Conversation

Notices

1. Embed this notice
   Jules (afewbugs@social.coop)'s status on Sunday, 15-Jun-2025 18:07:09 JST Jules

   So I know there are crosslisting tools that allow people to sell second-hand items on platforms like ebay or vinted, but are there the opposite, search tools that specifically search for things second hand across different platforms? In a more #CircularEconomy if you needed something it would be helpful if you needed something if the first results returned by a search were local and second hand, does any sort of tool like this exist?

   • Embed this notice
     Steve's Place (steter@mastodon.stevesworld.co)'s status on Sunday, 15-Jun-2025 18:07:04 JST Steve's Place

     in reply to

     @afewbugs That sounds amazingly doable because it already existed. I think it was called supersearch. An app of the same name exists for a university's library system.

     What you'd want is a website that sends your queries to the sources you choose from a list, then returns the results, which is what it did for Lycos, AltaVista, etc. for web searches. In this case, it would be to companies and apps into selling and sharing.

     Isn't it interesting that searches for products at corporate websites never turn up AI gibberish? When you really need to make money, you really need better search engines.

     Anyway, it can be done. It sounds pretty straightforward, and unlikely to be blocked because it would generate transactions for companies.

     Maybe I should write it. 🤔

   • Embed this notice
     Jules (afewbugs@social.coop)'s status on Sunday, 15-Jun-2025 18:07:06 JST Jules

     in reply to

     I basically want one website where I can put in "green summer shorts size 16" and get "Here are three pairs from eBay, here's one on Vinted and here's one on Preloved, there's a local artist who sews them out of handspun hemp, seaweed and celery strings, if you already have a pair that's torn here's a video on how to mend them and by the way one of your neigbours has grown too much basil and put it on Freecycle, do you want some?"

   • Embed this notice
     Jules (afewbugs@social.coop)'s status on Sunday, 15-Jun-2025 18:07:07 JST Jules

     in reply to

     Even better you could start with the choice between "I need a thing" and "I need to fix a thing", and clicking the latter and entering what you need to fix gives you an ifiixit guide and a list of nearby repair shops and cafes

     Steve's Place repeated this.
   • Embed this notice
     Jules (afewbugs@social.coop)'s status on Sunday, 15-Jun-2025 18:07:08 JST Jules

     in reply to

     I'm imagining a sort of #solarpunk "shopping" platform where you entered the item you wanted and first got a list of local libraries of things where you could borrow one, then a list of local ones available secondhand, then national secondhand, then handmade ones and only finally links to buy it new.