Mydealz and Hotukdeals are community-driven platforms that aggregate deals, vouchers, freebies, and savings opportunities for consumers. Mydealz, which originated in Germany, operates as a large community portal for deals, coupons, freebies, and offers from online shops and local retailers. Hotukdeals serves a similar function, specifically targeting UK consumers with deals, voucher codes, freebies, and savings. Both platforms rely on user participation to share and rate offers, creating a dynamic environment for finding no-cost product trials and promotional items.
Platform Overview and Community Focus
Mydealz was started in 2007 as a hobby project and evolved into a full-time project and community in 2010 through a cooperation with Hotukdeals. By September 2017, Mydealz had nearly 635,000 members who had shared over 700,000 deals and written nearly 12,500,000 comments. The platform emphasizes honest and unadulterated community opinions, with little space for empty marketing talk or self-promotion. Traders who use the platform for their own purposes violate rules and conditions and may be banned. The community decides which offers are rated well, regardless of whether the platform receives a commission.
Hotukdeals positions itself as a free gateway for UK consumers to access deals, voucher codes, freebies, and savings via mobile devices. It has over 1.9 million UK consumers sharing smart offers, sales, discounts, and tips. The platform features user-submitted deals and tips, community voting on the hottest deals, and sharing capabilities via social media.
Both platforms are free to use. Registration is not required to view deals, vouchers, or freebies on Mydealz, but registered users gain advantages such as setting deals, rating deals, and commenting. Membership is not charged. Hotukdeals is also free, with no mention of membership fees in the provided data.
Accessing Freebies and Deals
On Mydealz, users can access freebies by clicking on the "Freebies" heading, which displays deals that are something for free. The platform offers three layout variants: tile design, text and image, or text only. Users can customize their view on the start page top right with the filter, and can hide local or expired deals. A dark mode is currently only available in the app.
Users can sort deals by different criteria on every page. Tabs such as "Hot," "Current," and "Discussed" help organize content: - "Hot" shows only deals that are over 100 degrees (a community rating metric), sorted by when they reached that number. - "Current" shows deals coming in the order in which they are published. - "Discussed" sorts deals by discussion activity.
To view deals from a specific shop, users can enter the shop name in the search bar and select the shop from suggestions under "dealer." All deals and coupons for that shop will be displayed on the corresponding page. Popular shops are also listed in the sidebar or menu.
A "pinned" deal is indicated with the addition "Pinned" and stays statically in that position on the page. Editors can pin deals when very good actions take place over a long period, ensuring visibility for the community.
The Hotukdeals app allows users to find the hottest deals in the UK as voted by the community. It includes features such as submitting deals or tips from anywhere, sharing deals via social media or email, and setting keyword alerts for specific interests (e.g., "Xbox," "TV," "Laptop," "Lego"). Users can also subscribe to Daily Picks for a summary of the best deals and find up-to-date voucher codes from trusted retailers like Amazon, Asda, Dominos Pizza, Tesco, Sainsburys, Argos, ASOS, eBay, John Lewis, Zavvi, and many others. The app allows searching offers by keyword, such as "PS4" or "Xbox One" for gaming deals, or "iPhone" for specific items.
Mobile Applications and Technical Features
Mydealz has an Android app available, with the latest version 6.24.01 listed. This version simplified the listing of coupons by merchants and included smaller improvements and bug fixes for performance and stability. The app is free, requires Android OS, and supports 71 languages. The package name is com.tippingcanoe.mydealz. The app size is 17.66 MB. A dark mode is available in the app but not on the web version.
Hotukdeals also has an official app for mobile devices, described as the free gateway to deals and freebies. It allows users to find deals, submit tips, share via social media, set keyword alerts, and subscribe to daily picks.
There is also a user script called "MyDealz Enhancer" available on Greasy Fork, which improves or restores functions of Mydealz. It is designed to modify the page behavior, such as showing green dots, managing comments (max quote level, edit reason, signatures), hiding ads (top bar, widget, inside, newsletter section, app), moving buttons (deals, vouchers, freebies, etc.), and modifying search. The script requires jQuery and grants specific permissions like GMgetValue and GMsetValue. It includes features for embedding YouTube videos, minimizing quotes, showing user info, and deal text previews.
Revenue Model and Data Privacy
Mydealz finances itself through commissions. If a user finds and buy a product through Mydealz, the platform may receive a small commission from the respective shop. This does not incur disadvantages for the user, such as higher prices, and the platform is not used for advertising purposes. The community heart of Mydealz decides offers regardless of commissions.
Regarding data privacy, Mydealz states that all stored data will not be passed on to third parties. Users can request account deletion, though created articles and contributions remain anonymized to maintain context. The platform does not sell user data. Hotukdeals does not provide specific data privacy details in the provided chunks, but the general focus is on community sharing without mention of data sales.
Community Rules and Content Moderation
Mydealz has rules to maintain the quality of content. Offers like "I want you for XY" are not allowed. Discontinued topics, posts, and other content may be edited, moved, or deleted by moderators at their sole discretion. Violations may result in notification, warning, or account blocking for repeated or extreme violations. The platform hates spam and allows users to have accounts deleted on request.
The community is open to everyone, with the benefits increasing as more members share and evaluate offers. Users can participate by sharing quotes, coupons, and information about new products, or by joining discussions.
Summary of Freebie Opportunities
Based on the source data, freebies are explicitly available under the "Freebies" section on Mydealz, where deals for free items are listed. These include community-shared offers that may involve samples, trials, or promotional free products. The Hotukdeals app mentions freebies as part of its core features, alongside voucher codes and deals. No specific brands or categories (e.g., beauty, baby care) are detailed in the provided chunks, but the platforms aggregate a wide range of offers from online shops and local retailers.
Users seeking free samples or no-cost trials should utilize the search and filter functions on these platforms to locate relevant offers. Registration enhances the ability to interact with the community, which can lead to discovering more niche or user-shared freebies. The mobile apps provide real-time notifications and alerts, which are useful for timely access to limited-time free offers.
Conclusion
Mydealz and Hotukdeals serve as valuable resources for U.S. consumers interested in free samples, promotional offers, and no-cost product trials through community-driven deal aggregation. Mydealz offers extensive customization, sorting, and search features for deals and freebies, with a strong emphasis on community integrity and commission-based revenue without user cost. Hotukdeals provides mobile access to UK-focused deals, voucher codes, and freebies, with tools like keyword alerts and daily summaries. Both platforms are free to use, with optional registration for enhanced participation. Technical enhancements, such as the MyDealz Enhancer script and mobile apps, improve user experience. Consumers should rely on these platforms' search and filtering tools to find specific freebies, while adhering to community guidelines for optimal use.