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Turnarcades website - up and half done!

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fatfingers:


--- Quote from: spacies on February 07, 2008, 02:15:07 pm ---When you find a website designer who is wanting a machine, hey presto! You are about to do a deal.

--- End quote ---

This sounds like great advice to me.

Good luck.

Turnarcades:
I think I need to nip this thread in the bud now as the signals are getting very mixed. It seems people have very mixed opinions on how they like their pages to look and it's always hard to please everyone. I can take the criticism cos I've asked for it, but some are turning on other members. I'm sure if the big brands had sought opinions in such a public thread first a lot of them would have had a similar response. I've always believed in going with your gut instinct, so aside from some simplicity alterations to the graphical look, I'm continuing as is.

With regards to comments on my machine designs and customer confidence; design demands vary across region to region, country to country. Generally speaking, US cabs go with the theory that bigger is better, but the truth is that the majority of UK homes just can't accommodate large machines. One of my biggest praises so far from potential customers has been my designs. For one, you will not beat those prices in the UK. For custom builders we should be charging more as our cabs don't fall off a production line, and over 40 hours goes into every machine. £700 for a custom-made, complete cabinet compared to £1200 for an empty shell elsewhere with no monitor or PC? For two, people have praised the range of designs I offer, and the fact that I am breaking from the norm. There are only 4 admin buttons, then coin and start. A lot of people like this as most people customise their own and find them handy for jukeboxes etc. And no-one ever complains about bumping on them. Many UK cabs had start buttons on the front, and we never used to bash them by accident.

The reason there are concept photos is cos although we have not built some of the larger ones, we have plans prepped for when we do, and although we are a CUSTOM builders, sometimes people need to be given an idea of what is possible to prompt them. We started with no pictures at all, and no-one was scared off. The idea and price alone was enough to convince them of our ability. We may never build a Supreme, but people will always sit and wonder "what if I had this idea...what would be a ballpark figure?" and it saves my inbox from getting bombarded as it does now.

Well love us or hate us we're staying put, and I'll be quite happy as a 'Marmite' cabinet builder! People have their opinions and there is choice out there for everyone. I don't claim to be the best but we appeal to a certain percentage and that's fine by me. All I ever wanted to do with Turnarcades was offer like-minded gamers on a budget who don't have the time or skills to do their own some flexibility on choice, and that we have done.

Thanks to those offering constructive opinions and I will have a re-think over the weekend.

Oh, and those who saw through their soapbox and backed me up - see me for a discount!

Space Fractal:
First, I have not read all posts here. So some might say it all ready:

BTW, why not use http://www.turnarcades.co.uk/TurnarcadesMain.htm as the main page, so it how the same design like the subpages (you can copy TurnarcadesMain.htm as index.htm as well and use same content)?


Otherwice in index.html:

- AXE the hitcounter. No Proffesional shop pages or other pages dosent need this type of hit counter anymor, due there is serber webstats out here.

- Use a &nbsp; in the link section, so its dosen't break to two lines, then you can remove the widt tag in the table as well. &nbsp;, which is a space make sure, it dosen't break into more lines and if you need more than one space.

Most notice in Cabinet Info, Products Links. I simply dosent like the table border change to (I also dosent like it on two lines, like some others.

- The purple main border dosent show correctly in Firefox (it can even been removed, even it actuelly very nice).



In subpages:

- Do not use the annoying tag, Marguee tags right for your logo. They are awfull and complety not need here. Use a bit smaller font instead or use 2 lines.

- Whould been nice to click on the top logo to bring back to main menu as well (but its up to you).

- The gray/blue bar, just under the logo, should been own graphics and use 100% in length, so it would use the whole length in a 1280x1024 resoulution.

- The white Body text in some pages is very small in Firefox (I havent looked in the html, why).


The design it self is also pretty 100% nice, just minor codning errors  :D.








ark_ader:

--- Quote from: Fozzy The Bear on February 08, 2008, 06:04:08 am ---
--- Quote from: ark_ader on February 07, 2008, 10:43:27 pm ---The website is fine but your prices are very high.
--- End quote ---

Sorry!!! Are you and I looking at the same web site!!! His prices are very good. Have you priced a sheet of MDF in B&Q lately?? by the time you add the time taken to cut and rout it the price is quite low.

Best Regards,
Julian (Fozzy The Bear)

--- End quote ---


Don't be sorry Fozzy,   :P

I was going to do the same thing early last year, and had a business plan set up and was going to do exactly the same type of product.  I like smaller machines that can either be put away in a closet or as a focal feature in the gameroom or back living room.  The larger projects would be a waste of time.

I had access to a retired cabinet maker who had his own shop, and contacts for discounted lumber.  I had friends in the computer recycling business who could have supplied me with gear.  The guys at gremlinsolutions.co.uk were close by and had my parts.  (plug plug plug)  ;D

Even Randy at Groovygamegear.com was going to get more business from me (sorry Randy).

I had my prices set a lot lower than turnarcades, and could still make a profit.  I made a small prototype cabinet that I wanted to sell to toy companies (similar to Jakks).  But unfortunately my life moved in a different direction and I gave the idea a miss.

I plan to do the same thing here in the US, and I see a more active market for quality cabs at reachable prices. 

So I can understand your point Fozzy, and I am glad you can afford one of those cabs and help make turnarcades flourish, but the prices will have to come down, especially if the gear is old P3s and not the latest and greatest for them to succeed in the long term. 

If its a hobby based business then I can see where they are going with it. 

Luxuries are the first to suffer when the economy is on the verge of a recession.

Again I wish them all the best, and I hope they prove me wrong.

Fozzy The Bear:

--- Quote from: ark_ader on February 08, 2008, 05:10:59 pm ---So I can understand your point Fozzy, and I am glad you can afford one of those cabs and help make turnarcades flourish, but the prices will have to come down, especially if the gear is old P3s and not the latest and greatest for them to succeed in the long term.
--- End quote ---

I would be buying pre cut cab kits from him not complete machines, and in relation to the cost of those at £150 each that's a very good price. Take the cost of three sheets of 8' X 4' X 18mm MDF, add at least 20 hours of my time to cut it all out and this is a good price which nobody else in the UK is beating.  I can't order a cab kit from the USA because the shipping and import duty on it would be a killer. So this is still by far the cheapest deal in the UK right now.

I really don't see any reason why his prices should be lower, when he's already the cheapest supplier over here. The guy has to make a reasonable profit out of it, and any business that thinks it can survive on a lower margin than this is quite frankly kidding itself.

Don't forget that the market over here is significantly different to the USA and everything is more expensive. If I wanted to buy even a used generic cab over here I'd be looking at over £100 ($200 USD). That's not to say that I haven't dropped on some good deals sometimes and got complete machines for £40 or so, but that's not common and it's usually from people I know.

Best Regards,
Julian (Fozzy The Bear)

 

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