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Mcmaster.com is the best e-commerce site I've ever used

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Re: Mcmaster.com is the best e-commerce site I've ever used

#201

Post by nocman »

talkingtab wrote: post #39

Another vote for McMaster-Carr. It is not like they are great, they just are not stupid or frustrating or annoying at all. I don't know of any other websites that meet that relatively simple standard. Perhaps part of why their website is so good is because they deliver the goods. They follow through. Ever need a 4x8 sheet of copper? It gets delivered to your front door. Sooner than you expect, and at a very fair pric…

> It is not like they are great, they just are not stupid or frustrating or annoying at all.

Sad to say, comparing them to most other sites where you try (or attempt to try -- yes, often it is that bad) makes a case for saying, yes indeed, they are great!

Re: Mcmaster.com is the best e-commerce site I've ever used

#202

Post by LesZedCB »

eight_ender wrote: post #167

I’d like to add RockAuto as a peer to McMaster. It’s auto parts, and somehow uglier than McMaster, but damn if it isn’t the fastest no nonsense website I’ve seen for parts. I can drill down to a specific part for a specific car in seconds, and see pics of the product, part numbers, specs. It’s lovely.

holy shit, thank you!

Re: Mcmaster.com is the best e-commerce site I've ever used

#204

Post by nocman »

a-dub wrote: post #16

digikey, jameco, mcmaster, ingram... most of these online catalog parts houses have excellently functional websites. but like, even back in the day distribution warehouses had excellent terminal based inventory search and ordering interfaces over packet switched networks. anyone remember datanet?

Wow, Jameco -- I haven't thought about them for a long time. When I was a kid I used to get those paper catalogs full of electronics parts and browse through them, wishing I had both

1) the money to order whatever I wanted from them and 2) the knowledge to make cool things with all of those parts.

One of these days I'm going to find some time and do a few electronics projects. I've always been interested, and I did a fair amount of simple experimentation as a kid, but as an adult life has kept me busy with other pursuits.

Re: Mcmaster.com is the best e-commerce site I've ever used

#205

Post by jbb_hn »

wildzzz wrote: post #94
gruez wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>On the other hand, Amazon delays orders on purposes if you aren't a Prime member. I'm not so sure about this. I'm not a prime member and I frequently get orders delivered before the estimated delivery date. On the other hand I also see instances where amazon takes suspiciously long to ship something. A charitable explanation might be that their logistics capacity (eg. planes or vans) is limited, so if you're not a p…

At my college town around 2013, any prime delivery would always take a day longer than it was supposed to. Saturday delivery wasn't common there at the time so you had to get your order in by Wednesday morning at the latest otherwise you'd be waiting until Monday.

2013? That’s almost a decade ago.

Re: Mcmaster.com is the best e-commerce site I've ever used

#206

Post by deathanatos »

loonster wrote: post #184
DrudgeCorporate wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Time is money and buying from McMaster has always been faster and easier than any other site. I also have yet to get an incorrect item.

I have had an incorrect CAD model from them. (Which they fixed when I brought it to their notice). Once burned, twice shy.

This would be an immediate positive in my book. Most the bug reports I upstream to vendors go nowhere. Getting in contact with someone who can actually fix the problem, instead of just papering over it? Completely negates any downside from the original problem, in my book.

Re: Mcmaster.com is the best e-commerce site I've ever used

#207

Post by WhyCause »

thechao wrote: post #87
iancmceachern wrote: post #34

Mechanical Engineer and product designer here. I've been using mcmaster daily for 20 years to do my job. It is definitely the standard by which all others are judged. I'll gladly pay 2, 3, 5, even 10x the price to get it from McMaster. The service, the CAD models, I have what I need the next day. As an example of the level of their service, you can send them a box of loose parts, no part numbers, no markings, and the…

We had piles of their yellow books laying around the house when I was a grad student. Definitely good toilet-book material.

Lucky. When I was in Engineering school, the Mechanical Engineering department had one catalog. We couldn't get any more - something about limited numbers printed (though, I'll confess I never tried to get my own). It was passed around among the students in Machine Design as if it were some sacred scroll.

Re: Mcmaster.com is the best e-commerce site I've ever used

#208

Post by RicoElectrico »

I was very confused when Ben Krasnow pronounced McMaster with a "mick" at the beginning. For 10+ years of my English education nobody bothered to explain that Mc is "mack", but sometimes it's pronounced "mick".

I was aware something is going on when Tyler McVicker introduced himself with "mick".

English teachers usually have a typical repertoire of their pet details like schwa and so on, but seems there's a blind spot here.

Re: Mcmaster.com is the best e-commerce site I've ever used

#209

Post by nocman »

motoboi wrote: post #9

Now be completely honest: - If you haven't read the article, would you think this site great? My point is: no one knows what is a great e-commerce website. Is one that sells a lot? Amazon does it. Is not one that sells a lot, but that is very easy to use?

> My point is: no one knows what is a great e-commerce website

I disagree. I know what is a great e-commerce website -- in the sense the article is talking about.

  - loads fast
  - makes items easy to find quickly
  - has a simple, efficient shopping cart mechanism
  - gets me in, order placed, and out in the shortest time possible
  - is run by a company with great customer service
Yeah, there's probably an item or two I've forgotten from that list, and yeah, other people likely to order from a site might have a slightly different list. But I have no doubt that I would recognize the same qualities on other websites that I and many (probably most) people would recognize as great -- or at the very minimum, as websites that don't suck.

Re: Mcmaster.com is the best e-commerce site I've ever used

#210

Post by geodel »

soheil wrote: post #146
Mistletoe wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe your customers or employer would like you to save 2, 3, 5, 10x the price… My memories of McMaster from doing my hobbies is that it is outrageously expensive.

Looks like an opportunity to make something as delightful and lower the prices.

I am thinking instead of low price free would be great. They can stick on some extra ads on stuff they would be selling.
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