Built a free NZ price comparison tool with AI — would love Cheapies feedback

AssociatedLtwisti @ twisti.org on 01/07/2026 - 19:09

Moved to Forum: Original Link

Long-time deal hunter here. Got frustrated with manually checking JB Hi-Fi, Harvey Norman, PB Tech, Noel Leeming tabs every time I wanted to buy something, so I built a free tool to do it in one search.
It's called Twisti — twisti.org
What makes it different from PriceMe:

AI verdict on whether to buy now or wait (not just a price list)
Tells you if the price is actually good vs NZ average
Side-by-side product compare with specs and pros/cons
Price drop alerts — set a target and get emailed when it drops
Trade Me shown separately so secondhand prices don't skew comparisons

It's NZ-built, completely free, no ads.
Would genuinely love feedback from this community — you lot know deals better than anyone. What's missing? What would make this actually useful for your shopping?
twisti.org

Free Software/Websites

Related Stores

twisti.org
twisti.org

Comments

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Search through all the comments in this post.
  • Hibino on 01/07/2026 - 20:10

    I totally agree this is built by AI, full of hallucinations that confidently generate incorrect, fabricated, or misleading information as fact.

    • 6
  • Foodie on 01/07/2026 - 19:27

    Some quick checks and validation yourself would have found these.

    Perhaps come back to cheapies when it's actually working and you want proper feedback

    • 5
  • FrugalFinds on 01/07/2026 - 19:54

    I'm getting "No results found" on pretty much everything :(
    Even when clicking on the Flash Deals on the home page e.g. "dyson v15 vacuum"

    • 5
  • kfr23 on 01/07/2026 - 20:23

    Holy vibe coded slop

    • 5
  • DannyV on 01/07/2026 - 20:10

    Sorry mate this doesn't seem to work at all? The search bar does nothing and the hot deals are showing incorrect pricing. Bit of a vibe coding AI session? Like the UI though.

    • 3
  • NovaAlpha on 27/07/2026 - 11:40

    I'm testing the capabilities of a Frankenstein AI creation I've cobbled together. I thought, why not clone this site, since OP obviously created (poorly) with AI and it's full of bugs. Here's what the result looks like:

    https://imgur.com/nFu96Ut
    https://imgur.com/xPDEf6Z
    https://imgur.com/aLvMmmc

    Includes price history and price drop alerts too, among other features.

    I think OP likely gets his data from some sort of affiliate channels, likely from Commission Factory or something. And since his site doesn't seem to refresh data frequently, a lot of it is incorrect and stale. There are easy fixes to this, but the point here is all I did was vibe code and gave 2 prompts to correct itself.

    AI slop is real, but people putting out AI slop without testing, just so they can quickly jump on the bandwagon and earn some quick bucks (via affiliate links or whatever) is just irresponsible.

    And in case anyone asks, my site isn't public. It's just to prove a point.

    • 3
  • Associatedtwisti @ twisti.org on 02/07/2026 - 20:41

    Hey everyone — completely fair feedback and I appreciate the honesty.

    The search broke earlier today because our search API ran out of credits (we used up the free tier faster than expected with testing). I've topped it up and it's working again now — just tested it myself.

    To be clear: the AI verdict is pulling real prices from NZ stores via Google Shopping data, not making them up. The hot deals section in the nav was hardcoded placeholder data which I've now removed — that was my mistake for not labelling it clearly.

    It's a genuine early-stage product built by one person. Not perfect, but the core search and AI verdict are real and working. Would genuinely appreciate anyone giving it another go now that it's fixed — twisti.org

    On the giveaway — I wanted to do something meaningful as a launch offer for the Cheapies community specifically. The AirPods Pro 2 giveaway is real (~$399 value), no strings attached, no purchase needed. Just create a free account and you're automatically entered. First 100 accounts before 1 August 2026 go into the draw. Winner announced on twisti.org.

    I built this because I was sick of the same problem you all solve manually every day — finding the actual best price. Would love to earn your trust over time.

    • 2
    • FrugalFinds on 02/07/2026 - 21:23

      Appreciate the update, Twisti! Has been cool being able take a look now!

      I'm curious as to how you get the price of an item (esp. where there's variants)? I notice when searching iPhone 17 for example - price is $2349 - then heading to JBHIFI via the link - shows a table of them (so not clear which exact item the price is associated with). I noticed the TM listing suggested was $19, and goes to an expired listing. Curious as to how that works too (I understand TM API accesses isn't trivial to get)!

      I noticed the Spot Counter for the AirPods giveaway isn't working either. No error on-screen, but seeing a 404 response from the api/giveaway/spots endpoint - have you published this endpoint in Express?).

      • 0
  • Wakrak on 01/07/2026 - 19:12

    Under

    Flash deals right now

    It has

    Sony WH-1000XM5 Headphones
    $329 $429
    JB Hi-Fi
    Save $100

    When I click on it, Harvey Norman is the cheapest at $395

    When I click on view all for flash deals, it does nothing

    • 1
  • Rlir on 01/07/2026 - 19:14

    For S25 Ultra it says JB Hifi have the lowest price at $998, then links to the S25FE. The AI opinion says it might be worth waiting for the S26 ultra which will be coming out in January 26.

    • 1
  • Foodie on 01/07/2026 - 19:24

    Coupon
    Samsung 65" QLED 4K TV
    $1,199$1,599
    Harvey Norman
    Save $400

    When clicked - No products found. Try different keywords.

    • 1
  • Foodie on 01/07/2026 - 19:25

    −18% off
    Dyson V15 Detect Vacuum
    $849$999
    Noel Leeming
    Save $150

    When clicked
    1
    Farmers
    Cheapest
    In-store & online
    $1100NZD
    Visit →

    • 1
  • qtboi on 01/07/2026 - 19:56

    the search function aint searching - neat idea though - keen to see it in action!!

    • 1
  • taeken on 01/07/2026 - 20:19

    Did you perform a single test before unleashing this POS? Why make it everyone else's job to tell you this doesn't function at all. What's the actual deal? I hope you didn't actually spend money making this….

    • 1
  • CheapAzChips on 01/07/2026 - 22:17

    I'm not going to pile on. Good on you for trying something new: it's a good concept. I suspect you've run into the "Cheapies Effect", where the moment you advertise your new service it gets hammered and breaks. I also suspect that you'll find out that running something like this for hundreds or thousands of people begins costing real money, the free plans won't cut it. But good luck, I hope you can get it working again!

    • 1
  • ABCDEFG on 01/07/2026 - 21:07

    Not to pile on but it's not working for me at all. No search results for multiple items that multiple listed stores carry.

    • 0
  • Gatkins on 02/07/2026 - 07:55

    Nothing working for me. Always no products found. Have you run out of AI credit?

    • 0
  • nevergofullretail on 02/07/2026 - 23:15

    Its a dumpster fire. All the best though

    • 0
  • Alan6984 on 03/07/2026 - 09:29

    Hi,

    I like the idea - hope you can get it working!

    My testing:

    I tried the same TV as Foodie above:

    Samsung 65" QLED 4K TV

    It came back saying the best price is now $1,720.37 from Samsung NZ (so a lot more than the $1,199 ($1,599 less $400) from Harvey Norman that Foodies got a few days ago (I am trusting that Foodie correctly identified the same TV). Foodie just typed a single word 'coupon' so no way of knowing whether they just happened to have a random coupon that they could use, or if your site identified that (don't know if it can or would), so let's ignore the coupon. Harvey Norman is now $1,799 from my own search on their site, so Samsung NZ is better - good.

    However, the AI Verdict is misleading:

    1) It says that only Samsung NZ sell that TV model, but unless Foodie had it wrong, so does Harvey Norman, which could lead a user to not bother trying to get a better price for that unit by shopping around?

    2) It suggested an alternative being (LG OLED C3) but that link is not clickable (okay, I can live with that), but if I copy / paste that alternative into the Twisti search box, it returns: 'No results found' so either it's making up the model in the AI Suggestion, or it's failing to find something that it knows exists?

    Thanks,

    Alan.

    • 0
  • jimmygimme on 04/07/2026 - 13:23

    Hi. Design, it's cool - well done. Functionally, it is not sound and I'm not talking about polish. It does not achieve what you set out to achieve, yet! Key issue, the product "Visit" buttons seem to have some kind of issue when opening the target store webpages (e.g. URL query params missing). There are minor bugs everywhere, but this is more polish related - prioritise these only once your fundamentals are tuned. Sing out if you want assistance…

    • 0
  • NovaAlpha on 05/07/2026 - 13:57

    Hi, nice idea and thanks for sharing this. I do have a couple of questions:

    • Do you plan to monetize this in the future? I can't imagine this being sustainable if you're making this completely free. The more users you have, the quicker your AI credits are burned and you'll have to top up constantly. I mean, I'm all for a free product, but just curious on your thoughts and how you plan on running this long-term.

    • Was this created using AI or done by yourself? Looking through the comments, it seems like it's quite buggy, which I imagine is due to AI slop code (no offense).

    • Do you plan to open-source this on Github or whatever? Might be a good idea to do so. Better than building it yourself. At least, there'd be a common place for everyone to contribute feature ideas, report bugs (and track them) and create pull requests, etc.

    • 0
    • NovaAlpha on 05/07/2026 - 14:56

      I've just tested this a bit and I think a lot of this was definitely AI generated. I can tell by the design and style of the buttons, they look just like any other AI generated projects that I've seen (including my own). It's fine, but if you're not careful with your AI workflow implementation, this could get buggy real quick and good user experience is important here (if you want to build up a user base). And so far, I think it's quite buggy already. Personally, I wouldn't have released this so early until the core functionalities and features are working properly and the bugs are ironed out.

      I searched for "Should I buy a Lenovo Legion" and it returned $3059 as the cheapest. Since you're using Google Shopping data, I checked this and can confirm I do see Lenovo selling it for $3059. However, the only thing that shows on your site is the price $3059. There's no link to Lenovo's website and in fact, clicking on $3059 just shows PBTech selling it for $4036.5 instead.

      https://imgur.com/bBs9vDa
      https://imgur.com/VZzxfuF

      Also, from the first image, if I click on the 3rd option that says $4399, I'll see this:
      https://imgur.com/eI24Eke

      Where Noel Leeming shows it's selling for $2649. But $2649 is nowhere found on the main results screen. This is all just super confusing.

      • 0
  • Associatedtwisti @ twisti.org on 10/07/2026 - 11:36
    Merged from Thank You and Thank You

    Update on Twisti (AI shopping copilot comparing JB Hi-Fi, Noel Leeming and PB Tech prices) — a while back I posted here and got a heap of feedback in the comments. Went through and fixed most of it:

    • Search is now locked to just those 3 stores, no more random overseas or marketplace listings mixed in
    • AI verdict (buy now / wait / compare) is actually wired up and working now
    • Price drops and clearance sections are pulling real live prices, not placeholder data
    • Fixed a bunch of broken links and dead buttons people flagged
    • Mobile layout cleaned up

    Honestly none of this would've happened without the feedback here, so thanks — genuinely appreciate people taking the time to point stuff out. Still actively working on it, so if you spot anything else broken, keep it coming.

    https://twisti.org/ if you want to have a look.

    • 0
    • JaydenNZ on 10/07/2026 - 13:13

      Hmm. There's a lot of items missing?

      e.g. Appliances: Dyson v8, v10, v11, v16 are shown - where is the v7, v9, v15, etc. which are still on sale?
      Missing the dyson heater/fans.

      Smart home devices are all missing, TP-Link Tapo P110M

      The website is not very responsive/fast. I click search and it scrolls me down to the results window, but no results or loading screen is shown - instead im staring at the previous search's results for a few seconds.

      No price history either.

      Overall seems to be AI slop. Every search items gives me "We couldn't re-confirm this live, but it was available moments ago:"

      • 0
    • qtboi on 10/07/2026 - 14:50

      still so keen to see this live cos will save me time haha

      though getting this with s26 ultra

      Results for "s26 ultra"
      No results found for "s26 ultra" yet — try a different search term.

      • 0
    • NovaAlpha on 13/07/2026 - 01:29

      The results should support sorting from lowest to highest price, along with other useful sorting options.

      Also, limiting the search to only three stores is far too restrictive. It would be much more useful if it compared prices across a wider range of retailers, such as Amazon.com, Amazon.com.au, Taobao, AliExpress, Harvey Norman, The Warehouse, and local computer stores like ExtremePC, among other places to check. This tool needs to be better than Pricespy or Priceme, which at the moment I don't really see the appeal if I'm being honest…

      Comparing only three stores doesn’t give me enough confidence that I’m finding the best place to buy a product. At that point, I’d rather search manually—or use my own tool, which compares prices across more than 15 sites. My shopping research typically takes only around 2–5 minutes anyway.

      • 0
  • Associatedtwisti @ twisti.org on 10/07/2026 - 11:39

    Update on Twisti (AI shopping copilot comparing JB Hi-Fi, Noel Leeming and PB Tech prices) — a while back I posted here and got a heap of feedback in the comments. Went through and fixed most of it:

    Search is now locked to just those 3 stores, no more random overseas or marketplace listings mixed in
AI verdict (buy now / wait / compare) is actually wired up and working now
Price drops and clearance sections are pulling real live prices, not placeholder data
Fixed a bunch of broken links and dead buttons people flagged
Mobile layout cleaned up

    Honestly none of this would've happened without the feedback here, so thanks — genuinely appreciate people taking the time to point stuff out. Still actively working on it, so if you spot anything else broken, keep it coming.

    https://twisti.org/ if you want to have a look.

    • 0
    • Moderatorscrimshaw on 10/07/2026 - 20:19

      Please keep all discussions and future updates/ feedback requests to this one forum thread. You are allowed a maximum of 1 forum post and no more.

  • NovaAlpha on 21/07/2026 - 22:19

    Let's see if OP would actually honour the headphone giveaway. Doubt it.

    • 0
    • FrugalFinds on 10/08/2026 - 20:11

      I haven't seen any updates on it 👀

      • 0
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