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Rank: Member
Groups: Member
Joined: 3/20/2009
Posts: 14
Points: 42
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Hi, new member... found the site from googling stuff...
So I am trying to sell stuff on Amazon, raiding garage sales and the like. Would like to use the MOBILE feature (woo hoo!!!) to check things easily. I work in IT but I don't write code (ebiz firewall guy) but I know plenty of people who do... so I have some appreciation for all the hard work it takes to make this thing work.
So I am testing it today, checking to see how close the indicators are to what I can list items for. I have a couple initial observations. The amazon search does not seem to yield results for video games or CD's... it did for a few books. On some items however, the Pricegrabber result seemed to include the Amazon Used market price... but not on others. The results are patchy- right on for some items and off badly for others.
So here was one test - UPC 722674300124
Code: 722674300124
Title: Hello Kitty Roller Rescue
Half.com: 19.99
PriceGrabber: 73.94
Amazon: PRICE NOT FOUND
Pricegrabber doesn't help me out there. Putting the UPC into Amazon directly yields:
---> Hello Kitty Roller Rescue by Namco (Sep 8, 2006) (GameCube)
---> 25 Used & new from $19.99
So Half.com is right on the money there but that is just coincidence. 30 seconds of digging shows me my list price would be... $24.
I don't see why "# Used & new from $" in the frame is hard to parse for... but I know it is a complicated site. Maybe the results are displayed differently depending on what "department" it comes from? Hopefully that can be adjusted. Does Amazon have a Mobile or PDA version? Maybe it auto detects the browser and you could code the right header into queries so it would be easier to get sane replies that are easier to parse. Just curious.
Also, tonight I saw the Mobile app was throwing 501 Application Errors. It was resolved in about 5 minutes, which is encouraging. Hate to see it crash on "game day" when we are out at sales.
Overall, I am psyched! This is awesome. I am definitely interested in Hunter Status if my testing continues to go well.
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Rank: Administration
Groups: Administration
Joined: 1/25/2008
Posts: 33
Points: 74
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Hello brownj00-
I hope you like the utility. Yeah the parsing system needs a bit of updating. I updated it awhile ago for some changes Amazon made to the results and that seemed to work. It can probably use a bit more updating again. For my test cases I do use mostly books but I'll definitely look into Games/CDs/DVDs. Initially the Amazon results were pretty much the same for these items and books but I bet they're a little different now.
I've also gotten the 501 application error while out on a "hunt". I'm currently trying to track down the error. I'll let you know when it's updated/fixed.
Thanks,
LuckyScanner
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Rank: Member
Groups: Member
Joined: 3/20/2009
Posts: 14
Points: 42
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Howdy... I went ahead and upgraded my account. Mostly I sell my stuff on Amazon so that would come in handy for me... So I will look forward to updates on the parsing.
I checked some CD's today and got the bad result. I can kind of see why when Amazon returns this:
Potter's Field by 12 Stones (Audio CD - 2004)
Buy new: $11.98 43 Used & new from $3.49
I think that has changed from what it used to return.... I guess it does depend on what you parse for. If you searched for "new" and the next "$".
Any opinion on sending the HTTP header for a mobile browser (my new iPaq 910c phone sends "Windows CE" I think) to Half/Amazon to get a simpler return? I wonder if it could make the lookups faster too (less data returned faster)? I'm thinking those returns do not delay for any extra junk calls to all the backend databases, etc. Ads, images, etc. But I don't really know what I am talking about. Maybe you already do that and I just think I am being clever. Ha.
Look forward to using the site. Very cool. Thanks!
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Rank: Administration
Groups: Administration
Joined: 1/25/2008
Posts: 33
Points: 74
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Hello brownj00- Nice to hear from you again. Do you know what the UPC or ISBN was on the bad items? If you ever come across something with a bad result and want me to check out the parsing feel free to list it (along with code) and I'll look into it. I'm not sure I understand your question about the HTTP header for the mobile browser. Have you tried going to the mobile utility directly on your phone? Hunter MobileThe mobile version is a stripped down version which should load nicely on a mobile browser. Thanks, LuckyScanner P.S. I added the "hello kitty" parse variant, that should return a good result now from Amazon :-)
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Rank: Member
Groups: Member
Joined: 3/20/2009
Posts: 14
Points: 42
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Hi LuckyScanner,
Thanks!!! That looks like it resolved the issue for all the test CD's, DVD's, and video games I tried. Every one of them returns a good result from Amazon now. I can't wait to try it out tomorrow.
GREAT!!
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