Could Choice do a survey on member’s experience with overseas on-line shopping sites? (I’m envisioning something like the mattress or appliance surveys, but with more information such as general category of goods purchased.)
Buying from overseas on-line shopping sites is a massively growing trend, and the number of sites catering to this is burgeoning. Australian buyers, such as myself, have no where to go to find out which sites are ‘reputable’ and reliable.
I’m sure many of Choice’s subscribers have used overseas on-line shopping sites and their experiences may be a good indicator of which ones are safer to use.
I do a fair bit of overseas shopping. Luckily for me the only times I’ve been caught out were on very small cost items. But other than that I look through Australia first then look overseas. But keep in mind the freight costs if you have to return it & where the warranty is. Most local manufacturers won’t items not purchased here. Also bear in mind that quite often a model number of something you want overseas may be different to here. So it still may be available but just under a different model number
I have been shopping online overseas for 6 years now. I mainly use Amazon both US & UK and have had no problems. I also use Macy’s, JC Penny & Nordstroms in the US. I have also used Overstocks.com. I have never had any problems with these suppliers. Living in Tasmania I use online shopping a lot. I am such a fan.
I never used on line shopping until recently when I wanted a perfume that was not available in any stores. I tried everywhere to find this perfume. Finally I found it on EBay and took a chance and bought it. I’m really pleased with the product, it was the original from the UK and the cost was so reasonable. Later I needed cartridges for my printer which are very expensive. I used EBay again and found the exact product much cheaper that buying in any shops.
I would still exercise caution for more expensive items such as electrical etc. and check out the comments on various on line sites that review products and companies.
@meltam I have used DX Deal Extreme for seven years or so . Located in Hong Kong . Free postage . Good prices on a variety of goods . For awhile there some Australian ISP’s noticeably OPTUS ISP were blocking access to it because they were selling brand name items for less than half the price here and also because they had crossbows and fire arms available , Telstra never blocked them , to slack I guess :))… I buy testing meters ,for electrical and sound through them . No probs with quality . They have a sister site called " Made in China " but have never used it .
Thanks @vax2000.
I had a look, and it looks good. Some prices are better than www.aliexpress.com, some are worse. The “Free Expedited Delivery to AU” while not really free is still very good if you want goods in a hurry. Definitely one to keep checking in on.
Thank you again for the tip.
@vax2000 - I found a reference to http://www.gearbest.com/ in PC Authority, where something they reviewed was available from there very cheaply. Similar again.
