Our hobby needs something like this
So we can find those models we’re looking for that are not currently being manufactured.
looks like the Sunday ads that come with the newspaper.
Though I’m pretty sure that pricewatch only caters to in production items. Computers, networking equipment, and everything else gets made continuously until the line is dropped, as opposed to the “we’re making 200 (if we get enough pre-orders). That’s it, nothing more.” style of MRR.
IMO, OOP things are best found on evil-bay and at trainshows…
Hehe, trouble is near as I can find out the next trainshow near Appleton,WI isn’t untill late April and I think I will go into withdrawls before then
That and you can still find things like Pentium 90’s on pricewatch and they haven’t been made in 15 years so…
I stand corrected then. I’m probably thinking of some other site like that then (there’s a few that I frequent that are similar to pricewatch).
True.
I just feel frustrated trying to track down a gazillion hobbystores individual websites to see what they have in stock. A joint venture like this could benefit us all.
You know, something very similar has been on my “to do” list since the beginning of the world wide web and e-bay. At first I was just planning on doing brass locomotives, but seeing all the posts here of people asking if something is a good deal, or worse asking if they got a good price on an item made me decide to expand it. All I need to do now is retire so I have enough time to work on it.
My original concept wasn’t to “find” the item, but to identifiy High, Normal, and Cheap prices as well as the price trend and “rareness” of the item. It shouldn’t be too hard to add product locating services as well.
Well, pricewatch works as a place not only to find the best deal but also things you didn’t even know you were looking for. Also they rate the seling stores kind of like ebay does so you can have an idea of if you can trust the place. Comparison shop. Some people have better deals but charge more for shipping then others. Some places have better return policies, etc etc. There are lots of things the site could provide. And if there was a central place to find them all the hobby stores would benefit from the increase in people finding them to purchase from. So long and short of it maybe the store would even be willing to pay a small listing fee because of the advertising, how much the site would promote their business. Supposing of course that the site was widely known <cough cough, publish in MR Cough> and universal so 90% of peopel would go there to be routed to what they need.
One MAJOR flaw with your thinking. Most modelrailroaders like to see and touch before buying.
David B
That is very true and I will agree with that, but in what I think is a bizare twist of fate I don’t have a good model train shop anywhere near me here. Shocks me really that one can’t seem to survive here. Best hobbies was a pretty good place to get model railroad supplies but they went belly up 3-4 years ago. There is a Hobbytown just down the road in Oshkosh, but they always seemed much more focused on RC and plastic display models.
This is ureliable at best. It’s like Google rankings. The stores pay for their star rating. Camera reviews are notorious for this. The ratings stear you to who pays the most for your business.
[:-^]
But Tormadel,
Apelleton is just down the road from Milwaukee, and we would all give our shirts to be that close to the big “W”. You should be able to hitch-hike there in about an hour and a half.
Johnboy out.
James:1 Verse:5
Wobble, Wobble, Wobble. these darn square wheels aren’t worth a D_ _ _ !!!
Actually my friend went down there and was very dissapointed. He said it was like going to an auto part store. nothing you can look at just a counter to place an order.
True ratings could be fabricated. Maybe just a sideline to have accessble reviews. I used google to try and find a review for the Spectrun SD45 and got nowhere slow…