Do you shop online?

Online shopping, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways.

  • Amazon (US) for Kindle books and occasional electronics.
  • Audible (US) (Amazon subsidiary) for audio books.
  • B&H PhotoVideo for electronics and printer ink.
  • Ali Express for electronics.
  • DHGate for electronics.
  • Gearbest for electronics.
  • Candy Time for… well… that occasional urge.
  • Ebay for almost anything.
  • Kogan (not lately) for various stuffs. (Does Kogan mean overseas?)
  • Catch (of the Day) for various stuffs possibly including confectionery.
  • Better World Books, Abebooks, Book Depository, Bookworld, Borders Books, Dymocks, Kennys, Fishpond and a few others for paper-based reading materials. (Booko.com.au for finding the cheapest!)
  • Etsy for weird stuff you won’t find anywhere else.
  • OfficeWorks for - er - office stuff? And confectionery.
  • Berkshire Record Outlet for music (along with a whole bunch of other places).
  • Starsonstuff.com for ties.
  • Various online suppliers for PC games (most of which are supplied via digital ‘key’). As stated by @kaedhlin, there seems to be a huge Australia tax on these which is totally meaningless given their provenance.
  • and lots, lots more.

So I buy books online from overseas and locally. I buy electronics online, from overseas and locally. I buy confectionery online, but that is exclusively (or almost exclusively) in Australia. Music, movies and other digital entertainment? (Not that! Get your mind out of the gutter!!!) International and local.

My wife orders groceries online - locally. She orders cosmetics, powders, perfumes, creams, lotions and other stuff online - almost but not entirely locally. She also buys books from various places.

We have also occasionally bought clothes online - mostly but not exclusively in Australia (I get work clothes made to measure by an overseas supplier).

Many of the things I buy overseas are available in Australia but cost more here - even after postage. What really annoys me is that I can buy a $1 widget off Ebay and have it delivered for free from China in six weeks - or I can pay $6 locally and have it delivered this week for another $5. International postage prices make no sense!

Precisely. If you look for small items on Ebay, buying overseas is simply logical - our local suppliers have too high a mark-up.

Yep.

The one thing I would be extremely loathe to buy online is medication. My wife and I use a lot of it, but I simply am not comfortable with the set of risks that come with its online supply. This includes not only the risk of getting the wrong thing or a tainted batch, but the risk of shipping medicines illegally - the laws around this stuff can be quite confusing.

I am interested in the number of people who have stated in this thread that they try to ‘buy local’. While I am aware of advertising campaigns that target this, I would be interested to see the real economic impact of buying locally vs. buying the cheaper product online - and how many people actually do buy locally when the alternative is to save 50%.

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I used to manage a music retail shop. I got so sick and tired of preaching you don’t get back up or support for online purchases like you do with a person in a store when people came in with pages printed showing almost everything we sold available cheaper online.
I now buy all my strings and so forth online, and almost everything else that is a boxed/generic item. Everything that is cheaper EXCEPT things like a guitar itself where the same make and model can vary greatly due to nuances within the woods used for example, or build qualities not being the same.
Clothing I think you must try unless you know exactly what you want, but for everything generic which can be 50% cheaper online, we do not have enough money to put the local business’s kids through school or fund their second boat, pay their ridiculous energy and/or rent expenses etc so its most things online for me.
Electrical multimeter, Aussie best price $1200, from England same item with bonus parts worth Au$300 for under $800 delivered to Perth. International brand so covered by warranty anyway too.
BEWARE though, I am down $100 right now because an online trader had set their paypal to not accept payments from Australia (in error, they are in Sydney) so when my bank took the money out as requested by paypal, it did not get to paypal but it did get taken from my account. It now earns money for the bank for up 10 days until they give it back to me, another online trading trap for young players!

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I buy online - vitamins etc from Aus, but a myriad of other things locally or overseas. Click and collect helps me to buy local, so i use that when its available.
Walking around the internet saves on shoes, petrol and time - but sometimes it is still good to Go shopping - which for me is usually the opp shops.

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Shopping online has its benefits:

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Some online shopping tips to save money and stay safe during the lockdown:

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Coles Online vs Woolworths Online.
Recently signed up to both as being “elderly” we have been staying home and wished to have home delivered groceries.
Interesting to compare the ease of completing the signup process as an age pension person to get on the “priority home delivery” list (established because there had been a surge in demand & they needed a way to ensure that the more vulnerable were prioritised).
Wooworths was far less restrictive in the ways that one could apply (even permitting use of a n AustraliaPost concession card number !), whereas Coles seemed to require a specially issued code number from NDIS provider or 8 digit code from MyAgedCare provider to join their Online Priority Service. (this latter I found was was effectively widened to accept the first 8 digits of the Age Pension CRN).
Once successfully “registering”, I found that there was still a substantial waiting delay between placing an order and the first available delivery window (like about 5 days) for Woolworths and yet once the ordered value exceeded the minimum $50 on Coles Online, I could get delivery within 2 days.
Furthermore, Woolworths charged my card as soon as the order was placed (with a subsequent credit after delivery if any items unavailable), whereas Coles held off charging me until the order was “picked” & hence only the adjusted charge was made on the day of delivery.
Once the order is placed, Woolworths would not let me modify the order, whereas Coles allows changes in the makeup of the order up until 12 hours before the agreed delivery window.

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We don’t buy much on-line, but Mr Z wanted a particular battery charger. Googled it and ended up on eBay where there were several sellers (most seemed to be the same seller). Price was 50% off (footnote saying the “before” price was provided by the seller - eg not a RRP or other benchmark). Item in NSW, 9 left, Free postage! Checking out, once the address went in, postage went to $180, luckily I saw it before completing the sale. Couldn’t contact the seller as we didn’t have (and didn’t want) an account.

Went to the next price point - same seller - only 7 left, same deal, with the offer of $400 if we wanted it in 2 days not two weeks.

Went to the next price point - same seller - only one left, $30 dearer.

Went to Google - cheapest ($20 less) at Dick Smith - (appears the same seller again) only one left. Put in the address - “can’t deliver to your postcode …”

Tried Catch.com.au - same seller, similar story.

Tried another eBay seller - different name $40 dearer, still free postage even after checking out, confirmed, then hours later, refunded - “can’t deliver to your postcode…” Refused to go to the next price point $90 dearer and suspected it was the same seller again. The address we used was just north of Brisbane, a large town on the Bruce Hwy - and they can’t deliver??

I see this as a strategy to push you towards ever increasing prices, if you didn’t notice the Free that turned into $180 - apparently their couriers COULD deliver to our postcode. Annoyed and feeling like I have lost about 4 hours on slow internet that could have been better spent.

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I have been shopping on eBay for over 20 years and have never had a problem.

I always check the sellers rating using the number of transactions they have conducted and their satisfaction rating.

The seller’s eBay name should indicate whether they are the same or different merchants, and a look at their other items for sale and their eBay Store should give a good idea whether they are the same person or not.

Can you provide the make and model of the battery charger?

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Hi Mrs Z,

We are outside of town, and north of Brisbane a little, but have not had issues with AP and couriers delivering. From small spare parts, to water pumps that need two to lift.

We have had orders delivered from Vic, NSW and Qld, plus OS - PRC to our address, with minimal issues and reasonable shipping or freight costs.

The one golden rule for larger items and anything electrical we follow. Buy from a well known Australian supplier. For warranty and electrical compliance you have a direct path to remedy.

If you need some suggestions re suppliers, @Fred123 has offered some help. You are welcome to PM me as well. There may be a local retailer who offers online and delivery or click and collect that will meet your needs.

That is unfortunately not the case. Some ebay sellers have quite a few accounts, all with different names, and play the game as @zackarii described.

The similarity of advertisements is giveaway one.

As evidence not so long ago I purchased a product, and a few weeks later purchased the same product from a different ebay merchant. Both came from the same place packaged the same way, if that reinforces the point.

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There is reportedly an increase in card skimming malware. I apologise for linking this Malwarebytes article but it seems public service information as well as their ‘sell’, for those unaware.

Most current browsers and antivirus products and suites have similar protection capability, so it is not just Malwarebytes that provides it. The message is if one buys online, one needs pro-active defences regardless of where they are sourced, as well as nous about whether a website ‘looks right’ beyond face value.

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The item is CD-55R Rossmark 2in1 battery charger. The most prevalent seller is bargainsonline boasting over 2,225 sold, with others offering it, but based in the same Sydney suburb. When I went back to the Dick Smith listing this morning, the price had gone up from $119 to $139. Free Postage terms on one said “excluding PO Boxes”, buried in the T&Cs of another “free postage to metro area only”, and another “excluding select rural areas”. We tried several family addresses but couldn’t get delivery even to the Sunshine Coast Qld. $180 postage is excessive! My easyshopper refund is coming from FELPS Pty Ltd. That was $149. The next price was $179 - I think cookies are inflating the price. His son said he was looking at the same listing as $139.

Husband has some autism and gets hyperfocused on things, that’s why I took over, as he would just keep going accepting higher and higher prices till he got the item. Big numbers don’t mean much to him; $200, $2,000, $20,000 - he has no understanding, he just hands it over. He’s not very internet savvy and finds it difficult to spot a scam. I set him up with the internet 10 years ago and I came home to find him trying to put his credit card into a dodgy chat site because someone asked him to. When he asked “what am I supposed to do with these Russian women?” I realised I had to set up some kiddy-safe protection for him. I no longer allow him to pay for anything over the phone or internet, not to answer the phone to an unknown number and let me do the paying.

End of the story - I have convinced him to buy locally from a Bricks & Mortar store - after we have researched what’s on offer in the internet. We are in the vulnerable age group and supposed to be staying home. But as we are 30mins from town, I drive in to grocery shop, and do Click & Collect on other goods to reduce contact.

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All the eBay listings show the item for around $139 plus shipping of up to $195 or for around $175 to $245 with “free postage”.

Crazysales.com.au list the item for $149.97 plus shipping which they showes as $79 to Mt Sheridan in FNQ.and $139 to Weipa so it looks like they will ship anywhere in Qld.

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Are you planning to buy your Christmas groceries online or at the supermarket?

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Buying in person, I prefer to judge the quality myself and sample when permitted to ensure taste, freshness etc.

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I have never shopped on line, and especially with fresh produce I want to be able to see the quality and the size of what I’m buying.
To avoid large crowds I shop early in the morning and on weekdays.
But I know that some shoppers may not have the choice and shopping on line is of great convenience to them.

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I prefer to see and compare items in 3D on a shelf in store rather than try to work out each product using a 2D image. I find seeing a photo isn’t as satisfying as being able to hold it in the flesh while deciding what brand and size of product I want.

I also find it more difficult to read a computer screen to compare products and their labels, providing I remember my glasses when shopping.

And with and increasing sedentary lifestyles, walking the aisles is a way to get some extra steps in a busy life.

I also usually don’t buy fresh produce online…as the independent green grocer doesn’t provide such services. Even if they did, I still prefer to look, smell and touch when selecting fruit and vegetables.

While online may be for some, I am happy to continue doing it the non-digital way.

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Like the rest of you, I prefer to shop for fresh food in person. However, a recent deterioration in health means that I very frequenly cannot make it round the supermarket or fruito, so I need to shop online. Having seen how the coles personal shoppers choose fruit and veg, I wanted to avoid them but I gave that a try recently… disaster… old tomatoes and broken eggs. I had been getting Woolies and the extra cost of delivery is worthwhile. You can leave a note for each item in terms of how you want your item to be. For example… I always ask for a large fresh head of cauliflower, but point out that fresh always beats large (the first time, without the note being left, the cauli was huge, and old and rubbery). I havent had any real issues since I began being specific about things. eg no substitutes in cat food, Toby is too darned fussy, and cream must always have a long expiry. and so on. Works for me.

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I would never consider buying Xmas foods, or any other fresh foods online, unless we were in lockdown and had no other options.

During my regular forays to our local Coles and Woollies stores, I see the online order staff going from one point to another, and they never inspect the quality, or otherwise, of any product.

They simply grab one off the top and put in the bag or bin on their special trolleys.

When I went early to our local Coles the other morning so as to try to get “fresh” greens, they had some great sugar snap peas, but the previous day’s leftover broccoli, as usual, had been dumped on top of the “fresh” broccoli.

I “fished” underneath the pile and managed to find a couple of pieces of “acceptable” quality.

I said to another shopper beside me that the broccoli was rubbish and that he should dig into the bottom of the pile but he just grabbed a piece off the top and replied that he did not care as he did not eat it

And as for product quality, who wants just any ham instead or a really good ham at the same price per kilo?

With items such as dairy, I always ensure that I get the longest dated product and not just ones at the front of the shelves.

In the case of meat, I pick the best looking and longest dated items if there are no mark downs.

With bread, I ensure I get a uniform loaf and not one which has muffin topped or has a weird shape on the base.

With fruit, I cherry pick everything after checking if it even looks fit to purchase.

The only thing that I would trust online shopping for is non-perishables.

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In case anyone is not aware, the fresh ducks and the fresh turkeys that Coles and Woollies have at Xmas are normally dated 26th December and 27th December.

As Xmas day is 1 of only 4 days they are not open in most areas of Qld, they normally drastically discount the remaining stocks during Xmas Eve.

Anyone living in the areas of Qld such as Mt Isa, which will see Coles and Woollies closed from 25.12.2020 to 28.12.2020, should seee some great bargains on fresh poultry and meat late on Xmas Eve.

I have often bought ducks and turkey buffets marked down by 50% and more late in the afternoon, and when we had a chest freezer at our previous residence, I put several turkey buffes and around half a dozen ducks in it one Xmas which we cooked throughout the next year.

Of course, you need to be sure that your local Coles or Woollies won’t sell out before you buy, which I do by visiting the store several times to monitor stock levels and discount amounts.

We live only 2.4 km from our local shopping centre so it takes very little time and fuel for me to do so.

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