• Competitor rules

    Please remember that any mention of competitors, hinting at competitors or offering to provide details of competitors will result in an account suspension. The full rules can be found under the 'Terms and Rules' link in the bottom right corner of your screen. Just don't mention competitors in any way, shape or form and you'll be OK.

ALL READ - Zero Tolerance Policy - Any more blatant rule breaking = BAN !!

Guys it isn't just the cost of running the forums that is the problem here , It's the fact that why should Spie pay out of his own pocket to advertise another company that's his direct competitor which is what you are doing by posting these links.

These forums are directly conected to a commercial company so don't use them to promote a deal / price elsewhere when OcUK are paying the advertising bill.

You wouldn't like it so don't expect OcUK to.
 
So is this type of thing allowed?

"This item is cheaper elseware"

Not mentioning any names, but stating that OC UK are more expensive for that item (I've noticed that for a few things ie Western Digital drives are a few quid more than competitors)

If not a lot of discussion will be held on another forum. As for actual competitors I've had problems with all of them. Why does the PC market have such shoddy after sales customer service? :(

tbh I can't see the problem of occasional competitor names- we all know they exist, a google search will show competitors, so as long as every thread isn't constant links I don't see the problem. Spie putting his head in the sand pretending other companies don't exist doesn't change a thing. People will look elseware, especially if OC UK isn't local (for me it is and that's a major factor why I shop there) If OC UK were 1 hour away I wouldn't order from them, as postage/travelling costs would rack up.

ie "I just bought a monitor from Squiffy computers" is ok but "OC UK ARE A RIP OFF, it's £50 cheaper at Squiffy computers" isn't.
 
Marshy said:
Guys it isn't just the cost of running the forums that is the problem here , It's the fact that why should Spie pay out of his own pocket to advertise another company that's his direct competitor which is what you are doing by posting these links.

These forums are directly conected to a commercial company so don't use them to promote a deal / price elsewhere when OcUK are paying the advertising bill.

You wouldn't like it so don't expect OcUK to.
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Gibbo, you brought this up first, so I'm going to express my personal view on the subject, and a related subject. You probably aren't going to agree with it, but thats that ;)

Banning the mention of competitors IMHO is an extremely bad thing.
Why? Simply put, it smacks of censorship, & I believe this simply encourages customers to shop around. I'm not suggesting that people go ahead and post where you can find products cheaper etc, but rather a more relaxed attitued towards the simple mention of names.

Additionally, the shop threads rule again smacks of censorship- I would much rather see a few complaints/ queries and thier resolution, rather than the simple banning of all mention of this type of stuff. Again though, there is no way this could be a licence to simply **** you off- Everything has to come in moderation.


Anyway, thats my personal view only, people may agree or disagree with it, but the rules are there to be obeyed.

-Leezer-
 
Are manufacturer's sites allowed to be mentioned when they sell their own products on their site as well as OcUK (as long as the context it's mentioned in isn't 'you can buy it from xxxxxx direct instead of going through OcUK')?
 
Cyber-Mav said:
some places im sure can be mentioned such as ******, the reason is that they are in no way a competitor to ocuk since thier prices are a complete rip off and i very much doubt anyone who is even reading these forums would go there and buy major pc stuff.
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Wow it only took 28 posts. Of course they are, they sell the same kind of things with retail prices, doesn't matter they're a rip off.
 
Phil99 said:
Are manufacturer's sites allowed to be mentioned when they sell their own products on their site as well as OcUK (as long as the context it's mentioned in isn't 'you can buy it from xxxxxx direct instead of going through OcUK')?
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You can mention coolermaster can provide you with spares to cases. You can however not link to their shop. :)

If say Lian Li sold spare screws for people who lost them, and blanking plates for your case then that would be fine.

If they sold and shipped their case range to the UK from the same store then you could not link to it, but mention that they could provide you with the replacement parts.
 
Yewen said:
You can mention coolermaster can provide you with spares to cases. You can however not link to their shop. :)

If say Lian Li sold spare screws for people who lost them, and blanking plates for your case then that would be fine.

If they sold and shipped their case range to the UK from the same store then you could not link to it, but mention that they could provide you with the replacement parts.
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Now the dons are out quick question - shopping in say malaysia. Is it allowed to say 'i got this from **** in malasia at this price'?
 
As a better example.

I can link to a shop in the USA, the really really big one if I wanted to. They do not ship to the UK so they can not possibly compete with OcUK.

Always best to just post the info not linking to anything PC retail based though.

A competitor is only something that could eat into OcUK's market share, a company which has no means to do so can not compete with OcUK, so is not a competitor.

Mouthfully, literally and what I have written aswell. :D
 
Why is this so hard to understand?

You wouldn't see Tesco allowing people to go into their stores putting up ASDA posters now would you?

So why do you think you should be able to do it here? It's abit stupid that people can't even grasp the idea and have to ask questions. The point at hand has been brought up a fair few times, and the same questions were answered then.

To keep safe, dont bother mentioning anything about competitor availability or prices or offers. It really is that simple, I've never been in trouble for competitor metioning - and have never had to put any effort into stopping from doing so.
 
Given that if someone DID buy from malayasia though, surely that shop would have stolen at least one potential sale from OcUk? And if it's a US shop it could well steal more, even without a direct delivery system, given that some posters here are from the states.

I think it's a tough call drawing a simple line. I mean, 'that big PC retailer with carp staff' don't compete with you in as far as people who post here, but they certainly eat up a lot of your potential market share with people who are influenced second or third hand.

I think your criteria needs to be based on something more intuitive than the rules currently state. And I think you need to better identify and distinguish between what eats into your market share and what directly or indirectly supports it and makes it grow.

You want to employ a business analyst/ market philosopher? Well it's your lucky day i just put myself back on the market and for you guys, mates rates.
 
pegasus1 said:
Can you mention Tesco and Asda as they both sell computers?
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Of course you can, as both of those are primarily Grocers. Aslong as you don't start recomended people buy the cheap generic, made from cheap parts computers from there, then it should be fine.
 
wizardmaxx said:
Do u think tesco would complain if they distributed asda pamphlets at the trafficlights outside their entrance?
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No, they couldn't because it isn't their property.

However, this is OcUK's forum. What is so hard to understand?

So if you owned a shop, you wouldn't mind me coming in and turning people away saying you can get XYZ cheaper down the road? Of course you wouldn't.
 
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