Personal shopper and deal-hunting service
Busy people overpay constantly, not from extravagance but from not having four hours to research a laptop, compare prices across nine retailers, and figure out which coupon stacks with which card offer. A deal hunter sells those four hours back.
You take a request ("best robot vacuum under $400 for pet hair"), run the research, and deliver the recommendation with the exact buying play: where, when, with which stacked discounts.
The job
Requests come in two flavors. Product-finding: the customer knows the job, not the product; you deliver a shortlist with a clear pick and the reasoning. Price-execution: they know the product; you deliver the timing (price history says wait or buy), the venue, and the stack (sale plus coupon plus card cashback), computed rather than guessed.
Price it flat per request, tiered by ticket size. Resist percentage-of-savings pricing; it invites arguments about the baseline and slows every sale.
Who it suits
Natural researchers who already do this for friends free. Also a strong add-on service for virtual assistants who want a productized offer.
Startup cost and tools
| What | Cost | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Engine calls per request | ~$0.25–$0.50 | Product find ($0.10), price compare ($0.08), history ($0.08), stack ($0.10) |
| Payment + request form | $0–$45/mo | Standard stack |
Engine prices are the live public catalog prices, the same sheet agents pay. No subscription is required to use them.
The licensing question
None. If you also join affiliate programs for products you recommend, disclose it plainly on every recommendation (FTC endorsement rules); your credibility is the whole asset here.
How the engine does the heavy lifting
Use-case product matching, one-call pre-purchase clearance (verdict plus official recall screen), live price comparison, price-history timing calls, and discount stacking with the math done.
/api/find/product$0.10Best product for use case/api/find/buy-check$0.50Pre-purchase buy/wait/avoid verdict (one call)/api/find/alternative$0.08Cheaper alternatives/api/deals/compare$0.08Live price comparison across retailers/api/deals/history$0.08Price history and best-time-to-buy analysis for a product/api/deals/stack$0.10Deal stacking — combine sale + coupon + cashback for maximum savingsYour first customer in 30 days
- Do ten free requests for friends this week and keep score: hours saved, dollars saved, both written down.
- Set three flat tiers by ticket size and publish them.
- Pick a visible niche to start (parents’ gear, home office, gaming) so word-of-mouth has something to grab.
- Post one worked example (request, research, the stack, the final price) as your storefront. One honest example outsells any ad.
Hand this to your assistant
This blueprint has a machine-readable page with the current endpoints, prices, and setup steps. Paste this into Claude, ChatGPT, or any assistant that can fetch a URL:
Machine page: https://pulse.theaslangroupllc.com/fieldguide/personal-shopper-deal-hunter.json
Start this one
The engines are pay-per-call, no subscription. Agents pay per call over x402 (USDC on Base or Solana). If you're a human, get a starter key: it takes about a minute, includes a $0.25 trial balance, and tops up by card (Stripe) or USDC. No crypto wallet required. Prefer email? Write to info@theaslangroupllc.com with the subject "Starter key: personal-shopper-deal-hunter" and we'll provision one by hand, usually the same day.
The Field Guide book, with all 75 blueprints expanded, is in progress. The hub is free either way.