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

  • stuckster on 20/10/2016 - 16:34

    Hey Jazoom,

    It might be time to retire the Masters data feed (reluctantly) since they've now pulled all products from the Masters website.

    • Store Repjazoom @ Price Hipster on 20/10/2016 - 16:40

      You're right. I'll do that tonight. 😞

      • tryagain on 20/10/2016 - 20:27

        NOOOOOOOOO that's what I was using in absence of the Master's website to see what products they might have in stock, please if possible bring it back. looks like I wasn't the only one either

        • Store Repjazoom @ Price Hipster on 20/10/2016 - 20:34

          Oops. Sorry, it's gone for good. It's better to treat this sad time like a bandaid. 😃

        • tryagain on 20/10/2016 - 20:39

          @jazoom:

          Why stucker why did you make the suggestion. I tried to look at something on there and it was gone and thought maybe masters had requested you pull it down but it was actually a fellow oz bargainer, Still love the site, just a tiny bit less now :(

        • Store Repjazoom @ Price Hipster on 20/10/2016 - 20:46

          @tryagain: Hopefully your love will be rekindled as more awesomeness drops soon.

        • tryagain on 20/10/2016 - 22:41

          @jazoom: Any reason you haven't added some of the super retail group stores yet?

        • Store Repjazoom @ Price Hipster on 20/10/2016 - 22:50

          @tryagain: No reason, other than they haven't provided me with their product list yet.

  • treeman on 22/10/2016 - 20:54

    I have recently fell back in love with your site after an absence of being out of love due to the new system.
    I previously saved a few of my favourite stores list and it lost them, but I've made a new batch and loving it again.
    Is it possible to make a proper log in rather than logging in with just an email address?

    Recently bargains I have scored is a filing cabinet on clearance from officeworks.
    Canvas prints from big w plus other nick nacks for kids presents.

    It's been great!

    • treeman on 22/10/2016 - 20:55

      Oh and I've recently realised if for example your are sick of seeing all the DVD specials which you are never going to buy just put -dvd or whatever key word you don't want to show up.
      Might have been obvious to others but not me initially until I tried it.

      • treeman on 22/10/2016 - 20:57

        Oh and I picked up that sweet pair of Sketcher shoes too for over half price!

      • Store Repjazoom @ Price Hipster on 22/10/2016 - 21:58

        Yes, I'm currently giving the UI a much-needed overhaul to make it more intuitive to use.

    • Store Repjazoom @ Price Hipster on 22/10/2016 - 21:57

      What new thing made you fall out of love?

      I'm sorry your stores were lost. Are you referring to just a link favorited in your browser or the official store groups feature? I have made a lot of behind the scenes changes this year so previous links will be broken.

      Passwords are very insecure for most people since they'll just reuse them across websites. What reason do you want to use a password? How often do you log out and log in?

      It's so good to have you back, treeman!

      • treeman on 22/10/2016 - 22:28

        Well when all the new stores hit I didn't really like many of them to b honest, I missed the fact that it had around 10 decent stores that came up on the front page and I could sort highest percentage off to lowest percentage off. Then a whole bunch of new stores came in, I persisted with the site for a while and made some groups however at one stage I was logged out and I logged back in and those groups were gone. For a while I couldn't be bothered going back and re making those groups.
        Also was getting a little annoyed that most of the cheap things were out of stock or they say they were in stock but then you'd get an email back saying they are now out of stock.

        It doesn't really matter about the password system I just want it reliable as I lost my saves before.

        • Store Repjazoom @ Price Hipster on 22/10/2016 - 22:38

          I'm not sure what happened to your store groups. They might have gotten lost in one of the shuffles. Sorry about that. I had to change the way things worked for technical reasons.

          One of the big challenges for this year has been and still is making sure everyone gets maximum value from the site no matter what their interests are. The store groups for search and for daily deals are a step in the right direction, but I've got more improvements coming.

  • Rodo on 04/11/2016 - 17:41

    What has happened to the price tracking for Woolworths? Items on special at Woolworths this week do not appear to be listed as such on Pricehipster and I have not received any price drop emails from Woolworths items this week too :(

    • Store Repjazoom @ Price Hipster on 04/11/2016 - 18:31

      Can you give me some examples? All those I just checked were fine.

      • Olokun on 04/11/2016 - 18:46

        Found one for you :)

        https://pricehipster.com/product/Rn1rP5E11EuTYPAVSYWuuQ~HJA-…

        • Store Repjazoom @ Price Hipster on 04/11/2016 - 19:45

          Ha thanks. Actually hipsterbot is currently updating products now so if that price dropped in the last few hours I'm not surprised it hasn't been updated yet. If it's still not updated in an hour then we have a problem somewhere.

        • Store Repjazoom @ Price Hipster on 04/11/2016 - 21:09

          Yup, there was a problem. I'm fixing it now!

    • Store Repjazoom @ Price Hipster on 04/11/2016 - 21:09

      Thanks for alerting me to the problem. I'm fixing it now!

      • Olokun on 04/11/2016 - 22:19

        FYI price alerts just came through for the Wednesday woolies and Coles catalogues specials … just thought it was a crappy week of specials when I didn't get any emails lol.

        • Store Repjazoom @ Price Hipster on 04/11/2016 - 22:46

          Yeah, sorry. There was an issue with those stores for the last 48 hours or so.

      • Rodo on 04/11/2016 - 22:58

        Thanks for fixing it so quickly

  • Olokun on 24/11/2016 - 07:31

    Hey, just thought I would pop in and give you the heads up that Amcal may need a check as there are zero price changes across the entire store, incorrect prices and for at least the last 5 days zero results if you sort by discount.

    • Store Repjazoom @ Price Hipster on 24/11/2016 - 07:54

      Oo, I'll have to chase them up. It sounds like they aren't keeping their feed up to date. Thanks for letting me know.

  • indium on 15/12/2016 - 18:12
    +1

    Just dropping in to say congratulations on the site, it's extremely practical and I find myself using it nearly everyday! Those category tabs are a great addition :)

    • Store Repjazoom @ Price Hipster on 15/12/2016 - 18:27

      Thanks for the encouragement! You'd be surprised how much has gone into making those category tabs possible.

  • treeman on 15/12/2016 - 22:07

    Not sure if I'm happy with the new set up.

    What has happened to all my old categories?

    • Store Repjazoom @ Price Hipster on 15/12/2016 - 22:11

      There are always people who don't like changes to websites they like, so I'm not surprised, but I do think you'll come to prefer the new website.

      When you say "categories", are you referring to your store groups?

      • treeman on 15/12/2016 - 22:15

        Yes,

        I know what you are saying, just took me a while to set those up!

        • Store Repjazoom @ Price Hipster on 15/12/2016 - 23:08

          Sorry, I accidentally made a new comment. I replied to you below.

  • Store Repjazoom @ Price Hipster on 15/12/2016 - 22:41
    +1

    Yeah. I actually analysed how people were using them. Pretty much everyone was just using it for a couple of stores each, so I brought back the multi-select box. The other use for them was groupings like "groceries" and "fashion". The problem with that is as new stores are added, you miss out on having those products in your group. My solution to that is to create my own groupings, which are easily accessible and always up-to-date. And they're not based just on stores, but on the products themselves.

    You can still save a bookmark of groups of stores if you wish to have that.

    I was planing to explain this in an email tomorrow.

    I hope this makes sense!

    Edit: And I still have the data in the database (for now) with your store groupings, if you wanted me to get your lists for you.

  • scupper on 15/12/2016 - 23:00

    I really appreciate the site. I notice you don't have Amart Sports and Rebel. At least I can't find them in the store list.
    Another thing I suggest is that you should have no NSFW items on the front page, or maybe set it as an option. I noticed a weird-looking men's underwear on the front page just a few days ago, while trying to show the site to my dad. :-O Not sure if it was from a fashion shop or one of those "anything goes" shops.
    But I guess that's a bit unfair for the fashion shops if they lose equal prominence.

    • Store Repjazoom @ Price Hipster on 15/12/2016 - 23:12
      +1

      The funny thing is, that product was pushed to the top because so many people were interested in it, lol. I found out about it when my brother saw it and told me.

      It's actually not that easy to know if something is NSFW, and where do you draw the line of NSFW anyway? Facebook has been having a hard time with that recently. I'm not sure I am as well-equipped as them to tackle it.

      If you have any good ideas I'd be keen to hear them.

  • Olokun on 16/12/2016 - 06:16

    What's with story with the new logo? I really liked the original.

    Might have a couple of ux bugs for you so I'll have a better look when I get to work and have some free time.

    • Store Repjazoom @ Price Hipster on 16/12/2016 - 09:41

      I needed one that could work in monochrome. Also, I wanted to personify the brand a little.

  • Olokun on 17/12/2016 - 07:27

    Hi Jazoom

    So a couple of things I have come across with the new sidebar.

    • (On mobile devices) When you try and modify/delete a value eg. in price range or days since price change, the screen will scroll back to its default position which then pushes the text box you are trying to change behind the keyboard.

    • (On mobile devices) There is no up/down arrow to change 'days since price change' and you can not press delete to remove the existing value. Currently the only way to change it is either to select all to highlight the number and then replace it or to insert a second digit before removing the first one.

    • (On mobile devices) When you have the sidebar open and the deals shrink to the right side, if there is a current and was price, the current price is over the top of the was price

    • Store Repjazoom @ Price Hipster on 17/12/2016 - 07:32

      Hey thanks Olokun, that's great feedback as always. I'll fix that up.

      • Olokun on 17/12/2016 - 07:32

        my pleasure :)

      • Olokun on 17/12/2016 - 07:38

        Sorry I did forget one more lol.

        when looking at a deal (on mobile) the close button doesn't seem to work at all and the only way to get back to the main page is to swipe right (on ios) or find and click the 1mm gap at the top of the page.

        • Store Repjazoom @ Price Hipster on 17/12/2016 - 07:51

          That's annoying. Thanks for letting me know. For now, going "back" in the browser will work. I assume that's what the swipe right on iOS does.

          I'll fix this too.

        • Store Repjazoom @ Price Hipster on 17/12/2016 - 13:07

          (On mobile devices) When you try and modify/delete a value eg. in price range or days since price change, the screen will scroll back to its default position which then pushes the text box you are trying to change behind the keyboard.

          Fixed

          (On mobile devices) There is no up/down arrow to change 'days since price change' and you can not press delete to remove the existing value. Currently the only way to change it is either to select all to highlight the number and then replace it or to insert a second digit before removing the first one.

          Fixed

          (On mobile devices) When you have the sidebar open and the deals shrink to the right side, if there is a current and was price, the current price is over the top of the was price

          I couldn't reproduce this issue (though I have noticed it in the past somewhere), so I can't confirm I've fixed it. I made some changes that I think should fix it. Let me know if it doesn't.

          when looking at a deal (on mobile) the close button doesn't seem to work at all and the only way to get back to the main page is to swipe right (on ios) or find and click the 1mm gap at the top of the page.

          I couldn't reproduce this even with iPhones. I did find an example of not being able to see the 'close' button. You say you had no trouble seeing it, but touching it did nothing? Would you be able to send me the link this website gives you: http://www.whatsmybrowser.org/

          The update will be live sometime today.

        • Olokun on 17/12/2016 - 17:58

          I have had a longer look at the issue I had with the 'close' button and it appears to only occur on a mobile phone and when the options sidebar is open.

          If I however press 'options' and zoom out 'pinching fingers' before opening a deal then I can use the close button.

        • Store Repjazoom @ Price Hipster on 17/12/2016 - 18:11

          @Olokun: Thanks for the extra info. I think what I was missing was that it happens when the options menu is open. I'll have another look before I release an update tonight.

  • pwalia on 30/12/2016 - 17:42

    hi jazoom, realsmart store is widely available on your website operated by New Aim Pty. Ltd. ABN 50 115 804 432 which was ebay ozplaza store with reported consumer issues http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/archive/2297032
    would you be re-considering this store products on your website?

    • Store Repjazoom @ Price Hipster on 30/12/2016 - 18:03

      Thank you for the info. Unfortunately this is all too common. We'll investigate.

    • stuckster on 30/12/2016 - 23:01

      With the volume of isales that Ozplaza makes its almost a given that a few of them will result in formal consumer complaints. It's just a numbers game so I'm not at all surprised. The majority of their customers are presumably happy, otherwise they would not have lasted many years in business and grown to be one of Australia's top EBay stores. Have you personally had a poor experience with them or were you just flagging the issue?

      • Store Repjazoom @ Price Hipster on 30/12/2016 - 23:13

        I think you are right. Someone else said that to me today as well. We have noticed some stores with abnormally high complaint rates in the past so we do seriously consider things like this, but this particular case may just be what you described.

        • stuckster on 30/12/2016 - 23:18

          I tend to agree.
          The Whirlpool post is just a biased rant from an unfortunate and obviously unhappy customer. The link to the ACCC refers to a single product for which they paid an infringement. Given that they sell thousands of products, I'm surprised there are not more complaints. As you said unfortunately it happens all too often and IMHO certainly not grounds to bar them from the site.
          No… I am in no way affiliated with them. Just curious why they are being singled out here.

        • Store Repjazoom @ Price Hipster on 30/12/2016 - 23:24

          @stuckster: It's kinda like how 95% of companies have terrible ratings on productreview.com.au. You only get the bad experiences there.

          I used to develop Android apps so I know very well how useless rating systems can be.

        • pwalia on 02/01/2017 - 13:14

          @jazoom: Thanks @jazoom and @stuckster for your comments, multiple trading names in last few years by this company was the reason I flagged the issue. I have become a regular user of price hipster and saw this store pop up and uncovered past reported issues before I place an order. But happy with your feedback and appreciate the time. Happy New Year 2017!

  • Suspect420 on 01/01/2017 - 09:58

    @jazoom

    You need a deals page! Whenever something is greater than 20% off it is showcased.

    • Store Repjazoom @ Price Hipster on 01/01/2017 - 10:09

      That is the home page, but it is smarter than that. It knows that just because a site has a product at 20% off it doesn't mean it's a great deal.

      • Suspect420 on 02/01/2017 - 08:25

        Yea i realised after flicking through for a while.

        I like it!

        Great job mate.

        Fk all the naysayers. Top job

        • Store Repjazoom @ Price Hipster on 02/01/2017 - 09:11

          Thanks for the encouragement!

  • [Deactivated] on 02/01/2017 - 21:25

    Nice layout and structure. Consider adding forums and comps to rival OzBargain.

    • Store Repjazoom @ Price Hipster on 02/01/2017 - 21:58

      Thank you for the compliment.

      I see the relationship between OzBargain and Price Hipster as symbiotic. I don't think there's any benefit in Price Hipster having a forum when OzBargain is doing that job well. I'd say that Price Hipster getting a forum is about as likely as OzBargain becoming a product search engine.

      I'm sure you'd agree that Price Hipster's effort is best spent on improving at what it does and adding thousands of new stores?

      • Olokun on 02/01/2017 - 23:26

        improving at what it does and adding thousands of new stores?

        1,000 stores in 100 days? Looking forward to it. :)

        • Store Repjazoom @ Price Hipster on 02/01/2017 - 23:35

          Haha. I like your optimism.

  • Chilli-chilli on 03/01/2017 - 08:10

    Have you thought abt adding travel agencies?

    • Store Repjazoom @ Price Hipster on 03/01/2017 - 08:19

      Maybe far into the future

  • matt_will_fix_it on 04/01/2017 - 10:24

    Hi Jazoom,

    Have you thought about adding Anaconda?

    • Store Repjazoom @ Price Hipster on 04/01/2017 - 10:42

      We're now pretty much at the stage where we're ready to accept any store as long as they provide us a product feed. If you're keen for Anaconda feel free to send them a message and encourage them to get their stuff on pricehipster.com

      https://www.facebook.com/AnacondaStores/

  • stuckster on 04/01/2017 - 22:34

    Hey Jazoom,

    Todays best buys email has this in the number one slot
    https://pricehipster.com/product/ZFSsRaf2OcR6RpHBpowLmQ~B1aC…

    The card value is only $50. Price Hipster is showing the historical price of $200. So not sure what's going on there.

    • Store Repjazoom @ Price Hipster on 04/01/2017 - 22:54
      +1

      My guess is they had the $200, then removed it and added a $50 one with exactly the same name (no value in the product's name). This led the Hipsterbot to get confused. :(

  • noise36 on 04/01/2017 - 22:59
    +1

    Great website!

    • Store Repjazoom @ Price Hipster on 04/01/2017 - 23:16

      I'm glad you like it :)

  • [Deactivated] on 07/01/2017 - 18:29

    Feedback from WA. On a 13mbps connection and searches load instantly. Very clean and well organised layout.

    May I ask what platform you built this on and how you extracted price data etc from retailers? I'm a uni student and quite interested to know how this was done!

    • Store Repjazoom @ Price Hipster on 07/01/2017 - 19:12

      Hi nurries, thanks for the feedback!

      Initially NodeJS/React. I've since converted it to be built on Vue. Vue is really nice to use.

      I initially created a custom web crawler that specifically found products. Now stores provide me with their feeds.

      • [Deactivated] on 07/01/2017 - 20:28

        That's impressive, I'll have a look into it! I've always made websites for small businesses and sorts, never anything like yours. Might make it a summer project to make something similar.

        • Store Repjazoom @ Price Hipster on 07/01/2017 - 20:40

          It's an enormous amount of work but it's very rewarding to create something useful.

  • Olokun on 08/01/2017 - 09:00

    Hi Jazoom

    Have you thought about promoting the addition of new stores on a banner like you did with the 100 stores/days? With so many stores now it is hard to know when a new one as been added. I just saw COTD and I was like oh where did that come from.

    Just a humble opinion in response to above comments like this

    Have you thought abt adding travel agencies?

    I think PH is great at what it does and should stick to what it does best. Don't become a Woolworths :)

    • Store Repjazoom @ Price Hipster on 08/01/2017 - 09:39

      You just happened to catch it at the right time. A group of new stores is being added and an email will go out soon to those who are subscribed to get news.

      Thanks for the encouragement.

  • jerjergege on 11/01/2017 - 08:41

    Staticice.com.au

    • Store Repjazoom @ Price Hipster on 11/01/2017 - 09:49

      ?

      • jerjergege on 11/01/2017 - 09:53

        Awesome website that lists the price of a product from various different sources just like your website, but mostly for electronics.

        • Store Repjazoom @ Price Hipster on 11/01/2017 - 10:38
          +1

          Yes it is. It was likely one of my inspirations when I decided to create Price Hipster.

  • ozzie13 on 11/01/2017 - 10:19

    How about adding a section that lists international websites that ship to Australia (eg Amazon, BHPhoto, Book Depository, Marks & Spencer, Zavi, etc)?

    • Store Repjazoom @ Price Hipster on 11/01/2017 - 10:40

      That's a good idea. One of my goals for this year is to do something about that, but not quite how you mean.

  • Cybella on 22/01/2017 - 09:51

    Apologies if this has already been suggested as this is an extremely long thread,
    but could Chemist Warehouse and IGA including Super IGA be included?

    I, for one, really like Pricehipster and use it a lot! Thanks.

    • Store Repjazoom @ Price Hipster on 22/01/2017 - 09:57
      +1

      Thanks for the support, Cybella!

      IGA doesn't seem to even have a website you can shop so it might be a while before they're able to join Price Hipster.

      We've reached out to Chemist Warehouse but are just waiting for them to accept the invitation. Feel free to send them a message encouraging them to jump on board.

      • tooblue on 06/04/2017 - 01:04

        Agree with the Chemist Warehouse and other pharmacies (Amcal, Discount Drug Store, etc.)

        • Store Repjazoom @ Price Hipster on 06/04/2017 - 07:01

          Chemist Warehouse is on board but they've yet to supply us with a product feed, unfortunately.

        • tooblue on 06/04/2017 - 23:10

          @jazoom:
          I thought it was as easy as sending your spiders to crawl their website?

        • Store Repjazoom @ Price Hipster on 07/04/2017 - 06:46

          @tooblue: That's a possibility, but it's not ideal.

  • treeman on 23/01/2017 - 08:38

    How about Appliances Online?
    Also wasn't K-mart on there before? Can't see it anymore, not reliable enough?

    • Store Repjazoom @ Price Hipster on 23/01/2017 - 08:46
      +1

      I'm pretty sure we applied to Appliances Online but haven't heard back from them.

      Kmart's website was a mess and they only had a small proportion of their products online anyway. It's been taken off Price Hipster for now.

  • coreyed10 on 04/03/2017 - 12:04

    Officeworks seems to have disappeared from the store list. Any reason to why and will it be back?

    • Store Repjazoom @ Price Hipster on 04/03/2017 - 12:10
      +2

      Quick pick up!

      Yes, they were removed this morning. It appears they do not want their products on Price Hipster at the moment (the first store to not want free traffic).

      In the future, if they provide us with a product feed we will add them back.

      • coreyed10 on 04/03/2017 - 12:31
        +3

        Thats to bad, was the best store on the site.

        • Store Repjazoom @ Price Hipster on 04/03/2017 - 12:54
          +7

          Feel free to go post on their Facebook page or something letting them know you want to see them on pricehipster.com

          Don't worry, we'll keep on working on adding more stores and making Price Hipster a more popular platform (thus stores will get more value from being featured on it).

        • treeman on 05/03/2017 - 09:13
          +3

          @jazoom:
          There is a few things I've purchased because their products are on price hipster. Printer and filing cabinet were two big ones.
          Silly decision.
          Maybe they are sick of people ringing up if they have stock of products wasting time.

        • Store Repjazoom @ Price Hipster on 05/03/2017 - 09:21
          +1

          @treeman: That's a possibility. If they provide us with a product feed that is kept up to date that wouldn't be a problem.

        • Limitless on 10/03/2017 - 08:15
          +3

          So disappointed! I bought so much stuff from them because of pricehipster.

          There website sucks and it was a lot easier searching pricehipster for what i wanted.

        • fredblogs on 02/06/2017 - 10:58

          @jazoom: Just curious, are you legally able to keep them on Price Hipster if they don't want to be? Or is the reason technical?

        • Store Repjazoom @ Price Hipster on 02/06/2017 - 11:15
          +3

          @fredblogs: I don't think it's illegal, because then search engines like Google would be illegal.

          The reason is one of effort vs reward.

          Officeworks has never given us a product feed. We just crawled their products, much like Google does for the whole web. We are presently working on a way for heaps more stores to add their products to Price Hipster and then will focus on getting heaps more users. I believe once we have more users on the platform Officeworks will join other stores in adding their products to pricehipster.com so more users can find (and purchase) them.

        • stuckster on 02/06/2017 - 11:19

          @fredblogs:
          More a technical issue I think. Pricehipster relies on their product feed for the data. If they've stopped providing the feed it becomes more difficult and laborious. You would have to scrape the entire site daily, probably something PH is not setup (or willing) to do.

        • stuckster on 02/06/2017 - 11:20

          @stuckster:
          I stand corrected. But looks like they are not happy performing daily crawls.

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