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  #11  
Old 02-28-2008, 12:37 PM
Rocket Doctor Rocket Doctor is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Tom Swift
The forum is still there, not disabled or uninstalled. Can't log in though, of course.

http://www.estesrockets.com/forums/

I always found the Estes site to be rather primitive. Hate that navigation system.


And, if you noticed, the message says the forums are closed.

As of Mapril21,2007, and a few month after wards, they had a full time, on site webmaster. What is there know, is anyones guess.
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  #12  
Old 02-28-2008, 02:20 PM
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Solomoriah Solomoriah is offline
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Honestly, the site looks vacant now...
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  #13  
Old 02-28-2008, 03:43 PM
Rocket Doctor Rocket Doctor is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Solomoriah
Honestly, the site looks vacant now...


AS we all know, the Estes Forum shut down on April 21,2007.........under construction ????
NO
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  #14  
Old 02-28-2008, 04:43 PM
foose4string foose4string is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Rocket Doctor
And, if you noticed, the message says the forums are closed.

As of Mapril21,2007, and a few month after wards, they had a full time, on site webmaster. What is there know, is anyones guess.



An on site webmaster you say? Whatever they paid him/her was too much. Updates are rare over there and what little was done, was nothing write home about. One can only assume that person is no longer there and never got replaced. That site hasn't been touched for ages.
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  #15  
Old 02-28-2008, 09:03 PM
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Solomoriah Solomoriah is offline
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The site design is abysmal. It is true that few rocketry vendor's websites look like much, but Estes can't even bother to post pictures of decent resolution. Also, the navigation system stinks.
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  #16  
Old 02-28-2008, 09:51 PM
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Daniel Runyon Daniel Runyon is offline
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It is truly ridiculous in this day and time for a company such as that not to have a website that is completely up to date with the product line with easy links to places where one can get the goods.

Last year I suggested that if they aren't going to sell directly they could at least post affiliate links to sites that carry them, for instance Amazon. That way their customers could come to their website, see what's available and actually make a purchase... not only would Estes have made the money they got from selling the kit to the vendor, but would also get an additional percentage of the retail sale through the affiliate link.

It would seem to me to be a little business 101 to have as few obstacles as possible between your products and your customers... make it EASY for people to know what you've got and to get it!
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  #17  
Old 02-29-2008, 01:55 PM
Rocket Doctor Rocket Doctor is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Daniel Runyon
It is truly ridiculous in this day and time for a company such as that not to have a website that is completely up to date with the product line with easy links to places where one can get the goods.

Last year I suggested that if they aren't going to sell directly they could at least post affiliate links to sites that carry them, for instance Amazon. That way their customers could come to their website, see what's available and actually make a purchase... not only would Estes have made the money they got from selling the kit to the vendor, but would also get an additional percentage of the retail sale through the affiliate link.

It would seem to me to be a little business 101 to have as few obstacles as possible between your products and your customers... make it EASY for people to know what you've got and to get it!


It is/was Estes policy NOT to advertise, suggest or point you to their retailers. In part because of WM.

Also, if you go to the Estes website and look for instructions, they are not in numerical order, nor do the titles make any sense. Each name should start off with a capital letter. Check it out.
www.estesrockets.com clikc on educations then instructions Let me know what you think

Als, with the curent fromat, better descriptions and information should be proviced about each item, way too vague.
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  #18  
Old 02-29-2008, 02:40 PM
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Shreadvector Shreadvector is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Rocket Doctor
It is/was Estes policy NOT to advertise, suggest or point you to their retailers. In part because of WM.

Also, if you go to the Estes website and look for instructions, they are not in numerical order, nor do the titles make any sense. Each name should start off with a capital letter. Check it out.
www.estesrockets.com clikc on educations then instructions Let me know what you think

Als, with the curent fromat, better descriptions and information should be proviced about each item, way too vague.


A year os so ago, the instructions were only the current kits/sets and the PDFs were modern (like they were distilled directly from the original Word document) rather than scanned versions. The instructions now online are old kits and they appeared right around the time feelers were sent out looking for copies of the CATO and other kits from the not so distant past. I have no idea if this was in anticipation of 50th anniversary re-releases or an attempt to protect intellectual property rights. All I know is that the instructions online today are NOT an attempt to provide online support for current offerings.
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  #19  
Old 02-29-2008, 02:45 PM
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Daniel Runyon Daniel Runyon is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Rocket Doctor
It is/was Estes policy NOT to advertise, suggest or point you to their retailers. In part because of WM.


The policy makes no business sense. If it is because they cannot favor one vendor over another then they should have an alphabetical listing of ALL of them that have online stores, and then also a state by state listing of ALL brick and mortars, including a "also check with your local Wal Mart". It just defies logic to not make it easy for your customers to get your products.

Quote:
Also, if you go to the Estes website and look for instructions, they are not in numerical order, nor do the titles make any sense. Each name should start off with a capital letter. Check it out.
www.estesrockets.com clikc on educations then instructions Let me know what you think


Yep... I noticed that too... it is just not a common sense way to organize things.

Quote:
better descriptions and information should be proviced about each item, way too vague.


Agreed, and I made that very suggestion on the old forum. They should have clickable thumbnails that show larger images, and they should have complete descriptions of each rocket. As a matter of fact, it was the brief little "slow, realistic liftoffs" description that raised my curiosity and ultimately led me to fall completely in love with Berthas, which without said description I would probably have never been "inspired" by the model to begin with... even though the love that grew for them is not at all based on the liftoffs. In essense, the description matters... it is a significant inspirational trigger.
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  #20  
Old 02-29-2008, 04:02 PM
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ghrocketman ghrocketman is offline
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The way that Estes caters to Wal-Mart makes me want to vomit.
Catering to a company that does not pay a living wage/benefits to better than 50% of the full-time employees is one of the major reasons why a major portion of the middle class is slowly spiraling into poverty.
Don't even get me started on how that company treats their suppliers....i wish more companies would pull their products out of that store like Snapper lawn mowers did.

I sure wish we had another source of readily available DOMESTICALLY-produced SU BP motors; then I would have ZERO reason to give Estes any business at all.
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