Your 5-Minute Guide to BuyersMarket
BuyersMarket is Jamaica's first grocery price intelligence platform. We track 18,324+ products across 31 stores with prices updated daily. This guide will get you from zero to comparing prices in under 5 minutes.
What's Live Right Now
- 18,324+ products tracked across 31 stores in 10 chains
- A-B-C price ratings on every product (updated daily)
- Smart Search — type plain English like "cheapest rice in Kingston"
- Price Scouts leaderboard with points and badges
- WhatsApp bot for reporting prices on the go
Step 1: Create Your Account
Go to buyersmarket.app/dashboard. Click "Sign In" at the top, then switch to the "Sign Up" tab. Enter your email and create a password — that's it.
One account works everywhere: web dashboard now, and mobile apps when they launch. The WhatsApp bot works separately using your phone number.
Step 2: Explore the Dashboard
The dashboard has four tabs, each designed for a different way of shopping:
- Hot Deals — Products currently at their lowest prices (A-rated). This is your starting point for weekly savings.
- All Products — The full catalog of 18,324+ products. Search, filter, and compare prices across all 31 stores.
- Smart Search — Ask questions in plain English ("What's the cheapest cooking oil?") or write SQL queries for precise filtering.
- Price Scouts — The leaderboard showing top contributors, your points, and your submission history.
Pro tip: Bookmark the dashboard to your phone's home screen. On iPhone: tap Share > "Add to Home Screen." On Android: tap the menu > "Add to Home screen." It works like a native app.
Step 3: Search and Check A-B-C Ratings
Search for any product — rice, chicken, saltfish, cooking oil. Every product shows an A-B-C rating based on its current price relative to its 90-day low:
A — "Grab It!" Current price is within 2% of the 90-day low. This is the best price this product has been in three months. Stock up on staples when they're rated A.
B — "Fair Price" Current price is within 10% of the 90-day low. A reasonable price — buy if you need it now, but it may drop to an A soon.
C — "Hold Off" Current price is more than 10% above the 90-day low. If you can wait, this item will likely come down. Our data shows prices tend to cycle — what's a C today often returns to an A or B within weeks.
The A-B-C system works best for shelf-stable staples: rice, flour, cooking oil, sugar, tinned mackerel, corned beef, and condensed milk. These are the items where timing your purchase makes a real difference. For perishables, buy what you need regardless of rating.
Step 4: Submit Your First Price
This is where it gets interesting. Next time you're at the grocery store:
- Make sure you're signed in on the dashboard
- Go to the All Products tab and find the product
- Click Submit Price next to it
- Enter the price and the store where you saw it
You'll earn 5–25 points per verified submission. As you accumulate points, you unlock badges:
| Badge | Points Required |
|---|---|
| Bronze | 500 |
| Silver | 2,000 |
| Gold | 5,000 |
| Diamond | 10,000 |
You can also submit prices via WhatsApp — send a photo of a shelf price tag to the BuyersMarket bot, and AI will extract the product details automatically.
Why Your Contributions Matter
Every price you submit makes the platform more accurate for all Jamaicans. Jamaica has approximately 221 supermarkets and zero dedicated price comparison tools. The CAC Jamaica app has roughly 4,000 downloads after six years. We're building something fundamentally different: daily-fresh data, a timing-based rating system, and community-powered price verification.
Your submissions fill the gaps between our automated data collection. When you report a price from a store we don't scrape yet, or confirm that our data matches what's actually on the shelf, you're helping build Jamaica's first grocery data moat.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need to download anything? No. The web dashboard works in any browser on any device. Mobile apps are in development — your same account will work there.
How often are prices updated? Daily through automated collection from retailer websites. Community submissions help keep prices fresh between updates.
What happens to my data after the beta? Your account, points, badges, and submission history carry over to the full launch. Early contributors keep their head start on the leaderboard.
How do I get help? Email us at save@buyersmarket.app. We read every message and respond within 24 hours.
Ready to start? Open the dashboard at buyersmarket.app/dashboard and search for your first product. For the full walkthrough with screenshots, visit our Beta Quickstart Guide.