Buying on-line

[Mick F]

We were in Truro yesterday, and popped into a particular shop to see the price of something. We would have bought it, but at 70odd quid, it seemed a bit expensive.
Just been surfing the 'net and found the self same thing and ordered it. £59.99 with free P+P saving £15 or more.

Should we have paid the extra in the real shop?

We're as guilty as the next man in causing the death of the high street, maybe.

[mjr]

Ask yourself: how long did you spend surfing the net to find the deal and how long might you spend waiting around for the delivery, possibly returning a damaged first one and so on? How much is your time worth? Also, how soon did you want it?

For £15, able to check it over before paying and with instant delivery, I may well have bought it from the high street.

[firedfromthecircus]

I like to give brick and mortar stores the opportunity to price match on the rare occasion I'm in a store that has what I want. Sometimes they do, sometimes they don't. I will always buy from a real shop if I can, but I'm not in the luxurious position of being able to subsidise any business with higher prices for the same service.

[Paulatic]

£15 just an awkward amount to help decide.
If it had been £10 more I’d have given the shop my trade especially if I might want to use the shop again.
If I knew the internet price before going to the shop I’d have told them what I could buy it for and hope to have knocked it down to a clean £70.

[Mick F]

Ask yourself: how long did you spend surfing the net to find the deal and how long might you spend waiting around for the delivery, possibly returning a damaged first one and so on? How much is your time worth? Also, how soon did you want it?

2mins of Google with half a dozen keystrokes. Found it on eBay, asked permission from SWMBO, and three clicks and it was a done deal. eMail in reply to confirm.

No rush, it'll be a week.
Hermes tracked.

If it's damaged, you have a good point.

[mjr]

of Google with half a dozen keystrokes. Found it on eBay, asked permission from SWMBO, and three clicks and it was a done deal. eMail in reply to confirm.

No rush, it'll be a week.
Hermes tracked.

If it's damaged, you have a good point.

Was it a reputable seller's ebay store or are you playing the "lotter-ebay"? There's a heck of a lot of fakes and subtle seconds on there.

[al_yrpal]

I sold my business in 2004. We were one of the first businesses in our sector to use Google advertising. The competitors didnt realise this for about 2 years or so.

Then people would come in and see us, get all the pros and cons and go away and try and buy cheaper off the net from what we called box shifters who literally operated from back bedrooms and knew nothing. However what we sold wasnt simple stuff. It wasnt simple to set up, learn to use or operate, it needed support. When they came back to us pleading we made very sure they paid much more for support than people who bought from us, and they were at the back of the queue.

So my take on this is, if its something simple buy it from the least expensive place. If its likely to need a bit of support buy it from the cheapest high street retailer who offers some support if you need it. Shops are useless places with very low productivity unless they provide a convenient service which you need. We have a brown coated ironmonger 200 metres from our house, the nearest B&Q is about 7 miles now they closed the Homebase about 3 miles away. We support the ironmonger as much as we can although you pay extra there because its so convenient to buy 5 screws or four candles!

Al

[Bonefishblues]

A case in point today. My sight prescription has changed (improved, oddly...). A certain well-known High Street chain wants £300+ to re-glaze existing frames with varifocals, £450+ to do same with go-faster wide feld of view varifocals.

5 minutes casting around in my memory unearthed a thread which had mentioned an alternative who runs both an online service and a walk-in service, sans the shiny premises. A quick call where they insisted I come for fitting so the lenses would sit correctly, and similar go-faster varifocal lenses can be had for c£135 or so, standard ones for about £100.

[Mick F]

Was it a reputable seller's ebay store or are you playing the "lotter-ebay"? There's a heck of a lot of fakes and subtle seconds on there.

These people.
http://www.forhouseandhome.co.uk

[Psamathe]

For me a big aspect to buying online is one that did not apply in the OP question - Mick was already in the bricks & mortar shop and they had what he wanted. For me a major benefit of buying online is that I don't have to bother to travel to bricks & mortar, spend time, find they do't have what I want in stock, etc.

Online is a lot less hassle. I do use bricks & mortar - purchased a new bike tyre at one last week but I needed it urgently, called to check they had it in stock and they fitted it foc so it worked and the particular shop seems to have a business model that works alongside online/internet.

But I wont use eBay - did once and got knock-off rubbish. That risk together with the ongoing stream of e-mails you seem to get from them (and SPAMers) make it something I wont use.

Ian

[Paulatic]

Was it a reputable seller's ebay store or are you playing the "lotter-ebay"? There's a heck of a lot of fakes and subtle seconds on there.

These people.
http://www.forhouseandhome.co.uk

That’s a great shop and we usually buy something when in their vicinity. All our Stainless Steel pans were bought in their Leyburn shop. They usually have some great bargains to draw you in. When you’re in it’s an Aladdin’s cave.

[Paulatic]

.

But I wont use eBay - did once and got knock-off rubbish. That risk together with the ongoing stream of e-mails you seem to get from them (and SPAMers) make it something I wont use.

Ian

Since 2006 I’ve over 300 transactions with EBay. I don’t get emails or any other rubbish.
Two of my purchases i was disappointed with and in both cases I received a full refund and also got to keep the goods. All in all EBay is a useful resource but you’ve to bear in mind it’s not always cheapest. A little further googling can often pay off.

[Mick F]

For me a big aspect to buying online is one that did not apply in the OP question - Mick was already in the bricks & mortar shop and they had what he wanted.

Yes, indeed.

It was the first time I've done this.

[horizon]

Have we factored in the cost of going to Truro yet? That's 100 miles return at 45p per mile. That's an hour each way at let's say £10.00 per hour, that's £65.00. The cost of earning that money with travel to work is maybe another £5.00. Then there's recovery time (they don't call it shop until you drop for nothing) so another £10 in lost earnings.

Truro is strangulated by shoppers and there is now a huge park and ride development just outside. The trains are heaving.

Shopping is seriously tiring, expensive and very environmentally unfriendly. Better on-line methinks.

[PH]

We were in Truro yesterday, and popped into a particular shop to see the price of something. We would have bought it, but at 70odd quid, it seemed a bit expensive.
Just been surfing the 'net and found the self same thing and ordered it. £59.99 with free P+P saving £15 or more.

Should we have paid the extra in the real shop?

We're as guilty as the next man in causing the death of the high street, maybe.

If I'd used the shop to help decide on the purchase, either from their advise or just from being able to examine the item, I'd have considered paying the premium to do so. I find the idea of using the service provided by one supplier and then buying elsewhere unethical, they've given me something I feel I ought to give something back. If I didn't need their presence to make the decision, then being in a physical shop isn't part of my buying criteria.
It used to be a simple question of service from the High St vs cost online, but my recent experiences have been that I'm often getting better service online than on the high street.
There seems to be a growing number of retailers who are using each to complement rather than compete. The first I noticed where the Apple stores, they don't seem particularly bothered whether you buy in the store, just that you buy Apple. A similar cycling example are the Specialized Concept stores. I was recently in one of the relaunched Jessops, that was similar, plenty of advice, not much stock, not a very hard sell, and an emphasis that they would price match. I can see how this works as a business model for a retailer, reducing stock holding costs and simplifying logistics, I'd be surprised if this didn't become more common.