Vendor Forums

**countymounty** · 10-03-2005

Trolling around I saw something that I thought would make a great addition. I belong to a forum for salt water aquariums and there are over 100,000 members, what they have done is create a “Vender Forum” section and they are 40+ venders listed and people post there experiences with the different companies, both good and bad.
This thought came up because Fordgazm recently posted his story about www.ageclassic.com which I could of warned him with, I actually had a good experience with them but after trying to order the same part he did (and he paid up front) for three month and them never having it in stock I ordered elsewhere. This also might pay off for the site as well because with the salt water aquarium place I go to a lot the Venders who have good customer relations and reviews start making money (if there good) and they sponsor the site.

Just food for thought………..

**ScottHalliday** · 10-04-2005

sounds like a good idea. could you provide me with more details on how it s setup?

**countymounty** · 10-04-2005

Its pretty simple, lets see if I could explain it that way……….

Their would be a new group forum (like the current Community Forums) “Vendor Forum” located in the group forum of venders there would be a separate forum for each vender…..AGE Classic Design, Cervini’s Auto Designs, Trick Flow ect.

People who have experiences both good and bad post new threads in the correct forums on their experience with dealing with that company.

In the other forum reference to the salt water aquariums they have so many members (100k) when someone posts a bad review I have seen agents from the company get involved and post to try to fix the problem. Companies that have good products and customer service see what a great advertising tool it is and actually sponsor the web site to attract more members who will then read their reviews…..

We are much smaller but still large enough to attract attention.

Now you already have a “Product Review” section maybe the forums could be added to that? The vendor review is more of a “who I like to do business with and if there is a problem what was customer service like in resolving the problem.”
I don’t think this overlaps into the Product Review section but thought we could kick around the idea…….

**ScottHalliday** · 10-04-2005

Just a thought but this wood be really easy to setup using our product reviews product. All we have to do is setup another main section at the same level as Product Reviews and call it Vendor Reviews.

ie:

Product Reviews
xxxx
xxxx
xxxx

Vendor Reviews
yyyy
yyyy
yyyy

where xxxx are products and yyyy are vendors

Do you think this type of setup would work? It would require less maintenence from us from an admin/amod side. Members could not only submit a vendor review but could then also submit Vendors for review.

**countymounty** · 10-04-2005

Sound like it would work well, and if people start using it would stop all the “has anybody ordered from _______ before?” and would be a great place to research your next mod and vender you want to purchase from. Best of all it could save some big headaches for some of our members from ordering from companies who cant deliver.

A little more on how its set up elsewhere (not that we have to follow feel free to change it if you think it will work better)

Vendor Reviews
AGE Classic Design (its own sub-forum)
Cervini’s Auto Designs (its own sub-forum)
Trick Flow (its own sub-forum)
ect. (its own sub-forum)

this way there could multiple threads in each vendor forum (some might have good reviews and some bad)

The other place I have seen this for example had a forum for a vender Euro Reef who is a big name in filtration equipment, there are 570 threads with over 3000 post, many of them are also specific tech of a certain model number, and I see a lot of guys who work for Euro Reef posting tech help and advise in there.
This could be useful because if anyone wants to install trick flow heads and intake I have learned from experience that they are not “direct fit” as advertised and a little beforehand knowledge could save some people some time for a easy quick fix.

Fordgazm · 10-05-2005

Quote:

Originally Posted by countymounty

Sound like it would work well, and if people start using it would stop all the “has anybody ordered from _______ before?” and would be a great place to research your next mod and vender you want to purchase from. Best of all it could save some big headaches for some of our members from ordering from companies who cant deliver.

A little more on how its set up elsewhere (not that we have to follow feel free to change it if you think it will work better)

Vendor Reviews
AGE Classic Design (its own sub-forum)
Cervini’s Auto Designs (its own sub-forum)
Trick Flow (its own sub-forum)
ect. (its own sub-forum)

this way there could multiple threads in each vendor forum (some might have good reviews and some bad)

The other place I have seen this for example had a forum for a vender Euro Reef who is a big name in filtration equipment, there are 570 threads with over 3000 post, many of them are also specific tech of a certain model number, and I see a lot of guys who work for Euro Reef posting tech help and advise in there.
This could be useful because if anyone wants to install trick flow heads and intake I have learned from experience that they are not “direct fit” as advertised and a little beforehand knowledge could save some people some time for a easy quick fix.

I like this idea

**countymounty** · 10-05-2005

I think it would be very helpful to the members in getting the best bang for our buck so we can stick to sticking it to the imports…………

If any help is need just let me know!

**ScottHalliday** · 10-05-2005

May take you up on that offer of help. Another question does the salt water aquariums forums have any policies and/or procedures governing their Group Buy section? Was thinking it would be important to put such things in place to both protect our members as well as outline what would be required to post a Group Buy.

**countymounty** · 10-05-2005

Sorry not much help on group buys. Many of the products are lighting, pumps, custom glass and then live products shipped out overnight so I haven’t heard too much on that topic.

It seems that they contact the company and invite them to have a rep who joins the site and answers tech question (and I’ve seen major a$$ kissing when they screw up) they are real strict on not letting members just cuss them but a complaint is a complaint and its posted for all to view.

It will definitely help us from buying from shady companies, and very well could start generating interest for the companies to get involved in promoting their products to our 25k members (man I remember when it was 10K!)

**ScottHalliday** · 05-01-2006

Marc,

Have not forgotten. It is still on our to do list. Going to move forward on this as soon as time comes available. Hope your offer to help out still stands. Looking forward to your help and assistance to get this off the ground.

Cheers,

**countymounty** · 05-02-2006

Sure it still stands when the time comes just let me know what you need!

krankieone · 07-16-2006

I like that idea however you might want to set some firm guidelines about what can be said as some people tend to go to town when thing aren't going their way

**countymounty** · 10-16-2006

Yes it would have to be closely moderated to insure it was just the facts and not libel…….