Amazon search strategy

July 3, 2008 2:10 AM

Is it possible to run a search at Amazon that excludes "Used and new" items?

I have an Amazon voucher to spend, so I'd like to see listings that include only items dispatched directly from Amazon itself ("Buy new"), not from third party vendors. When this was asked three years ago, the answer seemed to be "no", but I wondered if there were any new web apps that might allow such requests via the API or somesuch.

posted by roofus to computers & internet (7 comments total)

Google turned up iSearchBetter, which seems to do what you want.
posted by knave at 2:18 AM on July 3, 2008 [2 favorites]

And even better (for me at least) iSearchBetter UK. Thanks!
posted by roofus at 3:20 AM on July 3, 2008

I've been trying to use it a little more today, and it keeps turning up results that are carried by 3rd party vendors now. Kind of disappointing, as I was happy to find this utility today...
posted by knave at 5:17 AM on July 3, 2008

I'm not sure if this includes third part / new + used listings, but it's a pretty great way to search Amazon: Zoomii. It was on the blue a while back.
posted by SemiSophos at 5:22 AM on July 3, 2008

I didn't know about iSearchBetter, but the Amazon site itself allows you to do this, if you're searching within a particular category. It also works even if you're not sure which category to choose from. If you searched for "hammer" in "All Amazon.com," you'd see a list of category filters to the left, which also tells you the number of results in each category.

Clicking on "Home Improvement" brings up a new search page, and on the left side, below the category and brand filters, there's a seller filter. Click Amazon.com to see the Amazon-only hammer offerings. The sellers are listed in from those with the most offerings to those with the least, so sometimes you have to click "See more..." to find the Amazon-only link. Most of the items that pop up, in my experience, are eligible for Prime or Super-Saver shipping.
posted by averyoldworld at 6:05 AM on July 3, 2008

Awesome... now I can avoid those $856 copies of out-of-print paperbacks by the sharks in Amazon Marketplace.
posted by tinkertown at 6:21 AM on July 3, 2008

The method suggested by averyoldworld seems to be available only for certain categories, and not at all for amazon.co.uk.
posted by roofus at 8:25 AM on July 3, 2008