Anyone else thought about maintaining a price database?

[SusieQ1982]

I'm sure I'm not the only one who has noticed that prices advertised in flyers are not always good prices even if the item is "on sale"!

Have we ever considered having a database (perhaps a link to a Google Docs spreadsheet) where we could update it with items that regularly have coupons (or even not if we wanted to track the prices anyway) and have columns for product name, size and any specifications, list coupons available, what price you saw it on sale for and where, the date it was on sale, and calculate price per unit so we can compare different sizes quickly (like when Head & Shoulders is on sale at 4 different stores in different sized bottles, it's tough to know which is the best deal!)

I've been tracking my own shopping since August and have an excel sheet knocked together but I don't know how to make it public so that other SC'ers could update it. There is no way I could maintain something like this on my own- I just don't have the time/can't commit.

Any ideas or feedback? I think putting this alongside the Hot Deals thread that Anne runs would be so helpful (it has been for me at least!).

[budge]

i think this is a great idea. it can get confusing and sometimes when in a rush i can't remember what the regular price is or what a certain store sells it at regular price so the sale is not actually a sale.

[caroman]

somerandomcheese does a thread something like this called 'buy today or tommorrow"

[heycinderella]

great idea! You can make a list public by using googledocs.

[Patty Smyth]

It's quite time consuming possibly as much as 60 hours a week. Just ask those who do the deals threads.

Boo posted a thread about this a few weeks ago don't know what happened to it.

Found it

http://forum.smartcanucks.ca/246390-...ection-canada/

[WThomson]

Great idea. I try to maintain a price list on my own using Excel and it is a lot of work. Not sure how to go about implementing it.

[SusieQ1982]

It's quite time consuming possibly as much as 60 hours a week. Just ask those who do the deals threads.

Boo posted a thread about this a few weeks ago don't know what happened to it.

Found it

http://forum.smartcanucks.ca/246390-...ection-canada/

Yeah, that's why I'm not volunteering... it's time consuming enough just doing my own sheet. I'd be happy to share what I have but I don't have enough time for myself let alone to take on a job like this.

I find it really useful though but at times I wish I had more data.

[koolade]

i love this idea, and i do try to keep my excel file current. i'd use googledocs, but does it allow others to contribute? I usually only use it to view docs.

[BigAl]

Hi, just found this thread by accident and wanted to say I keep my own list of current prices of my favorite items. But I do it in Word... It is for Montreal and includes what I see when I am out so I update with the date I saw it and at what regular price. I also read and blogged on Boo's thread on the same subject that was quoted above here by Patty Smith(Thanks). I would be interested in helping somewhat(Montreal Prices); Depending what this will end up being as I do know it is alot of work, listening to the Admin. and Moderators. I know for myself it is very helpfull. I titled my Word document "Price Watch dog & The Penny Pinchers". I took a class 100 years ago on spreadsheets but don't remember that much. I'm curious and will research more the threads on this site. Great minds think alike! Lets see what we can do!

[somerandomcheese]

Keep on the look out for a new spread sheet I'm going to be releasing soon.

It will allow one to import the Alpha thread for all stores, allow the user to filter, sort, create shopping lists and other such neat ideas.

I'm going to remove the ability to generate the deal string in this copy to reduce the size of the spreadsheet. ( currently at 26MB per week of data when all stores are included ) this ability is used only for publishers of deals.

Unique history can then be kept for each area. I have such for Ottawa since May 2011. I find it quite handy.

Most recent version is :
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/...0E&output=html

Checkout my other posts, most of them deal with this topic.

[aemi]

great idea sounds like a lot of work though