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Shopping Online
Posted by
Hemos
on Mon Jul 04, 2005 09:15 AM
from the what-to-do dept.
from the what-to-do dept.
A reader writes:"I've been buying stuff on the Internet for a while, and wanted to get people's thoughts about the best places to go. I primarily am looking for media or computer parts. Of course, I've used Froogle, PriceWatch or PriceGrabber, but also use places like tigerdirect or NewEgg. Where else do people go, and any recommendations for getting decent deals? " Oh, and of course, shamless plug for ThinkGeek, who is also owned by OSTG.
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Great Deals? (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Great Deals? (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Great Deals? (Score:5, Insightful)
1. Name a single 24/7 B&M computer store. Also it isn't the fault of the on-line stores that delevery is mon-fri during daytime hours...take that up with FedEx and UPS.
2. Is it the store's fault that you are incapable of
googling the item you are thinking about purchasing before you buy it?
3. If that DVD burner actually wrote at 0.4x then it is defective and you should have returned it to
the store and gotten a refund. More likely you are either just trolling or you are a complete incompentent.
Parent
ableshopper (Score:2)
dealtime.com and shopper.cnet.com aren't bad either.
eBay (Score:5, Interesting)
Be wary of ebay DVDs (Score:4, Insightful)
This was the first time I bought DVDs on ebay, every other purchase I've ever done went smoothly.
The 1st DVD was a bootleg. When I confronted the seller he just said that it wasn't a bootleg, but an import with a different cover. This was bull for many reasons. The first is that I ordered the DTS version, and the dvd was labeled as that, but the movie itself was Dolb Digital. Next, the dvd was only single layer (it says on the label DVD-9)! I had to return the movie to the seller at my expense, then he gave me negative feedback since I gave him negative feedback.
CAUTION: Be wary of sellers that say their DVDs are imported and may have different covers, this means they are very convincing bootlegs!
With my other purchase, the guy shipped me the DVD that I asked for, but without its' DVD case! He never mentioned this, after I told him about this, he said that throws out the cases that his DVDs come in. What an asshat! Plus, he didn't take paypal, so I had to send a money order (yuck), I should have noticed that before I bid though.
Parent
Shipping costs (Score:3, Informative)
ALL the electronic sellers do this.
Lately some sellers are going for $20 per item fixed shipping costs. F
Fatwallet and AnAndtech Forums (Score:4, Informative)
If you have a Biz License goto (Score:5, Informative)
they hav esome really awsome deals
Sorry I forgot thier consumer site (Score:2)
This is the same company but for consumers instead of Business's
Re:If you have a Biz License goto (Score:5, Informative)
I dont have time to type out all my horror stories, but here's a few:
Bought a wireless card and antentta from them. Paid a fortune for the wireless card trying to get a "good" brand so I wouldn't have trobule. As it turns out the card was defective (It woudln't work in about 50% of computers). Compgeeks refused to take a return or even talk to me on the phone. I won thuogh, I got my CC Company to reverse the charges.
Before that I bought a laptop, and went there to pick it up. I got down the street with it, and thought, id better look to see what this is... I openend it, it was *nothing* like the laptop I ordered, half the ram, no dvd burner, etc etc. SO I went back, got them to exchange it (had to wait like 45 minutes)... all turned out well, except the laptop broke just out of warranty anyways. Expensive repair :)
And my all time favorite story -- a friend of mine bought a laptop from them. They ship him laptop #1 with no power brick. So he spens forever on the phone with them, and gets them to send the brick. They send it to the wrong address, so he calls and they ship him a brick a second time. He finally gets it (weeks have elapsed since his laptop got here). The laptop is DOA. He calls back, they give him endless shit about how could the laptop be DOA when he's had it for two weeks ... finally he gets another laptop, it works but ONLY IF YOU REMOVE THE WIRELESS CARD. All of this took about 3 weeks, and at least 10 hours talking to reps.
My point about compgeeks is -- they sell shit and their customer service is shit. I am working on a sucks site for them if anyone would like to contribute stories.
Parent
Advertisment thread! (Score:2, Insightful)
I like Mwave.com, they have just about all the parts you could ever want at comparable prices to other sites on the net. They also ship UPS ground that comes to Idaho as fast as 2 day UPS for 1/3 the price of 2 day.
My best advice for buying PC stuff online is order from the US, and read the reviews on Pricewatch or epinions.com to make an informed decision.
Re:mwave (Score:4, Informative)
http://www.resellerratings.com/seller2048.html [resellerratings.com]
HJ
Parent
Deal / Coupon Sites (Score:5, Informative)
100 Big Coupons [www.100bigcoupons]
SlickDeals [slickdeals.net]
Headlinedeals [headlinedeals.com]
Tech Bargains [techbargains.com]
Hot Deals [hot-deals.org]
Of Course Fat Wallet Hot-Deals Forum [fatwallet.com] can't be forgotten
Just keep in mind that these sites do have affiliate agreements with companies, and so are making a buck off the purchases you click-through from their sites. Some of their recommendations may be skewed based on their affiliate agreements.
These are the sites where you'll find out about last minute clearances, specials, % off coupons, and pricing errors. Often you're being the 'evil consumer', but you're getting a heck of a deal.
Re:Deal / Coupon Sites (Score:3, Informative)
100 Big Coupons [100bigcoupons.com]
Well.. (Score:5, Informative)
(and I hope some online vendors take note of this)
If I can't get the shipping price BEFORE I put in my Name and Credit card - I take my business elsewhere. Alot of these places put a low price out to get high on the search engines, and then have like $30 for shipping, which of course you can only see AFTER you put in all your shipping address and credit card, mothers maiden name and favorite pet, at which point I bet they figure either people won't notice, or will feel that they already did all that work they might as well just pay it.
So, bottom line for me : No shipping price ahead of time, No Business from me.
Re:Well.. (Score:5, Informative)
Excellent. I do the same. I get that sinking, "I'm being hoodwinked" feeling when I get to the page where I'm supposed to type in my CC number, and I still don't have the final price. Sheesh!
I also will not buy from a vendor who shows only "after rebate" prices. I used to use Tiger Direct for computer parts, because even if I could beat the price elsewhere, they are great at shipping complete orders quickly, have a good selection, website that's reliable, etc., etc. Sometime along about 2 1/2 years ago, they got totally hooked on this "after rebate" pricing, which made it impossible to figure out what the heck the final price would be. It was easier to find out the shipping price than the retail price. Add to that the "last minute" nature of some of the rebates (sometimes less than a week from the time of placing the order), and it was obvious they were using them strictly to lie about the prices of their products. I fought it for awhile, and finally just switched to NewEgg. They have rebates, too, but they show the actual price when you're shopping (and also have a great selection, good website, fast shipping, competitive pricing).
I buy well over a thousand bucks a year in computer parts and components on the WWW, and I'll never shop at TigerDirect again. They've already shown their level of business ethics.
One other comment-- it's almost always possible to beat a price I get on the internet, but the risk of hassling with returning a product that's wrong, took weeks to ship, or is just plain faulty or broken, makes the slightly higher price from a legit and reliable vendor more than worth the extra cost. Saving $5.00 on a new processor will never pay for even one return-- in hassle, shipping costs, lost time. Most vendors get your money as soon as they ship, and it can take a lot of time to get it back.
Parent
Re:Well.. (Score:5, Interesting)
Parent
In the UK (Score:5, Informative)
Reseller Ratings (Score:5, Informative)
Google makes this question redudant, surely? (Score:5, Informative)
I often put "-compare" as an additional search term to remove most of these, if I'm looking for just the specifications for something, for instance.
*Computer kit, obviously.
In the UK (Score:5, Informative)
SCAMS every where (Score:3, Interesting)
online shopping == Good
Online Shopping From Canada == Rip off
i could be mistaken.. but so far the only site i'v found with decent canadian prices is Amazon.ca
any suggestions eh?
Re:SCAMS every where (Score:5, Informative)
Parent
Newegg (Score:5, Interesting)
Who knows what their deal with ChiefValue is? I hear it's the same warehouses.
Nobody is perfect, not even NewEgg (Score:2)
Two e-mails to NewEgg (one of them through their web-site) remain unanswered three months later...
My picks... (Score:5, Informative)
I was once looking for a video tape for my friends in Ukraine (different video standard from US). I found it through Yahoo! Shopping Australia [yahoo.com]...
That said, I also visit CNet [cnet.com] and EPinions [epinions.com] for product reviews and -- right before buying from a particular vendor -- search Google for
.Correction (Re:My picks...) (Score:3, Informative)
Some Mac places (Score:4, Informative)
Small Dog Electronics [smalldog.com]
Data Memory Systems
While all these places are geared towards Macs, they also carry lots of parts that fit both PC and Mac. Never had any problems with them, after using them for 6-8 years now.
bicycles (Score:3, Interesting)
Amazon (Score:2, Insightful)
My picks (Score:4, Informative)
www.zipzoomfly.com
www.newegg.com
www.chiefva
www.directron.com
www.ewiz.com
www.mona
I watch the following bargain boards...
www.hardforum.com/forumdisplay.php?f=28
forums
www.bensbargains.net
the obvious (Score:5, Funny)
Re:the obvious (Score:3, Informative)
+5 Snarky !
The two dollar bill incident [baltimoresun.com] occured at my local BestBuy, which is right across the street from my bank... I was soooooo tempted (then I remembered about the PATRIOT ACT and decided against it:)
Re:the obvious (Score:5, Interesting)
I did end up learning a lot about my rights as a consumer.
---
As to buying online, consider this option: don't.
Reduce, reuse, recycle.
I've bought a couple books from amazon, to encourage the authors, and i still get christmas cards from a politician who i gave a dollar to,
but I've transitioned to a post-scarcity economy.
I have enough stuff. There is cornocopia of free stuff online. If it isn't free online, I can probably do without it. You can augment that with a library card, and by participating in a tool cooperative. Tool coops aren't always called that; yours might call itself a church or a neighborhod association or uncle fred.
If I felt a need for more random stuff, dumpster diving is more fun than golf. Here's a free copy of cory doctorow's latest book about dumpster diving: http://www.craphound.com/someone [craphound.com].
The american assumption that we need more stuff to keep up with the joneses is one reason asia is kicking our asses. Lower overhead.
By not buying online, you can resist impulse buys. I got this computer for $100 + tax from a local computer recycling nonprofit, virtualscavengers. Occasionally I'll get a good cup of coffee downtown, or have a drink at a local club, but that's more about renting space. I'm mostly out of the money economy, because i don't need more stuff, so i don't need a traditional job, which frees up a big block of time to waste on slashdot and suchlike.
My approach is only one strategy, and has some disadvantages too, but you can incorporate it incrementally into your lifestyle. We are moving to a post-scarcity economy, like it or not. Stuff matters, but not like it used to.
Parent
CompUSA Sucks (Score:3, Interesting)
what criteria? (Score:5, Insightful)
From the original post: thoughts about the best places to go.
What criteria does the poster consider most important for best?
Okay, my main criterion is unequivocably (sp?) customer service. For me this includes only a few but important criteria:
I have long since abandoned picking the cheapest offering and almost ignore that ranking when looking for a place to buy online. I've almost (saved by an attentive and pro-active Credit Union (Watermark Credit Union -- great service!)) been burned big time and the brush with sleeze was enough to nudge me to find a provider with good service and be loyal. That said, I will plug as an example, amazon.com. They come nowhere near to the leaders in lowest prices but they have been amazing in their response to some difficult transactions -- I consider their approach exemplary as a model to emulate.
Amazon isn't the only great provider out their, but they're a good starting point.
Also, for ebay-type shopping, though I'm loathe to penalize newbies, I shop from only highly rated, large sample-space sellers with extremely high ratings.
mwave? (Score:3, Insightful)
resellerratings.com - ALWAYS research the merchant (Score:3, Informative)
It's absolutely useless to get a cheap deal if the vendor won't ship the product. And problems with the transaction happen all the time. Read some of the horror stories from the review sections there about the merchants with a low approval rating. Or a bad return policy. When buying over the web, you really want to avoid having to return the product, as you will usually have to pay the shipping costs yourself. And that can blow any savings by web-shopping that you might have once had.
What I do is search for the product on resellerratings.com first, and I won't buy from a vendor with a score below 9.0 unless I'm desparate. It's really just not worth the risk.
Doing otherwise is somewhat similar to buying a laptop for a low price from some guy in Romainia. ;)
I've bought tens-of-thousands of dollars of things over the past 9-10 years over the Internet/Web, and this is really the way to go. I have never been burned by one of the top rated merchants yet.
This is not a story (Score:5, Interesting)
First http://ostg.pricegrabber.com/ [pricegrabber.com] (ostg sub-domain), then http://www.tigerdirect.com/indexus.asp?SRCCODE=SLA SHX [tigerdirect.com], then a blatant plug for thinkgeek (a major source of revenue for LNUX). Should slashdot not disclose if they are affiliated in any way with all links? What is the purpose of the pricegrabber.com sub-domain, and the SRCCODE in the tigerdirect link?
Re:This is not a story (Score:5, Interesting)
Anyway, as long as you get the exact same information, why does it matter if the codes are in there?
Parent
Do not use TigerDirect (Score:4, Informative)
I had to threaten them with legal action to get off their mailing list. Then found myself back on it and had to jump through the same hoops to get removed again. I never even recieved any product from them. Ordered a DVD player from them for a christmas gift (well in advance), it got back ordered twice after being shown in stock for the original order. then the bastards mail bombed me with crap for months and played spammy games to get removed. I fart in TigerDirect's general direction.
Always be prepared... (Score:3, Funny)
http://www.cheaperthandirt.com/ctd/default.asp [cheaperthandirt.com]
then here for some accessories:
http://www.russiancombatgear.com/ [russiancombatgear.com]
Only then go to an electronics site and if they give you bad service, then you know what to do...
TigerDirect = Identity Theft (Score:3, Informative)
In each of the cases the punk ordered stuff from various places and sent it to us. But it was still a pain in the arse.
Wouldnt shop there. And the FBI and police said there's not much they can do???
For books... (Score:3, Informative)
There is some overlap between the two, but AddAll.com comparison-shops a bunch of bookstores and will calculate shipping rates for you (for pretty much any country on the planet) and is primarily useful for looking for new books. It also includes the 3rd party sellers going through Amazon and the like.
If looking for used books, head to used.addall.com, but here you'll have to deal with shipping costs yourself.
For Books, Bookfinder.com (Score:3, Informative)
Dealmac, DealRam, Dealcoupon, etc etc (Score:3, Informative)
Dealnews
DealInk
DealCoupon
DealCam
and the stuff is not Mac-centric, tons of periperals that are Windows only or cross-platform useable. Many times, combinations of Rebates and hidden Coupons are pointed out showing that the end result is an item that costs $0.00!
Best price/best rating (Score:3, Informative)
Zipzoomfly has been a good vendor, though I've had about a 50% DOA rate on Hitachi 7K250 drives from them. They've been quite prompt and good about replacing them (if you call --- the web interface for returns is a black hole). Once I get working drives, they seem to stay working though.
For the europeans (Score:3, Funny)
There are plenty of good places out there, but I think you do have to strike a balance between price and service.
NoimsRe:A couple of bargin sites (Score:2)
I'd recommend www.slickdeals.net and www.xpbargains.com