New SRP Vendor Directory

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Originally Posted by Tony Miller

Josh,
I like the idea of splitting up listings for multi-item vendors wares too. It allows them (and me <g>) to be found under specific searches such as a guy only wanting a razor or only wanting a strop. If you had a general catagory instead for full service guys they may get overlooked for smaller items.

I do think though, as Ilija said, in grouping the little sundry supplies together, soaps, cremes, aftershaves, etc.....

Of course we have a few guys that just do a single specialty, like mugs. So, maybe mugs and brushes (hardware) in one group and expendables like soap, lotion, etc (software) in another.

While we do have some competition among us with several of us doing similar things it is fine as we still seem to be a closed loop........we are dealers as well as contributing members, whether recent or old hands. I am not as fond though of the hit and run large dealers who join, spam us with a post about their internet mega store then vanish never to be seen again. There are a few groups where that is the norm. Here, even though we may sell similar items there always seems to be respect for each other, with many of us referring people to others who may have more of what they need. Here we still remain a family and it is always nice to see someone join with new things to offer. Most of us dealers are customers too just itching to buy something new <g>

Tony Miller

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Tony I like the idea of mugs and brushes in one catagory and soaps, creams, lotions, aftershaves, and colognes in another, but I will wait to hear from some of the specialty vendors before I alter those catagories considering I think we have the most exclusivity in the soaps/creams/etc catagor among vendors.

As far as the directory itself, that is something that will have to be decided. At what point does a member "earn" the ability to become listed? We have some vendors who post once every six month with an advertizement and we have other vendors that post daily. We have another group that have been members of SRP for a long time, but may only have 40 posts, yet are considered very valuable members due to the quality of their posts or their customer service towards SRP members.

Further yet, does classic shaving get a listing?? They are a "superstore" yet started by one man and they are his legacy, not to mention they carry a spectialty SRP razor.

These are questions tha the community in general will have to answer, because I dont think it's any one person's place to make that decision, and that will probably be the only difficult part of developing this listing.

And Jim, this in no way is directed towards you, and I highly doubt that Tony was direction his post towards you either, but please understand we do have certain large internet stores that advertise once a year or so, but make no attempt to become part of the community.

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Originally Posted by VintageBlades

I hope you didn't mean me Tony, when you described the hit and run megastore. I was just fortunate to get a good web designer. Everyone should know this is also a one-man shop that started as a post-retirement hobby that got out of control, and then became a necessity to feed the never ending demands of three women in my life.

Jim

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Jim,
Absolutely not! Hell, we're practically neighbors. I mean the big time barber supplys that often post on other groups, etc.....that only come to a group once, post their store info then run. I realize not everyone can spend their life here but I always try to do busines with those who take time to teach and add to this experience. While new you have already contributed to several posts and that is appreciated. I would enjoy visting with you sometime to talk shop.

Take care,
Tony

Josh,
I'm afraid my post was misunderstood. No one should be excluded but I just felt it should be 'family" in the sense that even some infrequent posters have come here, posted a few times about new soaps, mugs, boxes, whatever and have asked for feedback on their items, things we would like to see, etc.... they are family to me. Obviously Classic belongs here and I spend a good bit of my money there every year.

I just didn't want to see big names like Trumpers, Trufit and Hill, etc....on the list when many small, friendly vendors here sell those products and are one of us. I have watched posts on several other groups where guys will do anything to save a nickle on a razor or brush, but then lament the loss of a local retail shaving supply place which had to close because no one bought there.

Take Norton stones for example. Here in the USA we have Classic, Jim at Vintage Blades, etc..... all great places that will take the time to talk to you about them. Being small they may not be the cheapest but they are informed. Yes, you could find a Norton for a few && cheaper at a large woodworking discounter, etc..... but who do you ask for advice? Well, you come here and Jim (Vintage Blades) or someone else will answer your questions on how to use them. If Ray (Classic) was still with us I know you could have called him and got a lesson too even if e didn't get the sale. Why, because we are family.

Sorry if anyone got their feathers ruffled over this.

Tony

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Originally Posted by Tony Miller

Josh,
I'm afraid my post was misunderstood. No one should be excluded but I just felt it should be 'family" in the sense that even some infrequent posters have come here, posted a few times about new soaps, mugs, boxes, whatever and have asked for feedback on their items, things we would like to see, etc.... they are family to me. Obviously Classic belongs here and I spend a good bit of my money there every year.

I just didn't want to see big names like Trumpers, Trufit and Hill, etc....on the list when many small, friendly vendors here sell those products and are one of us. I have watched posts on several other groups where guys will do anything to save a nickle on a razor or brush, but then lament the loss of a local retail shaving supply place which had to close because no one bought there.

Take Norton stones for example. Here in the USA we have Classic, Jim at Vintage Blades, etc..... all great places that will take the time to talk to you about them. Being small they may not be the cheapest but they are informed. Yes, you could find a Norton for a few && cheaper at a large woodworking discounter, etc..... but who do you ask for advice? Well, you come here and Jim (Vintage Blades) or someone else will answer your questions on how to use them. If Ray (Classic) was still with us I know you could have called him and got a lesson too even if e didn't get the sale. Why, because we are family.

Sorry if anyone got their feathers ruffled over this.

Tony

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Unless the owner of Truefit and Hill or Trumpers Joins SRP and starts posting on occassion, they wont be added I promise :)

No Company that isnt owned or operated by an SRP member will be added to this directory, they can advertise on their own dime.


Thats how I see it anyway...

The membership here is free, so it's easy to become an official SRP member. The difficulty is in deciding who's a contributing member of the community. Well for some vendors like Joe, Tony and Colleen, it's easy, but once you get into the borderline areas it may get icky.

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Originally Posted by FiReSTaRT

The membership here is free, so it's easy to become an official SRP member. The difficulty is in deciding who's a contributing member of the community. Well for some vendors like Joe, Tony and Colleen, it's easy, but once you get into the borderline areas it may get icky.

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This may/may not be of some help in deciding who to "allow" on the list...

I used to frequent a board a few years ago that used a nomination/vote scheme to decide when to add/delete things to "hallowed" lists such as this. What happened was someone would start a thread by posting the accolades of, to use our example, a member vendor who had super product, prices, service,... whatever. Others would posts support (or not) for the vendor in that thread... everything about that vendor was kept in that single thread (meaning if someone started another thread, the mods would add it to the original thread). Assuming positive support, eventually someone would nominate the vendor to be placed on the list and a poll vote would be done... assuming the majority vote yes, the vendor was added to the list. Likewise, members could nominate removal of the vendor from the list if warranted... poor service, gone out of business, etc.

Now, this seems like a lot of work... but it's really not as bad as it seems. It is pretty much self propagating except for deciding when to create the poll and when to add the nominee to the list. It's major benefit is that the vendor is openly discussed... their kimono gets opened for all to see, good or bad. It provides some inertia to the process rather than just accepting a name and contact information. And, it insures that only quality vendors make the list. The only negative (if you consider it such) is that it provides little chance for a start-up vendor to get on the list until they have created a good track record. As always, there will be an occasional pissing contest or two... eg, one vendor trying to discredit another. If/when that happens, it's telling about the vendors... usually both lose credibility, but in any case the mods can manage it if it gets out of hand.

I'd support that way of going about things. Ofcourse we can make some exceptions like Tony, Joe, Lynn, Colleen, Vlad, Matt, to mention a few, where we can just put'em on without a debate.

I like Joe's Idea, but I don't like the idea of moderation being a large part of the process. I like this board because it isnt overmoderated since we all sort of keep eachother in check. I was a mod at a board where topics were hotly debated and the mods had to jump in and lock and/or delete threads all the time because the members (including other moderators) let things get completely out of control. Now this was a very gun and politically related forum so thats why topics got so heated, so that made things worse.

As long as things don't get out of control here between vendors and/or members, or as long as things that get out of whack get brought back into balance by the community as a whole I think it would work well. If it started getting ugly often and started to become difficult to manage, I would hope we would put a stop to the process and find something else that worked...


just me $0.02

Josh,

Great Idea, I have some customers getting into shaving that will be glad to know of a source list.

Jolene Schwartz (Jolene) http://www.appearancesformen.com Soaps & Creams $

Thanks,
Jolene
Appearances For Men