Date: Sat, 7 Jun 2003 12:26:32 -0400
Reply-To: The Bus Depot <vanagon@BUSDEPOT.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: The Bus Depot <vanagon@BUSDEPOT.COM>
Subject: Beta Testers Needed NOW for NEW BusDepot.com - 10% Discount!
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
I need some help from listmembers over this weekend.
Sometime on Monday, the all-new BusDepot.com will be unveiled. In the
meantime - this weekend , thru thru Sunday night - I really need the
help of as many listmembers as possible, to put the site through its
paces before it goes "live." I need you to let me know what problems
you find.
In return for your help, I will give you a 10% discount on a future Bus
Depot order. See below.
CHANGES IN THE NEW SITE
The site is completely new from the ground up, and is about as close to
state of the art as a small business (without amazon.com's budget) can
get. There are too many changes to go into here. Some are outlined at
http://venus.webappcabaret.net/busdepot/help.jsp#ABOUTSITE but you'll
have to browse around it to really get a feel for it.
One big change is that we've increased the parts database from about
15,000 parts, to roughly 200,000 - making BusDepot.com literally the
largest online consumer VW parts database on the planet. We've combined
the complete product databases from a number of importers and
wholesalers, plus nearly the whole TMI catalog, and almost every
"dealer" part as well. Some of it is not yet cataloged by application
(this will take time), and there are some vendors who didn't get us
their files yet, so it will still get better. But even now, it's
probably safe to say that you're more likely to find a part on
BusDepot.com than anywhere else.
Yes, this means that BusDepot.com now lists a full line of Volkswagen
CAR parts as well (and at our usual deep discounts). While our focus is
and will remain Busses and Vans, there were some logical reasons for
expanding to VW cars. About half of you also own a VW car, and we
routinely get inquiries from list members as to whether we can get them
comparable discounts on a part for their Ghia, Jetta, etc. Of course,
many of our suppliers also carry VW Car parts, so we always had good
availability and the opportunity to buy them cheap. So we decided to
offer them to our existing customer base. Adding them is a win/win
situation. Since we're already dealing with these suppliers anyway, it
doesn't dilute our Bus/Van efforts. But the added volume does give us a
lot more clout with them. Which means we can negotiate sharper prices,
and demand better availability and quality, on the Bus and Vanagon parts
that are the core of our efforts. So if you buy your VW Original Beetle
or New Beetle parts from the Depot, you'll not only get a killer deal on
those parts, but you'll also help ensure the future of good, cheap parts
for your Bus or Vanagon. Everybody wins.
BETA TESTING OFFER (AND DISCOUNT COUPON)
I need as many eyes as possible looking at this site for me. You will
really be doing me a favor, as I'm bleary eyed and just can't finish it
up without some extra sets of eyes. (I've been working on this for six
months now - and 80 to 90 hours a week for the last month. I'm ready to
drop!) But the site is still rough, even with all that work. It just
takes forever to manually sift through hundreds of thousands of entries
looking for errors, so there are lots that weren't found yet.
So what I'm asking is this. Put the site through its paces. You can even
place an "order." As long as you do it before 3 AM Monday morning (on
the new website, not busdepot.com), it will not be processed, since we
are only testing. Look for anything and everything, and send me a list
of whatever you find. Hopefully, a long list! Email it to me directly
- ron@busdepot.com - with BETA included in the subject header.
If you send me a legitimate list of problems/errors/issues (there are
plenty to find!), I'll reciprocate by sending you a coupon code for 10%
off a Bus Depot order (good for a limited timeframe). That's double the
normal listmember discount. (Same terms as normal listmember discount
will apply.) If you want, while you're testing the site, you can even
put together an order for your 10% discount, save it under your account
using the Want List feature until the site goes live, and then later
retrieve it and apply the coupon. (Note: See Want List bug below.)
The types of problems that I'd like to know about include (but are not
limited to):
1) Graphics or cosmetic flaws: i.e. a line break in the text that
shouldn't be there, causing one word to sit off by itself, or any other
cosmetic flaws. Since many of you have different web browsers, the site
may look slightly different for you than for me.
2) Part data errors:
- Part application errors (i.e. when you click on the part, the details
show that it doesn't fit the VW model it is listed under)
- Part descriptions that are wrong, don't make sense, missing, etc.
- Duplicate parts (i.e. the same part listed twice under different part
numbers, perhaps even at different prices)
- Please look over the CAR listings too. This is particularly important
since I haven't looked at them much myself. If you have a VW car, browse
for parts for it and tell me what you think/find.
3) Picture errors: i.e. the wrong picture, a picture that still says
"click back on your browser" from the old busdepot site, etc.
4) Bugs in the way the features work, navigation, etc. Coupon code
(i.e. PROJECT800), want list, etc. (Exactly what were you doing that
made the bug show up?)
5) General comments and suggestions. Be brutally honest. I really want
to know.
KNOWN BUGS: (hopefully fixed sometime on the weekend):
I) WANT LIST: for the time being you MUST LOG-OUT (using the "my
account" screen) before you exit your browser, or the want list will not
be saved.
2) HOT BUYS and BARGAIN BIN parts do not automatically display at the
bottom of each page as the page says they should. (However there is a
click-to-display option for the Bargain items.)
3) Emailed order-confirmation letter needs some work.
4) I still need to update (reduce) some Eurovan prices.
The temporary URL of the new site is
http://venus.webappcabaret.net/busdepot
Thanks in advance for all your help!!!
- Ron Salmon
The Bus Depot, Inc.
www.busdepot.com
(215) 234-VWVW
_____________________________________________
Toll-Free for Orders by PART # : 1-866-BUS-DEPOT
