Buying things on-line - decision strategies

[dodge man]

My experience is if you are a Amazon Prime member they are the cheapest or very close to it. I have found items cheaper from other sources but by the time you factor in shipping, Amazon is usually better.

One thing I have found is sometimes you can buy it in a local store as cheap. I was at our local farm store and was buying a trickle charger. I looked it up on Amazon for more information not to compare prices, it was cheaper at the store by a little bit.

I rarely look at the reviews but I do look at feedback on the seller sometimes. I don’t really think I have ever felt screwed over buying on Amazon.

 

[hube2]

I agree with looking at the Q&A. If there is a decent number of questions the answers are usually a better source of information than the reviews.

I do a lot of buying online. Time is more valuable to me than money.

 

[Larry Caldwell]

I use the internet to research products. I buy local. I can't remember a time that I purchased something from an "internet store".

I buy local if it's available locally. Feed and seed, groceries, stuff like that.

The things I have ordered online lately were:

1. Oscilloscope.
2. Vietnamese wild print Hawaiian shirts.
3. Replacement battery for an old laptop.
4. N95 masks that don't use ear loops.
5. Truffle infused salt.
6. SSD for the old laptop.

None of these things are available locally.

 

[k0ua]

I have better stuff to do than drive around all day and wait in long checkout lines. Ordering online is much faster and easier.

Agreed.

 

[grsthegreat]

weird thing is about amazon. i wanted to purchase an airfilter for my F350 diesel. checked ebay and amazon for prices first. then called ford dealer. ford was 1/3 the cost of amazon. go figure

you really have to shop around. amazon and ebay arnt always the cheapest source.

now for the new mower deck for my Huskvarna mower i first tried my local Kubota dealer (as he also sells Husky). they told me part no longer made. i shopped ebay and amazon and found the part on ebay. got the new deck installed yesterday. i tried going local, they wernt interested in even looking up the part.

 

[fried1765]

I use the internet to research products. I buy local. I can't remember a time that I purchased something from an "internet store".

I agree with looking at the Q&A. If there is a decent number of questions the answers are usually a better source of information than the reviews.

I do a lot of buying online. Time is more valuable to me than money.

My time is not really worth squat!
I have been retired for 21 years.
Other than groceries, I buy most everything online.
Online selection is virtually unlimited, and feedback (if you screen it thoughtfully) is very helpful.
Both convenience, and gas mileage are good too.

I would rather hand dig a hole in solid clay, than drive 30 miles each way searching for the properly sized widget.

 

[hube2]

I would rather hand dig a hole in solid clay, than drive 30 miles each way searching for the properly sized widget.

Well, I have to agree with that, sometimes it takes less time to just dig the hole... or whatever task is at hand then waste your time looking for something faster.

 

[TheMan419]

Often times if you put something in your cart and then abandon it for a period of time the web site will send you a discount code for 5 or 10% off to entice you back to buy the item.

 

[ning]

Even when ordering online, I often read reviews on amazon and then hunt for a different source. I refuse to go into a store to find the right product and then shop a better price on-line - I don't find that ethical at all (especially shoes, which due to funky shaped feet I'm rolling dice if I buy on-line). (I realize both of these examples raise ethical questions, but my ethics are more flexible when it comes to using amazon's reviews than the local shoe store's physical stock to try on.)

I buy the majority of my hardware at the "corner" hardware store 6 miles away and rarely consider the price; they're honest good people and I value having them there and I'm happy to support them.

Recent things ordered online: house air filters (local prices are 2-3x, I can't do that, and the above hardware store doesn't carry these anyhow); pool filter (locals would have to order them too); solar battery charger panel. I have a strong preference for local, made that much easier by the fact that there's no HD or Costco right nearby - we do a Costco run every couple of months, but the vast majority of our shopping is local.

 

[dmccarty]

On product reviews, I looked for thousands of reviews, if possible and depending on what I am buying, then if the top two ratings are 75-80% of the ratings, that is a good sign. I will still read some of the 1 and 5 ratings to see what people are saying though. Average, i.e., 3 ratings, I ignore, UNLESS, there are a bunch of them.

One does still have to shop prices online, they are not always the cheapest, but my time is worth something, especially when I stop at a store and they do not have the item I need. My JD dealer used to have cheapest prices for fuel and oil filters for my Ford truck. Go figure. I would call them up and they would mail me the parts. Twas a bit more hassle than Amazon though. Then they merged dealerships and prices went up so it was off to Amazon. I have had count less visits to multiple parts stores for fuel and oil filters that they did not have in stock. I just buy from Amazon now. They have the filters in stock.

The other advantage of online ordering is simply you can order what you need when you know you need it. I was at the auto parts store the other day looking for some stuff. They did NOT have what I needed which was not something difficult. I got sidetracked looking for what they should have, but did not, and forgot I needed something else, which of course I remembered later on. Amazon got the order, along with some other things that I looked for locally, but which were not in stock.

Later,
Dan