Buying things on-line - decision strategies

[PILOON]

Being retired I do a lot of online shopping and am fairly knowledgeable on pricing.
I do plan ahead as much as possible so 30 day delivery is not a problem for me.

I have however noticed a disturbing trend. (offshore sites)
They show an image of an item and list a very attractive price but when you click onto the item U discover that the low price is for a spare part and not the image posted.
It falls into 'bait and switch' techniques IMO.

LOL only got caught that once.

 

[jaxs]

We often buy things online that are available in local stores. Actually most things we buy from Home Depot,Lowes,Northern Tool,auto parts,Ace Hardware and Wal-Mart are ordered online then picked up in their parking lot. Why go inside and risk being run down by kids with shopping carts? If I didn't know which or what i need the people working in store wouldn't be any help. The wife order's 90% of groceries online for parking lot pick up.
As far as reviews,I find them of very little value. I think many negative reviews are because customer failed due diligence. It's easy buying wrong thing or less than expected if you don't look twice at seller claims.

 

[ericm979]

I read the text of the reviews. Reviews that make it clear they bought and use the product that I'm looking at are the ones I pay attention to. I mean the multiple paragraph ones where they really get into it. "5 stars works great" is useless even if it is a real review, and it's often not. Besides the bought reviews another common tactic on Amazon is to buy or take over someone's product page and inherit the reviews. So you have to read them to see what they really reviewed.

 

[bigtiller]

I like a wood working store in the big city 25 miles away but I only go there when I have other business nearby. I could buy some Bessey clamps on-line for $40 but I decided I would wait and buy them at the wood store. Even though they would cost a little more, I figured it would be worth it to help the stores bottom-line and just maybe, if other wood workers did the same thing, the store wouldn't close up anytime soon.

So I finally got to the store to find the clamps were $65. I like the store but not that much.

I came home and ordered 4 of the $40 clamps on-line.

 

[ning]

I like a wood working store in the big city 25 miles away but I only go there when I have other business nearby. I could buy some Bessey clamps on-line for $40 but I decided I would wait and buy them at the wood store. Even though they would cost a little more, I figured it would be worth it to help the stores bottom-line and just maybe, if other wood workers did the same thing, the store wouldn't close up anytime soon.

So I finally got to the store to find the clamps were $65. I like the store but not that much.

I came home and ordered 4 of the $40 clamps on-line.

Yeah, that cranks me.
I'm happy to pay a few percent more locally but not fifty; I don't require loss leaders (I don't window shop at all and rarely buy anything that's not already on a list so even loss leaders don't get any pull) but I need things to be reasonable and I know your costs are higher but they're not that high.

When I only need one can of paint and it's twice what I expected from last night's 'net perusal I'll still buy it locally because I'm already there, but when I have a large gate to rattle-can (and waste half in blow-by -- I need a better way to paint gates!) I'm willing to wait for a somewhat better deal...

 

[Gem99ultra]

I buy a great number of things online. But - I've also been burned there too. Earlier this year I ordered a set of 3 lawn mower blades on Amazing. Reasonable delivery time posted. After ordering (and getting billed) I got a notice that they were coming from Ireland and would be delivered in 6 weeks or so.

I should have simply cancelled my order, but being a bit lazy and not really needing the blades just now, I let the order stand. However, I will not do that again.

 

[beowulf]

I do buy online - saves trips to town and you can read about all of your options and read reviews. But there are fake reviews - sometimes they are easy to spot, if not, the ways I try to sort all that out are:

1) If there are several glowing reviews all on the same date or within 2-3 days, I ignore them. I have seen several 5 star reviews all posted the same day.
2) If there is a particularly good or bad review and I want to determine if the review is more likely to be valid, I check out that person's other posted reviews. There you can see if they have posted reviews with a variety of ratings and for a variety of products. By reading some of those reviews you can get an idea if the review about the product you are interested in is legit.
3) I will also post questions about the product - the answers are sometimes more helpful than the reviews.
4) Finally, if it is something I am really interested in, I will check out other reviews, CNET, Consumer Reports, and reviews on the Mfgr's website.

BTW - my favorite Q and A on Amazon was for a garbage disposal. Someone asked if it could be hooked up to a toilet. The answer was something like: "Lady, if you need a garbage disposal for your toilet, you need to change your diet." Hopefully, the question was posed in jest.

 

[grsthegreat]

My biggest pet peave about online shopping is alot of the products you see are fake knockoffs. i ordered a set of replacement Remington electric razor blades on amazon at 1/2 price of those in stores. Picture looked exactly same as box i saw at store. Problem is they didnt cut at all. Worse than set i was replacing. Amazon refunded me my money. I bought store set and they cut like butter.

buyer beware.

 

[MoKelly]

My biggest pet peave about online shopping is alot of the products you see are fake knockoffs. i ordered a set of replacement Remington electric razor blades on amazon at 1/2 price of those in stores. Picture looked exactly same as box i saw at store. Problem is they didnt cut at all. Worse than set i was replacing. Amazon refunded me my money. I bought store set and they cut like butter.

buyer beware.

You are spot on with fakes.

Amazon itself said it caught and removed 10 billion listings last year that had fake products. They use some sort of AI to flag the fakes.

And the vast majority of the fakes were not designer stuff but rather everyday staples like soap brands and razors.

10 billion fakes caught and my guess is Amazon isn’t catching everything!

MoKelly

 

[ning]

2) If there is a particularly good or bad review and I want to determine if the review is more likely to be valid, I check out that person's other posted reviews. There you can see if they have posted reviews with a variety of ratings and for a variety of products. By reading some of those reviews you can get an idea if the review about the product you are interested in is legit.

This is a great idea!

 

[Oaktree]

Why go inside and risk being run down by kids with shopping carts? If I didn't know which or what i need the people working in store wouldn't be any help. The wife order's 90% of groceries online for parking lot pick up.

Not me, if I'm buying locally I like to look at the merchandise before I buy it. I don't want some 20 year old kid grabbing a bunch of 2x4s at random for me. Likewise for groceries, especially perishables. Plus I like to browse the markdown/date-code-expires-today display. At least this way if I get the wrong item I have no one else to blame.

Amazon itself said it caught and removed 10 billion listings last year that had fake products. They use some sort of AI to flag the fakes.

And the vast majority of the fakes were not designer stuff but rather everyday staples like soap brands and razors.

Don't think I've run into any "fakes", but you do have to be careful with a lot of items where a brand name product is shown, but the actual product is some off-brand. Specialty batteries (such as for a UPS or laptop) require particular attention...the listing will show a Dell battery, but in the fine print you'll find it's really a Batteries-R-Us one. Not necessarily a deal killer...the name brand ones are quite pricey and sometimes the off brand ones are good enough, but it's still deceptive.

2) If there is a particularly good or bad review and I want to determine if the review is more likely to be valid, I check out that person's other posted reviews. There you can see if they have posted reviews with a variety of ratings and for a variety of products. By reading some of those reviews you can get an idea if the review about the product you are interested in is legit.

Thanks for the idea, didn't know you could do that.

 

[beowulf]

Oaktree: Just above a review on Amazon you will see the name of the person writing that review. Click on that name and all of that person's reviews will appear - products reviewed, ratings and comments. Now, I have found a very few where their reviews do not appear - so I am suspicious of those.

 

[Locoweed]

I start with the negative reviews & read them with a discerning eye. Works for me.
A few years ago I was shopping for a water heater & I was amazed by the number of 5 reviews that mentioned looks. Who cares about the looks of a water heater? Millennials I guess?

 

[ning]

I start with the negative reviews & read them with a discerning eye. Works for me.
A few years ago I was shopping for a water heater & I was amazed by the number of 5 reviews that mentioned looks. Who cares about the looks of a water heater? Millennials I guess?

Most millenials are not in the market for a water heater (avocado toast makes too big a hole in the down payment budget! jk).
I blame generic shill review templates; someone probably has a review generator that mentions shipping time, how nicely the $thing is packaged and how it looks now that it was so easy to set up etc

 

[Oaktree]

I read the text of the reviews. Reviews that make it clear they bought and use the product that I'm looking at are the ones I pay attention to. I mean the multiple paragraph ones where they really get into it. "5 stars works great" is useless even if it is a real review, and it's often not.

But some items there's not a lot else to say.

Dunno about other sellers, but Amazon will sometimes reject reviews for odd reasons. For example, a couple years ago I bought a couple of DVD sets from a third-party vendor. Merchandise was as presented, but I was charged separate shipping for each set even though they all came in the same package. I commented about this in my review, but it was rejected as not appropriate. ??? As a potential customer, something like that would be good to know.