Looks like they've lost their search bar though, somehow rendering their site even more difficult to navigate than it was before… -.-
edit: ah hold on, it looks like once you choose your state, you get a decent navigable respectable looking website… Getting there from the landing page is another matter. Maybe its a work in progress?
A job adfrom 2009 before MSY started offering an on-line ordering system
http://web.archive.org/web/20091126085217/http://www.msy.com…
VIC Branch
(1 x Full Time Experienced Web-Site, On-Line Order & Sale Developer)
On the top, it says
Working Experience or Computer Relative Study Is Not Important For Us
We Welcome Freshman or woman To Join Our Team)
I think they may have regretted the decision to include that, since even now there's a job opening for a Web designer…
VIC Branch -
Please email resume To: [email protected]
1 x Graphic/Web UI Designer(Photoshop/CSS/Html/Javascript) ->
Please email resume and a demo of your project to [email protected]
in my mind a blank screen would be fine with the link to the pdf lists etc part prices. They don't seem to cram enough info in…
I love MSY though
how can they make a web site so bad ???!
Definitely confusing but navigable if you know what you're looking for…
I wonder if it's their way to filter out their clientèle. Make the website so horrible that only geeks will shop at your store..
Geeks means generally less hassle in terms of support.
That would be so nice. I always go there and treat the place like I would The Soup Nazi from Seinfeld. I order quickly, concisely and very specifically, then humbly and quietly step to one side. I want to get in and out as quickly as possible. But I always seem to be stuck in a queue, waiting for some Elaine type to make up their mind over what they want or asking really dumb questions like what is the difference between a USB cable and an Ethernet cable. Do some research before you go shopping, it is not the place to start learning about computers! You are upsetting the rest of the geeks.
My local store has never had a line when I've been there.. worst I've had to wait is for someone's card transaction to go through before I was served.
Funny! I'm probably a bit of the 'Elaine type' but like you try to do my research and step politely to one side. The guys at MSY very good to me though. And really your probably waiting less time than you do in a drive thru or Aldi queue.
I must admit, in recent times there is not as much queueing as there used to be. Access to the counter is far more civilised and organised than it used to be at my local store. But I still have nightmares of the line literally snaking out the door and around the corner, worse than waiting for a Disneyland ride. That must have been the weekend before Back-to-School to be so bad.
Never went there, but just noticed the Varsity store closed down.
I've noticed that a lot of computer shops have really terrible websites. Not sure why. Maybe PC hardware people just aren't into asthetics like Apple types are. I have to admit, I'm a PC lINUX sort of bloke and I'll settle for hardware that's reasonably priced and works anyday over over priced proprietary rubbish. Still it would be nice if websites were at least navigable.
But anyway… my alltime reward for the worst Aussie PC Shop website goes to Fluidtek in Sydney:
And the guy who runs it (or ran it) was the subject of many funny threads on the old Atomicmpc forums and whirlpool. Just google eddie and fluidtek or 'fluidtek eddie problems' for some funny reads. A few of them involved him smoking in his own store and chasing people out if they complained.
The website is just an extenstion to their business model, move product with limited customer service. It's always been that way, i'm kind of used to it.
True, but pccasegear has a decent website, so does Newegg in the states. I actually use PCCG's custom wishlists to compare builds with friends before buying the components from MSY. Only reason I don't bite the bullet on PCCG is because they're in VIC and shipping is not cheap. Otherwise, I'd buy from the store with the better Web store every time if price was otherwise comparable.
I'm pretty sure the founder was a Taiwanese immigrant but the company is listed as American and its HQ is in California. The Chinese, Taiwanese and Canadian domains are just branches.
PCCG isn't as cheap (well shipping always gets me anyway). PCCG is for PC modding and sells very specific PC parts, particularly water cooling. Newegg is similar to amazon, and is also trying to keep the consumer market, so i understand why their website is consumer friendly.
As for MSY, i'm kind of used to their horrific website anyway. If i go there, i just print or save the pdf. I know everything they have for sale, in less than 4 pages…. i kind of like that.
I actually didn't mind their old website, was easy enough to navigate through.
why bother shop at msy?
ebay is cheaper
coz you cant get stuff same day from ebay, and ebay has gone downhill. not so cheap anymore.
I've shoppped at MSY many a time and it's always blown my mind how shit their website has been for years. You'd think they would throw a nice GPU at the first IT student who designs them a new online store.