What is the/your etiquette on buy in store vs online

elsien

quartzz said:

but I guess that's sourcing it online, rather than trying it in store then finding it online

do you find yourself returning things because the beep is too loud or the buttons are rubbish?

I haven’t but that’s primarily because I went into my local washing machine shop and specifically told them I wanted a machine that wasn’t going to continuously and annoyingly beep at me. 

That is the sort of question you’re probably not going to get an answer to online. 

And when they sold me one that didn’t fit the gap due to an error on their part they simply swapped it the next day without any hassle at all. It wouldn’t have been so easy with AO.

sarah1972

quartzz said:

but I guess that's sourcing it online, rather than trying it in store then finding it online

do you find yourself returning things because the beep is too loud or the buttons are rubbish?

No not at all. 

I read reviews, ask questions online chat before purchasing such things as an appliance. 

quartzz

That is fair enough. I find there are a few characteristics of a product that can only be found by physically testing the item

sarah1972

quartzz said:

That is fair enough. I find there are a few characteristics of a product that can only be found by physically testing the item

I agree but sadly you can’t always see that in a shop unless plugged in and actually in use on certain things.

wurley

Every time. While in store. I'll buy if they're competitive. 

If landlords and councils lose their income from stores shutting down, because of high rents and high rates forcing up the gross profit need. I have little sympathy.  

Yazmina

I buy everything online except food.  These days, going to the shops is such a chore. Especially as there's more choice online.

speedbird_002

If I see something in store the rare time I am in the city shopping, I will check online and see if its much cheaper. Somethings can be 10-30% cheaper online.

It used to be local was best and I always shopped local and it was easy and better quality. But with greedy councils putting up charges to park in Edinburgh (£25 a day) and Glasgow (£5 per hour) to fight for spaces on roads that have been reduced in width for bikes with bollards and planters now an eyesore, it means I need to spend 3 hours getting in an out, parking charges and then the store doesnt always have what you need.  Online - its MUCH cheaper in the long run when you add in all the extra costs which is what has killed the local stores.

Council's getting greedy and making it harder to get there made all but general trips to town die off. Local stores then closed and were filled with large junk filled national stores which then makes the city centre look awful. Everyone then wants the better quality and goes online. Its a death cycle.

Also it is possible to order 20 versions of one item online, get free or cheap shipping and then send back what you don't need without leaving your home in some cases. Local stores cannot compete here. The solution is for city councils to have a local plan, stop killing the centres for vanity projects and cycle lanes and extortionate parking and let people in to bring the city back to life.

Edinburgh is now nothing but the same cheap tat stores on Princes St, cycle lanes and bollards. There are only a few high end local stores who can afford the location due to price of what they sell.

SeekingFlight

So I have gotten tired of Amazon and I try to avoid them. For several reasons, clothes you can try it on and the one you order fits totally different its in person now or not at all. Gifts I'd rather buy in person, food - no more bizarre substitutions.

I also do a reverse Amazon where i find a product on amazon and trace it back to the original stores website and buy it from them. Found a great pet treat and hay supplier that way for my rabbits. 

twopenny

That's something I'd not thought of SeekingFlight. What a good idea.

I'll buy locally if I can. For white goods when there was a bit of competition here you could go to the independent and they would match or come close to the price online. And they would take delivery, bring it, fit it and remove the old one.

Sadly there isn't the competition now but I'll still buy local and I know once its done, it's done. They take the hassle.

I will usually drive the miles to town rather than use Amazon but will check online/phone that it's in stock and make a day of it. Seeing what else is available.

I bought something from M&S with delivery charge simply because I would have to drive/bus 3hrs total and it possibily wasn't in stock.

The beautiful mint green turned out to be sludge leaf green.

So I probably won't do that again unless I've been to the store to check.

What I did like was the chemists used to have an order online, they'd do it for you even, and pick up in store.

They don't do that now. Since the pandemic it's buy what we've got or lump it.

quartzz

SeekingFlight said:

So I have gotten tired of Amazon and I try to avoid them. For several reasons, clothes you can try it on and the one you order fits totally different its in person now or not at all. Gifts I'd rather buy in person, food - no more bizarre substitutions.

I also do a reverse Amazon where i find a product on amazon and trace it back to the original stores website and buy it from them. Found a great pet treat and hay supplier that way for my rabbits. 

yeah it's something not always obvious (mainly because amazon is a "one stop shop") but searching on other sites for things listed on Amazon.... I've also noticed that there are skews of products that amazon doesn't sell - eg I saw a Microwave, Amazon had a black version with a black dial, Argos had a black version with a silver dial. Silver one looked nicer. Argos was about £10 more expensive but I was OK with the extra tenner for a large metal box sitting in the kitchen which looked like I wanted it to. and back tracing to the manufacturer (as you've said) is a decent idea too -- if you can buy it from them, and not just resellers

actually tbh, half the items I buy from ebay come in an Amazon packages, and half the items I buy from Amazon seem to come in ebay packages

Random thing which pxsses me off about Amazon. an email saying "you're probably wondering what happens next" after a purchase. no. I'm not wondering what happens next. I know what happens next. you bombard me with cr4p, make money from my information, and if I do actually have an issue with the item, it's impossible to contact you. that's what happens next.

I also don't like the way that "downvotes" have been removed from Amazons review section. obviously they think people will get their feelings hurt and won't want to leave reviews if there's the possibility of a nasty downvote. ok. sure. that just means I won't trust any Amazon reviews with their "everyone wins (nobody gets downvoted)" mindset

I could go on a half rant about what reviews I ignore (anything with a 5-star that says "great/would recommend"), but I'll drink some tea instead