edirectory.com (Arca Solutions.Inc) info?

[MPHmotorsport]

Ive searched the forums for info but not got much luck in getting any info on this company or their software (just lots of info on edirectory.co.uk which is an entirely different company). Basically, wondered if anyone has any experience of them and could pass opinion before i invest money into building a company using their software. edirectory.com is a product by a company called Arca Solutions.Inc if this is of any help.

Basic point of the web site is to host a web directory, online magazine and classifed for Motorsport. We're looking for a professional looking, smooth and easy to use website which is going to reliable for both ourselves and customers.

I've researched a few different sites and this companies software looks perfect for what i need however it almost seems too good to be entirely true and i know things online are never as great as they seem! There's always going to be compatibility problems etc so any advice is greatfully received!

One other slightly more general question... My business partner is a bit uncomfortable about the fact that the company is based in USA and how this would effect our rights, the laws, etc. I personally cant see much problem as once we've bought the software, its under our control, we're basically buying the source code (although i am planning on continuing our relationship with them and using them for any editing and customisation of the site). If anyone could offer some idea of things i should be aware of when trading with the USA or any other words of advice it'd be appreciated!

 

[chocolaterolo]

Hi
I've been researching this web site also and I plan to use it early this year. Have you decided on the product yet? Have you used it yet?
I tested it thoroughly and it seems about one of the best on the web.
Regards
Zoe
ukebooksales.biz

 

[chocolaterolo]

Hi
Not sure if you're still looking for a reply, but I am planning on setting up a niche business directory using eDirectory software. I have tested the demo version in quite some detail and have found that it does everything you'd expect a first class directory software to do.
I would recommend it as being one of the most flexible and most affordable solutions on the web. I did a lot of research in to other products too, but they didn't cover as many features as eDirectory.
Best regards.

Zoe Sterling
IT Consultant

 

[Steve2507]

A much better solution is PHP Link Directory (http://www.phplinkdirectory.com). It's cheaper, (free, $25 or $75) extremely flexible and had numerous add ons available. In fact everything listed in the site for the op is available on PHP LD.

I've used it quite a lot and never had problems with it.

Also you could look at Joomla, which is even more extensive then PHP LD.

 

[chocolaterolo]

Thanks Steve2507. I may test drive Joomla soon before making final decision, but I am still drawn to eDirectory at the moment for ease of use and flexibility, for the type of directory I'm creating my business partner and both agreed it was just what we were looking for and our clients would love it too.

PHP Link Directory looks a bit too complicated to get it how you want it, no doubt it does what you want but I'm not PHP skilled. I couldn't find any examples on the website that showed its real potential. If you could find something that demonstrates a business directory where clients can choose what size ad they want or level of subscription, and where you can edit the content in a demo, I would be grateful?

I often shy away from anything that involves any scripting, programming or add ons. edirectory has none of those and Joomla looks a good contender too - out of the box and online customizable, don't have to install yourself either do you?

Many thanks

Zoe

 

[rlandow]

Not sure if this forum is still up and running, but I was wondering if anyone had any success with eDirectory.com, I have been talking to them to try and set up my directory but not sure if I should pull the trigger. I would be very interested in hearing someones first hand experience with this software. The sales guys offered me a 15% discount, but I am still not sure. They gave me a code, arca15f so if anyone is trying to buy it they can try this code. hope to hear some feedback soon. thanks!

 

[MPHmotorsport]

Thanks for the replies - i had read them before today but havent ever got around to replying.
Sounds as if a lot of people are in a similar situation to myself. Ive been hovering around the idea for ages but still havent pulled the trigger.
The e-directory option does look like the quickest and easiest way to get online but i still just cant help thinking theres something not quite right. Im not sure if its the fact its US based or that their sales assistants have seemed a bit slow and distance when id contacted them before but somethings holding me back so i echo rlandows comments - would be great to hear some reassuring comments about it before taking the plunge.

The other options do look interesting but seem a bit more time consuming and require a bit more knowledge which puts me off a bit. I'll definately be considering them still though.

 

[Jason Logins]

Not sure if this forum is still up and running, but I was wondering if anyone had any success with eDirectory.com, I have been talking to them to try and set up my directory but not sure if I should pull the trigger. I would be very interested in hearing someones first hand experience with this software. The sales guys offered me a 15% discount, but I am still not sure. They gave me a code, arca15f so if anyone is trying to buy it they can try this code. hope to hear some feedback soon. thanks!

Yeah they will offer 10 - 15% off owned licenses pretty fast.

The software is EXCELLENT, however IF you are looking for any customizations work or good customer server/tech support then RUN and RUN FAST.

The major drawback is the lack of support and awful turnaround times for anything after the install.

 

[blankslate]

This company located in Washington, D.C. or Annandale is to be avoided at all costs. After the sale, you get a Project Manager who is supposed to take your requests for customization. He never did! The entire experience has been a complete waste of money. After waiting for two weeks for some kind of acknowledgement, I have given up.

I should have gone with a cheaper solution. Their sales guy is more than happy to take your money. Yet, they refuse to tell you that there really isn't a back-end office to support the sale.
Arca Solutions equals scam artists.

 

[Deleted member 50531]

I have been researching extensively eDirectory for a client of mine. The features and overall design are almost right for her. She will however need to add a few things.

First comment is that it seems very difficult to get any systematic evaluation of this product (and of most directory products). I haven't found one - this thread on this forum is the nearest I have found to a review of eDirectory. It is in any case difficult to get unbiased reviews (I have seen two short comments, very bad ones, about edirectory that were 99% certain written by a competitor of theirs).

It is very clear that there is concern about the lack of response from eDirectory, and about the high cost of the software - I have seen a few other comments about the former and many about the latter.

I have also seen concern expressed about the software being complex for a programmer to customise.

That being so, I have contacted edirectory via 2 separate emails, with various questions. I got very swift replies to my two emails and then almost instant replies to my many follow-up questions (all replies from their Owen Zhu). True, I have had to press for clarifications, so the replies were not always complete, but they were very fast.

Second, they have sent me some information and sample code, which I have passed to our php programmer for his opinion on how it is set up.

So I await his comments eagerly.

Does anyone have any information on this customisation aspect? (Other than not to use their customisation service!).

And does anyone have any further comments on their actual product, as opposed to their support service / response times? We have just started a deep delve into their 3 demos. It is clear from the very many requests for "edirectory clones" on programming request sites that the features themselves are a very good set!

Finally, I would like to comment that software such as phplinkdirectory is what it's name suggests - and doesn't have the other enormous range of features that eDirectory does. My researches tell me that phpmydirectory is reckoned to be better than phplinkdirectory for that kind of brief.

 

[fisicx]

Searching the various forums and blogs it appears that after sales support is really poor, it's expensive to get any changes made and very often a response is not forthcoming. As Steve suggests, there are a lot cheaper options available and Joomla has a very active support group with hundreds of plugins - and if the one you want isn't there someone somewhere will code one for you.

 

[Deleted member 50531]

Thanks. I had considered Joomla for my client, but felt there might be too much learning and setup involved. However, maybe I have underestimated its potential for a fully featured business links / community portal. Given the high cost of edirectory and the concerns being underlined, I wondered if you knew of any particular way to speed up the creation of such a site in Joomla, at least matching the functionality in edirectory?

We will definitely continue investigating edirectory because the major concern still seems to be their customisation service, but can you clarify if you have any experience of trying to customise edirectory as a programmer? Or know of such experience by programmers?

Thanks

 

[Jason Logins]

Thanks. I had considered Joomla for my client, but felt there might be too much learning and setup involved. However, maybe I have underestimated its potential for a fully featured business links / community portal. Given the high cost of edirectory and the concerns being underlined, I wondered if you knew of any particular way to speed up the creation of such a site in Joomla, at least matching the functionality in edirectory?

We will definitely continue investigating edirectory because the major concern still seems to be their customisation service, but can you clarify if you have any experience of trying to customise edirectory as a programmer? Or know of such experience by programmers?

Thanks

Dont get me wrong, the product itself its amazing. It's just that it would be better if it were an open source or something that contributors could work together on.

If you were paying a reasonable fee for the software and that was the end product and that was it then it would fine, HOWEVER they offer on their site anything from cutomization for $599 to fly in in person training.

You will receive instant pre-sales replies that make you think you will get this same type of response times and its just not true.

AS for the customization, you can surely find a "few" folks on freelancer sites that actually have the experience to customize the product. If you do go with them, just be very clear and document the requirements as you discuss with them or the most minor change will cost you $85. By the time I we were done with their customization screwups they made some of the changes for free as if they were doing us a favor when in fact it was in the original quotes from them.

At best, it is a stressful experience, YET a superior product (in my opinion). In the real world and in these times, you expect that you have to pay a certain price to get a certain product. You don't feel good about jumping through hoops and delays and still feel like you get robbed.

Oh and if you get customized product and they release an update, they will update you with the latest per your request HOWEVER you will lose ALL OF YOUR CUSTOMIZATIONS that you just paid for!!!! Seems like them most backwards thing in programming.

Finally, in a barage of emails which apparently went to a higher up with them out of Brazil, I received an email which had anothers comments attached to it (but no address) that lead us to believe that they were actually outsourcing mods/customizations themselves

 

[Deleted member 50531]

Many, many thanks, Jason. That was a very clear and helpful account which has given us plenty to think about. And very helpful warnings. We really appreciate it and are very grateful to you.

Do you have anything to add about the actual construction of the software from the point of view of a non-edirectory programmer customising it? I read one account that said it was very badly built.

And, of course, would be very happy to receive any other views of the product from others who have experienced.

I have passed your comments to my client, who is delighted to receive them.

 

[stevenjm]

I have had this same problem, i wanted features of edirectory but also plugins like forum and some basic social netwroking plugins. ive been playing around with edirectory on my local server and m not that impressed.

Firstly the coding is terrible and full of bugs. Ive avoided joomla because of its clunky code and resource hungry and also looked phpfox but no directory plugin so i would have to modify the music plugin into a directory myself.

Even looked at social engine with forum and directory plugins.

Now ive given up and headed back to joomla, i'll just have to find decent hosting that can cope. Edirectory has some nice features but no plugins and code is terrible, version 7 looks an improvement but as far as i'm concerned its an over-priced script with little support.

Hope this helps

 

[thomcrai]

This description about sums up Arca Solutions eDirectory. Their directory software has features but almost too many if you ask me. After sales says "yes" to everything you ask, they take your money and then the company leaves you hanging. I waited six weeks before they began to work on my project. For the money that I paid, I expect better service than that.

The worst part of the experience is that their development group is in Brazil and their English isn't the best. Add this to the constant errors that they create when they are doing custom work. Everytime they put a fix to a previous error, they created 3 more. I became afraid to ask them to correct their previous errors. On top of it, they charge you by the hour so I ended up with a much bigger bill than I had expected. Shoddy work, poor service, terrible ethics.

I felt as though I'm stuck with their product but at least now I know where to go to for help. Thank you for suggesting freelance sites. PHP isn't supposed to be THIS difficult.

 

[mrider]

One of the previous posters is 100% accurate. I spent thousands of dollars in customizing Arca Solutions edirectory. I wanted to have an online directory and figured that their software was the best. The experience in getting them to do the customization work was awful. They botched everything. Pages were missing and more bugs were created. (The original code has a lot of issues and they ended up adding more to it).

After we got through that entire mess, I learned that if I get a new release? All of that custom work on my online directory will be wiped clean. It will be one hundred per cent gone and I will have to start over and will be charged to death for even the slightest change.

Some gimmick. Add to this their attitudes? They seriously don't care and are even sarcastic at times. For those of you doing your research, if it smells like a rat, looks like a rat, it's a rat. Also - if you have any doubts it is located in Brazil with a few front men in Washington. It's on their website and if you dig when calling them, it becomes obvious.

 

[blingbob]

I had the directory code passed to me a while back, and as a veteran by php standards, the code is a mess.
For credential purposes, I have built on both Joomla platforms, including customisation of numerous scripts to rebuilding many applications to client specs. Much easier and cheaper.
I have also built using Ruby on Rails...for those that arent familiar with Ruby, its the base platform for both Yell and Twitter.
If you need alternatives to edirectory then drop me a line.
Regards

 

[impirecom]

Hi Blingbob,

I sent you message. I am interested in seeing alternatives to eDirectory. Please provide details. Thank you much.

Best regards

 

[peterthake]

edirectory? AVOID! Read the many other posts on this forum.

 

[shamalli]

If you are looking for alternatives to eDirectory - try this php directory script salephpscripts.com

Free version and demo are avaliable. Initially this script was built like a cheap alternative to eDirectory, but eventually it grow to standalone Web 2.0 Directory CMS.

It realizes the most effective marketing methods for directory and classifieds management systems, built in web 2.0 style using the best web technologies.

 

[tdrealizer]

This URL - scriptsalephpscripts.com - does not work. What is the correct URL please?

 

[shamalli]

Sorry for that. There must be a space, so the correct url is:

salephpscripts.com

 

[happycampers]

I have my directory based on the software - see our site-hunterliving.com.au

Works great. I customised the design and bought a custom development pack.

I have read complaints about cost but seriously - for under $2k ( $299 upfront, $599 customisation and $1000 for custom development pack which was 28 hours development) I have a cracking back end, easy to customise front end and I am getting great support. You wouldn't get a proper design for this price if you wanted to do it yourself.

I am using their hosted version which is fine - no latency despite us being in Australia.

I have a Project Manager and Account Manager who are really responsive.

All in all it has been a good expereince.

 

[peterthake]

Hmm, newly registered member, first and only post and such a positive review. Why am I suspicious? I recall that similar 'shill review' type posts were made elsewhere on this forum which praised e-directory and were later deleted by moderators (eg. http://www.ukbusinessforums.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=37210&page=6).

According to their web site, Arca Solutions (arcasolutions.com) own (or are the same as?) edirectory and so I personally would completely avoid them.

 

[happycampers]

hi all
just a response to cynical peter
i just believe in giving credit where credit is due.
what's the point of a review site forum if you are only interested in hearing about negative experiences? you can watch the TV news if you are only interested in negative stuff. I am as far from being an e-directory.com stooge as you can get. I am sitting in a city north of sydney in australia - as far as you can get from arca's head office.
I just thought that the review that was on the site completely misrepresented the edirectory product. the site hunterliving.com.au has been live for 3 months and works well, and my expereince has been a good one. the software works, it is easy to understand and administer and the process has been pretty smooth.
c'mon pete - don't be so distrusting and open your mind to the fact that not all positive reviews are written by company stooges

 

[peterthake]

hi all
c'mon pete - don't be so distrusting and open your mind to the fact that not all positive reviews are written by company stooges

C'mon Happycamper, you registered and posted on the same day, your first and only post was a glowing review, your profile is empty, and it was about a product associated with edirectory. Would you trust it?

My experience with edirectory made me cynical .

 

[jaredelder]

Hi Folks,

I'm the Product Marketing Manager here at eDirectory and after a few posts through this thread, I wanted to have the opportunity to speak out on some of the feedback some people have left.

Please note that any reviews you read about edirectory dot co dot uk have no association with eDirectory or Arca Solutions. We are in no way affiliated with this site.

When it comes to some of the alternative sites mentioned throughout this thread, you're not quite comparing apples to apples. Yes, I know that sounds terribly salesy, but it's true. When you invest in a $100 solution, the product, capabilities and customizations are vastly different than one such as eDirectory. If you are ever interested in discussing those differences, I'd highly encourage you speak with one of our sales representatives. I assure you, we don't bite. A large portion of our clients are those that tried lower end solutions, and found it wasn't scaling to the size of their project.

We have a wide array of customers from all over the world, including one of our largest clients in the UK, that are more than willing to share their story of
working with our team... From the sales process, support, customizations and more. If you still have any doubts, our CEO, James Chubb is available for a phone call if you'd like. We're a palms up company and we do offer satisfaction guarantees.

In short, we provide a solution to help businesses of all sizes develop web-based directories, that in our experience, can be extremely lucrative and profitable. We often find the people who leave negative comments on message boards or have poor experiences are the one who didn't achieve much success. Our software doesn't make money grow on trees. As in any online business, directories take a great deal of strategic work, especially on sales and marketing end of things. A lot of people who don't put weight in those components of their business usually don't succeed, and after investing money into our product and service, walk away with a bad taste in their mouths. For everyone one of those clients, there are several who have had positive experiences and have created profitable sites.

Whether you're purchasing eDirectory or not, I would encourage you to shoot me an email or give me a call to discuss strategy in approaching your online directory. I hope this may clear the air a bit.

Jared Elder
Product Marketing Manager
jared at edirectory dot com
(703) 914-0770 x115

 

[peterthake]

I must admit I did not know there was a difference between edirectory dot co and edirectory dot com. My bad experience was with edirectory dot co dot uk.

Jared, you are implying that any failure was purely the fault of the seller? That edirectory had no part to play? I do not buy that. At the same time as failing to break even with edirectory dot co, I made huge gains through ebay, Amazon and through my own web sites. For me edirectory was a complete waste of time and money. It did not provide any additional sales, my listings did not have any prominence on search engines, I made a loss, despite putting as much time and effort into edirectory as I did into my other sales outlets. Support was poor, the subscription and commission costs very high, the investment of time was also large. The rewards for me were non-existent. I was left feeling ripped-off. See the other threads on this forum about edirectory to read other peoples experiences and opinions, and form your own conclusions.

Based on my own experiences I do advise people not to use edirectory do co dot uk. In my opinion it is better to invest in your own web site, use Google Adwords and to sell on Amazon and eBay.

 

[jaredelder]

Hi Peter,

We have no affiliation with them. I wasn't even aware of them until I came to this message board. The only other system I know that we've gotten confused with is Novell eDirectory, so I'm glad we got to clear that up. From what I've been told, eDirectory is not able to be a registered trademark, that is why you are able to find other companies with the same root name.

eDirectory (Arca Solutions) does not offer any type of commission rates or any type of revenue sharing for that matter. The system is purely under the owner's control and we don't take, nor have we ever taken in any part of a revenue share with our clients. I hope others on this thread realize the difference between the two companies.

I hope this clarifies a few things.

Thanks,

Jared

 

[peterthake]

Hi Jared,

To have two companies operating under the same name, albeit with different domains, is most unfortunate. Yours does sound like a very different company and I hope you can successfully distance yourself from edirectory dot co dot uk. It will be hard for anyone browsing the web to distinguish between you. Good luck!

Pete

 

[waster]

This looks quite an old post but thought I would add my comments. I now have 2 websites from e-directory, fantastic product and their support has been first class.
The software may seem pricey but how much would a bespoke directory website cost??? Several 1000 pounds, I have found it to be worth every penny and I have sold enough Ads to cover the costs on both so it is onwards and upwards from here!!
Lee

 

[peterthake]

Which eDirectory Lee? edirectory dot co dot or dot com? Given the previous posts that would be worth clarifying.

 

[waster]

Sorry Peter, I used edirectory.com to set up wastedirectory co uk and have covered my set up costs already
Regards
Lee

 

[Martin_Myers]

In 2010 we bought eDirectory, as you say it looked like an awesome solution.


We paid several thousand dollars for a license and support. Unfortunately support was slow and there were serious language barriers, often making simple changes take weeks. In the end we employed a PHP directly to work on the project, it cost another £3000 to make the simple design changes to the look of the directory.


Unfortunately, we could never get the directory to do what it was purchased to do, the backend development documentation is non existent and our PHP guy had to spend hours working out where everything was and how to fix it.


eDirectories failings cost us a very lucrative project, we lost a lot of money with this application.


Today, September 2014 we still cannot import customer data, and many of the features do not work. If we hadn't spent over £10,000 trying to make it work, we would have kicked it into touch by now.


What do Arca say about all of this? You no longer have a support contract and need to buy the latest version, which is several more thousand dollars.


As they say, when something looks to good to be true, it probably is, eDirectory certainly was.


Martin

 

[fisicx]

The sad thing is the day of the directory has now long gone (unless you have a niche to promote). The search engines now do a far better job of answering queries which is why yell, thompson and all the others are losing market share.

And with the rise of the CMS and it's attendant plugins anyone can set up a directory for almost nothing at all.

 

[shamalli]

Wowwwwwww, people still spend thousands for standalone scripts with closed support and 10-members community, ok, just wish good luck.

5 years ago I posted here a release about our Web 2.0 Directory. Now we are working under wordpress plugin at codecanyon.com

Tons of own features + the power and usability of wordpress, adapted for most of themes and 3rd party plugins. And this is with millions members in WP community of designers and developers.

Do not waste time and money, enjoy cheap and popular products.