It's so clean like Apple Store but more cheap.
Mcmaster.com is the best e-commerce site I've ever used
261–270 of 501 posts
Re: Mcmaster.com is the best e-commerce site I've ever used
#262Earlier quoted context omitted.
It’s arguably similar to the value proposition Apple brings to a lot of their customers. Time is money, and having things just work the way they’re supposed to seems to get rarer and rarer. Or maybe I’m just getting older, I dunno. I wish we had more firms that still valued quality and proper customer service in this world. Too much chinesium junk out there these days, in a race to the bottom that everyone loses.
Quoted post unavailable.
China is a country not a race.
Re: Mcmaster.com is the best e-commerce site I've ever used
#263At some point several years ago, Amazon actually tried to compete with Mcmaster and others selling in this niche. They had a sub-site or something like that, I think it was called "Amazon Pro" and it focused on nothing but the sorts of parts and fittings that Mcmaster sells. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't as good as Mcmaster, and it sank (AFAICT) without a trace.
Amazon pro failed badly due to mismatch of service levels. Raptorsupplies.com is a similar one that's purely non-US though.
Re: Mcmaster.com is the best e-commerce site I've ever used
#264This doesn't go into the actual mechanics of finalizing your order, which is incredibly well done. I've only actually ordered from McMaster 3 times and don't have a need for anything right now so I might be getting details wrong, but basically, the "items in your cart" page has a shipping address and payment method pre-filled, and you just hit "order" and that's it. What's in stock, what ships when, etc. is all clear…
> I also like their parametric search. If you type '1/4"-20 screw', the page goes to the overview of that screw type AND populates the "machine-readable" parameters on the left side with what you typed. This is something I wish more e-commerce sites would grok. I go to Lowes and type in 1/2" 10-32 stainless bolt in the search box. Now I get a search result page, with filter parameters on the left side. Great. There's…
Ecommerce filtering for electronics generally is terrible. I even made a hobby website for used electronics, specifically inspired by the precise parametric search we expect from McMaster and Digikey etc
Re: Mcmaster.com is the best e-commerce site I've ever used
#265At some point several years ago, Amazon actually tried to compete with Mcmaster and others selling in this niche. They had a sub-site or something like that, I think it was called "Amazon Pro" and it focused on nothing but the sorts of parts and fittings that Mcmaster sells. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't as good as Mcmaster, and it sank (AFAICT) without a trace.
EDIT/UPDATE: apparently it was called Amazon Supply, later "upgrade" to Amazon Business, and now sunk without a trace, it seems.
Re: Mcmaster.com is the best e-commerce site I've ever used
#266Earlier quoted context omitted.
There you go, package of 10 for $7.57: https://www.mcmaster.com/90910A589/ McMaster has everything (almost)!
"Set screw" means the same as "grub screw", i.e. a bolt where the entire thing is threaded, and the head is set within the bounds of the thread, not proud of it. Like this: https://ever-hardware.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/Torx-se... Torx grub screws are super uncommon, I don't think I've ever seen one. Usually they have a hex socket (for an allen key), or occasionally they're slotted (for a flat-blade screwdriver…
My mistake. I read "set screws" as "set of screws".
Re: Mcmaster.com is the best e-commerce site I've ever used
#267Another 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…
I find that to be the case for many "industrial" (for the lack of better word) online stores. E.g. for plastic containers, https://www.usplastic.com/ is similar.
Re: Mcmaster.com is the best e-commerce site I've ever used
#268McMaster is the golden example of only trying to sell people what they need.
No upselling, no "popularity" filtering, no cheap imports that under-perform. You don't reviews to select between items because if you know what you need, you just buy that.
Of course this requires some expertise. You need to know what you need. And that's where the value of a physical trade shop comes in, where you can go, talk, even show the problem to somebody who might have seen your problem before.
Re: Mcmaster.com is the best e-commerce site I've ever used
#269Best e-commerce site? Ok, trying to search for “bolts filips”. Showes me ALL products.
Re: Mcmaster.com is the best e-commerce site I've ever used
#270Now 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?
That website routinely comes up in a lot of crafts and craft-related hobbies (in my case, it was guns, where gunsmithing can involve parts they sell), so it's not exactly a secret. And yes, people do actually like it regardless of the article.
OTOH I don't know of any serious hobbyists (of whatever) who get the majority of their supplies from Amazon. When you ask, people generally say that selection is poor and quality is always highly suspect.