2019 Christmas bargains thread 1

[Reastie]

Jingle those bells because it’s time for thread 1!

The aim of this thread is to share ideas for Christmas bargains and present ideas and a little bit of Christmas chat etc. I’ll try my best to do a post with the most popular links, if there’s anything specific you’d like me to add or if something I’ve put up doesn’t work please let me know in bold . Thank you

As usual no affiliate links (I’m still not exactly sure what they are but consensus was not to have them) and if we have any sites to post personal sign up links we’ll do this on a separate thread so all can post their links, I’ll do this when —I get around to it— soon.

☃️❄️🎄🎁

those Lego boats are great prices! DD's have asked for the Harry potter lego think it might be Lego overload if I bought those too!

Dd really likes these Lego friends rescue mission sets. I have already gotten her two sets in reduced price that she really wanted for Xmas. This boat is very good addition to them. No more sets for her.
I also got two half price Star Wars Lego sets for ds from Argos earlier this year.

We ended up with Lego overload last Christmas I had even moved a couple of the sets over to DS’s Birthday present pile. Think I will insist on just that one set for Christmas given it has over 2000 pieces.

Smyths toy stores are giving away little packs of Harry Potter Lego from Saturday according to MoneySaving Expert

Sorry... should add for free no purchase necessary!

I am after the Lego Friends lighthouse if anyone sees it anywhere for a reasonable price!

@MulticolourTriangles

Burger press?

Another big thank you for the Lego friend boat. It’s been on the wishlist for DD2 for a while. She will be thrilled.

My Oliver Bonas scarf arrived today - it's definitely more like a blanket, but so cosy!

@IggyAce thank you so much I have one of the Lego ships reserved ready for collection Saturday, my son will be over the moon. Thank You.

Hi Everybody I see everyone is well underway with their shopping I better get a move on. I love this thread for ideas, I don't know what I did before I found this but it's great for things you just wouldn't have thought of.

@whatwillicallmyself you’re very welcome, we have just picked ours up. It’s currently in the car boot and I will move it once he’s in bed. I will warn you it’s a big box, luckily I got a large zip bag from Rex London that’s perfect for storing gifts.
Link to a similar bag: www.rexlondon.com/nordic-christmas-jumbo-bag?ctid=5121&pos=0&ll=catprod

Great thread but not impressed by 'some' other posters putting affiliate links to products to make commission on anyone clicking and ordering.

To be clear, if someone puts a link to a product on eg Argos or Amazon, they then earn commission on everything you order, not just the item they recommend. If the cookie stays persistent they would earn commission off multiple orders too.

Affiliate links need to be clearly marked as such now (legislation passed), I'd be interested to hear Mumsnet view on this.

I'm all for sharing Christmas bargains, but not happy if the thread is being infiltrated by posters taking advantage of the high traffic of this thread.

I think you're barking up the wrong tree, @ritzbiscuits. I don't think people know what affiliate links are.

We have this discussion every year. I'm pretty sure it's not a deliberate tactic.

What legislation was passed, by the way?

I have linked to Argos and Amazon and have never made any comission, I thought that only worked with membership schemes which neither of these have? 🤔

And yours actually NOT being clear. A link to a product on its own won't earn anybody money.

Please demonstrate, with examples, what you mean so you can educate those of us who don't know. Even Reastie says she wasn't sure what they are in her initial post. So, spill!

Also, Mumsnet themselves add an affiliate to most links after they've been posted so I'm not sure they're aware of any legislation either!

I must have missed this topic raised in previous years.

I believe it is absolutely intentional in some cases, I can't believe one poster I've spotted has consistently posted affiliate links with redirects.

Links which earn posters commission have to be marked, it was brought in to stop bloggers in particular making money out of followers without them realising. If you go on sites such as Money Saving Expert, that again now shows which recommendations they earn money off vs not.

I don't particularly know how the legislation is interpreted for forums, it's probably a free for all given it's so hard to police.

I love the nature of the thread, but if there are people exploiting the nature of that, it's disingenuous. As an Affiliate Manager in a previous life, some affiliates would stoop to any level to make money. I don't like the idea of people being taken advantage of.

Looking back, I think i see one but it's not Argos or Amazon and possibly not even intentional. Most likely been shared from another source I suppose.

Can you tell us which links in particular?

It's raised every year. And every year we end up baffled.

And please spell out what an affiliate link is. Like, the website it's going via. Anything! Unless you clearly explain what one is, people can't stop posting them.

I doubt the legislation covers forums. But I'm happy to read it if you can tell me what it's called.

Yes, @SquintEastwood, oblique references to affiliate links is less than helpful.

Apologies but I have no idea what the affiliate links/commission thing is.

If you mean this: www.asa.org.uk/advice-online/affiliate-marketing.html it's not legislation. Legislation is a law that's passed by Parliament.

I was a blogger in a previous life, my understanding was that they'd have to be marked as an ad so people knew you were making money off it and therefore might not be giving an honest review. I can not believe for one second that any legislation that may exist would apply to chats on forums.

Also, this gets brought up every year. Mumsnet add affiliate links when you post a link.

Also, I couldn't give a shit if someone makes money off something I buy, it's not like it costs me any more.

To answer further questions

If someone posts a link with affiliate tracking in - it would include something like '?affiliateid=1234' in the link.

A clean link would be
www.randomshop.com/legoset

An affiliate link would be
www.randomshop.com/legoset?affiliateid=1234

(A basic example as most links are more complex than this)

When a link like that is clicked a cookie is set on your device. If you purchase that product the affiliate earns commission, in most cases on the whole order too.

On a high traffic thread like this one, it wouldn't take long for someone to start earning a commission for recommending a product.

If people don't care fair enough, but as I said before ideally people should be aware that others may be making a commission off them.

Sorry if people don't understand what I'm going on about, I've worked in digital marketing for a long time so forget others don't understand this practice.