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Octopart (YC W07) helps nearly a half a million people find parts every month

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Re: Octopart (YC W07) helps nearly a half a million people find parts every month

#21

Post by tmcneal »

storborg wrote: post #15

I love Octopart and wish it would become even more wildly successful. However... The problem I have with Octopart and other "better search" engines (like Hipmunk, Padmapper, et al) is that the coverage is not 100%--not every item in inventory is shown on the search engine site. The lack of complete coverage kills me when I'm looking for a very specific edge case, which are exactly the sorts of cases that would most b…

FYI, Octopart recently announced that they are indexing Digikey products. See relevant blog post: http://octopart.com/blog/archives/2011/1/digi%252Dkey-produc...

Re: Octopart (YC W07) helps nearly a half a million people find parts every month

#22

Post by storborg »

sam wrote: post #16
storborg wrote: post #15

I love Octopart and wish it would become even more wildly successful. However... The problem I have with Octopart and other "better search" engines (like Hipmunk, Padmapper, et al) is that the coverage is not 100%--not every item in inventory is shown on the search engine site. The lack of complete coverage kills me when I'm looking for a very specific edge case, which are exactly the sorts of cases that would most b…

You raise a valid point. While we don't have every part, we're constantly increasing the number of distributors and manufacturers who send us data. We have about 60 distributors on the site now which is about double what we had this time last year. We're always going to be getting better. As for the part you mentioned, I didn't find a capacitor with those specs from TDK, but there are 12 alternatives here: http://bit…

That was just an example I pulled from nowhere, not something specific. I don't think TDK makes a 10uF/6.3V X7R cap (although I did notice the Octopart interface doesn't show temp spec/dielectric material as one of the specs that I can filter on... that's disappointing).

My point is just that in the course of normal use I want each one of these searches, be it for a capacitor or an apartment or a flight, to be very thorough. If I can't guarantee to myself that the search will cover 100% of the available inventory. I can guarantee that if I skip the nice frontend and go directly to the supplier.

FWIW, I picked the wrong one to pick on--Octopart has way better coverage than Hipmunk, Padmapper, or a multitude of other sites.

Re: Octopart (YC W07) helps nearly a half a million people find parts every month

#23

Post by [deleted] »

sam wrote: post #16
storborg wrote: post #15

I love Octopart and wish it would become even more wildly successful. However... The problem I have with Octopart and other "better search" engines (like Hipmunk, Padmapper, et al) is that the coverage is not 100%--not every item in inventory is shown on the search engine site. The lack of complete coverage kills me when I'm looking for a very specific edge case, which are exactly the sorts of cases that would most b…

You raise a valid point. While we don't have every part, we're constantly increasing the number of distributors and manufacturers who send us data. We have about 60 distributors on the site now which is about double what we had this time last year. We're always going to be getting better. As for the part you mentioned, I didn't find a capacitor with those specs from TDK, but there are 12 alternatives here: http://bit…

[deleted]

Re: Octopart (YC W07) helps nearly a half a million people find parts every month

#24

Post by ericd »

storborg wrote: post #15

I love Octopart and wish it would become even more wildly successful. However... The problem I have with Octopart and other "better search" engines (like Hipmunk, Padmapper, et al) is that the coverage is not 100%--not every item in inventory is shown on the search engine site. The lack of complete coverage kills me when I'm looking for a very specific edge case, which are exactly the sorts of cases that would most b…

Hey, Eric from PadMapper here. Thanks for the callout :-) I agree that if you're looking for something very specific, it sucks to not be able to rely on a site showing you everything that's available.

Mind sending email to eric@padmapper.com about any obvious omissions?

Edit: you can also uncheck the "accurately located" filter and it should show more of the missing Craigslist posts.

Re: Octopart (YC W07) helps nearly a half a million people find parts every month

#25

Post by nickpinkston »

ericd wrote: post #24
storborg wrote: post #15

I love Octopart and wish it would become even more wildly successful. However... The problem I have with Octopart and other "better search" engines (like Hipmunk, Padmapper, et al) is that the coverage is not 100%--not every item in inventory is shown on the search engine site. The lack of complete coverage kills me when I'm looking for a very specific edge case, which are exactly the sorts of cases that would most b…

Hey, Eric from PadMapper here. Thanks for the callout :-) I agree that if you're looking for something very specific, it sucks to not be able to rely on a site showing you everything that's available. Mind sending email to eric@padmapper.com about any obvious omissions? Edit: you can also uncheck the "accurately located" filter and it should show more of the missing Craigslist posts.

I found my apartment through PadMapper! Great app - I'd encourage anyone to use it - makes life quite simple. Great job Eric.

Re: Octopart (YC W07) helps nearly a half a million people find parts every month

#26

Post by ericd »

nickpinkston wrote: post #25
ericd wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hey, Eric from PadMapper here. Thanks for the callout :-) I agree that if you're looking for something very specific, it sucks to not be able to rely on a site showing you everything that's available. Mind sending email to eric@padmapper.com about any obvious omissions? Edit: you can also uncheck the "accurately located" filter and it should show more of the missing Craigslist posts.

I found my apartment through PadMapper! Great app - I'd encourage anyone to use it - makes life quite simple. Great job Eric.

Thanks Nick! Great to hear :-)

Re: Octopart (YC W07) helps nearly a half a million people find parts every month

#27

Post by storborg »

ericd wrote: post #24
storborg wrote: post #15

I love Octopart and wish it would become even more wildly successful. However... The problem I have with Octopart and other "better search" engines (like Hipmunk, Padmapper, et al) is that the coverage is not 100%--not every item in inventory is shown on the search engine site. The lack of complete coverage kills me when I'm looking for a very specific edge case, which are exactly the sorts of cases that would most b…

Hey, Eric from PadMapper here. Thanks for the callout :-) I agree that if you're looking for something very specific, it sucks to not be able to rely on a site showing you everything that's available. Mind sending email to eric@padmapper.com about any obvious omissions? Edit: you can also uncheck the "accurately located" filter and it should show more of the missing Craigslist posts.

The biggest issue I've noticed is when listings use a local reference for the location instead of a street address or intersection: for example, a Cambridge, MA listing might refer to "Kendall", a Portland, OR listing might refer to "alphabet district".

I do think Padmapper is great, though. It's still a huge improvement over the Craigslist interface.

Re: Octopart (YC W07) helps nearly a half a million people find parts every month

#28

Post by ericd »

storborg wrote: post #27
ericd wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hey, Eric from PadMapper here. Thanks for the callout :-) I agree that if you're looking for something very specific, it sucks to not be able to rely on a site showing you everything that's available. Mind sending email to eric@padmapper.com about any obvious omissions? Edit: you can also uncheck the "accurately located" filter and it should show more of the missing Craigslist posts.

The biggest issue I've noticed is when listings use a local reference for the location instead of a street address or intersection: for example, a Cambridge, MA listing might refer to "Kendall", a Portland, OR listing might refer to "alphabet district". I do think Padmapper is great, though. It's still a huge improvement over the Craigslist interface.

Ahh, gotcha. Yeah, that kind of thing is hard to do reliably, though those should show up when one removes the accuracy filter (not necessarily in the right place).

And thanks! I really do like hearing criticisms, though, since it helps me figure out where to focus next.

Re: Octopart (YC W07) helps nearly a half a million people find parts every month

#29

Post by kjhjnmkmnb »

mhb wrote: post #11
trafficlight wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lately, the internet has been calling that 'selling shovels' in reference to the gold rush days. Arguably, the guys selling tools to the miners were much better off than the miners themselves. Levi Strauss did pretty good business selling blue jeans.

How did his competitors do?

Not well - selling satin ball gowns to miners, even in San Fransisco, never really got traction.
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