Launch Time...

[ewan]

I've finally got round to launching my online business.

http://www.gimsonrobotics.com

Currently theres only a few products on there but many more on their way along with a few website improvements.

I'm quite sure that the stuff on there won't appeal to most of you lot, but there ya go :lol:


yes, i am still 15, lol

[Hayles]

Very nice, clean looking site.

Well done & best of luck

Hayles

[ewan]

Thanks for the comment Hayles, very much appreciated :D

[Cornish Steve]

Ewan,

I suggest you quote your company name rather than your personal name in the copyright notice.

Your site has a pleasant, fresh sense to it. Well done.

[Astaroth]

Certainly a very good start... a couple of minor issues though.... firstly it didnt find the proceed.asp file when I went to checkout.

Secondly, if I disable javascript it allows me to checkout without having selected a postage option and it doesnt appear to default to anything - p&p remained at £0.00

[ewan]

Hi Steve,

That is the most obvious thing to do, but seeing as I've been able to jump through a few hoops to not have to register the business, I don't see that the name would actually refer to anything material. As "Gimson Robotics" would amount to little more than an internet presense and a barclays business account title I favoured my name over the company name just to be on the safe side.

I'm obviously not at all knowledgeable in this area so if you or anyone else could offer any pointers in this copyrighting area I'd be most grateful.

[ewan]

Thank you Astaroth, it certainly helps to have some beta testers (though not really when its come out of beta testing! :oops:).

Those are little and potentially worrying bugs.

I haven't had any problems with the proceed to checkout, and I would be interested to know how this problem arose for you (what browser and settings etc you were running)

As for the javascript, someone running without it would run into problems with the cart and checkout I am sure, but besides a complete overhaul of the cart system I don't quite know how to approach this problem. I best just stick a warning on the cart stating that javascript must be enabled though.

[Astaroth]

The problem is that it will run without javascript but it lets you bypass the select postage option. If you are doing the ASP yourself it wouldnt take much to validate the information serverside after people have submitted the order - the alternative would be to simply default postage to the lowest cost option and let people upgrade to higher if they want, that way you still get a p&p figure.

No problems on beta testing... I wouldnt have had a clue how to do an ASP website when I was your age (but to my defence ASP probably didnt exist back then) and I have certainly made bigger mistakes when I was claiming to be a web developer.

For your information I am running Firefox 1.5.0.1 and had disabled javascript as this is a common mistake.

[ewan]

I've replied to your PM Astaroth.

As for the javascript I've stuck in a snippet of <noscript> code that should warn users with javascript turned off - I cannot myself get the problem of getting through to the checkout without selecting a shipping method, but I have set the shipping to default immediately now anyway.

Thank you

[fridayteam]

Ewan, like the style, a lot.

Good luck with it!

We have a free offer on at the moment which is ending tonight - see the UKBF offer section - if you are interested.

[ewan]

Thanks for the comment Roz, It's good to know that some people are happy with the site - I myself, being an avid perfectionist, am never fully happy, theres always something that could be better in my eyes :wink:

Sorry I missed out on the offer, I haven't really gone through the offers for a while now and when I just saw yours last night I was just about to see the Bristol Brunel 200th Birthday celebrations (you know Brunel? The guy that designed the great western railway and the Bristol suspension bridge etc?). It was very cold two hour wait for the fireworks :)

Does anyone have any pointers with the copyright issue? I'll stick up another thread about it if I don't get any replies about It I guess.

[Faith28]

Hi Ewan,

Like your site and as I am still developing mine am a bit jealous!!

As for the copyright bit I agree with Steve place your trading name instead. I use Loop Card Games as my trading name and as far as I'm aware there is nothing wrong with that it is still protected. I also got the National Business Register to protect the trading name should others want me to stop using it. Don't know what the legal crew here would say but maybe get confirmation from them.

Good luck with your venture and wish me luck to get my flippin' site up and running soon grrr.

:lol:

[cjd]

Bloody well done!

I've no idea how many other places you can go to get bits for robots but I bet there aren't many and I can see this being a big future market - just stick around for 20 years or so and you might be the new Maplins/PC World :-)

Couple of obvious points

1. You need a lot more products; the more the better
2. this line doesn't help you

"Gimson Robotics - pronounced "jim-son" robotics - was set up during December 2005 as a sole trader venture."

As a would be customer, I don't want to know you've only been trading for a few months and that you're a sole trader - I want reasuring that my money is safe with you.

3. Good to see you have a postal address in your contents page - people also like to see a telephone number too; it gives them a little confidence that you're not just a 15 year old kid operating from his bedroom ;-)
If you haven't got one, get a free one from us 056 or 0870. Keep it switched off when you're not around and all your calls will go to Voicemail and it'll not cost you a penny.

[Mac Yeti]

Very nice site Ewan, all the best with it

[ewan]

Thank you all for your comments :)

Re: Faith & Steve

I would much rather do the copyright by the Gimson Robotics name, I best wait till the legal crew get round though. I am looking for a good means of registering / securing the business name - it is certainly original at the moment but could probably do with some protection.

Re: Cjd

There'll be a few more products on the way this month, I'm certainly in need of more, its just really an issue of getting reliable suppliers and having the money aside to invest in the stock levels required.

I've revised the about us page just cutting back to "2005" for now and dropping the December - That should be better for now I think until I can think of something better to put. Thank you for the pointer though!

Home phone was obviously not an option and I wanted to keep the mobile adside anyway so I was stuck for telephone options when I launched. I'll look into the Voip option certainly, I've just starting looking through your website, but by the looks of it theres an awful lot to go through :?... I'd appreciate some pointers as to what I should be looking for from a Voip line, I've got broadband in place, just a case of going through all the options with regards to the Voip.

[cjd]

I've just starting looking through your website, but by the looks of it theres an awful lot to go through :?... I'd appreciate some pointers as to what I should be looking for from a Voip line, I've got broadband in place, just a case of going through all the options with regards to the Voip.

Yes it can get complicated - I'm still trying to understand it myself (and don't believe anyone who tells you they fully understand it all!).

But for your purposes you don't need to know anything but the very basics - It's just a way to get you started - a business without a telephone is a bit stuck!

I suggest you read the 1st two bits of the user guide

http://www.voipfone.co.uk/Voipfone_User_Manual_v1.0.pdf

[ewan]

Its all becoming clearer now :D

I've signed up for the free bit of the account so far and I'm going to do some budgeting to see what elements of a package I can stick together.

The geographic telephone and fax numbers look most appealing - am I right in thinking that there isn't a pay-as-you-go charge for recieving calls / faxes to these numbers?

Is there an easy-to decipher table of charges for making calls from the different numbers? (and this question links into one of whether you actually use the registered incoming number for outgoing calls?)

[cjd]

The geographic telephone and fax numbers look most appealing - am I right in thinking that there isn't a pay-as-you-go charge for recieving calls / faxes to these numbers?

With the exception of the 0800 numbers - which is 3p per minute - receiving calls cost nothing.

The geo numbers will cost you £1.99 per month. The 056 and 0870 are free.


Is there an easy-to decipher table of charges for making calls from the different numbers? (and this question links into one of whether you actually use the registered incoming number for outgoing calls?)

All outbound calls cost the same no matter which telephone number you own. It's pretty simple; all calls to ordinary (ie non-premium rate) landline telephone numbers cost 1.1p (inc VAT) per minute in the UK and to most of the Western world.

Calls to mobile cost between 8.5 - 12.5 p per minute depending on the network called.

If you need to find the cost of any particular call, just put it into the call cost calculator on the home page of the web site or look it up in the price list (top left drop down menu)