MSE Discussion: MoneySavingExpert.com to join the MoneySupermarket.com group

edward123

Just unsubscribed from the weekly email. Will continue to visit site but never click on a link from it again.

miss_miggins

I think the site will die a juddering death without Martin.

Once the independence is lost no one will trust it, Lewis is needed as a figurehead. Without him the site is lost.

It's sad, but I don't blame Lewis, if any one of us were offered that kind of money we would accept it too.

myhooose

It's a sad day and I feel a little let down and disappointed. However i'm not one to cut off nose to spite face so will continue to use the site, albeit with a little more caution and skepticism.

I will also continue to look for an alternative site that I suspect will crop up soon.

Someone mentioned they were jumping ship to HUKD, I'm sure HDUK make similar vast sums of money too however they do not carry the pretense of being the peoples champion.

mightyhurst

So even though my email address is protected from spam, etc the value of me and all the other subscribers has been sold for millions.

Martin Lewis has overnight lost credibility as the 'founding principles' have been sold to the highest bidder

CopperPlate_2

kittie wrote: »

congrats to martin

but I don`t want to be part of moneysupermarket so I am unsubscribing and I am off

Hmmm. Not sure how I feel about the whole sale thing. On the one hand you have to hand it to Martin that he built the site up to what it is through his own hard work, personality and drive. BUT the site was the start of the MSE community which, in turn, clicked the links, subscribed to the newsletter, and bought into the whole MSE ethic and 'dream'.

Martin has always presented himself as an 'ordinary' guy, keen to get a bargain and drive the best deal: perhaps everyone just assumed that this depiction meant that he needed to look after the pennies too and that he wasn't that different to the vast majority out there. We know that the pre-tax profits over the last few years, plus the money generated from MoneySupermarket links ran to tens of millions. So to present as one thing, but in reality be earning more money than many of us could dream of winning, does feel a little bit uncomfortable.

MSE has raised a whack of cash over the years for charity, and the sale of the site releases more cash to these causes, so in that regard I don't have a major issue. I don't actually have a major issue with the sale (per se) of the site (it's a 'business' so fair game really).

Had everyone known that for every click made, MSE would get X pence, and there have been XX million clicks in the last year, those who wanted to could've worked it out. The problem is, MSE was never a pure charity case - it existed to further Martin's ambitions (wherever they lay) - and the way to achieve that was to create the sense of community, championing the disadvantaged, BUT (and this is where I find it difficult to feel undisputed happiness for him) it also made tens of millions of pounds a year from exploiting that sense of community, belonging and in some cases sheer desperation of people who were floundering financially.

Some might call it good business sense and good financial acumen - seeing a gap in the market, identifying a way to fill it, market it the right way, get buy-in and loyalty to the brand, and watch the money roll in. If only some of our major companies could match it, Britain would be back on her feet in no time.

Do worry about the future of the site - it won't feel the same again, despite the assurances. Too many examples of this happening elsewhere and the whole point of this site was the huge loyalty to MSE and, to an extent, Martin as an individual.

It'll be interesting a year from now seeing the Weekly Tips sheet and whether the site is changed. Apprehensively, I think it will lose its verve and community-quirkiness, and that may then be the downward slope.

setmefree2

miss_miggins wrote: »

I think the site will die a juddering death without Martin.

Maybe. Maybe not.:) I think the MSE community may well be bigger than ML.

From my own POV I'm glad that we now understand this site's financial situation. Its lack of transparency has always bothered me and that has sometimes made it hard to understand what is truly independent advice and what is biased advice.

Tigsteroonie

If you're reading this thread, Martin, you might want to update your user profile - at least to remove the "owns" bit..

Biography

An ultra specialised journalist, focused on saving money, who runs and owns this site

setmefree2

Tigsteroonie wrote: »

If you're reading this thread, Martin, you might want to update your user profile - at least to remove the "owns" bit..

It's not a done deal yet.....:)

setmefree2

myhooose wrote: »

Someone mentioned they were jumping ship to HUKD, I'm sure HDUK make similar vast sums of money too however they do not carry the pretense of being the peoples champion.

HDUK? Which site is that?

WISHIWASRICH_2

StaffsSW wrote: »

Pretty much spot on, MS are a big aggregator of finance information from many providers who pay them referral fees. in turn MS will pay other websites owners to direct traffic into them to increase their revenue from those many providers.

I've been in the internet marketing game for a few years now, along with a few other fingers in other pies, and although I've looked at the financial niche, I never got into it. What I did see though was the payout levels for smaller affiliates like myself. For example, get somebody to sign up to a credit card, typical payout is £50 per user. Get someone to switch utility companies, and the payout per user is closer to £100. Get someone to sign up for a free credit check, £35. A new mobile phone contract, that's typically £75 referral payout.

For a utility company to pay that much per new customer, they must be certain of getting a return on investment from the affiliate that pay out.

It's a huge money-spinner, but even though I may not be preaching what I practice, I can only see that the more people taking a cut out of all of these sign-up referral fees is going to cost us consumers more in the long run.

Good Post. It never was about consumer revenge, was it? That was just a load of marketing hype.