Any News About the Autopia Store Move to Texas???

[Lonnie]

I seems weird that I need to ask this question of the Autopian management/owners.
Is there a new physical mailing/shipping address for this business IF the store is indeed, moving?
There is none listed on the Autopia Store website.
Reference: Autopia Store\service

What precipitated this question is the "revamped` Autopia Store website. I find it clunky and difficult to navigate. Having to select the number columns and number of products per page for EACH new product line is unintelligent and WHY it cannot be saved while you are viewing the website beyond me. Arranging it by price or reviews or A-to-Z (alphabetical) IS an OK user-definable Sort to list by. I assume the default display of products sorts and lists by what has sold the most of or is the most-popular selling items in descending order.
What really gets me is finding all the products that are out-of-stock, especially within the Meg`s Detailing Line.
THAT is not listed on the product display until you select the individual product description. It should be on the main product page of the sorted products. Then again, that would REALLY tell you how many products in that specific product line or product grouping are out-of-stock.
What IS going on???

I thought the old website set-up was better organized.

Anyone else seeing these problems? Maybe that is just me. (You sound "bitter", Captain Obvious)

[Bill D]

I just started ordering from Autoforge, straight out of Florida, with no problem.

[Desertnate]

If what is being discussed on AG is any indication, there are a lot of people see their orders shipped out of Texas.

Agree on the website. It`s really hard to navigate. I always shop by brand because I found AG/Autopia didn`t always categorize things right or didn`t include all of the products of a certain category for every brand. The drop down list or even the "grid" of brand logos was convenient to scroll across. Now that silly bar only shows four brand tiles no matter how you scale your screen is a royal pain. Heaven help you when you want to search Wolfgang products. You`ll be scrolling for a while.

[Lonnie]

Well I did find a "work-around" to Desertnate`s problem of seeing only a 4 brands at the top and then having slide/move through them alphabetically with the displayed by four (4) at a time, which means getting to Wolfgang takes quite a few "slides".
At the bottom of the Popular Brands banner displayed on the left side on the Home Page, if you scroll/look at the bottom of that banner, you will see the tab "All Brands". By selecting this tab, you`ll get a sub-page that displays ALL the Brands the Autopia Store has in alphabetical order sorted by letters of the alphabet, but listed in text form only; no brand logo or symbol picture. You an also select the first letter of the brand name at the top by selecting that particular letter, like W for Wolfgang, for example.
However, you still have the product display problem within that particular Brand as mentioned my first post of which product items are displayed and how many. You`ll have to decide that by selecting how they are to sorted (by price, A-to-Z, Reviews, etc), the number of columns (1-6), AND the number of items per that page (4, 10, 20, 40, 100 etc). That page display setting does NOT carry over to the next Brand you select and will need to be re-established according to your personal preferences; not good if you want to quickly look at 5 or 6 different Brands.

I found the "Shop by Brand" tab at the top and the sub-page it displays with all the Brand names listed alphabetically does NOT stay when you try to scroll to get down to one at the bottom, but reverts back to the last displayed page you have... totally useless and/or an error in web page design.

In my hypocrisy, I am biting that hand that feeds me. I have been telling anyone who is wishing that this Autopia Forum keeps going to support it financially by buying from the Autopia Store. However, in my defense, that is kind of hard to do if the product is not in stock or it`s hard to find on the web page.
If they (the Autopia Store and its owner,Palm Beach Motoring Group) are wonder why they may be loosing sales, they now have two reasons as listed above. (You STILL sound `bitter", Captain Obvious!)

I feel like the young child in Hans Christian Anderson`s folktale/fable, "The King`s New Clothes". For those unfamiliar with the story, I copied this from Wikipedia:
Two swindlers arrive at the capital city of an emperor who spends lavishly on clothing at the expense of state matters. Posing as weavers, they offer to supply him with magnificent clothes that are invisible to those who are stupid or incompetent. The emperor hires them, and they set up looms and go to work. A succession of officials, and then the emperor himself, visit them to check their progress. Each sees that the looms are empty but pretends otherwise to avoid being thought a fool.

Finally, the weavers report that the emperor`s suit is finished. They mime dressing him and he sets off in a procession before the whole city. The townsfolk uncomfortably go along with the pretense, not wanting to appear inept or stupid, until a child blurts out that the emperor is wearing nothing at all. The people then realize that everyone has been fooled. Although startled, the emperor continues the procession, walking more proudly than ever.
Moral of the story: Someone needs to tell the truth, even at the expense of the king.

[Bill D]

I’ve already joined MP’s forum in anticipation that this one and AGO are going to go away sooner than later. It appears that Bob McKee is in the process of recreating everything with his Autoforge. Maybe in time everything will be back to usual over there.

[Lonnie]

MP`s forum means Mike Phillips, who now works for McKee`s 37.
The above mentioned Autoforge.net appears to be a detailing product internet/online/web-based store run by said Mike Phillips and Nick Rutter AND a subsidiary of Bob McKee`s
NO, I ain`t jumpin` ship!!! (NO Meg`s Professional Mirror Glaze or Pro Detailing products)
(Never say "never", Captain Obvious!!)

[Coatings=crack]

MP`s forum means Mike Phillips, who now works for McKee`s 37.
The above mentioned Autoforge.net appears to be a detailing product internet/online/web-based store run by said Mike Phillips and Nick Rutter AND a subsidiary of Bob McKee`s
NO, I ain`t jumpin` ship!!! (NO Meg`s Professional Mirror Glaze or Pro Detailing products)
(Never say "never", Captain Obvious!!)

This ships sinking. Only time will tell but pretty sure at some point servers will be shut down.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[wannafbody]

MP`s forum means Mike Phillips, who now works for McKee`s 37.
The above mentioned Autoforge.net appears to be a detailing product internet/online/web-based store run by said Mike Phillips and Nick Rutter AND a subsidiary of Bob McKee`s
NO, I ain`t jumpin` ship!!! (NO Meg`s Professional Mirror Glaze or Pro Detailing products)
(Never say "never", Captain Obvious!!)

Just about any product that Meguiars makes, someone else makes the same or better product.

Accountants view the forums as an expense as many don`t generate income of themselves.

[Wknd Dtlr]

Just about any product that Meguiars makes, someone else makes the same or better product.

Can you recommend a same or better product for Megs Hyper Dressing? It`s become outrageously expensive but it is so versatile being concentrated with its various dilution applications.

[Dan]

Can you recommend a same or better product for Megs Hyper Dressing? It`s become outrageously expensive but it is so versatile being concentrated with its various dilution applications.

Carpro PERL.

[wannafbody]

Can you recommend a same or better product for Megs Hyper Dressing? It`s become outrageously expensive but it is so versatile being concentrated with its various dilution applications.

People rave about Duragloss 252 or 321

[tul9033]

People rave about Duragloss 252 or 321

I`ve used quite a few tire/rubber/vinyl/plastic dressings and Duragloss 252/253 is my go to. Just the right amount of shine (closer to matte). The Duragloss leather conditioner is really good too.
Not a fan of PERL.

[Setec Astronomy]

Accountants view the forums as an expense as many don`t generate income of themselves.

I honestly don`t think these forums cost PBMG that much, I can`t figure out if this is still vBulletin, but you can get that (vBulletin) hosted for less than $1000/year even with a lot of bandwidth, including support, etc.

The real problem (as the owner) is the nuisance factor if the site crashes or gets hacked, and the ongoing moderation and member administration tasks. As I said, I don`t think the dollar costs are really the issue, it`s the opportunity cost of having someone babysit the forum instead of doing something else.

[Lonnie]

I honestly don`t think these forums cost PBMG that much, I can`t figure out if this is still vBulletin, but you can get that (vBulletin) hosted for less than $1000/year even with a lot of bandwidth, including support, etc.

The real problem (as the owner) is the nuisance factor if the site crashes or gets hacked, and the ongoing moderation and member administration tasks. As I said, I don`t the dollar costs are really the issue, it`s the opportunity cost of having someone babysit the forum instead of doing something else.

SO, is this forum a form of advertising or a customer-service help?? OR is it both, with customer-service "self-help" being information on products, such as how-to-use and their evaluations of the experience using it by the forum members who post and discuss such questions?
How does ANY business quantify/prove what the real return-on-investment (ROI) is the money spent on such advertising and/or customer service?

Nor do I know the profit margin from sales generated by a forum. It`s one of the reasons companies ask the question when a purchase is made: "how did you hear about us?" Product purchase surveys do have their purpose.

SO, does anyone want to post the new Autopia Store address, since that IS the topic at hand?

[Setec Astronomy]

SO, does anyone want to post the new Autopia Store address, since that IS the topic at hand?

Since there doesn`t seem to be any information about the move forthcoming on here or AGO, if someone would post the address of the fulfillment location in Texas we could do a little detective work and maybe figure some things out.