HELP! Please help MSE test a new tool: Revamped Megashopbot.com

Former_MSE_Dan

Hey folks,

You may remember that last year we launched our Megashopbot, which combines all the top shopping robot sites to help you find the cheapest web price at speed.

This has now undergone a huge process of in-office testing and bug fixing - but as it is complex we are sure there are more glitches and problems to iron out.

Could anyone with 5 spare mins take a look, let us know what you think and importantly any issues you have had when trying to search for items. There are extra functions to come before the full launch of this tool.

Heres the link: http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/msbv3Beta

Thanks!

Dan

Psykicpup

only did one search but wow that was quick! - like it lots & NO ERRORS

chalkysoil

searched for a book and it was very quick but only gave results for 123pricecheck. I couldn't click on any of the others once that one had come up. The big arrows didn't do anything either. Am I missing something??

123 Pricecheck

Find-Book

Bookbrain

BookFinder
4u

Buy
Central

Foundem

Google

Media-
Pricer

Pricerunner UK

Price
Terrier

Shopping
.com

Twenga






All content and price below this message are from 123 Pricecheck

rhubarbcottage

Hi,

I've checked a few DVD's, CD's and books with no problems.

Very quick! I'm impressed, however....

On first reading your message, I thought it was going to be a compare site

for compare sites, iykwim, pulling the info from them onto the

Megashopbot page, so I'd see on one page the best of the best (like your

Tunechecker). Instead it's giving you the opportunity to visit twelve

individual compare sites without having to tap in the search details a

dozen times (didn't at first realise that by pressing any of the other site

names on the banner below 'The Best Prices' that I could then check

each site).

I'm fairly new to compare sites, only know the obvious ones, so anything

that helps me widen my knowledge and save cash is great.

One question (a bit cheeky), Are the top three auto selected shopbots

the cheapest or did they pay you more to be there? (So should we 'select

all' ?)

I'll happily use it.

hm71_2

ok, searched for a cd- only 4 results but they were clear enough. would like to be able to search for games if possible.

Trinityvolt

Very good. Searched for a slightly obscure book I have been after and it was found with speed and a good saving as well :T
Many thanks

Jazzy_B

I searched for "The Times Complete History of the World", £14.99 at WH Smiths, from the Grabbit board.. None of the sites picked it up.
I found it irritating to check all the sites, as there are several editions of this book . An option for an ISBN would have been useful. Also some of the sites gave prices for used books, when I would not have been interested in these, but the price looked good, so I wasted time checking them.
Hope you get it up and running soon. Thanks for doing this

Celia

Checked for a book on aromatherapy by Tisserand and it brought up items other than books.
Checked for a specific artist CD and it came up with full range and able to click through all parts.
Nice and quick but obviously search needs to be more specific with books perhaps if the name given is also a manufacturer as mine was.

ChapelGirl

I'm searching from a French IP. Your results page showed the GBP prices but the Book Depository click-through was shown in Euros. Is this a bug or just a "feature"? If the latter, where can I see what ROE you are using for the comparison?

far2812

Had a play - really like it - used to be a product tester so some of my comments are minors!

1. The wording "Ensure you always get the webs cheapest price" - should be "web's cheapest price"

2. "All content and price below this message are from Foundem
MoneySavingExpert is not ........." = should read prices
3. On the selection part - Google is a different colour to all the others!


findcd*
mediapricer
google
123pricecheck
buycentral
foundem*
kelkoo*
pricerunner*
priceterrier
shoppingdotcom

4. Do you want to make it clear that the searchable sites are .co.uk sites only?

5. When you change selection from DVD to CD etc - there is a real time delaying in refreshing.

6. If you click on any of the links - it doesn't open a new tab/page. It just overrides MSE page! Some sites open a new page so you don't lose your original page - eg if you click on google from MSE - it replaces the MSE page with Google!

I will keep "playing" but I really like it - well done you lot
xx

ChapelGirl

Scratch all of the text below - I've just spotted you are simply clicking through to 123Pricecheck for books, so all of the below needs to be addressed to them, not you.

Not a criticism per se, but I chose as my search book "French Provincial Cooking" by Elizabeth David. The search returned 32 different editions and I had to pick one only before it would let me continue. Usually when looking for books I am not particular whether the edition is by Penguin or Michael Joseph and was the 1971 edition or the 1995 edition (though in some cases I might want to be that specific.) Could you put in an "all" or a select >1 check-boxes option at that point?

Your Order By dropdown only has Bestselling as an option so far. I assume you will add others later.
How will you determine "Bestselling" across multiple vendors' sites?
If they express the title or author slightly differently (e.g. French Provincial Cooking vs French Provincial Cooking (Penguin)) or Elizabeth David vs Elizabeth Illustrated By Juliet Renny David will your search engine be able to recognise it as the same book?

However, it took me a while to realise that I was looking at the 1st of many search results pages which were on selectable yellow tabs rather than a consolidated search results page for all of the sites I had previously selected. Maybe this could be made a bit clearer in the page layout? OK, you do have the red disclaimer text at the top but this obviously didn't work for me! I just took it as a boiler-plate disclaimer for the accuracy of the pricing information and description.

In some ways this multiple search option is a bit pointless, because you can only look at one at once in any case, so you may as well go back to your original search and start again. Slightly better than a Google search, as it is limiting results to shopping sites, but not as helpful as it might be.

If you use the browser "back" button you remain in the same site and are not taken back to the previous screen. The Back and Forward arrows don't work either. (I'm running Intrepid Ibex and Firefox).

I changed the spelling to Elisabeth David and searched again. Some sites returned no results and others did a fuzzy search and returned results for Elizabeth David. I assume you are passing them what I type and relying on how the individual sites handle it as to what they return rather than using any search algorithm of your own.