ToddB 68 Report post Posted January 31, 2010 (edited) With the high cost of Shipping, Handling and Gasoline, we could save money on leather work tools and supplies by making purchases in our home state, or contiguous states. A Supplier list arranged by state in alpha order, would include basic information such as website address, phone number and whether a dealer sells wholesale or retail. The alphabet "A through Z" could be displayed, allowing members to click-on the first letter of their home state or a contiguous state, which would bring up a display page of suppliers in that state, along with the aforementioned information for each supplier. In addition to saving Leatherworker.net members money on Shipping, Handling or Gasoline by dealing closer to home, this resource would reduce the time we spend locating and deciding on suppliers based on criterion such as Availability of Item, Price of Item, Merchandise Quality, Dealer Warranty / Terms and Dealer Reputation for good customer service before and after the sale. A voting scale could be set-up to give a certain amount of points for "I would use:" Frequently, Occasionally, Not Much, or some other type of scale more appropriate. ToddB68 Edited January 31, 2010 by ToddB68 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Johanna Report post Posted January 31, 2010 We did this already. Click the button on your toolbar that says "Directory". If you haven't registered your business, create an account and choose from the options. For the month of Feb. all vendor/supplier text ads are FREE. Johanna Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ToddB 68 Report post Posted February 1, 2010 We did this already. Click the button on your toolbar that says "Directory". If you haven't registered your business, create an account and choose from the options. For the month of Feb. all vendor/supplier text ads are FREE. Johanna Hi Johanna ! The "Directory" is awesome ! Sorry I missed it before. Thanks for the feedback ! Todd Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ToddB 68 Report post Posted February 2, 2010 Hi Johanna ! The "Directory" is awesome ! Sorry I missed it before. Thanks for the feedback ! Todd Johanna......I went to the "Directory" again tonight to spend more time browsing and getting a better understanding of how the site works. As I said before, the Directory is awesome, but the suppliers listed are only ones who have registered in the Directory (obviously to advertise). In my original post, I was really purposing a program that would list all suppliers of Leather, Tools, Supplies, and other products pertaining to Leatherworking, within each state in the USA. However, after giving this more thought, I now realize why the existing Leatherworker.net Directory was setup the way it was and what a huge task it would be to develope the program I purposed, building the list, keeping it up-to-date as new suppliers enter the marketplace and others go out of business. I know it could be done, but would probably require hiring more staff and probably a dedicated search engine for that program alone (mucho $). Incidentally, none of the suppliers currently advertising in the Ohio listings offer a selection of production hand tools like Tandy, Zack White, etc.. Of the (4) suppliers, TUFFCASE tools, listed under "Custom Maker Stamps", are made of plastic (not for me !), are expensive custom-made and I saw nothing I would personally be interested in. I tried all states surrounding Ohio, i.e. Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia, but the Directory returned "No Results" on my searches for Leather Crafting Tools, Supplies, etc. and Leatherworking Hand Tools. I realize that Leatherworker.net sponsors have their own websites, but is there some reason why Springfield Leather Company isn't advertising in the Directory, since they offer a fine line of leatherworking hand tools for example ? I guess there is some rationale for this, but at the moment it escapes me (it's late and my brain is just about gone beddy bye on me !). Thanks for all your help to the members Johanna. You are doing a Great job ! Todd Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Johanna Report post Posted February 2, 2010 Todd, Our Directory is less than two weeks old. We are trying to get the word out so that it fills up. Suppliers and vendors get a free standard ad for February, all leatherworkers can have a free ad forever, or they can upgrade to a more prominent ad display. Your ideas are all very good- but we're just starting out. This is our old list: http://leatherworker.net/suppliers.htm (Huge improvement, huh?) and we have three staff members working on the directory now, in between kids, jobs, and leatherwork. I hope everyone takes advantage of the free advertising and the Directory fills up quickly! See the blog section (Kate & Johanna) for more info on the Directory and how to use it to get found. Whether you are a leatherworker or a supplier to leatherworkers, our Directory will be THE place to get found on the Internet. LW hopes it keeps you all from having to get day jobs. Johanna Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
