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Used Photo Gear Search Engine...

nowherean

Member
Hey guys, we just relaunched GearSnapper A while back I wanted to create an easy way for people to find used photo gear from a single source. Sort of like Google for used photography equipment. It took a bit of effort but I think we managed to do it. Now we have the beta version up, which I hope we could improve based on your feedback. Hope you find it useful.

www.gearsnapper.com
 
Very nice! I just tried with a couple of items I've been looking for. Couple of quick suggestions:

* It looks like it includes items that have been sold (e.g., on eBay). I'm guessing you're caching the data - any way to show more live data for these items?
* Adding some sort of location filtering might be cool as well - something like allowing the user to enter a zip code?

Definitely looks very promising.

Anil
 

EH21

Member
Wow! This is really useful. Thank you!
I hope you will continue to add sources such as APUG or LargeformatPhotographyForum, and other vendors too.

I searched for a lot of things and it did pull up an amazing amount of stuff. The one thing I might suggest - the prices over a $1000 are displayed with a $ inside the figure. For example a lens costing $2449 was displayed as $2$449 which must be a bug, yes?
 

jars121

Member
This is something I had planned on tackling myself at some point. No need to now, you guys have done a great job!
 

Jonas

Active member
Thank you for the effort!
I searched for a couple of different things. The result was mixed. Would it be possible to get more hits when searching?

Now it can find an Olympus OM-D but not an Olympus E-M5, for example.
 

nowherean

Member
Thanks guys! Really appreciate the feedback!

@Anil Kalagatla
We are trying to minimize the amount of sold items shown. Main problem is with catching all the sold items. Because all these forums don't have a standard way of specifying that an item is actually sold, we have to search for a "sold" string left by original poster. Since they don't always do that, sometimes sold items will show up.

Location filtering is a good suggestion and we'll add it soon.

@EH21
We'll totally be happy to add additional sources as you guys suggest them. We'll work on adding these in as soon as we can.

Looks like a bug to me. I will ask my developer buddy to look into that one.

@jars121
Thanks man! We'll try to improve it as we continue refining it.

@Jonas
Yeah... I see what you mean Jonas. We'll look into it...

Cheers guys, thanks a lot for the feedback. GearSnapper is still a beta version so once we get it all sorted out I think it will be really useful. We also have few other cool ideas we want to implement in the future once we iron out the initial kinks.
 

kdphotography

Well-known member
Can we maybe move this thread somewhere else so it doesn't get lost so quickly? The buy/sell forums move pretty quickly... Maybe a sticky?

ken
 

D&A

Well-known member
One thing I noticed was searching for some common items like for example "Pentax 50mm" or "Pentax 50mm lens". ON my few attempts barely anything came up when there should be I would suspect quite a few listings. I had all possible sources checked. Maybe there is a solution? Same thing happned with a lens that is currently sold in quite a few sources listed, but none came up in my search.

Dave (D&A)
 

nowherean

Member
@kdphotography
I posted it here, since its the most relevant place for it I believe. It's true the posts move very quickly, but as long as we keep on the discussion it should keep coming up, no?

@D&A
GS doesn't show listings older than 30 days. I quickly looked on GetDPI and it seems that there are not recent listing of the lens. I presume same with other forums, so then GS shows only the ones available on Craigslist and Ebay.
 

LikeMyLeica

New member
Thanks so much, I've been hoping someone would come up with something like this!

Now, if only forums would persuade listers to state their location, or the forum software would automatically flag it... With the draconian duties and taxes we Brits have to pay on imports, there's very little point in us looking at listings outside the EU.

Best wishes,

Nick
 

D&A

Well-known member
@kdphotography
I posted it here, since its the most relevant place for it I believe. It's true the posts move very quickly, but as long as we keep on the discussion it should keep coming up, no?

@D&A
GS doesn't show listings older than 30 days. I quickly looked on GetDPI and it seems that there are not recent listing of the lens. I presume same with other forums, so then GS shows only the ones available on Craigslist and Ebay.
Thanks for your response. I realize that GS doesn't show listings older than 30 days but my search of common items like a Pentax 50mm lens on every site that you list that can be searched, only came up with two or three. B&H have a whole bunch of different brand new pentax 50mm lenses for sale and not a single one came up when I did a search of all places checked off on the left side. If I am doing something wrong in how I am conducting the search, I would love to learn. Thanks again!

Dave (D&A)
 
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nowherean

Member
@ D&A you are correct, I just did more research on your issue. I've added it to our to-do items. We'll be looking into it on our end. Thank you very much for useful feedback.

@LikeMyLeica
The main issue with location is for forums to provide that functionality in the first place. Also the members themselves dont always list their location. I think we will add location filter either way, since some forums as well as Craigslist do have location feature on, which we could use to utilize the filter on GS. I'll add it to our list (which is getting longer by now) :)

Thanks again guys for all the feedback. With your help we'll make it even better for us.
 

nowherean

Member
OK guys, we have done quite a few updates to get the search results more accurate. We will now focus on improving filtering of the sold items. After that we'll focus on location filtering. Let us know how you like it now. Thank you for all your feedback!
 

Jonas

Active member
Much better! Looking for perfection, why not a filter selection for location, incl a tick box for unknown location?
Thanks a lot for the application, and the improvements of course!
 

D&A

Well-known member
OK guys, we have done quite a few updates to get the search results more accurate. We will now focus on improving filtering of the sold items. After that we'll focus on location filtering. Let us know how you like it now. Thank you for all your feedback!
I hope my comments are taken as constructive help. I did a search for some items that I know are listed currently and are available at both some mail order stores you have listed as well as on the web, and a search for them turns up nothing. I even tried putting in the name of the item different ways. Again just some feedback and as always, appreciate the effort being put into this.

Dave (D&A)
 

mmbma

Active member
I think there is a delay. for example, the Monochrom listed on sale here doesn't show up in the search.

BUT, this is a GREAT effort! My dream project actually if i knew how to code. I'm glad someone's done it
 

LikeMyLeica

New member
OK guys, we have done quite a few updates to get the search results more accurate. We will now focus on improving filtering of the sold items. After that we'll focus on location filtering. Let us know how you like it now. Thank you for all your feedback!
Hi,

Thanks!

Here are some more forums you might consider covering (if you haven't already):

Main - Rangefinderforum Photo Equipment Classifieds
Leica Forum Classifieds
summilux.net :: Ventes, Occasions & Bonnes Affaires
Browse Ads | STEVE HUFF PHOTOS
http://www.foto.no/cgi-bin/bruktmarked/index.cgi
RPS Forum -> Classifieds
For sale or wanted small ads - Four Thirds User discussion forum
For sale or wanted small ads - Olympus UK E-System User Group

[Disclosure: I have gear for sale on the last two but I am not trying to widen its exposure with this post - the ads have done as much as they could do and my unsold stuff is shortly going to a dealer]

Best wishes,

Nick
 

nowherean

Member
Thank you for all your comments and feedback, guys! Very helpful. For now we are focusing on optimizing search results. After that, we'll be adding additional sources and features to GS like the much sought after "Location" filter and few other things to make buying used gear a safer experience for buyers.
 
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