Date:         Sat, 11 Jan 2003 16:49:16 -0500
Reply-To:     Marc Perdue <marcperdue@ADELPHIA.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Marc Perdue <marcperdue@ADELPHIA.NET>
Subject:      Web-based vendors take note
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

Hi all,

As I've been trying to diagnose my idle problems and figure out what
parts I need and where to get them, I've found that some web sites are
easier than others to find things.  I realize that creating a fancy web
page with pictures of all/most of your stock is not a cheap and/or easy
undertaking.  However, I'd like to make note of a couple of things here:

1) Volkscafe's site was by far the easiest (of the sites that I visited)
when it came to finding parts, not only because it's easy to navigate,
but also because they had pictures of the parts.
2) One really has to shop around because some vendors' prices are better
on some things, others have better prices on other things (surprise,
surprise . . . duh).
3) On one site I went to, I couldn't even figure out how to find parts
and I quickly gave up looking.  This can't be good for business.  I'm
not mentioning names, but if you're a vendor on this list and concerned
that it might be your site, contact me off-list and I'll tell you.  For
that matter, if you're a vendor on this list and would like a fair and
honest critique of your site, I'd be happy to do that for you too.  Not
that I'm an expert or anything, but I am a web page designer in my other
life . . . that is, my life not spent trying to figure out what's wrong
with my van!  :^)

Marc Perdue