I want to buy this. At this price. Tell me when that happens. Salemarked does, simply and elegantly

There are always the stories. You know. About the startups that made it. That cashed out big. That spawned another hundred startups. But what about the ones that fail? What do they spawn? Well, if it’s Oklahoma transplant Vidoop—which had a much celebrated move to Portland followed by a spectacular flame out—the answer is quite a bit.

Without the fall of Vidoop, there might not have been Bac’n, Urban Airship, What Spot Now, or some excellent design work at Spotlight Mobile. And there might not have been the latest project from former-Vidooper Koes Bong, a little project called Salemarked.

I always love technology that’s designed to solve a specific problem. Salemarked is definitely one of those pursuits. And it’s a simple and elegant.

What’s the problem? We’re all watching our spending habits. But a lot of us are still very much consumers. So we look to buy things when they’re most affordable. But going back to shopping sites, again and again, to check for sale items is tedious at best. And a losing proposition at worst.

Shouldn’t technology be able to solve this issue?

Enter Salemarked. A Web browser bookmarklet that allows users to select a specific item, set the price at which they would buy that item, and request an alert when that item actually reaches that sale price.

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Salemarked is still in its early phase. So it currently only supports Anthropologie, Banana Republic, Etsy, Gap, Nordstrom, Urban Outfitters, and Zappos. (Yeah, like you don’t shop at a few of those places. I’ve seen what you wear.) But Koes is adding more sites as demand dictates.

While its beginnings are simple. Salemarked’s potential is huge. And—in a world of Groupon clones—it’ s an incredibly interesting way of addressing the problem from a new perspective. Plus, I just like saying “bookmarklet.”

For more or to add the bookmarklet to your browser, visit Salemarked. Or follow @salemarked on Twitter.

Published by Rick Turoczy

More than mildly obsessed with the Portland startup community. Founder and editor at Silicon Florist. Cofounder and general manager at PIE. Follow me on Twitter: @turoczy View all posts by Rick Turoczy