Show HN: What you are supporting when you spend? | Hacker News Reader

Show HN: What you are supporting when you spend?

ethicalbarcode.com

I've been working on this for over a year. The app lets you scan product barcodes to find out how the brand and its owners were ranked by non-profits. The goal is to educate consumers and raise money for charity.

This looks cool -- what else in already in this space, and how does your app compare?

Next: revenue model? It seems to be free for now, right?

Unfortunately my phone doesn't seem able to install it (I was curious if it'd work at all outside of the US, but my phone is indeed old and low-end):

  This app is incompatible with your device.
  SFR Samsung GT-S5839i

The low end part should be an issue but I have it limited to north america since my product lookup system is focused there and I don't know how well it will preform in other areas.

Competitors are: http://wegreen.de, http://www.barcoo.com/. Similiar are: http://www.goodguide.com/, http://www.buycott.com .

We are different in that we focus on the company ownership hierarchy rather then the individual product. This helps you use your buying power to support companies that share your values rather then just the green washed subsidiary.

Also our closest competitors are non-north american.

Forgot revenue model part. Right now we just want to see if people like the idea. After that we might try to generate income to cover server costs and then donate all extras to charity if the demand is there.

General ideas would be: ad-supported, donation version, pitch green alternative products, track why customers avoid products and then sell that data to brands(which would help the brands be more ethical... hopefully), etc.

Interesting concept. Would be nice if you could either slow down the slider or put a pause button, since I can't read the contents fast enough.

Thanks for the input, I'll slow it down on my next push tonight.

Not able to download it here in the UK.

Sorry, its north american only right now. After we test the database out in other regions we may open it up more.

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