# Sticky  PSA: Do not post referral codes in the forums



## garsh

*2018/11/13 UPDATE:*

TrevP has now added a "Referral Code" field in your user profile.
Please feel free to add your referral code to your profile.
This is the only place where a referral code may be added. Do not put it in your signature, or in any post.

If you wish to use another member's referral code, just click on their name to bring up a popup, then click their name in the popup to bring up their profile, then click the "About" tab to see if they have a referral field set.

Original post below:
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Tesla has created a bit of a unique situation with the Performance Model 3.

They retroactively included them in the referral program, after many people had placed an order.
They've started sending people referral links before they received their cars.
So now a lot of people are wondering if we can apply referral codes to each others's orders retroactively. It's an interesting question. If you go to Tesla's Referral Program page, and expand the "Frequently Asked Questions" section, it says:

My friend just took delivery of a new Tesla vehicle, but forgot to use my code. Can they apply it retroactively?​*Referral codes must be applied at the time of the order being placed and cannot be applied retroactively.*​
So if that's being enforced, it will not be possible. But it's possible that it is not enforced.

Whether or not it's possible, please review the forum rules. There is a link to the rules at the bottom of every page of the website. It says:

*21. Competing Sites, Businesses, Individuals and Organizations*​You agree not to attempt to gain traffic from TOO in any way, including but not limited to, links in posts, signatures, profile information, PM's, or emails. This applies to, but is not limited to competing sites, businesses, individuals or organizations. *The embedding of Tesla Referral codes in posts or signatures is not permitted.*​
I know it's tempting - this forum is full of people considering placing orders for Teslas. It's basically exactly the audience an advertiser would be looking for when deciding where to advertise a referral code. But we do not allow that here. We want this to be a forum for Model 3 owners and enthusiasts to discuss their cars. We do not want this place to become full of advertising. Even official sponsors of the website must keep their posts well targeted, and mostly within a sponsor-specific subforum.

I hope everybody understands and accepts our position on this.


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## calvan

[MOD EDIT]
Hi kids!

So, I created this great post explaining the forum position on this. Then I moved a bunch of existing posts into my shiny new thread. But those posts were older than my explanatory post, so my post got pushed down within the thread. If you want to jump down to it, click this link:

https://teslaownersonline.com/threads/psa-do-not-post-referral-codes-in-the-forums.8153/#post-136143

[/MOD EDIT]
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Sorry I don't know what the etiquette is on this. I know you can't post referral codes. I called Tesla and they told me we could retroactively add referral codes once we are assigned a VIN.


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## WhiteJagRip

I would be interested in this if it is true,

I had heard otherwise somewhere else I believe it was on the M3OC podcast. Did you speak to your ISA or someone higher up the chain?


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## calvan

WhiteJagRip said:


> I would be interested in this if it is true,
> 
> I had heard otherwise somewhere else I believe it was on the M3OC podcast. Did you speak to your ISA or someone higher up the chain?


No just a rep on the customer service line. I don't have a VIN so not sure if I have an ISA. He reassured me numerous times it is ok but it can't be done by anyone other than your delivery advisor. Something to do with access to the system or something along those lines. He said once I get a DA that they will take care of it. I think it's worth a shot. If we could all help each other out why not. What was that podcast dated? P3D just became referral eligible 8/1.


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## MGallo

calvan said:


> Sorry I don't know what the etiquette is on this. I know you can't post referral codes. Is another Performance buyer interested in swapping referral codes so we can get free chargers? I called Tesla and they told me we could retroactively add referral codes once we are assigned a VIN. Maybe start a new thread so people can do this? Seems like a no lose situation to me for all of us performance orders.


I'm confused. I thought all P3Ds got free supercharging already.


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## calvan

MGallo said:


> I'm confused. I thought all P3Ds got free supercharging already.


They do prior to 8/1, after that they must use a referral and supposedly after 9/16 no free supercharging. As a bonus if someone uses your code you get a free mini kid Tesla or HPWC. Look up Tesla's referral page for details.


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## calvan

I don’t want to get everyone’s hopes up based on what one customer service rep said. Maybe somebody has an hour to waste on hold this weekend and can call and see if they get the same answer.


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## Alighieri256

calvan said:


> I don't want to get everyone's hopes up based on what one customer service rep said. Maybe somebody has an hour to waste on hold this weekend and can call and see if they get the same answer.


Another forum member with a pre-8/1 order date said his friend was given a wall charger as though he self-referred.

https://teslaownersonline.com/threads/performance-model-3-vins.7702/page-15#post-134149


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## MGallo

calvan said:


> They do prior to 8/1, after that they must use a referral and supposedly after 9/16 no free supercharging. As a bonus if someone uses your code you get a free mini kid Tesla or HPWC. Look up Tesla's referral page for details.


Wow, that's for just one referral? That's $500. That's more than the Tesla reps get for selling one and they have to split it.


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## Sedina

WhiteJagRip said:


> I would be interested in this if it is true,
> 
> I had heard otherwise somewhere else I believe it was on the TOO podcast. Did you speak to your ISA or someone higher up the chain?


I too would be interested if true!
waiting, waiting, waiting.
Just ordered 7/21


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## ericsmithcpa

I just ordered too, and have a referral code... but are y'all contemplating adding referral codes to your order retroactively? I'm not sure that's allowed.


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## SoFlaModel3

Well said @garsh!


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## garsh

Also, on the subject of having a thread where peoples' *interest* in swapping referrals can be posted, we're not going to permit that either. I know many will be disappointed by that. You'll have to find other sites/locations/methods for doing so. Sorry.


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## garsh

Clarification: referral links of any kind are not permitted, sorry.


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## dannyskim

(edited by mod)



> Call Tesla at (888) 518-3752 and they will give you the financing costs for your Tesla.


Pretty sure trying to get people to use your referral code on these forums is against rules.


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## SPIKE's M3AWD

Says who?


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## dannyskim

Saw it somewhere in the rules, plus I've seen other instances of it.

A mod has removed your referral code, as well as my quote that references your referral code.


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## SPIKE's M3AWD

DEAR MODS,
I don't see anything related to referral codes in the official rules thread. https://teslaownersonline.com/index.php?help/terms

Please explicitly state posting referal codes is against forum rules !!!


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## dannyskim

SPIKE's M3AWD said:


> DEAR MODS,
> I don't see anything related to referral codes in the official rules thread. https://teslaownersonline.com/index.php?help/terms
> 
> Please explicitly state posting referal codes is against forum rules !!!


20. TRADEMARK INFORMATION

teslaownersonline.com, and the M3OC logo, trademarks and service marks, and other M3OC logos and product and service names are property of M3OC. Without M3OC's prior permission, you agree not to display or use in any manner, the M3OC logo (logo's).

21. Competing Sites, Businesses, Individuals and Organizations You agree not to attempt to gain traffic from M3OC in any way, including but not limited to, links in posts, signatures, profile information, PM's, or emails. This applies to, but is not limited to competing sites, businesses, individuals or organizations. *The embedding of Tesla Referral codes in posts or signatures is not permitted.* You accept that M3OC has the right to erase any information displayed/posted on teslaownersonline.com that may push traffic towards competitors.


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## SPIKE's M3AWD

UNFAIR! Who is *trevor41818 and why does his referal code feature PROMINENTLY on the top page of this forum?*


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## SPIKE's M3AWD

Screenshot


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## dannyskim

SPIKE's M3AWD said:


> UNFAIR! Who is *trevor41818 and why does his referal code feature PROMINENTLY on the top page of this forum?*


Honestly, I was just trying to be helpful in aiding you in abiding to the rules of this forum, but I don't think you're going to put in the time and effort to figure out these questions yourself, so I'll be removing myself from this conversation.

https://teslaownersonline.com/members/trevp.1/

He is a founding member of this site and the club. Considering that fact, it's up to him and his fellow founding members to do what they want. If you don't agree, I suggest you make your own club and site and do the same to get referrals.


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## SPIKE's M3AWD

Understood. The only reason I posted my referral code is because I saw Trevor posted his so boldly on this forum. I am a faithful member of this forum. I routinely post and never before posted a referal code before I saw Trevors. I fully understand the effort it takes to run a forum. Consider yourself fortunate this forum is for the M3 which has many supporter as compared to other unnamed EV forums with much less support.


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## SPIKE's M3AWD

> He is a founding member of this site and the club. Considering that fact, it's up to him and his fellow founding members to do what they want. If you don't agree, I suggest you make your own club and site and do the same to get referrals.


I guess I am a rebel without a clue!!
Good for Trevor and the other founders!

Still unfair to all the other followers of this forum. I have no desire to profit by starting another club or forum. There are too many in my opinion. It is funny how Telsa's own forum is the worst of the bunch!

*And forums are the least effective tool for referal codes*


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## TrevP

We're trying a social experiment for November to see if exposing codes actually works. Even without my code being displayed on the site it won't affect my progress, every single referral I’ve had has come from outside the forum save for maybe a couple and I’ve already won a Roadster and not looking for another one. 

If it does net a few more, which we track but I don't get anything extra BTW, we will consider allowing codes to be displayed in signatures so that everyone can benefit. We want everyone to be free and able to participate but we decided to try an experiment first rather than open Pandora’s box and try and put the genie back in the bottle.

Everyone is free to use the private messaging system to exchange codes, we don't restrict that.


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## JWardell

I don't want to pour fuel on the fire in what always seems to be a touchy situation, but I have wanted to comment on this since the codes started featuring very prominently...
The forum has been very adamant against posting of referral codes. It really surprised me to see Trev's suddenly show up at the top of every page, in giant print no less, with no way to dismiss. It certainly induces some mixed feelings. Of course, Trev started, owns, and runs this wonderful place and deserves all the support he can get. But it would be nice if we could, just maybe include a link quietly in our signatures or profile page, while still prevent pushing them in our actual posts. 
It just seems strange that this and other forums, and reddit, are all super against any slight mention of referrals, yet the same folks constantly mention them on twitter and youtube. That means folks can only benefit from those platforms, and kind of devalues the efforts many of us put into these and many other outlets that prevent their use.
In real life, there is almost never an opportunity to refer a friend to buy a particular car. Folks come to the internet to research and get their questions answered, and should be able to choose who they want to reward aside from the few "big names" out there.


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## John A Bailey

garsh said:


> Tesla has created a bit of a unique situation with the Performance Model 3.
> 
> They retroactively included them in the referral program, after many people had placed an order.
> They've started sending people referral links before they received their cars.
> So now a lot of people are wondering if we can apply referral codes to each others's orders retroactively. It's an interesting question. If you go to Tesla's Referral Program page, and expand the "Frequently Asked Questions" section, it says:
> 
> My friend just took delivery of a new Tesla vehicle, but forgot to use my code. Can they apply it retroactively?​*Referral codes must be applied at the time of the order being placed and cannot be applied retroactively.*​
> So if that's being enforced, it will not be possible. But it's possible that it is not enforced.
> 
> Whether or not it's possible, please review the forum rules. There is a link to the rules at the bottom of every page of the website. It says:
> 
> *21. Competing Sites, Businesses, Individuals and Organizations*​You agree not to attempt to gain traffic from TOO in any way, including but not limited to, links in posts, signatures, profile information, PM's, or emails. This applies to, but is not limited to competing sites, businesses, individuals or organizations. *The embedding of Tesla Referral codes in posts or signatures is not permitted.*​
> I know it's tempting - this forum is full of people considering placing orders for Teslas. It's basically exactly the audience an advertiser would be looking for when deciding where to advertise a referral code. But we do not allow that here. We want this to be a forum for Model 3 owners and enthusiasts to discuss their cars. We do not want this place to become full of advertising. Even official sponsors of the website must keep their posts well targeted, and mostly within a sponsor-specific subforum.
> 
> I hope everybody understands and accepts our position on this.


I agree and would never advertise a referral code....though it seems that now the only 2 groups that get to market referral codes in any meaningful quantity are podcasters and Youtubist. Some who are up to 2 roadsters in referrals. I really wonder if a single Doctor, lawyer, teacher or, engineer will ever even have a chance by just talking to their peers while going about their jobs of teaching, saving lives and inventing things. I really thought encouraging individuals to spread the word was cool but in looking back it has turned into a way to reward social media hosts who go on and on about their referral codes, the number of roadsters they are owed and the free rides they will give the group of 50 buyers out of several hundred thousand listeners that have been privy to their referral codes.


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## TrevP

All good points @JWardell and like I said, I'm seriously considering it in signatures. Let's wait and see what happens after December 10.


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## John A Bailey

Frankly the whole referral thing has gotten embarrassing. Tesla’s products speak for themselves and most podcasters and youtubist would be doing what they do without the lure of secondary gain. However with the reward of a 250000 dollar sports cars riding on convincing someone else to buy a car takes something away from the authenticity. Tesla is to blame as well since they are pretty much bribing us to seek out a referral code even if the code came from someone who we had never met and had nothing to do with our decision to purchase


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## Dr. J

There's a simple solution for this, IMO. Put a Referral Code field in the profile and let everyone insert their referral code, accessible only if someone goes to look at the profile. Keeps it from cluttering things but allows a free market of referral code owners and users.


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## TrevP

Dr. J said:


> There's a simple solution for this, IMO. Put a Referral Code field in the profile and let everyone insert their referral code, accessible only if someone goes to look at the profile. Keeps it from cluttering things but allows a free market of referral code owners and users.


*I can't believe I didn't think of this! *

*This is precisely what we're going to do* as it achieves a fair way for those to be rewarded for their contributions here and keeps posts and signatures from being spammed.

Lastly, if the program indeed comes to and end (as things always do) then we can easily turn it off without badgering for people to clean up their sigs.

You can now enter your Tesla referral code into your account profile. Anyone wishing to use your referral can see it or click on it in the member's *"About" tab* to place an order with Tesla.

Just want to say a big thanks to everyone who chimed in on the matter and we value your input and thoughts.

Yours truly, Trev


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## JWardell

Awesome. The profile is the best way to handle this, everyone has equal opportunity, and those looking can simply look up whoever they choose to reward. 
I printed up moo cards for handing out to the tons of people I thought would be asking me about the car, yet after four months have yet to have that happen. People are much more likely to search out and discuss their questions on the internet. That's why the program has so much favorited the big internet personalities that come up in those searches.


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## Wise1919

Thanks for the opportunity @TrevP !


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## garsh

I've added the following to the top of the OP:

*2018/11/13 UPDATE:*

TrevP has now added a "Referral Code" field in your user profile.
Please feel free to add your referral code to your profile.
This is the only place where a referral code may be added. Do not put it in your signature, or in any post.

If you wish to use another member's referral code, just click on their name to bring up a popup, then click their name in the popup to bring up their profile, then click the "About" tab to see if they have a referral field set.


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## littlD

Thanks @TrevP !

Now... am I the only one who can't pick a gender other than Female on the profile page?


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## John A Bailey

My solution...I'm sure it won't be allowed

My daughter is an attorney. I can have her come up with a binding contract with me to donate 100% of any proceeds from anything gained from a referral code...even a won Tesla toy car, charger, Roadster whatever to donate as a gift to the SPCA. This would give people a choice rather than Tesla forcing people to accept a code from someone they have never even met to get a few months of free supercharging or whatever.

What do you think?....gets rid of the secondary gain.


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## Dr. J

John A Bailey said:


> My solution...I'm sure it won't be allowed
> 
> My daughter is an attorney. I can have her come up with a binding contract with me to donate 100% of any proceeds from anything gained from a referral code...even a won Tesla toy car, charger, Roadster whatever to donate as a gift to the SPCA. This would give people a choice rather than Tesla forcing people to accept a code from someone they have never even met to get a few months of free supercharging or whatever.
> 
> What do you think?....gets rid of the secondary gain.


Actually, that's a sweet idea. Like!


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## garsh

John A Bailey said:


> What do you think?....gets rid of the secondary gain.


That's a fine idea.

As far as this forum is concerned, we don't mind people "gaining" from having their referral codes being used. We are concerned that people are going to try "advertising" their referral codes all over the forum. We don't want the forum to become a dumping ground for people "sharing" their referral codes. I think allowing referral codes in profiles accomplishes that while allowing people to make their codes publicly findable.


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## littlD

I recently shared a Oscar and Hamish referral code via conversation. This is an alternative way to handle it.


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## SoFlaModel3

John A Bailey said:


> My solution...I'm sure it won't be allowed
> 
> My daughter is an attorney. I can have her come up with a binding contract with me to donate 100% of any proceeds from anything gained from a referral code...even a won Tesla toy car, charger, Roadster whatever to donate as a gift to the SPCA. This would give people a choice rather than Tesla forcing people to accept a code from someone they have never even met to get a few months of free supercharging or whatever.
> 
> What do you think?....gets rid of the secondary gain.


I don't have illusions of winning a Roadster as it's quite unrealistic, but what's wrong with secondary gain? Both the buyer and referer getting something is a win-win. It helps motivate the buyer and it enticing the referer to help others find something they may not have found otherwise and serve as Tesla's marketing arm.

There are really 3 ways to get referrals...

(1) Boots on the ground.
(2) YouTube channel
(3) Being helpful online (forums, Reddit, Twitter, etc)

1 and 3 are mostly the same. You spend a good deal of time with the potential buying showcasing the cars and answering questions and that person uses your code.

#2 is really powerful and putting out good, relevant content is a lot of hard work. I have a lot of admiration for @TrevP for the amount of relevant content that he has put out consistently for years now all with high quality. I'm sure the number of referrals he has is nothing compared to how many Tesla's he has actually helped sell.


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## garsh

Just a reminder that *posting of referral codes is not permitted* in the forum. Do not include your code in posts, and do not include your code in your signature. It will be deleted.
See the forum rules for details:
https://teslaownersonline.com/help/terms/

There is a spot in your profile where you can enter your referral code:
https://teslaownersonline.com/account/

If you do that, then anybody who _chooses_ to use your code can look at your profile to find it.
Example: https://teslaownersonline.com/members/trevp.1/#about


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## John A Bailey

garsh said:


> Just a reminder that *posting of referral codes is not permitted* in the forum. Do not include your code in posts, and do not include your code in your signature. It will be deleted.
> See the forum rules for details:
> https://teslaownersonline.com/help/terms/
> 
> There is a spot in your profile where you can enter your referral code:
> https://teslaownersonline.com/account/
> 
> If you do that, then anybody who _chooses_ to use your code can look at your profile to find it.
> Example: https://teslaownersonline.com/members/trevp.1/#about


Oh lord the referral code and quasi free supercharging are back along with a raffle...god help us


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## garsh

John A Bailey said:


> Oh lord the referral code and quasi free supercharging are back along with a raffle...god help us


Yeah, I know.
Please hit the REPORT button if you see anybody violating this policy.


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## $ Trillion Musk

I have a referral code from my Model Y order, but obviously I don’t have the car yet. 

Would some Tesla perks apply if anyone uses my code prior to my taking delivery of the car?


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## SoFlaModel3

$ Trillion Musk said:


> I have a referral code from my Model Y order, but obviously I don't have the car yet.
> 
> Would some Tesla perks apply if anyone uses my code prior to my taking delivery of the car?


Maybe...

For the supercharging miles -- they'll expire before you can use them

But.. you are entered into a drawing to win a Model Y (monthly) and Roadster (quarterly) though all seems quiet on if any drawing has happened and if anyone has won.


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