Trolley closing unless funded

tzimmerman

I am gutted to hear Trolley, the supermarket comparison website is closing. They say that they have to pay for the data now and are asking for donations from people and companies. It would be great to save this valuable money saving tool. I am wondering whether MoneySavingExpert could either make a donation or even take over the site. Alternatively if people could make a donation and  share the link to

 increase awareness.

https://www.trolley.co.uk/save-trolley/

tetrarch

It is a valuable app - why don't they just charge a nominal annual amount for it to cover these costs?

2.4 million users is 1 penny per user. Even a 10p charge and a 90% drop out would nearly cover it. 

Regards

Tet

Rosa_Damascena

tetrarch said:

It is a valuable app - why don't they just charge a nominal annual amount for it to cover these costs?

2.4 million users is 1 penny per user. Even a 10p charge and a 90% drop out would nearly cover it. 

Regards

Tet

Or the government could demonstrate its commitment to helping us through the cost of living crisis and fund it as a public service. It shouldn't be too difficult for a man who can command £120k for the pleasure of his company over dinner whilst some of us regularly skip dinner. Dinner of the Century. 

aurion22

tzimmerman said:

I am gutted to hear Trolley, the supermarket comparison website is closing. They say that they have to pay for the data now and are asking for donations from people and companies. It would be great to save this valuable money saving tool. I am wondering whether MoneySavingExpert could either make a donation or even take over the site. Alternatively if people could make a donation and  share the link to

 increase awareness.

https://www.trolley.co.uk/save-trolley/

I think it's exactly the kind of website which MSE could support. I've found it very useful to be able to compare prices on Trolley since MySupermarket closed.

joanie3

aurion22 said:

tzimmerman said:

I am gutted to hear Trolley, the supermarket comparison website is closing. They say that they have to pay for the data now and are asking for donations from people and companies. It would be great to save this valuable money saving tool. I am wondering whether MoneySavingExpert could either make a donation or even take over the site. Alternatively if people could make a donation and  share the link to

 increase awareness.

https://www.trolley.co.uk/save-trolley/

I think it's exactly the kind of website which MSE could support. I've found it very useful to be able to compare prices on Trolley since MySupermarket closed.

I have just gone to Trolley and seen the message about it closing unless they get donations to help save it.
This was the first place I thought of to see if anyone had any suggestions on how it could be saved

lolly5648

I use it all the time and have donated.  When mysupermarket closed I was gutted as it took ages to compare prices on individual supermarket websites. Trolley is an excellent replacement and has saved me time and money.
Even if MSE doesn’t donate I think they should blog about it to get the word around. I’m sure a lot of people don’t know about it.

Josey_1964

I hope some big organisation like MSE pick up on this and lend a hand or point them in the direction to get the funding. 

tghe-retford

tetrarch said:

It is a valuable app - why don't they just charge a nominal annual amount for it to cover these costs?

2.4 million users is 1 penny per user. Even a 10p charge and a 90% drop out would nearly cover it. 

Regards

Tet

That would make them a commercial company and would be subject to the full cost of a licence. Which means higher fees at a cost of living crisis, would be counteracting the very purpose of their service!

Ultimately the revelation of this could have consequences beyond Trolley. Every website that allows the display and comparison of any prices could be hit by this licence fee. Newspapers and discussion forums could claim fair use I suspect but it could go to court. I wonder if this is why supermarkets don't display the comparison of prices between them and a competitor any more?

I suspect the data company in question has the exclusive legal ability to collectively compare shop prices and wishes to charge a licence to anyone who displays any price comparison on a website to protect their profitability, business and monopoly. We've seen the same thing with music, news and media licensing where one or a few licensing organisations charge for use of a form of media or information they own or on behalf of the owners. This appears no different. Obvious disclaimer about what I just said not being legal advice.

[Deleted User]

I like many used to use MySuperMarket and then for a number of months afterwards, there was nothing available in the same vein.

Tried out the app 'Comparasaurus' on Android, but it just didn't cut it the same way as MySuperMarket (and I think now, it is defunct anyway?)

Trolley.co.uk was the next best option when I found it.  Sure, it had a few quirks that needed working out but given that it was free and run by such a small group, I could live with that as they continued to develop.

Maybe Martin Lewis and the team at MoneySavingExpert could highlight this valuable resource in their weekly e-newsletter or throuigh the MSE website to get the word out?

Sad also to note, that according to the Trolley website, zero businesses have helped so far!

Bacman

I wonder if Trolley dangled a nice carrot, got people interested in their service with an ultimate view of wanting funds, quite separately to needing for the site to be working?

What is the data cost anyway - trowling through a supermarket's website for prices on items is not restrictive or payable data, it is freely available to anyone who wants to view it, as it helps them sell their products (online shopping).

diystarter7

I was not aware of this site so never used it. I miss the mysupermarket site.
I won't give money as I've never used it but if its up again, I will reconsider for next time, possibly 5 quid not a lot but something.