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Ask HN: please review my website

7 points by jusob ↗ HN
http://bargain-notify.me/

I've tried to handle the most common criticism: easy registration, and only when require, make sure the users know right away what it is about, etc., except for the domain name: I've found a better one yet :-)

Please let me know what you think of it.

12 comments

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there
i didn't make an account or anything, but just looking at the front page - you should extract the price from each item and display it along the right side of the line.

some items have the price/discount first, some at the end of the text. if they were broken out and displayed in a different/bigger font along the right it might be easier to browse.

jusob
I'm actually extracting the price alrady (from title or description), and put it first in the title. When I can, I remove it from the rest of the title, but it is not always possible. off course, I cannot do it automatically when the deals says "save 50%" only.

But I agree I should make the price in a bigger fount, I will do it tonight.

jbenz
I would provide an example scenario near the top of your home page. I know what a "Custom Search" means, but many internet users might not. A quick little story of someone creating a custom search, signing up for an email, and getting a good deal could go a long way.

Also, I find it helpful when the website logo is a link back to the home page. (The blue on blue links in the top right are a bit hard to read).

I like this type of business model. Provide a service and earn commission on the sale. Lots of competitors though.

slater
Make your site easier to scan/read, put the savings in their own column.

eg, change this:

"Save $243.66 on SomeProduct WithArcaneLongProductName XL22000!"

into this:

"SomeProduct XL22000 | $243.66", where the second column has a "You save:" header

jusob
For most deals, I don't have the original price. Based on other feedbacks, I should make a column for price, and add the saving when I get it. Something like:

$220.00 (save $25)

jusob
I forgot to mention something: now I need active users to vote and comment on the deals for the website to be more useful. That is the biggest challenge for me right now.
gz
In all seriousness, I think you should pick something other than a pig for your logo. I realize you are going for "piggy bank" but most people will think "H1N1." Or, perhaps it's just me :) Good luck anyways.
roundsquare
If you don't mind my asking...

What is someone's motivation to vote on and/or discuss a deal? Maybe I'm missing something...

On the website itself:

1) It takes two clicks before I get to the deal. When I click on a deal, I go to a site on bargin-notify that lets me discuss/vote and I need to click on the same text again to get to best buy (or whatever). I think you should have a "buy this" button or something" on both the main page and the description page.

2) I think on the main page, you want to have a way to directly get to my searches. I'd imagine most people would come to the page and want to look at their searches right away. I could be wrong, but thats how I envision using it.

Overall, I like the idea of bargain aggregation. I'm curious how your getting commission off this if your just pulling data from RSS feeds, but no need to spill your secrets to us...

jusob
Thanks a lot for the feedback. I'm going to make the small layout changes that were suggested today, and bigger changes in the coming weeks.
pkc
Nice Idea... How are you getting bargain data? Is it a trade secret? :)
jusob
RSS, website, Twitter, e-mails, etc.