I prefer to buy from Australian sites as if there is a problem it is easier to deal with. Would never buy clothes as I always try on any clothing for fit and comfort. Have made a few purchases from overseas sites but am really cautious what I buy and how much I spend. If I am buying from overseas it is either not available here or it is LOTS cheaper.
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Living in a rural area in WA means that online shopping is extremely useful. I buy books, clothing, toys,knitting wool, household items. I use Peters of Kensington, Booktopia which is Australian owned (not Amazon), Ezybuy, Icebreaker, Bendigo Woollen Mills to name a few. They all provide excellent service, prompt delivery and I have never had any problems.
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I occasionally buy books from the Book Depository on line for my own use in Australia or to send direct to relatives (grandchildren mainly) who live overseas.
Other on line purchases are from Australian vendors but this is rare.
Effdan
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I hate shopping for clothes in stores - flicking through endless racks of garments looking for the right size and colour etc. Change rooms can be hot and smelly, too, and I donāt like to be hassled by service staff, or queue for a long time to purchase. Thatās why I shop online. When I decide the item I need, I search for it by name and browse whatever sites come up. I canāt remember all the sites but I regularly visit Ezibuy (NZ company) for clothes, shoes and bags etc, and household goods such as furniture and linens. They have a very obliging returns policy too. Also Nutrimetics for cosmetics and Pharmwest (USA) are a good source for medications. Iāve bought designer furniture pieces online but only after seeing them in the flesh - theyāre made O/S but sold through local agents. And Freedom Furniture online are good too.
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I purchase baby clothing, womenās wear, craft itemās, mainly brands I am familiar with on trusted siteās.
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I buy my dog products,flea tabs,worm tabs etc and have bought several books online plus some clothing and items I donāt want to hunt the shops for.
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Yes. I do quite a lot of shopping on line, particularly for presents as we live in a rural area without department stores and some specialty stores and there is not a lot of choice.
I have shopped overseas for gifts but the delay in receiving goods has been a problem at times, so I tend to choose companies that ship from Australia, if I can.
I have bought clothing from a UK site and found that the goods were reasonably priced and better quality than those available locally in a similar price range.
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We buy our weekly groceries online, from Aussie Farmers and Woolies. These are local.
I buy computers, electronics, software, ebooks and pharmaceuticals from a number of different online merchants, some local, some overseas.
I have been shopping through eBay for years for a diverse range of items. Again they are from a mix of local and overseas sources.
I started shopping online for things I could not buy locally, and a number of local suppliers now offer online purchasing, so online no longer implies overseas. Price is a consideration for me in making my buying decision. Most online suppliers expressly offer money-back guarantees, but I have never yet been disappointed with any of these transactions.
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I buy many things online as I live in a small rural town nearly an hour from the closest well serviced town.
My experiences have in general been good with items delivered well before I would have been to town to go shopping. The cheaper prices are a big incentive as are the savings on time to go to the shops.
I have purchased floor rugs, bedding, covers for personal electronic equipment, wines, furniture, books, exercise equipment, tools, plumbing parts, electrical parts, camping equipment. I donāt buy clothes or shoes as I think that they need to be tried on before purchase.
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I buy electronics online from overseas retailers.
I do this because there arenāt many retailers of electronic parts in Australia and those that are here are orders of magnitude more expensive plus the service is disgusting.
Why should I pay up to several times the cost for an individual component and have it arrive here in the same timeframe as the identical component at a massively lower price from overseas ?
I can often purchase 2 to 10 times as many of the same component for the same price including postage, as I can from Australian suppliers.
I am 63 and I am on Centrelink payments (not =my= choice!) so every cent matters.
There certainly is not any local supplier to me here in Warwick, Queensland, especially with reasonable prices.
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I reviewed my online purchasing, and our household makes about 100 OS purchases a year, ranging from $1 to about $700 per purchase, and about $4000 total expenditure for them. Over 90% of these purchases are unavailable (with reasonable effort) here, let alone on store shelves. Many are vehicle and maintenance items, rather than common consumables. In most cases, availability (at all) is a much bigger issue than price. In addition, I order items for friends who are not computer savvy, and these items generally fall in the same category. Australia is a small marketplace, and there is much that simply isnāt here. While purchasing from local businesses is good in terms of building relationships and supporting the local economy, and if they have what your need in stock, travel costs in time and operating $ can often exceed any legitimate value of an item (to us). Time is limited, and travelling only to find the item is not in stock is common. Ordering (through a local supplier) means yet another trip, and often the item never appears after a year or more of waiting (too many examples come to mind). More and more businesses are adopting ājust in timeā supply, which means items are not held in stock, and need to appear from interstate, or commonly, overseas sources. Hence, ābuying localā can seem closer to charity than business. A concrete example: I required a large diameter o-ring. I could arrange a local source (great people) to supply ($65), but it will have to come from (at least) interstate, and I will have to drive for 25 minutes each way to pick it up, and it will be neoprene so will again harden in service over a year or two. Alternatively, I can order a silicone one (lasts indefinitely in service) online delivered to my door for under $5, but with slightly longer delay. Another issue with online purchases is risk, for example, I have not gotten one USB memory stick online which has NOT been hacked. Perhaps because we do our homework, only about 1-2% of online transactions have significant issues. Local purchases also have risk, and for us perhaps a bit under 1% of purchases unravel. However (again), some of these have represented our biggest purchase failures (eg, a dishwasher that ceased to even be fixable after only 6 months of service). Iām not sure how typical we are, but that is our experience.
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I regularly shop online because I cannot get what I want in the shops here in Adelaide. This year I have bought art videos and books, sheet music, textbooks and musical instruments, and I also buy craft supplies that I cannot buy locally. The only things I buy locally are electronics, because of the warranty, and I would not be caught dead shopping in Harvey Norman (sorry Gerry, your staff are too ignorant for a mere woman!); my experiences there have all been negative. Iāve given up buying groceries online because of quality issues with the supermarkets, and I do tend to buy things from the UK because Australian snail mail takes such a long time its faster getting something from London than Sydney, and its cheaper postage too. I also use a lot of downloads these days. I could not follow my hobbies and interests without the internet because there is simply not enough of a market in South Australia for the things I am interested in, and we are also at the end of the distribution chain here with magazines from the US often taking up to 3 months to arrive!
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I do shop online a lotā¦books, parts for mowers, groceries, and many other itemsā¦By the way I found Harvey Norman fantastic here in Lismore. Best prices, courteous staff and I never had a problem with an item that was not working. Just changed it or gave me a refund. I shipped around before and bargained with them and always get the best prices.
Perfumes that I buy on Ebay from an Australian supplier on Ebay are cheaper than in Paris or duty free. They genuine articles and never missed a beat.
Cartridges is another example, a great product from Australia, fast post and very good quality even though they are not the original brand at exorbitant prices.
I also do organic groceries from Sydney and at times some products are not first class they help in many ways to make it better. Been doing it for 2 years now and they know meā¦I am quite vociferous if it is not up to scratch.
Local Coles does home deliveries , again though a little more expensive I save in going there, roaming like a zombie on these huge surfaces where you end up spending more anyway. it is practical, convenient and always get what I want. HArdly been disappointed. Mind you I rarely buy vegs as my local farmersā market is just great.
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A major portion of my on-line purchasing consists of traditional music CDs from Ireland and Scotland, with a great many of the songs being sung in Irish or Scottish Gaelic. You just cannot get that kind of music in Australia. This is also true of some of the more special interest books and some classical music CDs.
I do buy quite a few books from overseas online, but I buy quite a few locally as well. Only occasionally do I buy clothing items from o.s. and sometimes I buy specialised items for use in bushwalking. For example, I had to buy a map case from overseas because the ones in the local stores had shoulder straps that were too short and so thin they would not last five minutes in thick scrub.
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I bought a frig, a TV, and a bicycle after scoping most of them at local shops from Australian Online companies. Still waiting for the bike, Kogan, but Dick Smith and the other worked well. Just could not afford the overheads. And anything I can do to avoid AusPost charges on my pensioner income, I will.
They canāt even use my pre-pension stamps equitably. Hello BookDepository, and ebooks.
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Hi Shorty.
I understand why you are buying the drugs but how do you know they are actually the real drug and not , say, some placebo or lesser amount of the active ingredient?
I frequently order Scrubby type yarn from South Korea and USA for craft work. I have not found an Australian supplier for these yarns. I also order some knitting machine parts, motorcycle parts and CDs from overseas as I find these items not available here. I did try to order a particular motorcycle part here but after many phone calls and moving delivery date I cancelled the order and reordered from Amazon and had the part in about one week. I also order Kindle ebooks from Amazon.
regards Merril
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Hello, I do quite a bit of online shopping (e.g. books, clothes) and have not had any problems with these items. But thereās 1 story with buying taps you might find interesting.
I wanted to replace taps for 2 basin sets, side by side in bathroom. Couldnāt find any similar to bath taps in shops here, so checked online and found some nice ones from US company, Beddinginn. Decided to order just 1 set first in case there were problems. Sure enough, the tap set took 3 months to reach me, came from China, was incomplete (2 connectors missing), no paperwork, no list of contents. I emailed to ask for the connectors and told, they were standard and therefore not part of set. So for next purchase (i.e. for 2nd set) I decided to use Paypal, with their delayed payment option. Straight after ordering I emailed to ask about delivery time, was told 3 days, waited 2 weeks, emailed again, told another 3 days. So I let Paypal know there was problem, and surpriseā¦ taps arrived in 2 days, with ALL the necessary connectors.
2 lessons from that: some online purchases can go wrong and Paypal delayed payment protection can be useful.
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I purchase lots of items on line from gifts, vitamins, makeup, hair products, shoes groceries etc. shipping is always free if you spend over the limit which is always around $100 and it frees up my weekend.
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I buy clothes and sheets from Landsend in America. Their clothes are really good quality, look good and last for years. They have frequent sales with excellent discounts. Their down jackets, tee shirts, jeans, silk winter undergarments, tugless tanks (swimsuits) and watershoes are particularly recommended The linen sheets and the 6 oz portuguese flannel sheets are superb. If you are not happy with any of your purchase you can send it back to Australian address and get an exchange or refund. Delivery tine is sbout 2 weeks.
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