Need everyone's feedback here please! Thanks AZ

DrOnePocket

DrOnePocket

Banned
A very good friend of mine and long time supporter of the game is seriously considering opening a billiard/poker site that carries only quality items at VERY competitive prices. What I need from you guys is to tell me what things you like and dislike about the current websites like pooldog, cuestix, etc. Not looking to bash anyone and you can leave their name out if you want, just tell us what you like and dislike or need and want from a billiard supply store. The main focus here is to provide a level of customer service that makes you come back for years to come.

I sincerely thank you for your responses,

Dr.1
 
good price, good selection, good service

DrOnePocket said:
A very good friend of mine and long time supporter of the game is seriously considering opening a billiard/poker site that carries only quality items at VERY competitive prices. What I need from you guys is to tell me what things you like and dislike about the current websites like pooldog, cuestix, etc. Not looking to bash anyone and you can leave their name out if you want, just tell us what you like and dislike or need and want from a billiard supply store. The main focus here is to provide a level of customer service that makes you come back for years to come.

I sincerely thank you for your responses,

Dr.1
Click to expand...


The title pretty much covers it. I'm looking for good prices, good selection, and good customer service. There are at least four sites that already offer these things so your friend is entering a tough market. Some if not all of these folks are volume buyers so he may not be able to purchase things at the price they can making it tough to compete with them on price. I wish him luck but he needs to take a real hard look before he gets into this. I advise talking to SCORE and really crunching the numbers before starting any business these days.

Hu
 
Customer service is #1 for me. I would even pay slightly more knowing your taken care of. I am pretty loyal to seyberts. I feel they are competitive and have great service. This would be a very tough market to crack and be successful IMO.
 
I honestly don't shop around when I buy, I figure prices all over will be close enough to each other. So even if I can't say which category is number one, I can tell you price doesn't have to be high on the list.

Basically the site has to work, get a designer who really really knows their shìt and makes it fully functional no matter what. The buyer can find what they want easily and buy it with a minimum number of clicks and hassle. It's a huge turnoff is there's some issue in the ordering process or I have to hunt for the item I need. It doesn't even need to be pretty.

Look at www.ozonebilliards.com ... butt-ugly but damned if you can't find what you're looking for in 2 clicks. Off the top of my head I randomly thought "ok, let's pretend I want a stinger jump cue." ...I typed stinger in the search box and it brought 3 relevant results. Then I tried it the 'hard' way and scrolled down until I saw jump/break cues (click one), and then scrolled through the list til I came upon the Stinger (click two).

If the site works as expected, the product arrives in a timely fashion, and it can't arrive damaged because it was handled and packaged properly ... that's all anyone can really ask for.
 
I am not a retailer, but fwiw...

The idea of sticking to only quality products is appealing. But commercially, your friend should also consider the breadth of his product range.

So long as he is stocking everything that his pool/poker customer wants (and is reasonably competitive on price/service/ease of use of site), that customer will keep returning.

But if the customer one day goes to the site and does not find what he wants, he will find another site. And you can never be sure that he will come back.

Attracting customers is so hard that it is vital that you keep the ones you have. Replacing them is just too difficult.

But getting back to the question, what determines my online buying choices are mainly ease of use of the site (finding stuff and paying for it quickly) and, when available, customer feedback/rating.
 
Since I just had an online purchasing experience with buying a new cue I'll throw my 2 cents in here. Out of all the sites I looked at, including Ozone, Billiards Warehouse, Pool Dawg, Muellers, and others, I think Seybert's has the best laid out site, period.

Some sites were really horrible with navigation. Take Monster Break Billiards for instance. I took me 6 clicks to get to the McDermott Professional series of cues, only to get there and see that they only had 3 cues listed. With Seybert's it was a single click, you just hover over the menus on the side to drill down.

What I didn't like about Ozone and Mueller was that they only showed the butt cap in the listings. You have to drill down into each individual page to see the whole cue. If you are just looking at what kind of styles are out there, then that is pretty annoying.

Pool Dawg was a little better but they don't break the cues up by line. Since I was looking for McDermott cues, I had to go through three pages to see all they had to offer in the Profesional line as they were all jumbled up with Tournament and Competitor series as well as just plain shafts.

I ended up buying from Seybert's for the following reasons. These are in no particular order of importance, but they were all important to me when making my decision.
1. They have a very professional site that indicates they are serious about doing business on the web. Navigation was a breeze.

2. They have a huge selection of products. This is important to me because I would prefer to not open up accounts at several different sites. If I want to buy some books or chalk or anything, I already have an account at Seyberts now, and they are probably going to have what I'm looking for. That's one trick to get repeat business on the web.

3. They had the best price on the cue I was looking for. I some cases it was only a few dollars cheaper, but since they have that Seybert's bucks program I was able to get two Phil Capelle books at no additional charge.

4. They alllow you to customize a few things about your cue very easily before adding it to your cart. You can pick your tip and weight, add a case or joint protectors all from the product page and then add it all to your cart with a single click. They make that part really easy. I had a sniper tip installed for just the price of the tip, no labor charge. That was pretty nice.

Well I hope some of this information helps. Tell your friend I said good luck
on his new business venture.
 
We are not concerned about buying power as that has been taken care of. What I need to know is the things that you guys feel are wrong or right with the current e tailers so I can provide the best service possible to the billiard industry.

No need for specific bashings please, not what we are looking for. ty
 
website characteristics

i agree with the comment CreeDo made in that a website has to work.

i've shopped a lot of billiard shopping sites and a large percentage of them have glitches or bad links. as a potential buyer... that one aspect causes me concern and makes me question the reputability and reliability of the seller/company.

but perhaps the most important aspect for me (as well as many others looking to buy online) is how easy a website is to use.

ease of use could be defined as but not limited to:

  • how easy the pages are to view - imho, simpler is better. many websites put way too much texts, pics, links and even though a wealth of info is provided, more often than not it is sensory overload.
  • how easy the site is to navigate - a website is pretty much a store... online. buyers want a store that is not difficult to find what you are looking for. whether it's going from page to page, or clicking on a link to view pics, or simply adding items to a shopping cart... a buyer should never have to struggle.
  • how easy is it to pay for your selections - this aspect is often overlooked by many websites. imho, deciding what, when, and where to buy a product is the hardest thing for a buyer. paying for that product should never be.
looking forward to checking out that website once it's done.

just my 2 cents, -marlo
 
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Good advice so far........and

I agree with all that has been said by previous posters and i would rate "Customer Service" as my #1 reason to return to a site. Things i also like......
1. A real person answering the phone.....I'm ready to spend my money and i don't care to listen through 8-10 choices on a programed answering system just to find out if I hold the next available rep will answer my call. If the line is busy ........I'll call back.
2. I like to see site banners hanging at tourneys, it lets me know you are supporting our sport, not just making a living off of it.
3. A no BS satisfaction guarantee or your money cheerfully refunded policy that is clearly posted on the main page.
4. A site that takes the time to ask for customer feedback on it's products, and eliminates from inventory those that don't measure up.

If you need a perfect example of what makes a good business you need look no further than OB cues......I have never seen a negative post anywhere about this company. If I were looking for a mentor, Royce would be my top choice.
 
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