past votes are low.
• If the past 2 rep posts for the domain made the front page (20+ votes), the representative is allowed an extra post per week, making it 3 deals per 7 days.

See posting limits for details.

User posting limits:

• 1 deal per hour

If users or representatives are found to be posting a high number of deals garnering negative votes, you may be put in the penalty box.

Deals which involve betting and/or gambling should not be posted.

While discussions on betting and/or gambling may be discussed in the forums, moderators reserve the right to remove them at their discretion.

Jobs or deals that resemble paid work are not bargains.

Deals available only to members of the staff (e.g. Woolworths) are not permitted to be posted as a deal. Feel free to post a thread in the forums.

Generally, government deals should be posted to the forums. A deal is a cost saving measure (e.g. free public transport) and shouldn't be income producing (e.g. receive Centrelink payments). See Discussion

Crowd funding or kickstarter posts are usually unreleased products with no guaranteed delivery, they are therefore not suitable for ChoiceCheapies. Should you find an interesting product via one of these sites you are welcome to discuss it in the Forum.