Open Source Commercial/Industrial Resale Tracking Tool
Basics
Introductory Rant
User:Eric here, so many companies, industries, and research institutions (universities, labs), sell equipment before it is fully broken, either due to obsolescence, or as a preventative measure to avoid massive maitnence
(Also some full on broken, but still useful hardware)
There are MANY ways to find this:
- Ebay
- Craigslist
- Facebook Marketplace
- ...
But these are all seperate, and may not have tools for seaarching within a specific area, or for time requirements/ shipping requirements etc
This would be a HUGE coding project, and would perhaps run into The XKCD Standards Issue
BUT this would be a useful tool for starting makerspaces/microfactoris/schools to allow them to save time on finding used machines/parts
Also may serve as publicity/marketing if it goes into widespread use
Also note that i have little/no experience in code, so this may be near impossible, and a nonsence idea, but posting this is better than leaving the idea only in my head
How it would essentially work
- Use a Zillow Like Map interface (Draw custom borders, or use presets on where you are willing to order from)
- Search what product/category you want (Such as "Industrial Machinery" or "CNC Mill", or "Commercial Kitchen Equipment" or "Commercial Mixer", etc)
- Merge all the aforementioned services' data (How to do this, any way to extract data from pages? )
- Allow for updates of when a device becomes available in the defined area etc
- Allow for updates if an offer ends
- Allow for networking via other services such as user websites, phone numbers, etc (All user electable obiously)
- Allow for posting of any relevant information related to the product (Spec sheetss, videos, photos)
Need to Research/figure out
- ALL THE CODE
- What to make it into, a Computer Program, a Chrome Extension, a webpage?