Another EzFender poll question!

[landlockedsailor]

I love my EZ Fenders. So would everyone else if they saw them. IMHO, more people will see EZ Fenders at Walmart stores than they will wandering the marinas and loading ramps looking at boats. And isn't the point of marketing to get your product in front of the potential customer?

Your engraving is cool, I wouldn't call it Mission Critical to the product's marketing or its functionality. Let Walmart and Overton's market it for you...now THAT'S a Retirement Revenue Stream.

Good luck whatever you decide. You rock!

[Bryden24shp]

I love my EZ Fenders. So would everyone else if they saw them. IMHO, more people will see EZ Fenders at Walmart stores than they will wandering the marinas and loading ramps looking at boats. And isn't the point of marketing to get your product in front of the potential customer?

Your engraving is cool, I wouldn't call it Mission Critical to the product's marketing or its functionality. Let Walmart and Overton's market it for you...now THAT'S a Retirement Revenue Stream.

Good luck whatever you decide. You rock!

Thanks Buddy!

[Bamby]

I love my EZ Fenders. So would everyone else if they saw them. IMHO, more people will see EZ Fenders at Walmart stores than they will wandering the marinas and loading ramps looking at boats. And isn't the point of marketing to get your product in front of the potential customer?

Your engraving is cool, I wouldn't call it Mission Critical to the product's marketing or its functionality. Let Walmart and Overton's market it for you...now THAT'S a Retirement Revenue Stream.

Good luck whatever you decide. You rock!

There are a lot of horror stories of small and even large business loosing their shirts to walmart. Walmart is unrelenting as far as suppliers are concerned once a contract is signed. As we're all aware of commodity prices for virtually everything has been unstable for quite some time now.

Suppose Brian works up his best price at today's cost for materials and summits and signs a contract contract for 50,000 of them to be released or shipped over a year. The first shipment goes out quick and goes great and everyone is happy. The second shipment three months later just more or less breaks even because aluminum stock had went up. Brian then goes to walmart and explains his difficulties and asks if they would allow some $$$ for inflation on the next shipment. Of course walmart not only says no but it's more like hell no and to fulfill the balance of the contract he has to eat it and provide the units to them at his loss.

We then may see two potential things happen. Brian survives and is able to crawl away from walmart or as has happened to some Brian sinks and someone else picks up the product and runs to china with it so they can get them manufactured cheap enough to satisfy walmart.

[Bryden24shp]

Wow!

[babock]

Have you thought about putting them on Amazon? Also eBay!

I actually searched eBay for "ezfender" to see if you were on there. All I got were Penis Extenders showing up!

[COTTS4x4]

Bryan - I wouldn't get rid of the name, I saw a guy a couple weeks ago while my boat was docked at a hotel snapping a picture of them with his phone. He asked me about them and asked if it was a .com company. I told him just to go to the site to get them... He was going up to his room and going to order them for his boat from his phone. Afterwards I thought maybe you should add the .com under the name. Regardless I wouldn't get rid of the name.

I have clients that sell to walmart - one sells futons worldwide and has a decent size business. Once his business was doing well he was approached by walmart. He makes one cent on every futon he sells them. Doesn't sound at all worth it, but now that he moves so many additional futons his production cost and material purchasing costs have dropped substantially and he now makes a higher profit on everything else he sells to other vendors.

[Reiner]

Don't scratch the name and I hope you have it Trademarked.

[landlockedsailor]

Don't scratch the name and I hope you have it Trademarked.

Trademarked-amen! You've probably already considered and dismissed this idea but I was thinking you could have plates engraved/milled or whatever the process is and shipped to you. Then your shop affixes the plate to one side of the EZ Fender. At least you'd save on shipping costs. Shipping would only be one way and plates are lighter than sending the finished pieces for milling?

[lemans81]

I have to agree removing the name is not a good plan, I would guess the average person is just going to assume they were stock with the boat or something of that nature without the name. Without the shop being able to do other options like acid etching I don't think there is a way to reduce them.....sure you can't push where you have them made to do something else with them?(have a teenager with a stencil and some paint at the end of the line for minimum wage?)

[ROLAND]

Bryan... keep the name on them... that's "YOUR BRAND"....and in a way it's free advertising... I've had a lot of other boaters at the launch or at a local restaurant on the river when we tie up, ask me about the ez fenders.... if it' isn't too cost prohibitive, I'd keep the name on there.. .. and yeah, pics are coming....

[Bryden24shp]

Yep, they are trademarked. I'm convinced to keep the name on them. I just needed some reinforcement to prove that it needs to remain. I'll be contacting my machine shop today telling to keep it going the way it is.
And yes, please keep those pictures coming!
Thanks guys!
Bryan

[OK Toon]

I have to agree with the others and say to keep the name on them. I've had 2 instances of guys seeing them on my boat and ask about them. Since there is a name on them that doesn't match my boat, they know they weren't a stock option that came with the boat.

I love them, but I just have to check the thumb screws every few months because they tend to want to back out. I had one come completely out and I lost the fender. Luckily the thumb screw fell onto the boat and not into the water. But the ability to quickly change the height of the fender when we dock or raft up, is priceless.

[landlockedsailor]

Forget the cost, keep the EZFender name on them. It's a great product, super service, and your brand is everything. There isn't a post on this forum that doesn't rave about you and your EZFenders. So...how do we get your fenders in front of more people who'd be happy to pay your price point?

I re-visited your website. Still pretty tough to read, navigate, order, and pay. It's not the best representative of your unique EZFender design or your quality and over-the-top service. The fenders work 1000% easier than your website. A website that comes to mind that might serve as an example is RoadID.com .

Also, I googled, binged, yahoo'd, and duckduckgo'd using search terms that should have brought up EZFenders.com in the search results. Your site didn't come up on the first 10 pages. Most people buy from the first 2 pages of listings.

I'd recommend a better website, nothing fancy, just easier and more professional looking. Of MORE importance, talk to a web guy (or gal) about Search Engine Optimization. Looking at your competition on the web, you just need Keywords behind your home page. We gotta get your website coming up on page 1 of the search results, or at least on page 2. Tayor fenders are using good keywords, ask the web guy what Taylor is using.

Re-do the website and your next prob will be order fulfillment and we'll never get to see you Tooning cuz you're too busy working! So forget everything I just said and come on down to KY lake for some of our fine KY bourbon (beer works too!).

Love your EZFenders, you're the bomb and I want you and your company around when my grandkids buy their boats!

[sunedog]

Great feedback, landlocked. Only thing I want to say is I just Googled ez fender and Brian's site was the first result. So maybe that part of your feedback is not as big a problem as you think. (However, I think I have Googled it before, so maybe it was the first hit for me because of the history.)

And I don't think the website is terrible. It's no amazon.com, but I had no trouble finding the information I was looking for. A few hundred bucks to an accomplished web site designer would probably pay off, though.

[landlockedsailor]

True if you google EZFender. I was searching Boat Fenders Bumpers. So, unless you know the name EZFenders, the site doesn't come up. Add the word Mounting to the search though and voila, the site pops up on page 1.

Would be great to capture all those boat owners who don't know EZfenders (yet), and they're looking to buy fenders or bumpers.

OMG, I think I'm turning into an EZFender Evangelist! I need to get a life! Some days it's difficult staying in retirement mode....

BTW, when I was considering buying a pontoon, I found this forum. And it has been the most instructive, helpful, fun, and funny group. And I was glad for previous discussions on EZfenders. Heck, I ordered those even before the boat was delivered! I have learned a ton from you all! Thanks!!!