Amazon discount tracker working again
Posted by Huw,
Our Amazon price tracking, discounts list, and Bargain Watch page are back up and running.
I'm really sorry for the inconvenience the outage caused you. In fact, I was slightly taken aback by the number of you that contacted us, or commented, to find out what was going on: clearly it's a much-loved and useful feature.
The downtime was caused by Amazon retiring its product advertising API at the end of January and me not taking the necessary steps in time to move over to its replacement, Creators API, then going on holiday shortly afterwards.
It's not trivial accessing either, so I use a 3rd party library to simplify things. The library's developer, Tino at Nager.software, stopped working on it a few years ago so he had not updated it for the new API. I therefore got in touch with him and thankfully he agreed to do so.
Brickset's software roots were founded in the 2000s, and it uses what is nowadays considered to be outdated Microsoft technology (ASP.net 4.8) so it was a bit of a struggle to get the new library working within our environment. Thankfully, after much trial and error, and back and forth with Tino, we got it working.
Data from Amazon.com has been successfully imported since last weekend, and other locales since yesterday. A misunderstanding on my part about how the library needed to be used caused that delay.
Anyway, I hope you continue to find it useful and, please, click on the links to buy stuff: every purchase helps us stay up and running!
208 likes
44 comments on this article
Thanks for taking care of it huw!
Thanks for this, were it not that I refuse to give any of my hard earned cash to Bezos and co.
Thanks Huw!
Yayyyyyy!
Thanks so much Huw; I hope you had a nice time away.
Oh. The Jeffslist-tracker is back.
Very good news !
Hugely useful... Saves daily manual checking of Amazon wishlist!
Well, I've saved up money during the outage and now I can go on vacation like Huw. Thanks, Brickset!
Thank you, Brickset staff!
Thank you, Huw
Well done all.
Its a fantastic feature and really missed it.
Keep up the great work :)
Simon.
"Anyway, I hope you continue to find it useful and, please, click on the links to buy stuff: every purchase helps us stay up and running!" I think I've only used the Amazon tracker once, when I noticed that 76213 was reduced there, but I always use your link when I'm ordering something from lego.com.
@MrBedhead said:"Thanks for this, were it not that I refuse to give any of my hard earned cash to Bezos and co."
I don't *absolutely* refuse, but I do prefer to spend my money elsewhere. Most of my Lego money goes either directly to Lego, or to Walmart.
Thanks Huw!!! This is one of my favorite things about Brickset.
Thank you Huw, I use this feature and improbable amount!
Thank you in general too while I'm here.
Thank you Huw! Any chance to get rid of the 2nd hand offers?
Thanks! It's a very useful feature indeed.
@MrBedhead said:
"Thanks for this, were it not that I refuse to give any of my hard earned cash to Bezos and co."
Ever thought that maybe his is hard earned cash too?
@ineedabrick said:
" @MrBedhead said:
"Thanks for this, were it not that I refuse to give any of my hard earned cash to Bezos and co."
Ever thought that maybe his is hard earned cash too?"
No.
@ineedabrick said:
"Thank you Huw! Any chance to get rid of the 2nd hand offers?"
Maybe -- do you have an example?
Thanks Huw!
Discount LEGO here I come!
Chaaaarrrrrge!!!!
Thank you Huw for the work you've done fixing this.
I only recently joined Brickset, but have found it an invaluable resource and a lovely community. I hope you enjoy your weekend.
Huw is fantastic! Thanks for your work. On the same note, what will we do in the future if Huw is no longer available?
@ineedabrick said:
" @MrBedhead said:
"Thanks for this, were it not that I refuse to give any of my hard earned cash to Bezos and co."
Ever thought that maybe his is hard earned cash too?"
Oh, friend. You've picked the wrong day to learn about Jeff "Moon Creep" Bezos. It's just such a busy, busy day.
@pedro_lego said:
"Huw is fantastic! Thanks for your work. On the same note, what will we do in the future if Huw is no longer available? "
Don’t worry.
Huw is downloading his consciousness to the singularity.
He will become a Brickset benign big brother if you will. All seeing, all knowing, all LEGO.
An immortal.
@560heliport said:
" @ineedabrick said:
" @MrBedhead said:
"Thanks for this, were it not that I refuse to give any of my hard earned cash to Bezos and co."
Ever thought that maybe his is hard earned cash too?"
No."
Most if not all Billionaire's fortunes are built on the work (paid and unpaid) of others, the theft of resources ("discovery" or conquest), or inherited wealth.
These are not people to admire. They are the worst type of humans. No one with a soul would acquire and then hoard as much as those people do.
It seems clear at this point all world governments and world leaders are owned by the billionaires, and I refuse to sit quietly while greedy scumbags push their vile agendas.
Huw, I apologize for this type of comment on your website. I know we should leave non-LEGO opinions somewhere else.
@ineedabrick said:
" @MrBedhead said:
"Thanks for this, were it not that I refuse to give any of my hard earned cash to Bezos and co."
Ever thought that maybe his is hard earned cash too?"
Are
Are you suggesting that Jeff Bezos is already the rightful owner of MrBedhead's money? Because that's the only way this woukd make sense in context.
Thank you for the huge amount of work you must be putting into running this site! This is one feature that definitely brings me more Lego. It's just so simple, every time I visit this site I can now immediately see if it's a good time to make an order for a few sets that I already know I will get at some point. Missed it.
Thank you Huw and team!
Lost without this service, thank you for sorting it Huw
So glad this is back! I make sure to use site links when making purchases.
Thank you. Sometimes you don't realise how much you use something until it's gone.
@legoDad42 said:
" @pedro_lego said:
"Huw is fantastic! Thanks for your work. On the same note, what will we do in the future if Huw is no longer available? "
Don’t worry.
Huw is downloading his consciousness to the singularity.
He will become a Brickset benign big brother if you will. All seeing, all knowing, all LEGO.
An immortal."
Your account has been deactivated - sincerely, Huwbot.
Your account has been reactivated - sincerely, Alicebot.
The white zone is for loading and unloading - Huwbot.
@yellowcastle said:
" @legoDad42 said:
" @pedro_lego said:
"Huw is fantastic! Thanks for your work. On the same note, what will we do in the future if Huw is no longer available? "
Don’t worry.
Huw is downloading his consciousness to the singularity.
He will become a Brickset benign big brother if you will. All seeing, all knowing, all LEGO.
An immortal."
Your account has been deactivated - sincerely, Huwbot.
Your account has been reactivated - sincerely, Alicebot.
The white zone is for loading and unloading - Huwbot."
Surely you can't be serious.
Luv ya
@Huw said:
" @ineedabrick said:
"Thank you Huw! Any chance to get rid of the 2nd hand offers?"
Maybe -- do you have an example?"
https://www.amazon.es/dp/B0DHSC6V47?tag=gl0d-21
Thanks @Huw!
Amazing, made my day!!!! thanks @Huw!!!!
@Huw Thank you so much! I've noticed that some themes are missing from the Amazon watch listb such as ONE PIECE. Any reason for this? Thanks again.
@Nicolas62 said:
" @Huw Thank you so much! I've noticed that some themes are missing from the Amazon watch listb such as ONE PIECE. Any reason for this? Thanks again."
Are they sold at Amazon?
@TheOtherMike said:
" @yellowcastle said:
" @legoDad42 said:
" @pedro_lego said:
"Huw is fantastic! Thanks for your work. On the same note, what will we do in the future if Huw is no longer available? "
Don’t worry.
Huw is downloading his consciousness to the singularity.
He will become a Brickset benign big brother if you will. All seeing, all knowing, all LEGO.
An immortal."
Your account has been deactivated - sincerely, Huwbot.
Your account has been reactivated - sincerely, Alicebot.
The white zone is for loading and unloading - Huwbot."
Surely you can't be serious."
I am and don't call me Shirley.
@Huw said:
" @Nicolas62 said:
" @Huw Thank you so much! I've noticed that some themes are missing from the Amazon watch listb such as ONE PIECE. Any reason for this? Thanks again."
Are they sold at Amazon?"
Yes, all ONE PIECE sets are sold on Amazon that is why it is weird that they don’t show up on the watch list. Thanks.
@pedro_lego said:
"Huw is fantastic! Thanks for your work. On the same note, what will we do in the future if Huw is no longer available? "
Probably the same thing all the sellers and buyers on BrickLink do. Suffer the consequences of an owner using such outdated technology that no one else can figure out how to fix it.
Slightly off topic, but there's an issue with the Bricklink price guide, specifically for the UK. There's one specific Bricklink store that always lists sets for way below market value, which means the estimated price on Brickset is much lower than it should be. This specific store has a minimum purchase of £3,000, and apparently charges postage for every item ordered, so obviously no one is actually going to buy from them. Not really sure what, if anything, can be done about it, but it's really annoying.
Very pleased to have this feature back as it’s one I check often. Many thanks for all your work in getting this back online for us :-D