I spent the past year creating Price Hipster, a product search engine and price watching website for the OzBargain community!

Store Repjazoom @ Price Hipster on 01/11/2015 - 11:45
Last edited 13/11/2015 - 12:45

Update 13/11/15: Thanks everyone for the support and feedback! I realise there are heaps of comments here and no one wants to read through them all. If you have a suggestion, it has probably already been raised. I'm currently working on a big update and I'll be sure to let you all know when I release it. I'll be keen to get further feedback and suggestions then. :-)

Hi fellow OzBargainers!

I've spent the past year creating a powerful tool for you all.

https://www.pricehipster.com.au/

These are the reasons I created Price Hipster:

  1. Searching for products across multiple stores is painful. Sometimes you don't even know which stores to check for a product. Wouldn't it be great to conveniently search all stores from one place?

  2. Even if you want to find a product in one particular store, most store websites are very bad at searching their own products, and they're slow at it.

  3. There is no convenient way to find out the previous prices of products, making it difficult to hold vendors accountable for false claims of discounts. Some products vary wildly in price. Some change price nearly every day. For example:

https://www.pricehipster.com.au/product?id=NJNmxsZ3k5n

I really appreciate those OzBargainers who have taken the time to use internet archives to dig up previous prices, but it's less than ideal, and hopefully will now be a thing of the past!

Price Hipster currently includes 5 websites in its index. That will expand in the near future.

Questions for you all:

  1. Which stores should be added next?

  2. OzBargainers in Western Australia, how is the search latency for you? The search servers are in Sydney. I live in Brisbane and the search is pretty much instantaneous here.

If you find any issues with the website or have any suggestions, I'd love to hear them!

General Discussion

Related Stores

Price Hipster
Price Hipster

Comments

    • Olokun on 01/03/2016 - 17:56

      I wonder if stores are trying to manipulate price comparison websites by jacking up prices to unrealistic values before bringing it back to 'normal' price

      Ie https://www.pricehipster.com.au/product?id=EJQUM5xoIe

      • Store Repjazoom @ Price Hipster on 01/03/2016 - 18:53

        Well I don't really see that as manipulation of price comparison websites since it's the higher price more often than not for this product. I suspect this particular case is just Harvey Norman being Harvey Norman.

        The manipulation you speak of would be jacking up the price for one day then bringing it back down. I've built Price Hipster to ignore that rubbish.

        • Olokun on 01/03/2016 - 19:10

          Maybe. I was thinking that they put up the online price when there is no stock similar to what happens on eBay.

          Anyways, I think there is an issue with copying of links using iOS. The Facebook /!twitter / google plus buttons work but nothing happens when clicking on the copy link button. Tested using Safari and Chrome

          • Store Repjazoom @ Price Hipster on 01/03/2016 - 19:13

            @Olokun: Hmm. Which version of iOS?

          • Olokun on 01/03/2016 - 19:16

            @Olokun: @jazoom:

            9.2.1

          • Store Repjazoom @ Price Hipster on 01/03/2016 - 19:18

            @Olokun: @Olokun: That's no good. I know Safari doesn't support one-click copy but it should show a text box with the link. Does this box not show up?

          • Olokun on 01/03/2016 - 20:06

            @Olokun: @jazoom:

            Nope. When I click it the screen scrolls down a little and the grey area expands

            https://files.ozbargain.com.au/upload/121534/37614/image.png

          • Store Repjazoom @ Price Hipster on 01/03/2016 - 20:24

            @Olokun: @Olokun: There's definitely something funny going on there. Thanks for the screenshot. I'll look into it!

          • Store Repjazoom @ Price Hipster on 05/03/2016 - 16:02

            @Olokun: @Olokun: Hey Olokun, this should be fixed with the update I just pushed. Let me know if it still plays up for you.

          • Olokun on 07/03/2016 - 10:06

            @Olokun: @jazoom:

            Cheers for the heads up. Seems to be working great. You should start a changelog page with all these updates :)

    • treeman on 02/03/2016 - 14:50

      Helped me find a good quality laptop case on clearance for $24. Thanks price hipster!

      • Store Repjazoom @ Price Hipster on 02/03/2016 - 14:54

        You're very welcome :-)

    • lyl on 10/03/2016 - 19:21

      Hey, when I select a store, and sort discounts by the highest %, is it possible to also add a filter to only show 'price drops in the last 24 hours'?

      • Store Repjazoom @ Price Hipster on 10/03/2016 - 19:23

        That's a good idea. Do you think I should add the filter for time periods, as you suggested, or add a sort by date of last price change?

        • Olokun on 10/03/2016 - 19:31

          I think time period is better. Sometimes I just want to see what prices have dropped for today

          • Store Repjazoom @ Price Hipster on 10/03/2016 - 19:34

            @Olokun: Okay. I'm leaning that way too.

        • lyl on 10/03/2016 - 19:33
          +1

          Both have their advantages, but I will go for a filter on a time period (last 24 hours, last 7 days) so that you are still able to sort deals based on % discount/price/etc

          Another feature I think that should be added is the 'lowest ever price' filter. Olokun suggested it already, but practically this would be great for sites like woolworths/coles/dicksmith (rip dick smith), which have frequent discounts on the same items. It will filter out the John West Tunas/ice creams/chocolates that go half price every second week, and only show the actual 'half price' items.

          Keep up the great work man, and don't forget that the focus should still be at adding more stores :)

          • Olokun on 10/03/2016 - 19:39
            +2

            @lyl:

            Keep up the great work man, and don't forget that the focus should still be at adding more stores :)

            I thought that would be his day job.. But more stores is probably more important.

          • Store Repjazoom @ Price Hipster on 10/03/2016 - 19:40
            +3

            @lyl: I had the same thoughts about the sorting. I'll add a time period filter, just like you said.

            The lowest ever price would be good but I think it should wait until I have longer term data for more stores. Then it will have more meaning.

            I hear ya. At the moment my main focus is tying up loose ends/minor improvements while getting new stores onboard. I think you'll start to see the fruits of this over the next few weeks.

          • lyl on 10/03/2016 - 19:41

            @lyl: @Olokun:

            haha if this can end up similar to camelx3, it could end up as his day job.

          • lyl on 10/03/2016 - 19:47

            @lyl: @jazoom:

            I think the lowest ever price will have enough meaning now, as 90% of the drops I currently see aren't even close to the lowest lol

            Oh yeah, also add a 'donate via paypal' button or something since you're not using ads to support the site XD

          • Store Repjazoom @ Price Hipster on 10/03/2016 - 19:50
            +1

            @lyl: @lyl: That is true.

            I'm looking into monetising a little fairly soon. I don't really need donations since I can sustain it for quite a while.

            Thanks for all the great support and feedback!

    • addict on 02/01/2017 - 11:14

      Firstly wanted to say great site! looks and works great!

      Here is a suggestion for you. not sure if you have had this one yet, but it would be a great one to add at least for technologies.

      Have you considered integrating selected US sites that are commonly used and are known to ship to Australia. Not a simple ask I know, given not all items ship/brands to Australia on these sites. So it would have to be selected categories incl digital. also including currency conversion. Perhaps stick with categories like electronics.

      Some suggested sites incl.
      Amazon.com (perhaps just items sold by amazon.com)
      Amazon.co.uk
      amazon.de
      Bhphotovideo
      Xbox.com (US Site)
      geekbuying.com

      Thanks again!

      • Store Repjazoom @ Price Hipster on 02/01/2017 - 11:26

        Hi addict. Thanks for the suggestion!

        I've got something planned for this year that might satisfy what you want. :-)

        • addict on 02/01/2017 - 11:27

          great will keep a look out.

    • Rodo on 16/08/2017 - 14:53

      The prices for Coles don't appear to be working correctly. When I look at Price Hipster for a product from Coles it does not list the manufacturer anymore, e.g., a search for "Kelloggs" returns no results, however when I search for "Special K" it returns a result. So it is now very hard to search for something. Also product history seems to be gone for Coles products. And my dashboard now does not list any Coles products so I can't get notified anymore :(

      Anything you can do to fix this up?

      • Store Repjazoom @ Price Hipster on 16/08/2017 - 16:13

        That's not good. Thanks for letting me know. I'll get it fixed.

      • Store Repjazoom @ Price Hipster on 16/08/2017 - 18:19

        Okay, it's mostly back to normal now. It might take a few more days to even out. I didn't notice this issue but it seems to have happened a week ago. Thanks again for the heads-up.

        • Rodo on 16/08/2017 - 22:12

          Thanks for looking into this so quickly. Very much appreciated.

          So it won't be working correctly for a few days? I did a search just now and it's the same as earlier, i.e, no brands listed for Coles. And my dashboard also again has nothing listed for Coles; I spent an hour this afternoon setting it up again for Coles and it's all gone again :(

          • Store Repjazoom @ Price Hipster on 16/08/2017 - 22:18

            @Rodo: Sorry mate. Your original ones should come back. You might not see the ones from this afternoon in there again (which is good because then you'd have duplicates).

            Unfortunately this is the result of something changing with the crawl and not having a solid way to track Coles' products accurately.

            Also, there's a small problem with something unrelated that I didn't quite fix tonight, which means you might not get your alerts back until tomorrow. I'm really sorry for the inconvenience. This has been a bit of a headache.

          • Rodo on 16/08/2017 - 23:14
            +1

            @Rodo: @jazoom: Thanks mate. No need to be sorry. Price Hipster is an awesome tool and I'm so grateful to you for putting it together. Cheers.

          • Store Repjazoom @ Price Hipster on 17/08/2017 - 06:41

            @Rodo: @Rodo: Thanks for the support 😊

          • Store Repjazoom @ Price Hipster on 17/08/2017 - 08:36

            @Rodo: @Rodo: Did your price alerts come back? Most, if not all, should have returned by now.

          • Rodo on 17/08/2017 - 09:16

            @Rodo: @jazoom: Some of them have returned but many are still missing. And when I do a search for the missing ones, nothing shows up but they show up on the Coles website, e.g., Sunrice Medium Grain White Rice 5kg, Barilla Pasta Sauce 400g.

          • Store Repjazoom @ Price Hipster on 17/08/2017 - 09:20

            @Rodo: @Rodo: Getting products from the Coles website has always been problematic. I have to spend some time again trying to figure out why. If they showed up before they will probably show up again.

          • Rodo on 17/08/2017 - 09:21

            @Rodo: @jazoom: Interesting too that I just found an email which arrived an hour ago for a price alert but when I click on the product in the email it says "It appears this product is no longer available".

          • Store Repjazoom @ Price Hipster on 17/08/2017 - 09:23

            @Rodo: @Rodo: That is interesting. Can you please give me the link to that product?

          • Store Repjazoom @ Price Hipster on 17/08/2017 - 09:53

            @Rodo: @Rodo: Thanks mate. I'll look into it today.

          • jubz on 17/08/2017 - 11:59

            @Rodo: @jazoom: Price Hipster is an excellent tool; I used it all the time and even marketed it to family & friends, thank you.
            Just wondering, the Office Works is not visible in the Price Hipster list. Am I missing something or is it possible to add it back?

          • Store Repjazoom @ Price Hipster on 17/08/2017 - 12:06

            @Rodo: @jubz: Thanks jubz :-)

            Unfortunately Officeworks has been off the platform for a while. Perhaps one day they will choose to have their products on Price Hipster. It might help if people let them know via their Facebook page or whatever that they want to see them on Price Hipster.

          • Store Repjazoom @ Price Hipster on 17/08/2017 - 14:40

            @Rodo: @Rodo: Thanks to you giving me that link I was able to track down a bug that's been around for about 2 years. :-) That product had enough data in it to help me find where the problem was.

            It was a weird one that caused strange, temporary anomalies, such as a product not being around after getting a price alert. I experienced that once but I put it down to me doing something weird with my test account.

            Also, I think I've fixed the issue with many Coles products not showing up. Check it out! :-)

          • Rodo on 17/08/2017 - 17:59

            @Rodo: @jazoom: It looks all good now. Thanks mate. My dashboard now shows the Coles products again and products show up when I search for them. A few alert emails came through but still waiting for a few more that should have come through. Hopefully they will come through when the next price check is done.

          • Store Repjazoom @ Price Hipster on 17/08/2017 - 18:28

            @Rodo: @Rodo: If the price has already changed you won't get the alert email later. If you want to see which product alerts are active just look for the orange outline in your dashboard.

    • Olokun on 10/02/2018 - 18:03

      @jazoom:

      Hey J

      Have you thought about adding a feature to PH that would show items which are currently at their lowest price?

      It would be great to be able to see if something is at its low wihtout having to click into the item and look at the graph.

      • Store Repjazoom @ Price Hipster on 10/02/2018 - 19:49
        +1

        Hey Olokun, long time no see.

        I might look into that "icing on the cake" stuff later this year. It's a good idea and I'd probably be able to find a way to make it work.

        I've quit my job as a doctor and am living off savings working full-time on Price Hipster (and other stuff) this year so hopefully we'll see even more progress than we did last year.

    • Olokun on 11/03/2018 - 10:54

      Hi Jazoom

      Just noticed that no results appear for Spotlight. Not sure if you were aware.

      • Store Repjazoom @ Price Hipster on 11/03/2018 - 14:25

        You're right. Their products are no longer indexed at this stage. The problem here was the store was showing up at all. That's been fixed. Thanks for the heads-up.

        • jubz on 12/03/2018 - 17:21

          Today while researching one of the Miele vacuum cleaner, I was not able to bring the records for Jb-Hifi so wanted to bring it to your attention. Maybe this could be a bug. Check this

          Miele C3 Cat & Dog Powerline Vacuum Cleaner

          https://www.jbhifi.com.au/whitegoods-appliances/vacuums-floo…

          There is no record on Price Hipster. See if you can investigate and fix.

          • Store Repjazoom @ Price Hipster on 12/03/2018 - 18:46

            @jubz: Hey jubz, thanks for letting me know. I think I've found the problem and fixed it.

  • ourcom on 23/03/2016 - 06:59

    Nice work op. Been using your site everyday.
    Any way to exclude certain categories? Say fashion items?

    • Store Repjazoom @ Price Hipster on 23/03/2016 - 07:13

      Sorry, I accidentally replied to you in the comment below.

  • Store Repjazoom @ Price Hipster on 23/03/2016 - 07:12
    +2

    Not yet, but that will have to come soonish since a whole bunch of new stores are on the way.

  • Neoika on 24/03/2016 - 21:06

    Subscribed yesterday and received 10 same emails today with title 'Here are today's biggest deals!'

    • Store Repjazoom @ Price Hipster on 24/03/2016 - 21:10

      Whoah that's not good. Thanks heaps for letting me know! Who is your email provider?

      My email sender dashboard shows no increase in the approximate number of emails sent yesterday or today, and I certainly haven't seen that behaviour.

      That's really strange. I'll keep a keen eye out for it!

  • Saxon on 26/03/2016 - 15:43

    Great work on this site Jazoom–

    • Store Repjazoom @ Price Hipster on 26/03/2016 - 17:05

      Thanks, Saxon! More goodness to come!

  • Neoika on 27/03/2016 - 12:35

    I want Harris Farm online to be added,Sydney based only though.

    • Store Repjazoom @ Price Hipster on 27/03/2016 - 12:40

      That's a cool-looking shop. Thanks for pointing it out.

  • shapers on 27/03/2016 - 12:52

    hey, just a heads up im Getting this error when trying to go to a big w page "This site can’t be reached

    click.linksynergy.com refused to connect.
    ERR_CONNECTION_REFUSED"

    • Store Repjazoom @ Price Hipster on 27/03/2016 - 13:09

      Thanks shapers. That's actually a known issue, and something I will address soon. Basically it's because you're using an ad-blocker.

  • Olokun on 30/03/2016 - 16:01

    Edit: Just read the above post. For me it is occuring on both work PC and my phone, neither have any 3rd party ad blockers.

    Masters links are trying to go via click.linksynergy.com for some reason and then going to an error page?

    • Store Repjazoom @ Price Hipster on 30/03/2016 - 16:07

      Sorry, that's a separate issue, which I've also fixed (update going out in the next couple of hours).

      If you want to manually make it work just change "https://" at the start of the link to "http://".

      Sorry for the inconvenience.

      • Olokun on 30/03/2016 - 16:20

        No need to apologise.. :)

        Any new features in this update?

        • Store Repjazoom @ Price Hipster on 30/03/2016 - 16:26

          The one tonight is mainly a bugfix update, including for the issue we've just been talking about.

          All my work for the past few weeks has been under the hood, preparing for an update which I'll announce soon (hopefully in the next few days). It's mostly about adding more stores.

  • Food on 30/03/2016 - 18:22

    Any chance you could have an alternate way of clicking on the store instead of clicking on the actual deal then go to store? I'll find it much easier just to right click then open in new tab on the picture :)

    • Store Repjazoom @ Price Hipster on 30/03/2016 - 19:25

      Yeah, it'll take a bit of a redesign but I do have plans to do that. :)

      • Food on 30/03/2016 - 19:31

        Thanks! I'll make it so much easier to view all the multitude of cheap c*@p from Officeworks

  • thydzik on 06/04/2016 - 14:26

    again, really good site.

    I would like to see;
    select a date range of the last price change.

    even though all the stores are selected by default, I may want to exclude 1 or 2 stores only.
    the select stores needs a select all so I can then drop of the stores I don't want.

    • Store Repjazoom @ Price Hipster on 06/04/2016 - 15:19

      Really good suggestions. They're on my to-do list. :-)

      • thydzik on 06/04/2016 - 17:08

        thanks.

        also, number of price changes by date range would be useful to find fluctuating price items, like your initial example.

        • Store Repjazoom @ Price Hipster on 06/04/2016 - 17:11

          No probs. I actually have plans to do an overhaul of the search/navigation experience.

  • Olokun on 06/04/2016 - 16:32

    The news subscription email doesn't display properly on the iOS mail app… Might want to check it out before your first news mailout as it will be quiet hard to read it 4 characters per line at a time :)

    • Store Repjazoom @ Price Hipster on 06/04/2016 - 16:46

      Good to know!

      Which version of iOS? A friend showed me on her iPhone and it looked okay.

      • Olokun on 06/04/2016 - 20:13

        iOS 9.3.1 - iPhone 5s

        https://files.ozbargain.com.au/upload/121534/38487/image.png

        • Store Repjazoom @ Price Hipster on 06/04/2016 - 20:17

          Wow that's…. pretty bad.

          Thanks for the screenshot.

        • Store Repjazoom @ Price Hipster on 15/04/2016 - 17:02

          Hey, did that announcement email look any better?

        • Olokun on 15/04/2016 - 17:04
          +1

          @jazoom:

          Yeah email displayed fine this time :)

        • Store Repjazoom @ Price Hipster on 15/04/2016 - 17:25

          @Olokun: Woo! Thanks for giving me the heads-up before. Otherwise I wouldn't have known to switch my email framework.

  • Store Repjazoom @ Price Hipster on 14/04/2016 - 13:33
    Merged from Price Hipster - 100 Stores in 100 Days!

    Hi all!

    I have been working hard in the background, making some updates to Price Hipster to allow an explosion in the number of stores.

    Starting today, for the next 100 days, a new store will be added to Price Hipster each day! Today's new store has already been added.

    By way of information, I will probably be removing the voting feature. I will implement a more automatic way of deciding which deals are better. The problem with the voting is that it is very fleeting. The votes must be reset on each price change. Also, even the good deals don't hang around on the front page for long, so you don't get to see many upvotes there at any given time.

    Over the next little while I will also be improving the search experience, which will be necessary as more stores are added.

    Let me know how it goes, and I'd love to hear any feedback you might have!

    • Store Repjazoom @ Price Hipster on 14/04/2016 - 13:35

      Also, if you want to know which stores are being added when, follow Price Hipster on Twitter or on Facebook.

    • GameChanger on 14/04/2016 - 13:57
      +4

      Love your site- keep up the good work Jazoom!

      • Store Repjazoom @ Price Hipster on 14/04/2016 - 14:23
        +1

        Thanks, GameChanger!

    • Clear on 14/04/2016 - 13:59
      +1

      A feature I'd like to see is the ability to open products in a new tab. Sometimes there are products that are very similar and I'd like to open them both in a tab to view them more easily.

      • Store Repjazoom @ Price Hipster on 14/04/2016 - 14:24

        What about viewing 2 side-by-side in the same window to compare them?

        • Clear on 14/04/2016 - 15:02

          That could work too.

          • Store Repjazoom @ Price Hipster on 14/04/2016 - 15:23

            @Clear: The thing with this is, I really like the experience of still being in the context of the search results when the product details are showing. I feel like the experience isn't jarring, which it would be if you were taken to a new page to see the details. I'll look into options for this in the future. Thanks for the feedback!

          • Clear on 14/04/2016 - 15:27
            +1

            @Clear: @jazoom: I'm just one of those people that always have 10+ tabs open all the time.

          • Store Repjazoom @ Price Hipster on 14/04/2016 - 16:02
            +1

            @Clear: @Clear: Me too! My secret shame.

    • lyl on 14/04/2016 - 14:16

      This is awesome :) Another feature I'd like to suggest is a button to directly copy the website link (not the pricehipster link), so that it saves time when making compilations like this.

      • Store Repjazoom @ Price Hipster on 14/04/2016 - 14:26
        +1

        I'll think about that one. One issue with that is I'm currently testing using affiliate links to help pay for server costs etc. That wouldn't work so well if I had both links side-by-side. Also, I think it would be confusing to some users.

    • Olokun on 14/04/2016 - 15:30

      Congrats getting PH this far. I guess I have something exciting to wake up to each morning to for the next 99 days.

      Just wondering what time will new stores appear each day? also if you are willing to divulge that is, what the make up of the 100 stores will be.. small online only stores vs brick and motor majors?

      I know it has been mentioned a while back in a previous thread but as more items are added to the price drop list, it would be good to be able to click through to the PH product page.

      • Store Repjazoom @ Price Hipster on 14/04/2016 - 16:06

        Thanks for all the support you've given, Olokun. You're certainly one of Price Hipster's most active supporters so I'm glad you like the new developments.

        Actually I'm figuring out the details of times right now. I'm not 100% sure yet.

        The stores will be a mix of large, well-known stores and smaller ones. Some will be brick and mortar. All will be online.

        What do you mean by the last sentence, sorry?

        • Olokun on 14/04/2016 - 16:16
          +1

          Just trying to say that it would be good that when viewing the price drop section of our account, a user is able to click on the item and goto the price hipster page for that item. As it stands you can only change the price drop alert or delete the item from the list.

          • Store Repjazoom @ Price Hipster on 14/04/2016 - 16:19

            @Olokun: Oh, in the dashboard. Sorry, I wasn't on the same page (no pun intended… or was it?).

            Yes, that's on my to-do list. Not in the "urgent" column, though.

    • ilikeradiohead on 14/04/2016 - 15:48

      Keep up the good work PH. Just a question re how it all works, with the coles numbers (and possibly any other store that does this), are these straight from the website, so the higher prices they build in to their website vs going to the store are reflected in the search?

      No comments on features though, can't access it at work haha.

      • Store Repjazoom @ Price Hipster on 14/04/2016 - 16:06

        Yes, these are the prices from their website. It is possible some prices are different in local stores. Usually they are the same, and if they're different they tend to be slightly lower in store.

    • Maki on 15/04/2016 - 10:55

      Thanks for the great website. Is there a way to disable some stores though? I can see that I am logged in, and I am not interested in ASOS or Cracka Wine. Can I deselect those stores from my list?

      • Store Repjazoom @ Price Hipster on 15/04/2016 - 11:24

        At the moment you can select particular stores to view, but not exclude them. That is on the roadmap. Thanks for the feedback.

        • Olokun on 15/04/2016 - 11:27
          +1

          I think in future a good feature when all the stores are added would be that the stores are grouped by type.. Ie liquor stores, department stores, pharmacies, supermarkets.. And allow users to unselect stores by group. I think a lot of users would want to exclude alcohol from their searches for example.

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