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User's avatar
Andrew's avatar

There are already a bunch of websites that track prices over time for various companies (we listed a few of them in your last post). It shouldn’t be hard to use that data and algorithmically determine if a retailer uses unfair pricing.

This would be a great side project for me if I didn’t already have a job, family and hobbies.

Andrew's avatar

OK...so I did it. My kids are old enough that they are out on their own tonight and I really wanted to try this whole vibe coding thing. Here's the script that will look at this week's Canadian Tire sales and find items that are currently selling for more than their average historical price.

I found one item so far:

⚠️ POTENTIAL PRICE GOUGES DETECTED

══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════

Product ID Sale Avg Diff

──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

Rain-X ClearView - X-Treme Protection Windsh 0294131P $7.99 $7.63 +$0.36

CT: https://www.canadiantire.ca/en/pdp/rain-x-clearview-x-treme-protection-windshield-washer-fluid-50-c-3-78-l-0294131p.html

TireSpy: https://tirespy.ca/en/product/0294131P

──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

Found 1 item(s) on "sale" above their historical average.

Andrew's avatar

Price gouging isn't quite the right word, but I think it gets the point across.

Next, I'll schedule this script to run weekly and let me know if there are any more items like this.

Do Not Pass Go by Peter Nowak's avatar

Be sure to keep me posted of anything you detect. This is awesome. ; )