Vendors Forums - order of forums

[rolygate]

Yes, that's not clear enough right now. I'd like to find a way that people can see that the 'senior' suppliers are at the top but there are some issues such as getting the template to display the text correctly. Have to come back to this one later I think...

 

[Poeia]

I was thinking it would be great if there were tags for the different things the vendors sell -- VG, PG, DIY, filled carts, pen style, screwdriver, paraphernalia (cases, syringes, etc.) -- so that if you clicked on a tag, you'd get a list of the suppliers who sell that item.

It would also make it easier for us newcomers to the wonderful world of vaping to figure out which models have compatible parts.

 

[TWISTED VICTOR]

Yes, that's not clear enough right now. I'd like to find a way that people can see that the 'senior' suppliers are at the top but there are some issues such as getting the template to display the text correctly. Have to come back to this one later I think...

Why not add "In order of seniority" to the title of the section? I know what you're thinking....I just have trouble grasping the technicalities . In my world a cigar box is still a great way to make change instead of running it through a cash register .

 

[rolygate]

TVictor,

Not a bad idea.

But I'm still in two minds about this whole thing because there are pros and cons to announcing that. It may not be strictly true anyway, because I'm not sure if that has always been the case, since I've only been here three months. New forum sponsors do go in at the foot of the page now though. They gradually move up as others are removed. Normally a forum gets removed because the owner doesn't post there any more, which means they aren't supporting their customers and our members. We don't warn them, we just remove it, as better and more efficient suppliers are waiting to come in - there's always a waiting list. And we do remove paying suppliers if we don't think they are supporting our members properly, money has nothing to do with it (we get plenty of offers and turn them down politely).

The supplier's locations addition has been successful though, lots of people have thanked us for that.

Another thing is that many suppliers aren't really all that experienced with icommerce (Internet business) and they don't know the best ways to help their customers. That's always down to usability, and the thing is, you can't test it or evaluate it yourself - you can't see the wood for the trees. For example the best move a supplier can make is to put a prominent sticky in their forum saying something like, "We are located at XXXXXXX. We ship to XXXXXXX". Because those are the first two things any customer will want to know. Don't make them hunt for that info, they'll go somewhere else.

Anyway back to the topic in hand - I think I'll build a supplier list page, with suppliers listed by location, and with some other notes on it. Probably the best way.

 

[TWISTED VICTOR]

I figured it was more complicated, now I know why, thanks for the explanation.

And we do remove paying suppliers if we don't think they are supporting our members properly, money has nothing to do with it (we get plenty of offers and turn them down politely).

Impressive.....and honorable. Wish my government worked like that .

 

[Bellasin]

Never mind, I see now that suppliers are listed by seniority. Interestingly enough I use ones closer to the bottom of the list which is probably why I get so tired of scrolling. So, the names will always be as is.


PLEASE alphabatize suppliers! I was going to start a new thread to request this. I only read the first few posts here, maybe if I read them all I will see why we have to go blind looking for a suppliers thread.

 

[Mystik]

As a newbie to all of this when i decided to try Vapping (sp) I went serching google for supplieres. Found a list on one website didn't help half the company's were out of business, moved or link didn't work...wish i would of read more on this forum before I ran off to find a supplier (thou I think I lucked out with the one I used). Live and learn...

RG your job is monumental I really appreciate all the work you and your staff do!

Thanks

 

[BrianOConnell]

Another newbie here. I don't really mind where a supplier is but being from Ireland it would be incredibly useful to know which of them will ship to me. Something in brackets after the location would be ideal, for example "US, Midwest (Ships: US Only)" or "US, Midwest (Ships: Global)" or "UK (Ships: EU Only)" and so on.

Thanks for a great resource.

 

[Shining Wit]

A map of suppliers might be the answer, take a look at one I created free with googlemaps and if you like it we can make one easy, even for an oldfart like me!!;-) The info windows could contain contact details and other info as required.
John.


Googlemap



.

 

[eGeek]

Not bad at all for an old fart - I like it

 

[rolygate]

Thanks for that idea John, it's a good one.

@BrianOConnell - I'm afraid that isn't really possible because I have asked one or two Suppliers for this info, but all I got back was, "Well it depends on xxxx and zzzzz and if ......".

So the answer is basically, I'd like to help both them and you but it won't happen. I've done the best I can by strongly suggesting to Suppliers that the very first sticky in their forums is titled WE SHIP TO XXXXXX..... , but without much success. It seems that some may find it too difficult to help you to buy from them.

It's a simple fact in online business that, after you have got some potential customers, you need to make it very easy to buy from you. In fact you haven't succeeded until you've made it so easy to buy from you that people actually email you and say, "Your website is so easy to use compared to the others".

No apologies for repetition of that phrase as it's the most important to any online business. The only real issue with a website, in the end, is Usability. Maybe 99% of website owners don't know that, or can't fix it. That's why some succeed and others fail.

My advice to you is find a Supplier who seems to have some idea of how to make things easy for you. At least, then, you should be dealing with somebody who has realised that they are not the most important item in the equation - you are.

 

[Milano]

I was just browsing through this thread and I thought to myself -- Why have any "official" stance on how these are listed? Perhaps if there was a Mod implemented (it would surely take some effort, not saying it'd be easy) so that members can sort the list how they prefer. By distance, Alphabetical, or maybe Oldest/Newest.?

In this respect, it lets the community dictate what's important to them. Some people are undoubtedly concerned with who's product will possibly arrive quickest, others just want to find what they're looking for (alphabet) and some members will be the type who say "I'll go with whoever's been around the longest".

Now.. implementing such a feature into VBulletin itself would be difficult I think. So maybe the easiest thing to do is to leave it as it is right now, and add a simple html page someplace in a sortable list that allows the users to go through the vendors? I know simple HTML or PHP isn't so very pretty or flashy... but I would use it. If it said in the description for Suppliers Section "Click HERE to sort vendors by location/alphabet/seniority" -- I'D CLICK IT!!
then of course that sortable list would link me to the correct vendors' forum section.

--

Alternatively? If distance seems to be the largest concern here.. and it does get much mention.. perhaps putting a US Map (like Shining mentioned) up there to allow users to see what vendors are in their state by clicking on the state? I'm sure that could be done with a world map or map of europe also.

 

[TameraB1]

I agree that it would be good if it had tags where you could type in, for instance, a model number or VG liquid, and find the suppliers that offered that for real. It seems like many of them list everything on google, but when you get to their website, they quit carrying that long ago, never did... or are out of business. Many sites are gone, though I realize you can't police that... I really think you guys are doing great all things considered... I am loving vaping!!!

 

[midwestfarmboy]

Posted by shipping location makes more sense...I am in Iowa...I don't really want to have order say a battery out of florida or california if I don't have to. Just my take on it

 

[candre23]

Here is a simple table containing all the ECF-approved vendors. It is sortable by name or region. Can't post links yet, so you'll have to manually remove the spaces.

http ://dorkhouse.pbworks. com/f/ecf-suppliers-sortable. html

Feel free to re-host / modify / whatever.

 

[rolygate]

Nice work. Let us use it, give us the JS script, and we'll give you a link plus a credit somewhere. Friends of ECF and all that.

 

[candre23]

Here are the HTML and JS files: http ://drop. io/ocdewk5

The JS is not mine. It is FOSS distributed under the MIT license (which means you can do pretty much whatever you want with it). I made one minor modification to allow it to ignore letter case when sorting. It originally came from here: http ://www .kryogenix. org/code/browser/sorttable

I don't have anything worth linking to, and considering how sloppy the HTML formatting is, I probably shouldn't bother taking credit.

 

[rolygate]

OK it's running at:

Forum Suppliers - Sortable List

Many thanks.

 

[fllinton]

Nice!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Ast_Isis]

I just wanted to say Thank You to everyone who worked on the sortable list. (This includes you also Candre ) This was exactly what I was looking for when I made the suggestion months ago.

It is greatly appreciated!