[Announcement] ChoiceCheapies Chrome Extension & Firefox Add-on

scotty on 25/08/2021 - 14:07

We have released a Chrome extension / Firefox add-on for the browsers.

While browsing retailer websites, you can click on the "CC" icon (or press Alt-Shift-O on Windows) to bring out a popup that shows

  • Active coupons
  • Current deals
  • Cashbacks

related to the website you are browsing, where info is loaded from ChoiceCheapies.

ChoiceCheapies Firefox Addon

You can also use it to search for the product and store pages on ChoiceCheapies, or post the current website as a deal onto ChoiceCheapies.

Hopefully it would be useful for some.

Site Discussion

Comments

  • Jaqqour on 25/08/2021 - 14:09

    Oh very cool, will try it out :)

  • TheDealMan on 25/08/2021 - 15:06

    Nice one scotty, this is awesome. Quick note - upon install on Chrome I'm presented with the message "This extension is not trusted by Enhanced Safe Browsing". Presumably you are just waiting on the Chrome team to validate the app as trusted? Cheers

    • scotty on 25/08/2021 - 19:33

      Which Chrome version are you using? One Chrome stable (92) I don't get such warning message. My Google developer account has been longer than 2 years (for publishing the OzBargain extension), however the ChoiceCheapies extension was just uploaded. Not sure whether that's the cause of not trusted.

      • TheDealMan on 25/08/2021 - 19:36

        I'm using Version 92.0.4515.159 (Official Build) (64-bit). Yeah I wonder, could just be a timing thing as you say. I'll try again in a few days to see if the message disappears.

        • scotty on 25/08/2021 - 19:42

          I went and looked up on Enhanced Safe Browsing, apparently,

          • The warning will show when "Safe Browsing" is turned to Enhanced protection in Chrome settings (under Privacy and security)
          • Have to follow everything in the Google's Developer Program Policies

          I was just having a quick glance over some of the points. We didn't include a link to privacy policy for the extension would fail the Developer Program Policies :P

          I'll take a look to try to be compliant (if it's possible at all).

          • TheDealMan on 25/08/2021 - 19:44

            @scotty: Ah I see, that's good to know. Awesome sounds good. Will install regardless :)

  • Dunno on 25/08/2021 - 15:20

    Nice work, I like having the cashback info there too.

  • Wakrak on 25/08/2021 - 15:28

    Hi Scotty. Thanks for the addon.

    Is there a way to add two addresses to a deal? Take this deal for example. If I were to go to Puma NZ, nothing shows. Only when I go to Little Birdie does something appear. Also, would be cool if the addon had a glow or something to it when I got to a site that had a deal, coupon, cashback etc.

    The 'add deal' feature is great.

    • scotty on 25/08/2021 - 19:29
      +1

      Yup I can look into that.

  • kinetic9 on 01/09/2021 - 09:04

    This is great, thank you.

    Is there any way to have a notification on the icon in chrome when there are active deals/coupons when you're on a particular site?

    • scotty on 02/09/2021 - 13:29

      We deliberately chose not to do that as we would need to ask the browser to send us all the websites you are visiting. Probably not a good idea.

      • kinetic9 on 02/09/2021 - 16:25

        I didn’t know that. All good, thanks.

      • beatthatflight on 18/01/2022 - 10:27

        Interesting! Just found this btw, but the Qantas Points Promoter addon for Firefox and Chrome, as well as Couponbert and Honey have notifications. Could it be they store the coupons from their db on your local PC, or is the only way to send your browsing history to them?

        • scotty on 19/01/2022 - 11:31

          Storing tens of thousands of coupon code inside your local PC and synchronise every time a coupon has been updated / added / expired on their server? I don't think so…

          • bigcheese on 19/01/2022 - 11:37

            @scotty: I'm pretty sure the Honey extension doesn't know for sure there is an active coupon.
            It just knows 'this is a website I have potential coupons for' and sends a notification giving you the opportunity to check.
            More often than not it then comes back saying 'no active coupons'.
            So I think you're right in that it doesn't store them locally.

        • Alan6984 on 19/01/2022 - 11:43

          It is probably safest to assume that they are sending your browsing data back to their servers and on-selling that info later.

          • beatthatflight on 19/01/2022 - 11:48

            @Alan6984: Yeah, was thinking about the logistics of storing locally afterwards, plus synching on a regular basis, unlikely. I think Alan's right. Still, honey especially has saved me quite a bit!

            I suspect the QPP might not send back, as it just needs a list of sites you earn points on, not active coupons etc. Might only be 200 sites that change monthly. Might have to dig into it at some point.

  • scotty on 26/01/2022 - 18:13

    Got our very first review on Firefox Add-on — one star! This guy complains about

    "collecting informations" "desguished spyware" "modify the webpages on-the-fly" "censure some parts or search results"

    Well. The ChoiceCheapies add-on was designed to be minimalistic to avoid any of that. And

    And guess who is paying the extension editor to do that?

    I wrote all the code myself.

    Just look at what this extension is requiring at the Permissions part

    When you click on "Add to Firefox" the only permission required for Firefox is "Access your data for www.cheapies.nz", since that's where all the data of deals, coupons, etc are kept.

    Pointless review. Or maybe I was just trolled?

    • Alan6984 on 26/01/2022 - 19:25

      Hi Scotty,

      I haven't installed the add-on nor am I generally inclined to do so, but that is in no way personal or CC related - I haven't installed anything on my main machine in years, applications or add-ons to FireFox or anything else. I need it to run clean and reliably, so the only things I ever install are updates (although that is no guarantee of running stable!)

      However, I had a look, and I think 'Broffrey' is a bit of an, …. well, let's just say 'rear end'.

      The only suggestion I have, not having installed the add-on, is that your description might lead someone, who knows nothing about CC, to think it is just yet another 'coupons' add-on.

      Maybe you could emphasise Choice Cheapies, and de-emphasise the 'deals, coupons and cashbacks'? Maybe just describe it (on Mozilla.org) as a companion add-on for CC users, and promote it here instead?

      Either way, good on ya for writing it - I can only wish you the best of luck with it.

      If you are really struggling to get a positive review, post back, and I will install it in a VM, give it a whirl, and let you know what I think here, and if all good, happy to then give it a 5-star review on Mozilla.org.

      Alan.

  • Dunno on 27/06/2022 - 13:38

    On the deals tab for the chrome add-on is oldest to newest the best way to list the deals? I mean it just ends up forcing any long running deals to the top even if they are not that useful day to day. I always scroll to the bottom to see if theres anything new.

    Or could functionality be added to allow us to switch it around

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