Developing a website with an enormous database like ours was not easy. Just as it is very challenging to figure out how to organize the stock in the office, determining the best way to give customers access to our stock online required creating a variety of sorting/searching/listing options while preserving the structure of the database we were already using for ourselves.
We are aware that the online ‘Price List’ page does not serve every customer’s needs. Indeed, if you are looking at our website on a regular basis it is not especially useful to go back to the ‘Price List’ page each time, as the options there are not finely tuned to the specific needs of regular customers.
Instead, the most convenient way to look for new items is to go to the ‘Search’ page and choose to view only items listed within a given time period (the choices are 5 days, 2 weeks, 6 weeks, and 6 months). Since we usually update our list once every 7-10 days choosing the 5 day option might not provide you with all of our newest items, but for some very active buyers it has proved convenient. Any of the other options will narrow down the list significantly and still show the ‘freshest’ stock we have.
For specialized collectors, be aware that you can choose as many criteria on the ‘Search’ page as you like. So for example you can select ‘NH items only’ and only items added within the last 6 weeks and only items from the British Pacific (in the Region field) or whichever region or country you may prefer to view. There is also a ‘Keyword’ option with choices like Airmail Stamps, Officials, and so on. Getting to know how the ‘Search’ page works best for you will significantly reduce the number of irrelevant items in the resulting list.
I am always eager to help our clients better understand how our website works and to hear any problems or questions that arise. Coming up I’ll add a new post regarding the ordering page which may also prove useful.
Happy Searching!
posted by: Kathryn Wright