Review of the Scrappypedia.com Website

I found out about this website and its’ accompanying iphone app through the 2peas message forum because the site owner is a a Pea (twopeasinbucket.com) and since you know I like to stay organized (currently with my inventory binder sheets, etc.), I love the idea of a website or an app that can do it for me.  I thought I’d give this website and iphone app a try and review it for you.

I’m going to start with a review of the website today but stay tuned because I’ll post my review of the ScrapStash iphone app within the next couple of days!

Scrappypedia Website Review

The site is called Scrappypedia and it’s located at http://www.scrappypedia.com (cute name huh?)  The purpose of the site is to be a scrapbooking product database to help you keep track of your scrapbooking products/inventory and even keep an updated wishlist.  (I currently use pinterest for my wishlist but I’m going to give this a try).

The site is well designed and a lot of thought has gone into the site from registration to tech support and feedback, etc.   They even have a message forum.

The website states that you can do the following through their site:

• Register your stash and avoid buying duplicates by mistake.
• Keep organized with private notes to every product in your inventory lists.
• Bring your inventory lists in your smartphone to the store.
• Save a personal wishlist.
• Prioritize and plan your scrapbooking purchases.
• Rate products.
• AND iPhone owners – download FREE app to register stash to inventory list with BARCODE SCANNING!

Registration

Registration is simple, you can login using facebook or twitter.

When you first login there are four tabs, your choices are:

1. My Stash
2. Wishlist
3. Inbox
4. My Profile

Creating your “Stash”

I clicked on “My Stash” and added my product by clicking on “Add Product”.  I then typed in my bar code and up popped my item with a photo.  Genius!  Then I clicked on the plus sign to indicate the quantity of the product that I have in my stash.  Next, I marked the item 3 stars because each item can be rated from 1 to 5 stars and this paper pad was not one of my favorites.

I wondered how the site would work on a product whose barcode I didn’t have access to.  After all, many of my items are organized and not kept in their original packaging so I typed in the search bar “Dots & Stripes”.  Nothing came up.  This is the first instance where the site did not have my product in their database.  I’m not sure how to add a product to a database without a bar code so I just skipped over that and tried another.  This time I typed in “Summer Fresh”.  Again, nothing came up.  After searching the forum and help section I learned that there currently is no way to add a product if you don’t have the barcode.  Bummer!

I thought I’d give it another try since third time’s a charm (lol) so I clicked on Search and typed in “Echo Park”.    A list of products came up and I chose “Country Drive”.  I tried to figure out how to add it to “My Stash” but couldn’t so I copied the numbers listed next to the title and then clicked on “Add Product” at the top right of the page and it asked for a bar code. I pasted the number and voila!  Country Drive collection was added to my stash.  Awesome!

Private Note

I clicked on the “Private Note” link which is linked on each product listing.  I’m not sure what this was intended for but it’s a neat feature.  I added a note on one of my products that said “for giveaway” and another note on the next product that said “for Meghan”.  This will remind me that the first product was purchased for a giveaway and the second I purchased for my friend Meghan.

View/Edit an Item

There are also two features on the product listing, view and edit.  When you click on “View”, it takes you to a page that shows a photo of your product, the name and any private notes that you’ve added about that item.  When you click on “Edit”, you are taken to a page that allows you to add details about each item such as:  product type, brand, designer, manufacturer, collection, and release at (cha/date, etc)

Creating a Wishlist

I want to create a wishlist from the comfort of my own home.  Unfortunately there is no way to do that through the website because who has access to barcodes on products that they don’t yet own?  This is another area that fails in my opinion..

Inbox

When I click on Inbox, I get a list of products that I’ve entered into my stash.  Maybe that’s all it’s intended for but inbox seems like a duplicate of the “My Stash” tab.  I’ll have to ask about that feature before I can honestly form an opinion about its’ value.

My Profile

I clicked on the “My Profile” tab and the only information that came up was my name, email address and facebook id number.  There was no way to edit any of that info and it’s not much of a profile so I’m not sure why that’s even there.  That’s not a negative thing, just a note.

What I liked about the website

1. How easy it is to type in your barcode number and have your item pop up with a picture in your stash!
2. The ability to keep track of the quantity of a product that you have in your stash.
3. The ability to rate how much you like a product.
4. The fact that the website creators have a forum where you can request new features.
5. The private note feature – it’s great to be able to note what products are for a giveaway or for a specific person that you bought it for.  Sometimes it’s hard to remember when you’ve bought multiple items for multiple RAKS or giveaways.
6. Although I wasn’t able to create a wishlist because I didn’t have any barcodes on products I don’t yet own and I cannot take my computer with me to the store (lol), there is a feature on the wishlist section of the product listing that allows you to choose how many hearts you want for each item.  This is a very fun feature because the hearts help you rate how badly you want that item.  This is how the rating works:
   1. 1 heart = maybe
   2. 2 hearts = later
   3. 3 hearts = want
   4. 4 hearts = must have
   5. 5 hearts = buy now!

What I didn’t like:

Keeping in mind that this site is still in beta, and more features will be added in the future, the things that I think could use some improvements are as follows:

1. All of the products in my stash are in one huge list and there is currently no way to categorize them.  (copics, paper collections, inkpads, etc)
2. There is no way to order the products alphabetically or otherwise.
3. I wish there was a step by step tutorial on the site that shows new users how to use the site.  There are video tutorials which are okay but step by step instructions with pictures would be better in my personal opinion.  The videos are a little slow to follow and I lost patience with them.
4. I was unable to add several products during my review because I didn’t have the barcode.  There currently is no way of adding products without a barcode.
5. I was unable to create a wishlist from home because I don’t have barcodes available to me.  When I see a product online and want to add it to my wishlist, I want to be able to type in the name of the product and add it that way.  How would I know the barcode?
6. When you search for an item and it is found, it would be so much more convenient to have an “add to my stash” button that would instantly add that product to your stash.

My overall opinion of the Scrappypedia Website

While the idea is great and the design is well thought out and organized, I found that it was just lacking in too many areas to be of use to me personally at this moment.  I do take into account, however, that the site is still in the beta phase and that improvements will be made in the future so I’m keeping it as a viable option for the future.

Simply put, I don’t mind investing the time in going to the website and typing in the barcode numbers (however tedious it may be lol),  to make an inventory list, however, the website (as it is) won’t work for me because most of my stash is not in the original packaging.  (Keep in mind that if you keep your original packaging and have access to the barcodes for your items, this site will probably work really well for you!)

For now, at least, I’ll stick to my inventory forms because it’s easier to fill them out and keep them in a notebook.  My opinion may change after using the ScrapStash iphone app so we will have to wait and see.  I’ll be checking back with them from time to time to see if any changes have been made and when they are, I’ll be sure to update this review for you!

Next Up —> My Review of the Iphone App – ScrapStash – Coming Soon!