3 ms·

If you really want to know the price of such a device, it is likely that someone in the US federal government has bought it before. If you know the name or eve

If you really want to know the price of such a device, it is likely that someone in the US federal government has bought it before. If you know the name or even better have a part number, search for it in combination with GSA or DLA. I have managed to get pricing for all sorts of instruments that way.

gesman 7y ago
That's correct - the price that "someone" paid for these things is searchable and discoverable. The problem is that to buy this thing I still have to go through the sleazy, "personalized", time wasting sales process from the beginning per each reseller to achieve [presumably] the best price. This is like 1980's
xt00 7y ago
Very interesting.. classic useful response from the HN community! Any chance you could point me to an example so I can use this technique in the future?
- jhart99 7y ago
  I've used it for various biomedical equipment before like PCR machines and a Mass Spec. Here is a list I found while trying to find out the approximate cost of an AKTA FPLC(https://inventory.data.gov/dataset/2d2da689-5342-4024-b9e1-fb6bc9ec79eb/resource/64873a3a-432f-46f4-96e5-4fd0189f71ac/download/ebuyawardsfy2016.xlsx https://inventory.data.gov/dataset/2d2da689-5342-4024-b9e1-f...). The pricing may swing wildly from what you might pay based on various factors, but at least you have a starting price. As an example, how about a ballpark figure for everything that AT&T has for internet connectivity. Search things like "AT&T OC3 GSAadvantage" with and without PDF and I got this(https://www.gsaadvantage.gov/ref_text/GS35F0249J/0TQT0R.3OCL2C_GS-35F-0249J_ATTPRICELISTCONTGS35F0249J.PDF https://www.gsaadvantage.gov/ref_text/GS35F0249J/0TQT0R.3OCL...) If the government buys it and it isn't secret or a one off item or service, there is pricing for it on the web. For some, the price won't be useful. If you looked up contracts for something like tech support, it might not be possible to find out what exactly they were asking for. But if it is something you can put a part number on or a service that is somewhat commodity, you should have a good chance of getting some sort of pricing.

gesman 7y ago

That's correct - the price that "someone" paid for these things is searchable and discoverable. The problem is that to buy this thing I still have to go through the sleazy, "personalized", time wasting sales process from the beginning per each reseller to achieve [presumably] the best price. This is like 1980's

xt00 7y ago

Very interesting.. classic useful response from the HN community! Any chance you could point me to an example so I can use this technique in the future?

jhart99 7y ago
I've used it for various biomedical equipment before like PCR machines and a Mass Spec. Here is a list I found while trying to find out the approximate cost of an AKTA FPLC(https://inventory.data.gov/dataset/2d2da689-5342-4024-b9e1-fb6bc9ec79eb/resource/64873a3a-432f-46f4-96e5-4fd0189f71ac/download/ebuyawardsfy2016.xlsx https://inventory.data.gov/dataset/2d2da689-5342-4024-b9e1-f...). The pricing may swing wildly from what you might pay based on various factors, but at least you have a starting price. As an example, how about a ballpark figure for everything that AT&T has for internet connectivity. Search things like "AT&T OC3 GSAadvantage" with and without PDF and I got this(https://www.gsaadvantage.gov/ref_text/GS35F0249J/0TQT0R.3OCL2C_GS-35F-0249J_ATTPRICELISTCONTGS35F0249J.PDF https://www.gsaadvantage.gov/ref_text/GS35F0249J/0TQT0R.3OCL...) If the government buys it and it isn't secret or a one off item or service, there is pricing for it on the web. For some, the price won't be useful. If you looked up contracts for something like tech support, it might not be possible to find out what exactly they were asking for. But if it is something you can put a part number on or a service that is somewhat commodity, you should have a good chance of getting some sort of pricing.