I Built a Price Tracking Site for Aussie Bargain Hunters - Bargain Radar

Associatedabusteif @ bargainradar.com.au on 07/10/2025 - 20:28
Last edited 07/10/2025 - 21:39 by 1 other user

Hello OzBargainers!

You might recognise me from some of my previous posts here (feel free to check my post history - I've shared some solid deals over the last few months). After constantly hunting for bargains and manually checking multiple retailer websites, I decided to build something to make this process way more efficient. Meet Bargain Radar Bargain Radar - my new price tracking and alert system.

What I've Built:

  • Smart Price Alerts System

    Set alerts for specific products or general search terms
    Choose your target discount and price range
    Get notified the moment items hit your criteria
    No more refreshing store pages or missing those "okay but not amazing" deals that are perfect for what you need!

  • Currently Tracking These Aussie Retailers:

    Amazon Australia (including major sellers like Roborock, INIU, Dreame, Ecovacs)
    The Good Guys (Appliances, Electronics, Audio, TV)
    JB Hi-Fi (Mobile, Cameras, Computers, Headphones)
    David Jones (Designer, Beauty, Home)
    BigW (Beauty, Electronics, Toys, Home)
    Myer (Various categories)

  • Advanced Features I've Added:

    Real-time deal monitoring across all stores
    Filter by store, category, price, discount percentage
    Track "highest discount ever" items
    Monitor price fluctuation patterns
    See how long items have been on sale

  • Why I Built This:

    As someone who's been actively finding and sharing deals here, I got sick of:
    Missing good deals because I didn't check at the right time
    Not knowing if a "sale" price was actually good
    Those medium-tier discounts that aren't OzBargain-worthy but are perfect if you're specifically looking for that item

Perfect Example from Today:

Saw tons of Amazon items with 25-35% discounts during Prime Day. Not exciting enough to post here, but if you were specifically wanting a particular wireless mouse, coffee machine, or phone case - those deals would've been gold for you. My system would've caught those and alerted anyone who had set up alerts for those specific items.

How It Works:

Browse live deals from all tracked retailers in one place
Set up personalized alerts for stuff you actually want
Get notifications when prices drop to your target (even if it's just a decent discount, not necessarily a steal)

Current Status:

Free to use right now
Working on premium features (more stores, price history charts, etc.)
Mobile-responsive but no app yet
Constantly adding more product categories

Would love feedback from the OzBargain community! You guys have taught me what makes a good deal - now I'm trying to help automate finding them. What other stores should I prioritise? Any features that would be useful?
Check out my post history if you want to see the kind of deals I typically find - hoping this tool helps everyone catch even more bargains! 🎯

Free Software/Websites

Related Stores

bargainradar.com.au
bargainradar.com.au
Third-Party

Comments

  • Far Cough on 07/10/2025 - 20:47

    Amazon Australia (including major sellers like Roborock, INIU, Dreame, Ecovacs)
    The Good Guys (Appliances, Electronics, Audio, TV)
    JB Hi-Fi (Mobile, Cameras, Computers, Headphones)

    Does it track Amazon Business and TGG/JB commercial?

    • Associatedabusteif @ bargainradar.com.au on 07/10/2025 - 20:49

      Not at this point. But I will definitely be adding more stores and categories in the near future.

  • lunchbox99 on 07/10/2025 - 20:51
    +12

    Crap design being presented with a login/signup screen without being able to see anything.

    No thanks. I’ll wait to see if others report it’s any good before that hassle.

    • Associatedabusteif @ bargainradar.com.au on 07/10/2025 - 21:29
      -6

      Fair enough. I would probably feel the same about signing up to a website I know nothing about.
      The reason I require accounts is because the alert system needs somewhere to send notifications (email) and to remember your preferences.
      Without an account, there's no way to send you alerts when your items go on sale or to remember what you're tracking.
      Even the main real-time deals page has a functionality to easily create an alert for an existing item, which requires an account.
      I'm working on allowing people to browse deals without signing up, but the core value (personalised alerts) inherently needs an account. Happy to consider other approaches though.

      • bio on 07/10/2025 - 23:02
        +3

        Even a few screenshots would be better than signing up for a completely mystery web site.

        • Associatedabusteif @ bargainradar.com.au on 08/10/2025 - 06:54
          +1

          I will be uploading pics and videos once I am back from work, I promise :D

      • jetblack on 08/10/2025 - 08:14
        +3

        As a fellow dev, I hate when a dev justifies why the user is wrong, and why it makes sense to build something in an unintuitive or user unfriendly way.

        At least add some screen shots, a video demo, an 'about' page or whatever.

        • Associatedabusteif @ bargainradar.com.au on 08/10/2025 - 08:23
          -2

          I’m not justifying why they’re wrong, or even saying they are. I’m just explaining the reason I had to make it that way, from my perspective.
          As I mentioned in my previous comment I will be providing screenshots and videos as soon as I get a chance.
          Sadly having a full time job can get in the way 🥲

      • dannwebb on 08/10/2025 - 10:23
        +5

        But you're making the sign-up a complete barrier to entry. Why not let people see the site, and only require sign-up at the point where they want to start setting up alerts?

      • fredblogs on 08/10/2025 - 18:30

        Pricehipster has those considerations too but doesn't require log in/sign up unless you use those features.

    • OBEY YOUR MASTERS on 08/10/2025 - 10:12

      Yes I hate to agree but there's no way I'm signing up to another thing on the web. You need to let people browse around before they decide you are worth the trouble of signing up.

      • PixelMango on 09/10/2025 - 02:37

        A website with a intrusive sign up screen is similar to a store asking you to buy without browsing.

  • kusama on 07/10/2025 - 21:29

    Thanks.
    So it's just a selected bunch of products on Amazon? I tried 8TB, and no 3.5 internal drives came up.
    2 external drives from Amazon US and Germany showed

    • Associatedabusteif @ bargainradar.com.au on 07/10/2025 - 21:33

      The website should show everything that goes on sale if it belongs to a tracked category and store.
      I don't track items sold by Amazon sellers apart from a few popular ones (you can see the full list here https://www.bargainradar.com.au/faq
      If something is on sale but doesn't show up in the website, please let me know, I would be happy to investigate the reason.
      I have been using the website for a few months now and been consitently improving the tracking mechanism. But there could be times where it misses items because of the Amazon algorithm (can be pretty painful to deal with)

      • kusama on 07/10/2025 - 21:36

        Oh I thought it would work like this. You search for products to track, and they show regardless of if they are on sale. Then you can turn tracking on to wait for the sale.

        I get it now, I just create an alert for 'internal 3.5' and wait. Thanks

        • Associatedabusteif @ bargainradar.com.au on 07/10/2025 - 21:42

          Corret. If the item is already on sale but at a lower discount than what you would like, you can click the bell button in the bottom right corner to create an alert for that specific item.
          If you want the more generic alert, you can just create the alert from the Alerts page using the free text like you did.

  • DoctorCalculon on 07/10/2025 - 23:12

    We already have 3C which does an amazing job for Amazon (and no other price tracking software comes close to it).
    We then have Price Hipster across a vast array of other retailers in AU.

    OP, why reinvent the wheel?

    • Associatedabusteif @ bargainradar.com.au on 08/10/2025 - 06:49

      I would say there are 2 main differences:
      * My website lets you track one time across multiple retailers, whereas 3C only works with Amazon
      * As far as I know, wIth 3C, you have to track a specific item. Let's say you want an SSD but you don't care about the capacity, in my website you can simply search for "SSD". In 3C you have to select the exact item you are looking for.

      I haven't used Price Hipster, but I don't see the items updating in real time? with my website, you literally see the items as they go on sale. For example, the Drones deal I posted almost a year ago, it was up for like 10 minutes and no one had noticed until I posted it.
      When I am back from work I will provide a whole list of items I bought at unreal prices thanks to my website.

  • AustriaBargain on 07/10/2025 - 23:14
    +2

    How is this any different to Google Shopping, which I can also afford?

  • QuickToThePointless on 07/10/2025 - 23:16

    I've heard of a site that many Aussie Bargain Hunters check a few times a day to achieve this end - it's ozbargain.com.au

    • Associatedabusteif @ bargainradar.com.au on 08/10/2025 - 06:53
      +1

      If anything, my website complements OzBargain rather than competes with it. I would love people to find deals on my website and post them here, like I have been doing for the last few months.

  • geekcohen on 08/10/2025 - 06:07

    I tried this before and the proxy/crawling costs blew out when I added more and more products. Not sure on what solution you are using to get the pricing, but I do wish you all the best. Your aim is exactly what I wanted to achieve with PriceWatcher. I also wanted to add stores like 4WD SupaCenter, BCF, Supercheap etc. My aim was to track one product across multiple retailers to see who had the cheapest one and what the all time low price had been for that product since being tracked.

    Love the idea overall and good luck.

    • Associatedabusteif @ bargainradar.com.au on 08/10/2025 - 06:54
      +1

      Thanks my dude. So far it seems to be doing pretty well. Let's hope it stays that way as it grows :D

    • fredblogs on 08/10/2025 - 18:27

      Could you not recover the money via advertising and referral?

      • geekcohen on 09/10/2025 - 05:54

        Yes, but the costs were still pretty high that it would have to be getting a lot of advertising revenue to cover the costs. Referral there wasn't much besides Amazon.

  • tenpercent on 08/10/2025 - 11:26
    Feature suggestion to make this the "GOAT"

    Take into account:

    • cashback deals (reward.ist does a decent job of tracking all current cashbacks but they don't seem to cover the spend $50 get $5 bonus ones and occassionally I see they're not up to date),
    • discounted gift cards (find the best currently available discounted gift cards to stack, & also consider user input gift card inventory e.g. I have a $100 gift card for Amazon that was purchased at 10% off and also a $100 gift card for Good Guys that was 5% off),
    • promo codes (e.g. SPRING25),
    • other deals (e.g. Amazon often has something like 5% off when you spend $40 on eligible items).
    • for Amazon take into account subscribe and save pricing (generally (always?) 5% off if it has S&S option)

    I don't just compare on discounted headline prices these days. I factor in all of the above when I can. Some of it could be manual user input (e.g. gift card inventory).

    Re premium features and monetisation model: I would be reluctant to pay a subscription (especially considering camels and pricehipster are free, and especially considering there is no proven history for your site and so many others with great potential just come and go as quickly as they appeared). Instead I would focus on affiliate links (see reward.ist as an example) and donations "you will save $100 with this purchase, please consider donating $1 to help keep this site running into the future to help you score more big savings".

    • Associatedabusteif @ bargainradar.com.au on 08/10/2025 - 22:03

      Thanks for the great suggestions! Some of them are already on my to-do list, and I will definitely consider the others for future improvements.
      Regarding the premium features, I agree, which is why I haven’t set up a payment system yet. I would much rather any profit come from the retailer rather than the user.

  • peteru on 08/10/2025 - 12:15

    Click link, get asked to login/give you an email address.

    Close window.

    You lost me in the space of 1 second because you collect more info than needed.

  • agiler on 08/10/2025 - 17:37
    +1

    Great Job. Always good to have another Price Tracking / Specials finder. I appreciate your efforts and keep up the great work.

    • Associatedabusteif @ bargainradar.com.au on 08/10/2025 - 21:59
      +1

      Thanks a lot my friend. Appreciate the positive feedback :)

  • PixelMango on 09/10/2025 - 02:50

    You can improve your design if you change the number of cards on mobile.

    Flex-direction: column;
    align-items: center;

    Width 100%
    or
    Width 90%.

    Then when you have enough room switch back to 3 columns.

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