
Show HN: Price per unit analysis on Amazon listings - zapstar
https://unitprice.org
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zapstar
I developed [https://unitprice.org](https://unitprice.org) for a number of
reasons. I like aggregating and parsing data, I like shopping at Amazon, and I
like finding the best deal. I also wanted an excuse to experiment with static
website generators (specifically Jekyll). And so here we are!

When purchasing pacifiers for my son (and despite my new-dad stupor), I
realized that the greater quantity pack cost more per pacifier than the
smaller quantity pack! This has continued to nag at me. Have I been missing
out on some savings per unit for other products too? Is the giant quantity
diaper box always the best choice? How can I grow my son's collection of Duplo
bricks with the least cost per brick? These questions were the catalyst that
led to the creation of this website.

I'd love to hear any helpful feedback you have to share. Specifically, I'd
like to hear your thoughts on the information that I'm offering, the
organization of the website, and the products that I'm analyzing. For that
last one, please share any additions that you'd like to see! Ideas on how I
can grow and expand this concept would be greatly appreciated as well.

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gmiller123456
If you're looking for the lowest price, Amazon probably isn't the best place
to look. While I don't buy paper towels on the internet, when I look at low
end things like an ESP32 dev board, or a set of small screw drivers, EBay is
by far the better deal even when limited to "Fast and Free" delivery.
Aliexpress usually has even better deals, though usually with much longer
shipping times.

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zapstar
That’s a great point. Amazon isn’t a good deal for many things. The example I
recall is mason jars. I never had a need for mason jars and had never bought
them before. But then I needed some to brew cold brew. Looked them up on
Amazon and thought “I guess $5 a piece is reasonable?” At a local hardware
store, I found the same exact ones for $1. They get away with higher prices
because people don’t know that a better deal exists elsewhere (because they
don’t know what a reasonable price point even is).

I don’t plan on adding product types that are a bad deal on Amazon. At this
point, I’ve added products that I genuinely purchase on Amazon. (Can you tell
that I have a two-year-old that likes crayons, chalk, and Duplo?)

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zapstar
For those that are curious, this was built with some python scripts calling
Amazon’s Product API, resulting in the generation of some data files that are
fed into Jekyll, which generates the static website.

It’s been a fun project using different technologies! Working with a static
website generator requires a totally different mindset.

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postpawl
I did something similar a while back and the amazon affiliate program cut me
off after the first sale. They don’t like price comparison websites.
CamelCamelCamel seems to be using affiliate links though, so I guess it’s
still possible.

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zapstar
Were you comparing Amazon’s prices to a different retailer’s? Or comparing
Amazon to Amazon? I’ve heard of the former being shut down, but not the
latter.

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postpawl
I was showing stuff from eBay too. Good point, that was probably it.

Would you be interested in collaborating on this? I've still got a lot of code
from my last attempt.

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widowlark
This is really neat. I cant wait for this to be searchable and have people add
their own categories

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zapstar
Thank you! Do you have any categories that you’d like me to add in the next
day or two?

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xadz
Such a great idea! Will only get better as it grows. One for the bookmarks.

~~~
zapstar
Thank you! Any additional features you’d like to see? Or product categories
tracked? I was also thinking about potentially letting people subscribe to
some sort of routine newsletter/summary about that day’s/week’s trends.

