Metal Price Watch - Compare underground metal prices

[lordperrin2]

Hey folks, I'm a long-time lurker here and really hope that this post isn't met with complete dismissal, as I think most people here could benefit from it. This website is one that I'd always hoped someone would make and in the end I just said 'Fuck It', and made it myself.

http://www.metalpricewatch.com is a not-for-profit website that catalogs prices from underground metal distros in order to help metal fans find not only albums, but even whole distros that they didnt know about before for the right price.

Metal Price Watch is an extensive, search-able online database and website which makes instant comparisons of different underground distro's pricing of extreme metal possible!

Currently featuring prices from 20 online extreme metal dealers, Metal Price Watch is growing every week with new prices and distros. Prices are updated every week to keep the database fresh and accurate.

Currently featured distros include: Abyss Records, Amazon.com, Anja Offensive, Black Metal.com, CD Universe, Century Media, Cursed Productions, Dark Symphonies, Kreation Records, Metal Disc, Metal Mayhem, Metal Merchant, NWN Productions, Pathos Productions, Plastic Head, Red Stream, Relapse Records, Sentinel Steel, The End Records, and Willowtip Records.

MPW also offers users the ability to sell their own used albums on the site for FREE. Simply register to use the site and list your albums free of charge.

Go check it out and let me know what you guys think.

 

[Mort Divine]

Wow. Thanks.

This is actually a really fucking useful site.

 

[Alter]

A bit confusing but good site nonetheless.

 

[Zephyrus]

Bookmarked.

 

[Matt]

Excellent. Will use

 

[Ben_t]

I just tried the site a little and I'd suggest adding a tab to list if the cds are in stock or not with the distros listed. Not sure how much work it would be to add this but, it would be nice to know if the cd is actually there. In the couple tries I did I found good prices but in all occasions the cds were out of stock.

 

[The Ozzman]

Bookmarked.

.

and Post 10K

 

[Avigrus]

Very handy - considering i buy all of my CDs online.

Thanks!

 

[waif]

Sticky this!

 

[unknown]

*nods in approval*

very nice. useful. I like it

 

[lordperrin2]

I just tried the site a little and I'd suggest adding a tab to list if the cds are in stock or not with the distros listed. Not sure how much work it would be to add this but, it would be nice to know if the cd is actually there. In the couple tries I did I found good prices but in all occasions the cds were out of stock.

This problem occurs when a distro lists a non-available album alongside all of it's available albums. In particular, The End Records is notorious for this. It's very hard for me to get my data scrapes to differentuate between them when nothing is done on the distro's side. Nonetheless, this IS something that I am working on fixing. The vast majority of prices you find on my site should be in stock though. Every out of stock item you find with me would also show up the same search on the distro's website and is therefore a direct result of their cataloguing system. ~~Working on a filter~~

Thanks for the advice though, any constructive criticism is helpful as I fine-tune the site.

 

[lordperrin2]

A bit confusing but good site nonetheless.

Any particular elements that you find confusing? What can I work on to help improve your experience?

 

[Qoppa]

Holy shit, thank you! A 'sort by price' would be handy for searches.

 

[Ben_t]

Any particular elements that you find confusing? What can I work on to help improve your experience?

He got hit by a car, that must be why he's confused now.

I think everything is easy to use and clear.

I agree with the previous suggestion. Having something to sort the cd by price would be nice.

Another suggestion. While it's nice to see the prices of each distro, the lowest price might not always reflect in the lowest total price because not all distros have the same shipping prices. It would be nice to have like a page with information on the shipping prices of each distros in order to really pick the best option without having to go through all the checkout process and see that it's more expensive than another option.

 

[supseudonymous]

You, sir, are my hero.

 

[Mort Divine]

Do you think you could find a way to make it search for either CDs or vinyls specifically?

 

[unknown]

any plans to include shirts, patches and stickers?

 

[lordperrin2]

Holy shit, thank you! A 'sort by price' would be handy for searches.

That's currently in the works for the next major update. I've run into a bit of a snare because my Amazon.com results display both used and new items and thus that field needs to be a text-based entry and not numerical, but I'll work it out. This has been the most-requested feature so far, so you can definetly expect to see it soon.

 

[lordperrin2]

Another suggestion. While it's nice to see the prices of each distro, the lowest price might not always reflect in the lowest total price because not all distros have the same shipping prices. It would be nice to have like a page with information on the shipping prices of each distros in order to really pick the best option without having to go through all the checkout process and see that it's more expensive than another option.

I'm planning an update so that when you get the list of prices, you can click on the distro name and be taken to a page with all relevent info including shipping, distro's home country, currencies accepted, etc...

It's in the pipeline.

Thanks for all the suggestions guys!

 

[lordperrin2]

Do you think you could find a way to make it search for either CDs or vinyls specifically?

Short answer: yes.

Long answer: Some distros make that a bit difficult due to the structure of their data and listing vinyl in the same location as cds. I plan to add filtering by format, but it is inevitable that some will slip through the cracks and be listed as cds. Therefore, even once this feature is added, I still suggest you search by cd as well as vinyl if you can't find the particular album you are looking for.

Please keep in mind that I am somewhat shackled by how each distro chooses to organize their data. My ability to filter is growing with my experience at doing it, but there are limits, especailly when different formats are tossed together by a distro.