The event was absolutely awesome with Durban showcasing some of the best automotive styling concepts and designs out there.   We commissioned FreeStyleFilms.co.za to shoot the event,  check out a trailer video of the days event.

Autostyle Expo Durban, South Africa from Freestyle Films on Vimeo.

That said,  be sure to support South African cinema and support a movie with a positive message.  Their cast should appeal to all race groups in South Africa,  check out the trailer below. I’ve been told there’s tons of Autostyle placements from the race tracks to the vehicle signage to authentic street credible accessories.

The Race-ist Movie is showing at major cinemas in South Africa from 1st April 2010

Earlier today I posted it on Slideshare.net to share the document with more clients.  At time of this post, Slideshare.net has it featured on their Automotive category

old homepage

Recently the Autostyle website was given a facelift.  Many new features on screen and behind the scenes were implemented to keep up with current trends and usability.

Right from the start, you’ll notice the site is a lot more wider.  On the old site (2 years old) we had to cater for a substantial 800×600 monitor resolution userbase.  Fast forward to 2009 using Google Analytics, I can now safely say that minimum monitor resolutions is now at 1024×768.

Colors and side navigation has not strayed too much from the old site. I have grouped the categories further and given the popular Car Audio its own menu bar. The titles of each category is also alot more visible.

Our landing page was given a massive facelift.  Search, newsletter & brand locator has been bumped to the top area.  We have such a huge amount of information, it was at times quite tricky of showing as much as possible without overcrowding it.  I decided on having only 2 featured splash images as opposed to the 4 featured blocks in the past.  Perhaps at a later stage we might incorporate an ajax slider.

new homepage

The individual product page is where the bulk of our changes have taken place.  Fonts are larger, more visible and contents are spaced out better.  A “tell a friend” form is permanently visible.

Adding products to your shopping cart is now ajax based improving the user experience and constantly showing the contents and total figure of the cart.

A pleasant surprise after launch was the “add to” social bookmarking icon at the bottom of each product.  I’ll post a separate blog post with some of the stats and features.

The product galleries have also been given an overhaul.  An extra row is now fitted in due to the wider layout, as well as thumbnail rollover effect. The biggest change however is in the the sorting of the page.  Visitors can now sort products in order of recently added, price high to low, as well as view products by thumbnail or a list format.

Under the hood we have used as much css as possible and where possible a tableless layout.
SEO wise we have updated our Meta Description and trimmed down the keywords. Images now have alt descriptions, product pages with the H1 title tags and shortly we’ll implement friendly url’s for our product pages.

All in all, a pretty extensive but not drastic upgrade.   What are your thoughts?

Now when selling online, we do not always have an item in stock or even carry it in stock. Out of over 7000 items on system, there are a few hundred that are either sold out or on special order.  Many a time it is not financially viable to stock a R30 000 alloy wheel that you might only sell once a year and customers fully understand this and do not mind waiting a specific time period for the item.

Below is a ruling from SunniPath: (original link)

Question:
I’m thinking of starting an online PC shop. Consumers would see PC’s on my website and if they buy any, they pay for it straight away. However I would only buy the relevant parts after I have received payment from the consumer. The reason for this is that consumers can customize the PC’s so the parts may vary and I do not have the funds to keep that much stock. Can you tell me if it is permissible for me to trade like this?

Answer:
In the name of Allah, Most Compassionate, Most Merciful,

The general principle of Shariah is that it is not permitted to sell a commodity that is not in one’s ownership. It is one of the basic requirements for a valid sale that the commodity or item being sold is in the ownership and possession of the seller. Hence, if the seller does not own a particular item, it will not be permitted for him/her to sell it to someone else.

Hakim ibn Hizam (Allah be pleased with him) reports that he said to the Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him and give him peace): O Messenger of Allah! At times an individual comes to me to purchase a specific item that I do not possess. Can I sell him the item and then purchase it from the market? The Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him & give him peace) said: Do not sell what you don’t own.(Sunan Tirmidhi, no: 1232 and others)

However, there is an exception to this general rule, namely the sale of what is known as Salam. Salam is a special type of sale wherein the seller undertakes to supply the commodity or goods to the buyer at a future date in exchange of payment fully paid at spot. (See: al-Fatawa al-Hindiyya, 3/178)

The fact that Salam was an exception to the general rule, it was subjected by the Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him and give him peace) to certain strict conditions. The jurists (fuqaha) have explained these conditions in great length and detail in their respected works. It is not possible to explain these conditions here in detail, but the following is a very brief summary of these conditions:

1) The buyer must pay the price in full at the time of effecting the sale. If the buyer defers all or some part of the price to a later date, the sale would be invalid, for this would constitute exchanging a debt against a debt which has been prohibited by the Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him and give him peace).

2) Salam is only permitted in commodities and items whose quality and quantity can be specified exactly. Precious stones and similar items cannot be sold on the basis of a Salam contract, for every stone is normally different from the other in quality, size or weight.

3) The commodity or item being sold on the basis of Salam must be specified and described clearly. All the various relevant details and descriptions must be clearly mentioned leaving no room for ambiguity.

4) The exact date of delivering the commodity must be specified in the contract. (The Hanafi fuqaha, contrary to the fuqaha of the other three schools, have made a minimum of one month between the contract and delivery a condition for the validity of this sale. However, many contemporary Hanafi jurists have overlooked this condition due to the needs of the time; hence both parties may fix any date for delivery with mutual consent).

5) Salam is not permitted in items that must be exchanged at spot, such as exchanging gold in return of silver.

6) The item or commodity must remain in the market right from the date of contract to the date of delivery. Hence, if the item being sold is not available in the market at the time of contracting the sale, it will not be allowed.

7) The contract of Salam cannot be carried out on particular commodities, such as the fruit of a particular tree, etc, as it could be destroyed before delivery. Thus, it will not be allowed to effect Salam in commodities the supply of which is not certain. (See: al-Fatawa al-Hindiyya, 3/ 179-181)

In light of the above details, it would be permitted for you to sell PC’s with the consumer paying at spot and you delivering the commodity at a later date, provided all the conditions mentioned above are fully met.

The consumer must pay the payment in full and not defer any amount. Similarly, all the necessary details of the commodity must be clearly outlined and specified, the date of delivery must be determined, and other such conditions must be met. By doing so, your trade in selling PC’s in the manner explained by you will be halal(lawful), Insha Allah.

And Allah knows best

Muhammad ibn Adam al-Kawthari
Darul Iftaa, Leicester, UK

To summarise, not only Islamic but good online business practice should have the following:
1) delivery time frame (eg 2 to 4 working days) and notification if there are any delays
2)clear and concise description of the product as well as a good resolution photograph or graphic and open lines of communication should a customer need clarification.
3) payment must be made in full for us to being an order process.
4) items are fixed in shape and size. Not like Gold or silver.

Everyone else? Allow me to recommend a few companies.  The first two I can personally testify to their excellent service and competitive pricing.  You get what you pay for and the $1.99 rubbish from the so called companies, well that can only end badly.

Webapps – www.webapps.co.za – Autostyle is hosted with these guys, nuff said.  I have been dealing with Webapps since 2001 and they continue to impress me. From bulk sms, email, hosting, domains etc etc.  Yes they aren’t perfect and over the years our Autostyle site has had its fair share of technical issues and downtime. Their dedication wins me over everytime. Show me a South African web host who will give you support and get your site to optimum performance at 11pm on a Saturday night?

They do offer cheaper packages but I’ll recommend them for high traffic websites. Autostyle.co.za pushes out nearly 200 gigs a month in traffic.

MediaTemple – www.mediatemple.net -  USA based guys. Apparently all the hotshot ad agencies, brands, designers and new media gurus host with these guys. They have a fantastic, easy to use administration panel too.  $20/month.  I googled for some discount vouchers and paid the year upfront which brought my monthly cost to less then $15.  Tons of space, a shedload of bandwidth and as many domains as you wish.  Very slick, very reliable and topnotch support.
Perfect for startup websites, blogs and online stores.  Many wordpress clients of mine are running on MT.

Hetzner – www.hetzner.co.za – Local guys who claim to have German efficiency. Personally I have not hosted anything with them but good friends of mine have, and no complaints, downtime or anything negative directed to them. Prices seem very competitive too.

There are dozens of other leading web hosting companies locally and overseas. However I have not used them so will not vouch for their service or value.

Perhaps add your preferred host in the comments below?