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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

#401

Post by hwbehrens »

toddmorey wrote: post #372

"People visit McMaster-Carr with high intent to buy a specific part, that's it." Mcmaster is great, but it's important to point out there's no brand or product selection decisions. You pick your criteria and get exactly one option. It lends itself to a very different experience. How would this work for cars or couches or headphones?

> there's no brand or product selection decisions

> How would this work for cars or couches or headphones?

This would be great for many things! I'm sure there are plenty of people who just want a good quality, reasonably priced -whatever- and would be fine with this model. Actually, that seems like it's basically just the business model for Kirkland.

If there was a retailer who just sold one carefully-chosen thing in each category, I think they'd do pretty well. They wouldn't be able to capitalize on market segmentation, fashion trends, etc. which would hurt their profitability, but they'd also benefit from being the "default" choice for many people.

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

#402

Post by analog31 »

Dave3of5 wrote: post #291

Eek I'm going to go against the grain here a little. That site is useful when you already know what you are looking for. For someone who's just browsing for something interesting to buy it's terrible. Obviously it's been made for exactly that purpose and does it well but for general e-commerce it's bad. The retailers are looking to send you to an area of their website with "stuff" you are interested in. For example y…

I think the "yellow catalog look" is just an aesthetic. The site is actually extremely modern.

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

#403

Post by schappim »

exabrial wrote: post #158

Yeah but it’s not node, wasm, sass, typescript, react bootstrap, rails, flask, ecma, flash enabled, spa web 3.0 with social media and crypto integration so it’s pretty much outdated and useless…. /s obviously, but it just points to the absolutely uselessness of ‘modern’ websites

>> /s obviously, but it just points to the absolutely uselessness of ‘modern’ websites

So what is your cut off for "modern" here? Rails was released August 2004...

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

#405

Post by amluto »

bbarn wrote: post #295
jstanley wrote: post #253

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"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…

I think they are uncommon because torx drivers are always bigger than the head of the tool. They always taper down to the size as part of the design, so that doesn't work well for most applications.

That’s a good point. It means that whoever sells the elusive torx set screw would then get to sell the matching elusive torx set screw driver!

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

#406

Post by Spivak »

toddmorey wrote: post #372

"People visit McMaster-Carr with high intent to buy a specific part, that's it." Mcmaster is great, but it's important to point out there's no brand or product selection decisions. You pick your criteria and get exactly one option. It lends itself to a very different experience. How would this work for cars or couches or headphones?

This is basically Costco, Trader Joe's, or IKEA -- all well-loved business. Small selection but their customers like what's on offer and don't have to comparison shop. Turns out that people really like soviet store style businesses and "huge selection" doesn't really live up to the marketing hype.

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

#407

Post by 83 »

PinguTS wrote: post #352
jwr wrote: post #272

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Alas, for some reason they only cater to the US market and have no presence in the EU, for example. So while it is possible to order from them, it's rather inconvenient as you need to deal with customs/taxes. Digi-Key got this right: you can order DDP, which makes things quick & simple. Incidentally, I am amazed that they don't have a meaningful competitor in the EU. It seems most companies here are stuck in the 80s…

We hade a competitor in Europe. It was called Zoro. Maybe not THAT clean but overall they also had a good website and great prices. But they folded some years ago. In B2B we have Fabory: https://www.fabory.com

That's unfortunate you lost Zoro. They still operate in the US - I use them a lot.

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

#408

Post by amluto »

hedora wrote: post #76

My homebrew keg was leaking CO2, and the brewing supply company only sells the same crappy (= non-silicone) o-rings that had just failed. They wanted something dumb like $25 for a replacement part. Enter McMaster-Carr. For significantly less money than fixing one bad o-ring, I have a pile of replacement sets for every seal in the system.

Is silicone really a good material for this? In my experience, silicone picks up smells and is not so easy to clean.

(The part I can’t find on McMaster or anywhere else is a high quality EPDM or FKM gasket for a garden hose.)

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

#409

Post by Loughla »

pySSK wrote: post #227
wlesieutre wrote: post #182

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's a good place for well priced bolts if I'm not worried about next day shipping but need them to not be made of pot metal?

Fastenal is good for wholesale, and if you're lucky enough to have a location closeby, you can have it next day or even same day.

The only problem is that Fastenal makes McMaster Carr look like bargain basement prices.

I just ordered 8, 1.5" x 3/8" square head set screws from Fastenal. . . . for $18.

That's a bit much.

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