We want all the best deals shared with our community, and while we'll always try to prevent bad deals being published, we don't hunt out reasons to reject them. Having a cheap price should remain at the core of every deal, but we recognise that other things can be important too. So we'll do our best to allow deals that involve other factors people consider valuable. Examples include (but aren't limited to):

• Good delivery terms - e.g. you can get it the next day for cheap/free, or Click and Collect

• Your consumer rights - e.g. you can get an extended warranty for cheap or free

• Availability - e.g. a specific retailer has plenty of stock for discounted popular items

• Rarity. We recognise some products can be a deal without being discounted, particularly when there is high demand for a specific product that is in short supply - e.g. a PS5 or a limited fashion drop. We maintain a list of products that qualify

• Limited eligibility. Deals or vouchers that can be used by sub-groups of people are allowed - e.g. student deals, one-use-per-customer vouchers

Deals have a better chance of approval if more details are included in a submission. Where extra information is required we will often ask the submitter if they know it, but we will also invest some time in checking to improve the chances of allowing an offer.If you feel we've removed a deal because we overlooked an additional benefit, please reply to the moderation message and one of the team will review it ASAP. Deals and vouchers can be shared again after 2 calendar months from the most recent submission. Expired deals and vouchers can be reposted after 7 days since it was marked as no longer available at the stated price.

We run checks on whether shops and online sellers are legitimate. These include some fundamental company details, plus reviews and feedback - then we evaluate whether we think they're safe to allow. Checks are done by our Community Support team and do not consider whether it's a retailer we make money from.

The safety of our community is really important - but we'll never understand every aspect of a retailer from some basic checks. So we try to be sensible about the likelihood of risk. Where a trustworthy organization has done more thorough checks than we can (for example, for a bank who is regulated by a financial authority) we will tend to defer to that, but where a seller is from a sector or market where we know problems are rife (e.g with fake goods, or not meeting CE standards on electricals) then we will be more cautious.

Direct sellers

When we consider which shops we allow deals from, we consider a number of factors to build a balanced picture. These include, but aren't limited to:

• Clear and accurate contact information including an address

• Shipping and returns policy

• Sufficient positive feedback online

• Solid company credentials including trading history and trackable accounts

• Fit with our community, both in terms of value to our users and our rules

Marketplace sellers

When merchants sell their goods via platform websites, we have some specific checks related to feedback.  

eBay

UK-based business seller with 12 months feedback of 300+ with a minimum score of no less than 90%. We will also accept 6 months of trading only when the seller has at least 1,000 feedback in total..  

Amazon / Other marketplace sites

Business seller with 12 months feedback of 300 with a score of mostly "Above Average" or for Amazon 90%+.  

AliExpress

Marketplace has been trading for at least a year with 300 feedback and a score of not less than 95%. *Minimum marketplace rating requirements do not apply to already approved merchants.

To avoid a free-for-all, that could flood our community with deals only posted to make money for the submitter, we don't allow self-promotion or for vested interest links to be shared.

However, if someone who is unlikely to directly benefit (e.g, a shop assistant) spots a great price in-store or shares insider info on a brilliant upcoming offer with our community, we don't want to miss out. In these cases, evidence will be required regarding the details of the deal.

Sorting one type from the other is difficult though, and our community support team spends a high proportion of their time trying to discover the facts. We try our hardest to never remove a deal without being sure it is self promotion, but of course in some cases we may get it wrong. If this happens to you, we apologise and know it is frustrating, but please continue to speak with our staff and answer their questions, as they are just trying to ensure the community as a whole functions how we would like it to.

If you aren't sure whether your deal will be allowed, please don't post directly on the community and risk deletion, but contact our team and we can guide you further.

Businesses who believe they have an amazing offer for our community can reach out to our partnership team who'll then evaluate your offering.

Megathreads - deals which include products from more than one retailer - can definitely help the community, saving both time and money when they work well. When members go the extra mile to create useful compilations, it helps everyone. So we allow these deals, and just have a few rules to ensure they don't become too messy or irrelevant:

• A Megathread must have a clear, unique topic and cannot simply be the same item from multiple sellers (examples might include a customised holiday package or a round-up of grocery/trainer/video game offers).

• Every deal included in a Megathread has to be in line with the publication rules.

• Sufficient positive feedback online

• Megathreads should not be used to monopolise deals but we appreciate when members use them creatively to bring your own research and expertise to other users.

So where we can see a Megathread has real value for the community, rather than bundling together lots of products that would work equally well separately, we'll aim to keep it up - though we could edit parts of it to ensure it fits the rules.

• Deals will be assigned to the group that the community support team believes is most relevant. This is likely to depend mainly on the products included in the title, or which make up the majority of the deals.

• The 'Get Deal' link should be for the product named first in the title, or a landing page that includes that product or sale. This can be edited if the most prominent deal expires.

• The deal will generally expire when all products are unavailable - but out-of-stock deals may be crossed out (and it helps us if members do this themselves!). There will be exceptions, especially when one part of the deal depends on the other - e.g, if a flight price expires and the customised holiday package is no longer available.

Products included in megathreads can be posted as standalone deals, provided they weren't included in the title of the megathread. The maximum number of merchants that can be included in a megathread is no more than 10.

Permanent deals have always been a bit of a minefield for us. By requiring an end date, we have tried to ensure our community isn't flooded with repeat deals - however this has led to some very strong offers either not being posted, or getting lost in the Discussions section.

We're clear on the aim though - when an offer is always available, but it's something people should not miss, we want to allow it.

So we will test allowing Permanent Offers, and provide examples of what is and isn't allowed. These lists will change based on user feedback and deal performance, and we're sure they won't be comprehensive or completely correct right from the start.

 Allowed

• Free entry to a museum/venue where ordinarily chargeable

• Lower/reduced cost for service trials (e.g 99p Spotify 3 month trial)

• Sharing member benefits (e.g cinema or takeaway codes)

• Sharing subscriptions (e.g Amazon Prime)

• New additions to video game subscription services

 Not allowed

• New additions to video or audio streaming services

• Apps/books which are always free

• Items which are full price and do not meet the posting conditions under'We strive to publish great deals when they benefit the community'

Once a deal goes live, other users are immediately able to comment on it. Community members love to discuss various aspects of a deal, including price, perceived value, quality of product or service, retailer and many other factors.

Sometimes comments in threads go off on a tangent, people joke with each other and express their personal views. This can particularly happen when the deal is related to more controversial topics. Some of these are predictable, like when the deal is a book about a divisive political figure, but others are less obvious (e.g. some PS5 and Xbox users like to defend the console of their choice!).

Our goal is always to leave comments live where we can, although we have a highly responsive and experienced community support team to look out for reports of commenting that go against our code of conduct. In the small number of cases where people are personally insulting, we will always remove these comments.