RULES, FAQ, TIPS, Store Contact Info, Common Abbreviations
 

Site-wide Rules that need to be followed by everyone are here.

Before Posting
I don't want to discourage people from posting deals, but simply copying/pasting regular sales aren't real deals. Get a feel by searching through the forum of what are good prices for the items, and only post if its cheaper than the going price.

What information should I include when I post a deal?
Try to include as much detail as possible in the title. Then expand on it in your post. General info to provide: expiration date of the coupon, minimum purchase requirements, site link, shipping and handling costs, and the coupon code. The more information you include, the better. Follow up if possible, so you can edit your post to include new developments. Be careful when using dashes in your post, they can make it seem like you are getting paid in the deal. (ie, .... chair -$59)

Why are links on this site broken?
Click here and follow the instructions to fix your link problems.

General usage comments
Prior to posting, please use the search feature to see if your contribution has already been posted.

How to create a Hyperlink
There is an excellent tutorial on how to create a hyperlink posted here.

How to recognize moderators/admin/staff

• Moderator (light-green bar, moderates certain forums)
• Global Moderator (dark-green bar, moderates all forums)
• Front-page Deal Editors (purple bar)
• Sr Front-page Deal Editor & Global Mod (deep-purple bar)
• Administrator (red-bar)
• Staff (deep-red bar)
• Web Developer (blue-bar)

People who are bold aren't necessarily mods, they could be people with >100 reputation points. Look under the bars for a unique moderator/administrator title. The bars are also uniquely colored, different from any other users. To find out who the mods of the current forum are, scroll down to the bottom, they're listed there. Look at mine for an example of a senior moderator.

How to reach moderators
The best way to get a hold of us is to private message us. We can also be reached by email, moderatorname@slickdeals.net

Repost!
If you spot a repost, provide a link to the original post.
Use ModAlert to report the post to the moderators.

If your post is hailed as a repost, don't be discouraged. Better luck next time!

Guidelines on Reposts
This is a deal site and people come here for the great deals. It is in the best interest of everyone that good deals get highlighted. Deals that get merged into giant and general threads tend to get buried where no one will find it. Therefore, deals that we (moderators and/or majority of users) think are good will be kept separate from general sales and master threads. We will also take time stamps into account when merging threads so if the original post is very old, it's less likely we will merge.
Deal is still good!
Do not create new threads to inform that another deal is still available. Replying to the original thread will bump it up to the top of the list.

Rebate involved?
Please include AR (after rebate) to indicate the final price after rebate.

Where to post?
Deal requests and questions belong in the Help Me Find a Deal forum.
Deals that are free belong in the Freebie forum.
Free Magazines belong in the Free Magazine forum.

If you want to post something that doesn't fit into any of the above categories try the lounge.

As always, if you have any questions, problems, or suggestions please visit the Suggestions and Problems forum.

Self-promotion & referrals are NOT allowed.
**Referrals are not allowed. This includes posting of referral links, asking for a referral, PMing referrals, having a referral link in your signature, or linking to any & all sites that contain referrals. It doesn't matter what kind of referral it is, whether you both get something out of it. This is a zero tolerance policy

Coupon rules
Please do not post scanned or altered manufacturer coupons. This includes coupons.com coupons.

Ebay Listings
The only acceptable ebay deals are eBay Daily Deal items (deals.ebay.com) or reputable online merchants such as buy.com, tigerdirect, bestbuy who also have ebay stores. If you have a general item like staples coupons, a link to a search is fine. Most private seller auctions are not allowed. If you're unsure if it can be posted, ask any mod.

Items from Adult stores
Slickdeals is a family site and we try to keep this at a pg-13 rating. That means any threads on sex toys, or other adult items will be deleted. Addition sub forums for adult deals will not be created since we don't want to be flagged as a pornography site by company filters

Jokes & Off Topic Threads
These types of posts do not belong in the Hot Deals forum. Price mistakes such as "$9,999,999 keyboard" should be posted in The Lounge.
**Chit chat and political discussion is more than welcome in the Lounge, and the Podium. If it derails a deal thread, it will be removed.

Mod Alerts
We have updated the Mod alert system, now you can see any comments the moderator has made to the mod alert by going to quick links>mod alerts.

**If you feel something is against the rules, mod alert it instead of taking it upon yourself to correct the action.

General Ethics and Behavior
Treat other forum members with respect. Please don't flame others. We are all here for the same purpose - to find deals and to share the deals we find.

** Filters are in place for a reason. purposely bypassing them is not allowed.

** Do not take private issues between mods and members public. This includes warnings, bannings, thread/post deletion questions, and posting your warnings. If you have an issue, PM a mod to get assitance. If you feel like a mod has made the wrong decision, feel free to appeal to other mods.
Please refrain from using vulgar and/or explicit language.

Illegal activities are not tolerated here so please do not tell us about them. This includes any form of piracy.

Replying to a thread
When you want to reply to a message, either scroll down to the bottom of the page and type your message in the your reply box. or you can click the post reply button after the last message on the box. the new thread button creates a new thread and just creates more work for the moderators.

Reputation Points
Reputation points are a measure of good posts in the deal and tech support forums. Some users wanted some way to distinguish between great deal hunters and people who post a lot in the lounge and podium. Begging for points is frowned upon. If you wish you can disable your reputation points by going to user cp-> edit options -> show my repution level. Conversly if you reputation is not enabled you can do so by doing the same thing. Under usercp you can see who gave you your last 5 points and any comments they might have left behind. A grey box is from people who are newly registered to prevent people from creating addition accounts to give themselves reputation points.

To give reputation points click either the user's reputation points or the green box next to it.

Reputation points are enabled only in the deal, deal discussion, and tech support forums (temporary sub forums not included), trying to rep in other forums or in private messages will get you an error message.

Missing thread
If you were looking for a post/thread that is no longer there, odds are its been deleted. Feel free to pm a moderator to check. any thread asking why was my post deleted, was this post deleted will be deleted.

Thread Crapping/ General Attitude
In an effort to regain the friendliness the forums had when it opened we are instituting a new policy against "thread crapping." Thread crapping refers to any post such as this deal sucks, this isn't a deal and so forth WITHOUT backing it up. If you back up your statements with reasoning or links that is perfectably acceptable. Anyone bashing these type of posts will have their posts deleted. This also refers to reposts. If the deal is a repost, simply mod alert the thread with the link. The search isn't perfect, and reposts will happen. A simple mod alert and link can make it as painless as possible.

We are not trying to make it so you can't post any negative comments. Posting just this deal sucks doesn't help anyone. All it does is discourage the OP from posting deals again. Posting why something sucks can teach people more about the product and let them know what to look for in a future deal. Also, if a deal isn't for you, doesn't mean its a bad deal for someone else. An agp slot is a must have for gamers, but for people only using internet explorer and word, a 2-3 hundred computer is more than adequate. Some of our best deal hunters are considering leaving because its just not worth the headache.

Remember, posting in a thread to say it sucks only bumps the thread and keeps it new. If you don't post anything, it just fades away.
We will also not tolerate attacks against other users. You are all entitled to your opinions, but if you have a problem with another user on this board do it privately through pm's. doing it in a public thread will get those posts deleted and you will be warned.

Threads in the deal section are designed for deal discussion only. There are other forums on this site dedicated for you to share your opinions from computers to politics to anything else. Check out the lounge, podium, and tech support forums. any off topic discussion will either be deleted or split off and placed in the appropriate forum.

Users who violate this will have their posts edited/deleted and be warned.

**Final Reminder
These rules are a general guideline on what is acceptable. Just because its not specifically spelled out above, does not mean it's allowed. The moderators work in the spirit of the rules stated in order to keep a general flow to the forums.

This post can and should be edited by users like you :)
 

Tips on searching & preventing reposts
The best way to search whether an identical item has been posted, is by using an item SKU.

For example, for amazon, that would be the ASIN number (such as B000NJO3TC for example. For newegg it would be the NE number, (such as N82E16814130086) and for Dell it would be the A-number for electronics and accessories (such as a0973889) or configuration id for systems (such as brpc2fe for example). Those are all real items recently posted, search for them, and see what I mean.

The coolest thing is that search picks it all up from links, so even if a previous poster was challenged with making up a good title, or adding any additional information, but included the link, it will still be picked up.

Do NOT use "-" in your searches. Same goes for keyword such as "NOT" or "not". They are understood as negation modifiers, and will exclude the items. So if you are searching for say "Toshiba HD-A2", you should search for "toshiba hd a2" and not "toshiba hd-a2", because if you do - you will get results only for threads which contain "toshiba hd" and at the same time NOT contain "a2" in them (which kind of defeats the purpose of the search).

Common abbreviations
 

Common abbreviations:

- A -
AFAIK - As far as I know
AFK - Away from keyboard
AR - After rebate

- B -
B&M - Brick and mortar store (A physical retail store as opposed to an online merchant)
B1G1 or BOGO - Buy one get one free
BB - Best Buy
BBL - Be back later
BBIAB - Be back in a bit
BF - Black Friday
BRB - Be right back
BTW - By the way
BVG - Best Value Guarantee (Offered by some credit card companies)

- C -
CC - Circuit City
CC - Credit card
CPN - Coupon
CSR - Customer service representative
CYA - See ya
CYM - Check your mail

- D -
DD - Deal discussion
DX - DealExtreme
DOA - Dead on Arrival

- E -
ER - Easy Rebates (for Staples)

- F -
FAR - Free After Rebate
FWIW - For what it's worth
FS or F/S - Free Shipping

- G -
GC - Gift certificate
GDA - Good deal at
GCO - Google Checkout

- H -
HD - Hot deal, Home Depot, High Definition
HSN - Home Shopping Network

- I -
IRC - Internet Relay Chat
IIRC - If I Recall Correctly
IMAO - In My Arrogant Opinion
IMHO - In My Honest/Humble Opinion
IMO - In my opinion
IR - Instant rebate
IRL - In Real Life
IWG - Instant Win Game

- L -
LAN - Local Area Network
LOL - Laughing out loud
LMAO - Laughing my ass off
LMK - Let me know

- M -
MC - MicroCenter
MFG - Manufacturer
MFR - Manufacturer
MIR - Mail in rebate

- N -
NIC - Network Interface Card

- O -
OD - Office Depot
OEM - Original Equipment Manufacturer
OM - Office Max
OOS - Out of stock
OP - Original Poster (author of thread)
OT - Off topic

- P -
PM - Price match
PM - Private Message
PT - Product Testing
P/T - Part Time

- R -
RAOK - Random act of kindness
RMA - Return Merchandise Authorization.
ROFL - Rolling on floor laughing

- S -
SASE - Self addressed stamped envelope
S/H - Shipping and handling

- T -
TIA - Thanks in advance
TRU - Toys R Us
TTYL - talk to you later

- W -
WAN - Wide Area Network

- Y -
YAFTS - Yet another free T-Shirt
YGM - You've got mail
YGPM - You've got a private message
YMMV - Your mileage may vary

--------------------------------------------
If you would like to recommend any additions
to this list please do so here - PM moderators.
--------------------------------------------

Useful Information

• Hard to find phone numbers to amazon, ebay, etc.
• Major Rebate Centers & Retailers » Important Contact & Tracking Information
• Pricematching Guideline

Trust ResellerRatings.Com
 

To respond to these kinds of posts, many regulars and veteran SDer's try to show how good or bad of a deal is, not only based on price, but also the reseller's rating. How does one do that? There are many here that have already established which places are best to buy at and which places to avoid.

But for unknown merchant sites, there is one, and possibly only one solution to knowing if this place is thumbs up or thumbs down: Reseller Ratings [resellerratings.com] This site's primary purpose is to show potential customers other user's experience with merchant sites. This is not a site in which is based upon 1 or 2 users but upon tens of thousands.

*If a site has a Reseller Ratings of 2.0 (out of 10) based on 150 reviews, common sense is to stay away no matter how "hot" the price is.

*If a site has a Reseller Ratings of 9.9 (out of 10) based on 100,000 reviews, then this is at least one site that will guarantee positive business.

I am not here to tell you where you should buy your products. I am here to recommend that OPs and other people should do research on various merchant sites without posting a "deal" blindly based on price. Reseller Ratings is a very valuable resource to check out. And in the end, the final choice is yours.

How to Always get Amazon A9 discount "Maintenance Free"
 

Amazon A9 discount has been discontinued.

Thanks Killerz

Sorry mods for the double post, just wanted to make sure everyone got this information!! Delete it if you choose. :hug:

Hey guys! This credit goes to FW and it is an AWESOME thing. Instead of having to worry about using A9 to keep your discount, as most of us don't use it regularly, setting up this scheduled task in windows will do a search for you automatically every day and close the window when it is done. You don't have to do anything at all to keep your discount active! Make sure you are already logged into A9.com and it remembers your username or else this won't work. You also need to be enrolled as indicated here and A9 must be enabled in your preferences (Last option on the page)

1. Go into start menu: All programs-accessories-system tools-scheduled tasks

2. Right click and go down to new and click scheduled task

3. Name your task and then click it to open

4. In the run box paste "C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\IEXPLORE.EXE" "http://A9.com/slickdeals" (you can change slickdeals to whatever you want it to search for. Also make sure you include the " " or else it won't work!!!)

5. Check the run only if logged in box

6. Click the schedule tab up top and enter the time you want the task to run (I set mine to a time I'm not usually awake like 5:00 AM)

7. Click the settings tab and make sure the stop task box is checked and set one minute as the time.

8. Click apply and you are all set! No more a9 maintenance.

If you can't figure out these instructions pm me and I will try to help you out.

Our guidelines on when to move a thread that has multiple items and most but not all are dead
 

This thread got some discussion going.

That and the fact we have been trying to find a good rule of thumb for de-cluttering the HD forum of threads that are 80%-90% dead but prevent others from posting a deal in fear of a repost.

A thread could, and probably will, be moved to DT if:

1) Most of the items are dead.

2) The few items still alive aren't great deals *as in they aren't the items that really made the thread worthwhile.

3) It's been about a week since any real discussion on the deal has happened.


Also, this will be at mods discretion and keep in mind we cannot get through all older threads.