Why did you create the site?
Well, when I started ARPartsFinder.com I was just getting into rifles. I have owned a lot of handguns over the years and whenever I want a new one I call my local stores and then search the net for prices. For a while, Google was helping on some level... but it was always a chore to check all the places I wanted to compare for prices and it has become an even more daunting task now. I had planned, since first starting the other site, that I would expand in this direction. I feel that I now have learned a lot from doing the arpartsfinder site and resolved most of the growing pains, so it was time to make this happen.
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Why are some listed items out of stock when I click on the link?
It has gone out of stock since the site last looked. While our scanning is non-stop, there are breaks in between scans for individual sites. This is to not tax either our scanner bandwidth or the retailer site being scanned. The break time in between scans depends on the amount of individual pages being scanned.
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What do the numbers next to the part types mean?
I have included numbers to indicate how many are currently in stock out of how many we are scanning for each part type. So, if you see (10/512) that means we have found 10 sites/pages of that part showing stock out of the 512 sites/pages we are scanning. These numbers do not indicate the amount of stock any one company has on hand.
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Why do some products appear on the Newest items page when they were already in stock?
Technically, they were out of stock (OOS). What likely happened is that the scan engine was unable to reach the page for some various network reason and it will not assume that the product is still in stock. Because of that the product will be removed until the next scan. The next scan will think it's found something that was out of stock but is now in stock. I think this is better than assuming something is still in stock if I can't find out.
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What is the Last Out-of-stock Items link do?
This list is built based on items that we have seen in stock, which are now out of stock and have been for more than 5 minutes. I set this as 5 minutes to cover items that go out of stock and back in stock very quickly, likely due to network issues or company site issues. Oddly, some may not even want this page as it only serves to "poke" at those who missed a deal they really wanted. I find it helpful in conjunction with the filter to see when a set of items I want was last in stock.
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What is the Popular In-stock Items link?
This shows the top 200 historical items of interest based on visitor traffic out of the site, which are in stock as of this moment. When a product is scanned as out of stock, it will not be shown on this page anymore until it comes back in stock. Basically, it's just an interesting list to gauge what others are researching or buying.
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How did you choose the sites you scan?
I started with the sites I tend to check when making a new purchase. I then moved on to merchants already on arpartsfinder that also sell firearms. I still have many merchants left on my list to add. While we don't endorse any company listed, we try to make sure that someone has based on positive purchase experiences, including me.
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Why don't you have XXX caliber listed as an option?
I am adding the remaining calibers as time permits. I tried to hit the most popular ones first to help the majority of visitors. I do have a list of ones we still wish to add to the site and will keep working to get those done.
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Who do you currently scan?
Might not be fun to read, but I don't want a long listing on the page... so:
Buds Gun Shop, CTD, Center Mass Firearms, Classic City Firearms, Firearms For Sale, Gander Mountain, Golden State Tactical, GrabAGun, Heroes Tactical, Hyatt Guns, Kentucky Gun Co, PK Firearms, Palmetto State Armory, Red Barn Armory, Rockwell Arms, Top Gun Supply, and West Fork Armory
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Why aren't you scanning XXXXX site?
In some cases we may not be aware of the site. Also, some sites have really tough pages to scan as they don't use modern html conventions. Visit our Facebook page and suggest a company. While you are there, go ahead and hit "Like" to share the site with others.
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How does all this work?
Without going into a lot of probably boring details for most, the site uses a custom html scraping/parsing engine that I created from scratch (originally used for arpartsfinder.com). Results go shooting into a database. Site reads database and shows results based on what you requested (caliber or advanced search).
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I'd like to help! How can I help?
Right now, I would appreciate you just sharing the word about the site. You can click the share links above to use social media and help us grow. Also, if you happen to need anything that Brownells carries (which is a lot), please visit them through one of the Brownells banners or product links as we get a few pennies per sale to help pay for hosting.
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How can I advertise?
Please visit the Advertising link. It's also at the top of every page.
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So, is it "in stock" or "in-stock"?
Good question as we had to look up why it is seen both ways often. According to one source (which we agreed with), if the words precede the noun you are identifying then you compound the words with the hyphen. Otherwise, you do not hyphenate them. This is why you see mixed usage of the formatting in the site. I tried to follow the rule.
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