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Old 07-02-2018, 07:24 AM
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cgutzmer cgutzmer is offline
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Ecardmodels.com update

Hello all - long time no talk. Maybe its time I get off my lazy butt and get back into things. As many of you have noticed ecardmodels is down. Paypal did a TLS 1.2 update. my site passed all their requirements and tests and looked good to go. However cutover time and payments failed to process. Turns out I need a lot of updates to my base operating system, cart software and other things. Really this never happened in the first place because I am a huge chicken and dont really know how to do a lot of that stuff. I used to hire a guy to help me with some of that but he has long since disappeared... so. Please remember this is a hobby for myself and my staff (mostly) I personally generate very little income from the site, almost all of it goes back to the designers. I basically make enough to cover all the expenses and have a little left over to carry forward. I see two ways of going forward.

1. try to update every darn thing myself and hope I dont break it all so horribly it cant be fixed.
- pro, everything stays the same but with updates
- con, likely a bunch of my post installed plugins will be broken beyond repair, including reporting
- con, I will probably miss updating something that will bite me in the rear at some point
- con, I will still be stuck with a rather inflexible environment
- con, there is no direct upgrade path for almost every piece - I would likely need to upgrade every component at least 3 times
- con, the site will be down for quite some time

2. Throw it all away and start over.
- pro, I can rebuild from the ground up with features we want
- pro, I will have a much better idea of how things work as I will do it myself rather than have someone else do it for me
- pro, every single part will be the latest and greatest
- pro, modernization - when I built this it was to fill a niche. I never expected it to be this big
- con, the site will be down for quite some time while this happens (likely longer than option 1 unless option 1 breaks)
- con, lots of research
- con lots of new design effort
- con cost - likely this effort wont be free
- MAJOR CON - all items in the shop would need to be entered again unless I can salvage from my current legacy DB in some way.


So here is where you all come in.... I am heavily leaning towards option number two.

I want to know what YOU (customers, designers) would like to see in a shop dedicated to your needs. Think of what is out there and what is not. Think about other places you shop and what you love and what you hate.

Here are some ideas that relate to the customer, designers and yes - the staff

designer reports
newsletter built in (could drop mailchimp)
bulk uploads
designer uploads (possibly new section of site)
better comments area
prep for shipping items from ground up
gift cards
improved captcha
auto bundle with price adjustment

I look forward to hearing from you!
Thanks
Chris
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  #2  
Old 07-02-2018, 07:59 AM
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Butelczynski Butelczynski is offline
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I had no problem with the way site was designed and it worked except for two things:

Finding anything specific using search function was a chore.Along with things I was looking for was a whole lot of models not even remotely connected to search.Not a problem when there is 2 pages of results but annoying with 5 or more.

A bit bigger buttons for clicking anything on site would be very helpful.My eyes aren't getting any better.

Thank you for running the store.Came handy more times than I can recall.
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Old 07-02-2018, 08:47 AM
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ct ertz ct ertz is offline
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Hello Chris!
Well, I like having someplace to put my models up for sale as it has been fun. However, no one gets rich selling paper models, and I have some I would like to put in the "free section" as well. So that being said, I would guess the best thing would be to overhaul the whole thing, even if that means that going forward we designers need to have our "cuts" adjusted somewhat to pay for the new bells and whistles. I was happy to see that there was no option three listed, that is to simply quit! That would have broken my heart! Thank you so much for your efforts. I do not know much about web site stuff. My wife does... she builds web sites and blog sites for businesses, but not sure what kind of help, if any, you might need at this point. Good luck my friend, and keep us in the loop.
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Old 07-02-2018, 10:39 AM
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I vote for a rebuild and upgrade (option 2). Pretty much for the same reasons Buteyl listed. I always go to Ecards when I'm determining models to design. (If it's not listed, I know to design one.) If the sites gonna be down long, is there a way you can put up a page that lists the individual designers own sites if they have one?
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Old 07-02-2018, 10:42 AM
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Don Boose Don Boose is offline
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Thanks for the update, Chris, and for all your support of the paper modeling art and craft over the years.

Looks like the "start over" option is best. What is important to me is to be able to find models on the site and to buy them. For designers I am unfamiliar with, it helps to have as much info on the model as possible. I will defer to others on what additional features are useful to them.

Best wishes on this project!

Don
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Old 07-02-2018, 11:00 AM
Richschindler Richschindler is offline
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In light of all the cons im seeing, I’m thinking the best way to go would be option two. If the site has to go down for some time, so be it.

As long as in the long run your site is back up and running without any glitches, do what you gotta do to get it right.

One question. Would all the models that I’ve downloaded over the years still be available. As in the , you have five more tries to get it right. Yes I know all you need to do is download and save it once, but it’s reassuring knowing that I can go back there and redownlaod if needed.

Good luck no matter what you decide
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Old 07-02-2018, 11:22 AM
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ct ertz ct ertz is offline
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My wife had a suggestion or two for the new site. integrate it with a "instigram" thingy so people who post build pics of purchased models will link back to Ecards...? I don't know exactly what that means but I guess it's a thing. Also a customer wish list or "would like" section, and possibly a blog post by designers.. Just some thoughts. She does websites, I don't so I am unsure if any of this is useful or when does too much become too much!
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Old 07-02-2018, 12:41 PM
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thehaggard thehaggard is offline
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I defer to what is in your best interests.
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Old 07-02-2018, 12:52 PM
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Option 2 sounds better!
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Old 07-02-2018, 02:06 PM
snowmanX snowmanX is offline
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Ecardmodels.com certainly is a frequently visited part of my world and is a vehicle that provides a ready way for new designs and re-paints to go out to the community while allowing well deserved renumeration.

I am sorry that you are confronted with these choices, but looking at the options in my book you made the case for option 2. I too am thrilled that there is no option 3 (shut down forever).

If you must do a total re-boot, I like to see a clearer function to search by author. And, would prefer that there not be a "5 download" limit. While I think that many of us purchase, download, and backup obsessively; -you just never know.

Thank you for your efforts and what your energy and site provide to the paper modeling community.
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