So, you’re hunting around in Amazon, and let’s say that you want to send your friend a link to some product you found. You could copy the big long URL that you find in your location bar This URL contains more information than you actually need to send to your friend. It says what section you were in, what search you just performed, what method of sorting you had selected, etc.
So the URL that Amazon gives you is this:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00005JNC2/qid=1137037228/
sr=8-2/ref=pd_bbs_2/002-9153323-9935207?n=507846&s=dvd&v=glance
All you really need is this:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00005JNC2/
All that stuff up until product, that just says we’re lookin at a product at Amazon. And then that string of numbers and letters is the ID of the Amazon item.
Change those letters and numbers to B00005JNBQ, and hit enter. Voila, it’s Napoleon Dynamite. Give it B00005JN4W, and it’s The Incredibles.
So, next time you email a link, make it simple and lop off all the stuff past that first string of numbers.
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You could do that, or if you were me, you’d screw it up, and then have to spend even more time re-sending the correct link, thus a net loss of time. Also, why did you change your live comment preview system?
§ #1 By AmyH at 2:24pm on January 13 2006
Well, the idea of the tip was to make things a bit easier… but anyway….
I changed the live preview to try to combat some comment spam.
§ #2 By brian w. at 2:24pm on January 13 2006
Or you could just do:
http://tinyurl.com/cbduh
§ #3 By Matt at 2:24pm on January 13 2006
Indeed. TinyURL is a really handy tool. I kinda like my method better. Fewest steps and all. But TinyURL is handy in situations where the Amazon Tip doesn’t work. Like, say, at any website that isn’t Amazon.com
§ #4 By Brian Warren at 2:24pm on January 13 2006