Used camera & lens website

The revised categorisation is now live with 8 retailers

Aperture
Dale Photographic
Ffordes Photographic
Harrison Cameras
JK Cameras
Leica Store Manchester
London Camera Exchange
MPB

Just noticed a Bronica MF camera is in the Other 35mm Camera section - but Harrison Cameras has a Medium Format category, so they just put it in the wrong place and I'm not fixing that!

I'll keep adding retailers, just had to kind of start again for the new categorisation to work

Feedback welcome.. but if I have to change it again I'll just dump everything in a big USED PHOTOGRAPHIC STOCK table and you'll have to find it yourself ;)
 
maybe it’s just me but if I type www.usedlens.co.uk it lands on the Canon Cameras section which it didn’t used to do a few days ago
 
Dan this is excellent and will only improve within time! Well done mate!
 
damianmkv said:
maybe it’s just me but if I type www.usedlens.co.uk it lands on the Canon Cameras section which it didn’t used to do a few days ago
Click to expand...

That’s just the default now, but it will remember the last category you were in and default to that when you come back

To confirm if you are on a mobile you can check the menu now for more categories
 
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This is absolutely awesome! Like a camerapricebuster but for used lenses.
I do hope you get around to adding more retailers. This possibly more useful for me than camerapricebuster since I mostly buy used lenses.
Thank you very much Dan for your efforts.

One piece of feedback, would appreciate if the lists were organised by mount rather than brand. So Sony A and Sony E, canon EF and canon RF etc.
I know there was a bit about this on page 2, just my 2p anyway :)

I don't know your logic behind your fetches but I also notice some lenses might be missing, for example there are a couple voigtlander FE lenses that I have been keeping an eye on LCE that aren't in your list
 
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nandbytes said:
This is absolutely awesome! Like a camerapricebuster but for used lenses.
I do hope you get around to adding more retailers. This possibly more useful for me than camerapricebuster since I mostly buy used lenses.
Thank you very much Dan for your efforts.

One piece of feedback, would appreciate if the lists were organised by mount rather than brand. So Sony A and Sony E, canon EF and canon RF etc.
I know there was a bit about this on page 2, just my 2p anyway :)

I don't know your logic behind your fetches but I also notice some lenses might be missing, for example there are a couple voigtlander FE lenses that I have been keeping an eye on LCE that aren't in your list
Click to expand...

The problem with the voigtlander not appearing is because
https://www.lcegroup.co.uk/Secondha...SHType=Lenses&Location=&Results=250&showfit=1

If you search for Sony lenses and tick the option to show other Sony fit lenses, the other lenses appear - but not any voigtlander ones. So I have relied on their in built logic, which is actually fallible, probably because a dozen different people manage content.

If I did search the Voigtlander category on LCE, where do I put this
https://www.lcegroup.co.uk/Used/Voigtlander-10mm-5.6-_274340.html

And the reason I don't split mounts by manufacturer is that I don't have enough consistent information to do so. Take this Sony lens for example, nothing tells what mount it is.
https://www.lcegroup.co.uk/Used/Sony-18-135mm-F3.5-5.6-+-Hama-case-and-62mm-NX10-UV_257653.html


Do I undo the hard work I've made this week trying to categorise things and resort to search by brand not mounts?
 
^^^That is the problem your trying to categorise data input by numerous different people using numerous different catalogue systems so will at best be very hard!

I can see this really taking off Dan, leave space for those adverts;)
 
Brazo said:
^^^That is the problem your trying to categorise data input by numerous different people using numerous different catalogue systems so will at best be very hard!

I can see this really taking off Dan, leave space for those adverts;)
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Will you all forgive me if I categorise them by brand? and forgo mounts?

I can have popular brands along the top like before

Canon, Nikon, Sony, Leica, etc..

And then in the menu 'other brands'

Zeiss
Voigtlander
Bronica
Contax
etc..

It will mean ALL Sigma lenses regardless of fit will be in the Sigma category
and there will be NO micro four thirds category which is another PITA!

I ask approval.. but really it might be the only way to go to get consistent results.
 
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dancook said:
The problem with the voigtlander not appearing is because
https://www.lcegroup.co.uk/Secondha...SHType=Lenses&Location=&Results=250&showfit=1

If you search for Sony lenses and tick the option to show other Sony fit lenses, the other lenses appear - but not any voigtlander ones. So I have relied on their in built logic, which is actually fallible, probably because a dozen different people manage content.

If I did search the Voigtlander category on LCE, where do I put this
https://www.lcegroup.co.uk/Used/Voigtlander-10mm-5.6-_274340.html

And the reason I don't split mounts by manufacturer is that I don't have enough consistent information to do so. Take this Sony lens for example, nothing tells what mount it is.
https://www.lcegroup.co.uk/Used/Sony-18-135mm-F3.5-5.6-+-Hama-case-and-62mm-NX10-UV_257653.html


Do I undo the hard work I've made this week trying to categorise things and resort to search by brand not mounts?
Click to expand...

That's certainly always an issue when you are relying on the 3rd party to do the logic.

Nah! not a huge issue don't go undoing your work at this point. All the information is there and functional for the most part. Yes it will miss 1-2% of lenses but whatever even camerapricebuster for example doesn't show all the shops and prices most if the time.

In order of priority (IMO of course)

Also I notice when I land on your website it shows me search results for Canon cameras. I'd simply give ALL the results on your landing page, so people can:
1: quickly search everything which can be useful because you can add everything inc. stuff you haven't categorised because of lack of information like voigtlander above and then make it searchable.
2: people won't accuse of being a canon fanboi or mistake this for a canon only site.

The next priority improvement for me would be to get more retailers like Wex, parkcameras, camera jungle etc.
Followed by adding notification on your website when a retailer has a certain offer on their used gear.
 
dancook said:
I ask approval.. but really it might be the only way to go to get consistent results.
Click to expand...

I value consistent and quality of results over brands vs. mounts.
So always go with consistency over showing wrong results or not showing anything at all.

Then again there might be people who get confused by mounts and brands. I know a number of people who are not too deeply into cameras and will easily get into a twist between Canon EF and RF lenses (especially when there two similar lenses like 50mm f1.2 or as per your above example Sony 18-135mm).
You can't cater for every one unfortunately, pick what you feel best :)

And in someways pick whats easiest and then iterate over it (agile). No point spending many days undoing your work now and not have any of the other improvements I mentioned above which IMO will add a lot more value.
 
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nandbytes said:
That's certainly always an issue when you are relying on the 3rd party to do the logic.

Nah! not a huge issue don't go undoing your work at this point. All the information is there and functional for the most part. Yes it will miss 1-2% of lenses but whatever even camerapricebuster for example doesn't show all the shops and prices most if the time.

In order of priority (IMO of course)

Also I notice when I land on your website it shows me search results for Canon cameras. I'd simply give ALL the results on your landing page, so people can:
1: quickly search everything which can be useful because you can add everything inc. stuff you haven't categorised because of lack of information like voigtlander above and then make it searchable.
2: people won't accuse of being a canon fanboi or mistake this for a canon only site.

The next priority improvement for me would be to get more retailers like Wex, parkcameras, camera jungle etc.
Followed by adding notification on your website when a retailer has a certain offer on their used gear.
Click to expand...

Wex and Parkcameras both have affiliate programs which I have registered for but not yet had approval. They both have product feeds so I'm waiting on those rather than scrape the ir sites.

I do fancy adding an option to subscribe to a set of results which will be emailed to your each morning.

I will test the performance dumping the entire set of results on the front-page .. :)
 
nandbytes said:
perfect! works smoothly.
Still missing some uncategorised lenses from LCE but I guess you are still not pulling that stuff in yet.
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Just the voigtlander?

I see the ZM Zeiss lenses aren't pulled into the Leica Lenses category with the tick box
Many of the Zeiss FE lenses aren't pulled into the Sony one with the tick box, some are..

and the products themselves have different ways to differentiate their mount.
 
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@dancook can you next invent an app that tells you real time queueing lengths at each of the major supermarkets?

Ta.
 
Grabbed my first used bargain today thanks to this website. I really hope this is here to stay.
 
nandbytes said:
Clicking on the "London Camera Exchange" link under the "Retailer" column is taking me to Leica store manchester.
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Thanks!

fixed though the query might take a minute to update the brand link at the bottom is working already

added Park Cameras feed yesterday, taking a while to get those Affiliate programs looked at - waiting on Wex and MPB still

Emailed all the other retailers I plan to add checking if they have product feeds / affiliate programs

i did have a long weekend off the website, it was burning me out!
 
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I noticed a couple more shops on there, nice!
I think MPB and Wex would greatly help traffic, I hope they come through soon.

I think getting your website on top in google might be the next thing to prioritise.
Don't burn yourself out though, take your time :)
But seriously great job so far (y)
 
nandbytes said:
I noticed a couple more shops on there, nice!
I think MPB and Wex would greatly help traffic, I hope they come through soon.

I think getting your website on top in google might be the next thing to prioritise.
Don't burn yourself out though, take your time :)
But seriously great job so far (y)
Click to expand...

Thanks!

Mpb is all there just been waiting a while for the affiliate registration to go through.

I got wex approval but their product feed is missing used lenses. But since it’s the same style feed as park cameras it will be quick to setup once they fix that.

Clifton cameras have a weird ssl problem that I can’t get round.

I emailed all the other people on my todo list and one retailer is talking about creating a feed for me to use, that’s good!

I think Cambrian photography is next to add

Getting top in google sounds ... I wonder
 
SEO can become expensive but I believe there are things you can do yourself for free or not very much money to get higher up the search results. Haven't looked into it myself (not a web developer by any means, more a infrastructure person myself) but might be worth it.
 
nandbytes said:
SEO can become expensive but I believe there can things you can do yourself for free or not very much money to get higher up the search results. Haven't looked into it myself (not a web developer by any means, more a infrastructure person myself) but might be worth it.
Click to expand...


My seo knowledge could be outdated, but I think most importantly I would need more written content that appeals to the searches I want to appear in and preferably content which changes like news or a blog.

There are also other things like getting links from high ranking pages.
 
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can you alter the prices on there site to minus 50% just for forum users :LOL::LOL::LOL:
 
I told my mum about this website I was making, and she remarked that when I was younger I had the idea to put all the takeaway menus in one place online..

years later, we have just-eat :D (edit. wasn't me :( )
 
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Mifsuds and Carmarthen Cameras added today!

might take up to 30 minutes for all queries to reflect the change - but when it does it appears in the retailer list at the bottom.
 
This has lot better coverage than camera price buster which only does half a job at best.

But the way I wonder if you can get Amazon warehouse deals into this too?
 
nandbytes said:
This has lot better coverage than camera price buster which only does half a job at best.

But the way I wonder if you can get Amazon warehouse deals into this too?
Click to expand...

I believe Amazon have got an affiliate scheme, so I'll put it on my priority to check out
 
A great tool which seems set to empty my pockets faster than usual ;)
 
I know your site is for used equipment but it may be worthwhile doing another for new equipment. Camera price buster has went to the dogs over the last few months, new products not being added, lots of stuff missing, prices not updating etc.
 
f/2.8 said:
I know your site is for used equipment but it may be worthwhile doing another for new equipment. Camera price buster has went to the dogs over the last few months, new products not being added, lots of stuff missing, prices not updating etc.
Click to expand...

I'll keep it in mind thanks :) so much work to do ! hah
 
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