Topic: Online shopping vs retail?

[Toymin8r]

I got pissed off to day trying to find a simple $5.00 item and was just wondering how much of your shopping you do online vs going to retail stores, excluding groceries?

I think I do about 75% of my shopping online now and today was a perfect example as to why.    I needed some simple automotive plastic wire conduit.  I wanted 1/4" but 3/8" would work.  I had to go to 5 different places and spent half the day driving around trying to find it.    All Autozone, O'reily's, NAPA and Radio Shack had was stuff big enough to run a frickin garden hose through.  I needed it for 2 18 gauge wires.  I finally found some 3/8" at my local farm supply store but it still wasn't the 1/4" that I wanted.   If I had planned ahead I would have just ordered it online and saved the 3 hours and $15.00 worth of diesel fuel.


So what percentage of your shopping is done online?

[abnormaltoy]

If the stuff you were looking for is split convoluted tubing, Ace has that. We have a huge Ace here with a killer selection of metric bolts and other hard to find items.

To your question...I do most of the shopping online and make the purchases locally. I find what I want or what might work, get the price range online, then go to a store. Probably its 90% local to 10% online, as far as actual purchases go.

[junya92toy]

Ill order something online if I already know that its exactly what I want, but I like to look at and stuff and usually hate to wait for shipping, so I just go to the store.

[toe]

Harbor Freight has the tubing...............

Another thing about Harbor Freight is if you find it on their website, you can call the local store up with the part number to see if they have it in stock.....

[Shamb]

yea i'm in the same boat Toymin8r, i'm tired of driving all over hell and back for small things. Typically if I know what I need i'll just order it online unless I need it right now.

[bigarms23]

online i buy parts,dvds, shirts

store the only thing lately is pants and car batteries and obviously food

[46&2]

I don't buy a whole lot online.

Mostly parts, Ie  . The GF and I do buy a lot of clothes online, but my problem is that especially with shoes, I really need to try them on to make sure they fit. One brand's 13 is another brands 14.

I'd say 80% of my shopping is done offline.

[Tofudude]

depends...automotive wise, if my local autozone or kragen doesn't have it, i'm ordering it. Everything else, normally at stores, unless i get free shipping

[Sparkplug]

nowadays you can get free shipping anywhere. Im about 50 50, I buy nice expensive tools online because prices are always better, and usually they come straight froma a manufacturer, or a well known business. Waiting for shipping isnt much of an issue, if im in a rush, Ill go to the store. Prices online are usually at least 10 percent less than a store. Rockauto is where I get all my parts, unless its an emergency They have pics, and every brand possible pretty much, best price4s around too.

[brainlessfool]

So what percentage of your shopping is done online?

right now all of it is, I realy like to shop like that.
maybe after I get out I'll go back to shopping at stores.
depends on conditions of my release.

[abnormaltoy]

right now all of it is, I realy like to shop like that.
maybe after I get out I'll go back to shopping at stores.
depends on conditions of my release.

You buy a lot of latex...um...appliances online do ya?

[brainlessfool]

You buy a lot of latex...um...appliances online do ya?

no, mostly picture books. butt the "man" won't let me have most of them. unless I pay them off.
they do let the soap on a rope thought.

[abnormaltoy]

The Oppressor always got his thumb on the little guy!

[brainlessfool]

The Oppressor always got his thumb on the little guy!

yup, altho there is one guard that for a few $$ will put his thumb on my little friend. 

[abnormaltoy]

yup, altho there is one guard that for a few $$ will put his thumb on my little friend. 

 

[kneedownnate]

A very small percentage of my shopping is done online.  I've recently purchased a tv online and had to return it, then purchased one in a store and had to return it.  Neither experience was fun, but each was different.

First, I purchased a 40" philips tv from walmart online and had it drop shipped to the local store.  The box looked as if it'd been beat up, opened, then poorly retaped with one plastic band missing.  It took a few days to notice, and the light in my room had to hit it right, but there was damage to the tv and it never seemed to work right.  Contacted walmart and they said to box it up and bring it back in with my shipping label, the label I never recieved.  As I'd purchased a tv because I wanted to be with a tv, I couldn't understand why I had to return the tv for a refund, return the extended warranty for a refund, then reorder both and again wait for them to show up.  It seemed as if they should have shipped one to the store for me, then had me bring it in for a simple exchange.  I went back and forth with them for days on this, ultimately choosing to return it and take my business elsewhere.

A couple weeks later I saw a bestbuy ad and saw that they had a 40" samsung on sale for $200 off, and decided I may as well go with the best to avoid any possible issues down the road.  Bought it in store, picked it up in store, and returned it in store.  My roommate has the same model but with a 46" screen, and using the same exact settings his picture flowed smooth while mine was super glitchy.  Only way I could get it to smooth out was to drop it to the lowest quality settings, but why run a 120hz tv at 60hz when you paid for better technology?  I took it back the next day and it was an easy return, except I had to wait several days for them to send me a check since it was a purchase over $500.

After doing some research, it seems bestbuy has one of the best warranties out there, and they'll price match even online prices on the same model tv, so I'm fairly sure I'm going to buy the same tv I initially bought from walmart, except through bestbuy.