Question regarding Quidco

gtz101

Once you have registered with Quidco, if you buy something via Quidco does the item purchase need to be under your name in order to get cashback? for example, I have a few people looking to buy mobilephone contracts, can they do it via my Quidco account?

g33za

yes u can do this, i have ordered phones for my missus and used my quidco fine.

Mobile_Mole

While technically possible this will infringe Quidco's terms and conditions.

3. Member Account Validity and Termination
Quidco only allows one account per person and it must be used only by that person. If we find that a user is letting their account be used by multiple people or if we find a user is manipulating multiple accounts we will not hesitate to terminate the accounts in question. You must be a resident of the UK to register for a Quidco account and receive cashback. Quidco reserves the right to terminate any member account at any time. Quidco also reserves the right to refuse membership.

g33za

oops... :P

Reestit_Mutton

Mobile_Mole wrote: »

While technically possible this will infringe Quidco's terms and conditions.

Well..this is a money saving forum afterall.

While it's "technically" against their T&Cs, I'm not entirely convinced that small-scale account sharing (such as with your spouse and kids) is likely to be picked up on. Even if purchases with the retailer are made under different names, Quidco will not be alerted to this fact as that would be a breach of the data protection act. In fact, I would be willing to wager that, despite Quidco's stated terms, the vast majority of households have no more than one Quidco account.

What's more, as someone with an AI background I'm convinced that it would be impossible to flag up small-scale (intra-family) abuse reliably.

However, that said, I would have to take a moral standpoint on the issue of non-family related sharing of accounts, which is what the OP was asking about. It's only one small step from what the OP suggests to individuals using Quidco as a consolidated affiliate scheme which would surely result in Quidco's eventual closure, if allowed to be taken to an extreme. It's also probably against the MSE ethos.

HtH
Reestit Mutton

gtz101

Well, the purcashes I was referring to is for relatives and close families. Its not that I will let Jo Nobody use the account. I mean after all it kinda defeats the purpose of Quidco really. I mean we are after all helping them make money and you get rewarded for recommending people to make a purchase via Quidco. Whats wrong with that???

Reestit_Mutton

gtz101 wrote: »

Well, the purcashes I was referring to is for relatives and close families. Its not that I will let Jo Nobody use the account. I mean after all it kinda defeats the purpose of Quidco really. I mean we are after all helping them make money and you get rewarded for recommending people to make a purchase via Quidco. Whats wrong with that???

Well, the problem lies in the fact that Quidco only takes a fixed annual fee from each member*. This business model requires volume registrations for the company to survive. If account consolidation was allowed en-masse it would decimate Quidco's earnings and potentially make the whole service unviable.

So there is a sensible balance to be struck when using such a service. If you want it to survive then you need to understand and accept how it works.

Reestit Mutton

* they also earn their keep from volume-related bonuses received from some retailers which, by their very nature, cannot be attributed to specific member purchases and hence passed on to members.

Butlers1982

just do it!

Quentin

gtz101 wrote: »

Well, the purcashes I was referring to is for relatives and close families. Its not that I will let Jo Nobody use the account. I mean after all it kinda defeats the purpose of Quidco really. I mean we are after all helping them make money and you get rewarded for recommending people to make a purchase via Quidco. Whats wrong with that???

Quidco is a co-operative, so when you break the rules which you agreed to when joining you don't just screw quidco, but everyone else who is a part of it.

Should you need to chase a non tracked purchase you will get found out when you submit the name of the customer, and face getting your account closed and losing all unpaid commission in it.

Why not get your relatives to open their own accounts and pay their fivers like we all do?

gtz101

Reestit_Mutton wrote: »

Well, the problem lies in the fact that Quidco only takes a fixed annual fee from each member*. This business model requires volume registrations for the company to survive. If account consolidation was allowed en-masse it would decimate Quidco's earnings and potentially make the whole service unviable.

So there is a sensible balance to be struck when using such a service. If you want it to survive then you need to understand and accept how it works.

And what about the commission they earn from retailers for each transaction via their site????

Thats where the real money is coming from (along with registration fees)

gtz101

Quentin wrote: »

Why not get your relatives to open their own accounts and pay their fivers like we all do?

We do, only difference is you wont get the cashback, they do