Hey everyone,
You've asked how Slickdeals works: who owns us, how deals are picked, and what makes the Frontpage.
Here are straightforward answers from the team, no spin. If you want more detail, we'll keep updating this page.
Who owns Slickdeals?
Slickdeals has been privately owned since it was founded in 1999 by Van Trac. Since 2012, the company has navigated multiple stages of growth and evolution with the support of investors and owners, including Warburg Pincus and Goldman Sachs. Today, we're still independently operated under private ownership.
Do investors have any say in what merchants you have on your site?
No, none. Our investors have input on overall financial goals such as growth targets, but they don't make any decisions about what merchants or deals appear on Slickdeals. What you see on the site is entirely driven by our internal team and, most importantly, by our community.
Do merchants send you deals to post for them?
We do have a program that lets merchants submit deals for review by our Deal Specialists. It's never pay-to-play. Deal Specialists review every submission and only post offers that meet community standards on price and quality.
Here's how it works: our Deal Specialists review every submission. They'll check if that product (or a similar one) has been posted before and how our members responded. If the data shows members liked it at a certain price but not at another, they'll actually go back to the merchant and ask if they can lower the price. If the merchant can't, we usually pass.
If history shows our members just aren't interested in that product at all, we'll also pass.
Bottom line: we only post something if the team genuinely believes it's a good deal.
If you work with a merchant, does that mean they're guaranteed to go Front Page?
Nope. Front Page is earned, not bought. A deal's popularity (meaning community votes, engagement, and value) determines whether it makes it there, not whether we have a working relationship with the merchant.
What is the difference between a Deal Specialist and a Deal Hunter?
Deal Specialists review deals submitted to us, while Deal Hunters go out and independently find deals across the web.
Why do I see the same merchant often? Can you stop?
We know seeing the same merchant can get old. We feature them when the data shows a strong value for members. If you've had a bad experience, add a comment; your feedback affects what we surface.
We've actually stopped working with certain merchants in the past because of member feedback. Your experiences and opinions directly shape who we feature, so if you're tired of seeing a certain name, let us know why. We do pay attention.
Do you ever bump down a deal because a merchant isn't working with you?
Absolutely not.
Do mods remove posts that criticize merchants you work with?
We actually welcome and encourage honest feedback, even when it's negative. That's part of what makes Slickdeals different: members can speak freely about their experiences.
What we do remove are personal attacks and shills.
- ✅ "This merchant never ships on time." — Fair feedback
- ❌ "OP is an idiot" — Harassment, removed
Criticism of a product or merchant = fine. Harassment = not fine.
Why work with merchants at all?
Just like any other business, we've got bills to pay. We have about 250 employees, servers, infrastructure, and everything else that keeps Slickdeals running.
Some sites throw pop-ups and autoplay ads at you, or put deals behind paywalls. We've always wanted Slickdeals to stay free, open, and user-driven, so working with merchants in specific, limited ways helps make that possible without ruining your browsing experience.
Do staff have secret accounts to influence votes/comments?
Absolutely not. That's a strict no-go.
Our staff are Slickdeals users too and do organically engage with the community. For example, I like and comment on deals with my staff account but it's on items i've actually purchased or know that it's a good value. Whatever we do is labeled Staff, so it's all in the open.
Some staff accounts are used only for testing. For example, a staff account may be used to make sure things display correctly on the site, but those accounts are not used to post, vote, or engage in discussions. Most testing happens in a closed environment anyway, not on the live site.
Ok, what about bots then?
We have Slickdeals Scout. It scans retailers for price drops and posts them. It doesn't vote, comment, or influence rankings.
Why was my political post removed?
We get this one a lot. Our moderators aren't biased toward any political side, they're just enforcing the same rule across the board: Slickdeals isn't a political platform.
We remove political posts because they almost always turn into arguments and derail deal discussions. Speaking from experience (many of us were community members before being staff), it's tough to delete posts you might personally agree with, but it's part of keeping the space on-topic and welcoming.
Why so many Amazon deals?
Yes, you're right, a lot of Amazon deals are posted on our site by both community members and staff. Given the sheer volume of products and promotions Amazon runs, plus how popular they are with our community, it's no surprise those deals make up a big share of our content.
That said, we're always open to more variety. If you're shopping and come across an amazing deal from a merchant or store and you want to share it with our members, please post it!! And if there are merchants or types of products you'd like to see more often, let us know.
You can email us at
[email protected] (yes, we know, old school ) or post in the Help Me Find a Deal forum if you're looking for something specific.
Do you allow self-promotion?
We draw a hard line between sharing an organically found deal and marketing on behalf of a company. If something feels like an ad instead of a contribution, it's removed. If we find proof that the merchant is posting for themselves, it's removed. If we find out a merchant is voting for themselves or using various accounts to vote for themselves, that account is typically banned and if this has been an ongoing issue with a particular merchant, if they continue despite warnings to stop, they may be banned from being posted on our site.
Thanks
Thanks for sticking with us through all that. And honestly, for caring enough to ask these questions in the first place. Slickdeals has always been about the people who make the community what it is: you all. The feedback, the deal-hunting, the call-outs when we miss something are what keep this place sharp and worth visiting.
We're not perfect, but we're listening. The more open we can be about how things work behind the scenes, the better this community gets for everyone.
If there's something we didn't cover here (or something you think we should talk about next time), don't be shy. Drop it in the forums or email
[email protected]. We'll keep the conversation going.
Community Reviews
Slickdeals is presented as a community driven deal site that still surfaces useful bargains, but the strongest theme is frustration with how Front Page, voting, and moderation work. Front Page placement is described as vote led, then reviewed for rarity, price history, and interest, yet several deals are seen as inflated, late, or ordinary. The thumbs system is defended as a way to avoid endless arguments, but anonymous downvotes, vague spam flags, and possible abuse keep drawing criticism. Classic view, filters, and better transparency are recurring asks, along with cleaner handling of staff posts, promoted tags, and ad blocker issues.
Common Questions (5)
AI-generated summary based on comments from the community. Updated ago
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I swear I didn't forget about this thread. With the new year there have been tons of things to work on and do and every time I thought I had a moment to come back here, new stuff came up.
However y'all don't know how much it's been bugging me. I'd lie in bed at night and be like "Maybe I should just get up and go answer some questions" or I'd be out and this thread would pop in my mind and I'd cringe at my own self for not answering anything in here for weeeeeks.
So I've got a few minutes now, not a ton so I can't get everything answered or replied to quite yet but at least I'm gonna get to work on the backlog lol
https://slickdeals.net/f/18918559-home-depot-golf-umbrellas-for-4-97
This $5 umbrella is the everyday price at Home Depot and has been for YEARS.
Just give more vibes of shilly bots upvoting this kind of junk.
Sometimes I'm surprised at stuff that gets so many posts, especially when it's something. like you said, has always had this "sale". But then I think there are people who maybe don't have a home depot and don't ever really use their site to buy anything but they'll see a $5 umbrella and think it's a deal. Maybe it's something they would not have seen otherwise.
I think that's true for a lot of deals and their votes. People see a low price for an item they can use and thumb it up. Maybe it's always been that sale and they didn't know. Maybe they never shop at whatever store and would not have seen it had it not been posted here. Sometimes people thumb up I think just as a thank you to OP posting or maybe they already have that item and think it's quality and gave a TU for that.
That said, if you ever think a thread has suspicious votes, you can always mod alert/report the deal and have a mod look into it. We've spammed a lot of threads due to proof of shill voting as well as banned I don't know how many shill voters.
I've also definitely bought things I never thought to try myself until it got posted here. For example, that snail cream facial moisturizer
The voting system needs to have better accountability. For someone to vote spam/self-promotion with no proof shouldn't be allowed, just like a true self promotion/shill/spam post wouldn't be allowed.
Can we get better accountability when people downvote where the posters credibility is called into questions? There's a lot of abuse by people hiding behind computer screens.
As for members thumbing down deals in general, it's a really fine line to walk with all of that. We want members to be able to express if they do not like a deal. A lot of people don't feel comfortable posting, which is fine, and this still gives them the option to give feedback on a deal.
As for thumbs down abuse, we've had so many discussions about that, you don't even know lol. I mean yes, obviously mod alert a thread if you (or anyone reading this) thinks you're being targeted but a thumbs down abuser. But we're trying to figure out a way to give our members a way to voice their opinion (good and bad) through votes while at the same time protecting our members against targeted, vindictive, etc thumbs down. We do have something in mind but we need to dig a little deeper into what we're thinking to flesh it all out.
Something that I have noticed before is a post on the frontpage that at first glance appears to be a good deal. Later on in the day I'll see it again, except now that its been on the frontpage for awhile its got a promoted tag.
This leaves a nasty taste in my mouth like it was masquerading as a community driven deal only to be revealed as paid. This does not seem open or transparent.
If you see it on the Front Page and it didn't say promoted and then later on you see it say that, that's most likely because the merchant saw it was front paged and wanted to add a promoted to it as well (better visibility).
If you see something that says promoted and it doesn't look like it was ever front paged, that would be the merchant paying to promote a deal on our front page for visibility even if it wasn't actually front paged. Ok now that I typed that out, it sounds confusing even to me lol.
Basically, we will never Front Page something just because a merchant wanted it promoted. It has to reach front page from our members votes and comments. It might just be further promoted later. To be honest, I think a lot of people view our front page and just skip over the ones that say promoted. I mean not that I want people to do that lol but I feel like a lot do do that.
Often, it's not the store, it the judgement on whether something is a head-snapping deal. Few are.
Thanks for pondering this atypical request.
Has SlickDeals ever offered a way to earn an SD plush? I feel like Slickdeals needs a mascot, too. I spent 5 minutes with AI and made a few to get the ideas flowing so there will be an SD plush available to earn in 2026.
But it would make a cute SD plush, just the same. I'd work to earn one.
Autumn! A little help, please.
(just kidding around, of course)
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😁
Then maybe don't have 85% of the deals being posted by Staff.
When I see a deal thread posted by staff for some no-name garbage that is Front Page at +10 but has 0 comments, it's pretty obviously spam / shill activity.
You claim that deals get posted that you think are good - but then one of your staff members posts 10 new threads in 8 minutes. And you expect us to believe that they're not being pulled from a queue of 'approved' advertisements to try to sneak by your users.
We don't believe you.
I will again try to call attention to this feature request: https://slickdeals.net/f/18413563-feature-request-filter-deal-threads-to-exclude-sd-staff-posts
Let's do a quick search for 'vancasso' deal threads: https://slickdeals.net/newsearch.php?f
OMG - 100% of those threads are started by Staffers. What are the odds of that??
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Then maybe don't have 85% of the deals being posted by Staff.
When I see a deal thread posted by staff for some no-name garbage that is Front Page at +10 but has 0 comments, it's pretty obviously spam / shill activity.
You claim that deals get posted that you think are good - but then one of your staff members posts 10 new threads in 8 minutes. And you expect us to believe that they're not being pulled from a queue of 'approved' advertisements to try to sneak by your users.
We don't believe you.
I will again try to call attention to this feature request: https://slickdeals.net/f/18413563-feature-request-filter-deal-threads-to-exclude-sd-staff-posts
Let's do a quick search for 'vancasso' deal threads: https://slickdeals.net/newsearch.php?f
OMG - 100% of those threads are started by Staffers. What are the odds of that??
I said this before, the sites actions speak louder than any words they want to message about themselves.
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