Feedback on new Metalworking Equipment Site?

[ebayjosh]

Hi, we just launched a new metalworking equipment site and I would really appreciate your feedback on it: http://www.lathesandmills.com

I used to manage eBay's Industrial business - we have attempted to design the site based upon much of the very helpful feedback I received over my years in that role, but more suggestions are always appreciated.

Thanks in advance for your help.

-Josh

[jregulski]

Josh,
Very nice website. Can you put new products out there as well. I am a Product Manager for EZset LLC. I am setting up distribution throughout the US, Can, Mex and any avenue is a bonus. I'm sure if we place on your website somewhere and you sell it we can work out a nice number for you. Let me know...regulski@ezset.biz or 734-997-8870.

[vacpress]

josh. i think, after a quick look, it looks pretty nice. clean, functional.. i didnt dig too deep..

one thing missing though is a strong and coherant branding attempt. strong branding will make or break your web company.. previousely you were under the aegis of ebay, which has credability to go around. now you need your own credability

i see a portal template, auction\store plugin, and open source CMS put together by someone with good technical skills. i do not see a company with a clear message..

another issue is that your front page design dosent have a strong heirarchical flow - that is, i cannot tell where the important info is - the large blocks of news items on the right side lacks cues to make the meaning of the information clear. this means i would have to read it, more of the site, and make assumptions what it all means.. not good when there are very easy and attractive visual methods to take care of these navigational, typographic, and other important concerns.

i could go on in this manner regarding other information semantics, presentation, and communication issues.

in general, pretty nice work! a good start - try and clarify an organizational message while also making your information easier to understand without allot of effort.


Just my .02. If you are interested in help with these areas, or a formal but inexpensive design analysis document with some examples, recommendations, etc. feel free to drop a line.

Robert

[GaryCorlew]

I went to your web site and internet explorer tagged it as a phishing web site, so if this is a legit site you may have a problem. Also I was going to place a bid once on an item you had listed on ebay a few months ago, until I read the whole ad. This is my own opinion, any item that is listed on ebay should have a starting price that you want to start it at, instead of starting it low price with a high reserve. To me personally it is a waste of my time looking at an ad only to find out that the reserve price is out of sight. I realize that in most of your ads you list the price in there somewhere, where as most do not. But once I find a seller that does things like this I never look at any of their ads again, and they will never get my business. So the moral of this story is this you want me on your website, tell me the price up front if I am interested I will look if not I will go to the next ad, I do not want to have to spend time reading the whole ad to find out the real starting price.

[ebayjosh]

Thanks to everyone for the feedback so far on http://www.lathesandmills.com - I really appreciate it.

Gary - thanks for noticing the IE phishing site flag - we are in the process of working with them to resolve it - news sites apparently often trip that flag incorrectly - we are clearly not a phishing site as we collect no user information at all

Vacpress - your branding suggestion is a good one - that is clearly something that we need to work on improving - we were so focused on building functionality that we have not yet focused enough attention there.

Jregulski - we are not at this time looking for additional inventory to list on the site - however, on each "search results" page (do a search and you will see the page) we have our "Resource Center" - we would be happy to consider adding your company logo and a link to your website. Send me a private message with more details and lets discuss further.

I look forward to more feedback from the CNCZone community...

Thanks,

Josh

[Lemo]

I am missing the location information of the item. While on a budget, shipping and pickup options are very important. A very affordable item on the west coast might be completely out of the question for someone on the east cost, even if it is exactly what someone is looking for.
Happy Holidays!
Lemo

[KOS]

hmm... as soon as i tried to go into your site, I got a pop up from my anti virus, said it blocked a recent attempt on my computer...Not sure what you have on there and what was trying to attach to my computer but I didnt even let it load at that point...

[vacpress]

i looked at the site more and i now see that it is 'just a site full of links to ebay ads'

i guess those 'get rich on the internet' pamphlets do sell to someone.. we should stop working our asses off and make indexes of ebay listings.. i bet there is real money there.. especially once it is automated!
imagine!
better than slaves - semi-automated, viral, endless pyramid schemes of people making a tiny percentage off of masses of transactions is the new gold rush.

R