madness of online shopping

TigerUK · 3 Apr 2011 at 20:43

there was a time when you could get legitimate bargains online, however now that onlie shopping has become the norm prices are increasing it seems.

I bought some cable ties off the bay, not even considering the possiblility that my local hypermarket may have them in stock. I bought them off the bay for £3 delivered, and then went off to asda for my local shop, I found the same ties there for 99p!!

**ps I hope I'm not breaking any rules here by naming companies and prices, it shouldnt really be an issue the product categories are not supplied by ocuk**

I remember that I bought a seiko automatic watch, and I needed to buy a link tool to resize the strap. I bought a link pin remover off the bay for £7, I then realised I reaally need the product badly and couldnt wait two more days to get it, so i emailed the seler to cancel my purchase and went out. I went to a high street electronic hobby supplies store, and found the link pin tool, packed with around 7 other useful watch repair tools bundled into one neat package, for £14.99. yes it was more expenvie, but it was so much more value than single tool I bought from ebay.

I've noticed more and more now, that a lot of widgets that you buy online can be a lot cheaper from high street stores.

Of course, ocuk is an exception, I think it's by far the cheapest and best value overclockers suppliers in the whole of the interwebz. I'm generally talking about other general items, not found in OCuk.

Post your stories if you got some.

Glaucus · 3 Apr 2011 at 20:45

That's you failing at shopping, still plenty of bargains. In fact nearly everything is cheaper online. Just some people only look at eBay and assume it will automatically be cheap.

Dmack · 3 Apr 2011 at 20:52

games are still definitely cheaper online

Cleeecooo · 3 Apr 2011 at 20:56

OcUK is definitely NOT the cheapest. The cheap ones are mostly crap tho

Tomsk · 3 Apr 2011 at 20:56

AcidHell2 said:
That's you failing at shopping, still plenty of bargains. In fact nearly everything is cheaper online. Just some people only look at eBay and assume it will automatically be cheap.

Even if the stuff is not cheaper online, real world stores require you to go there (transport costs) to get the item. Also there's the amount of personal time you have to spend to visit the store.

Morba · 3 Apr 2011 at 20:58

Online is cheaper, you are forgetting to factor in postage/shipping costs that's all.

TigerUK · 3 Apr 2011 at 21:05

Cleeecooo said:
OcUK is definitely NOT the cheapest. The cheap ones are mostly crap tho

ocuk products are higher end of the market, but for any given product ocuk tends to be the cheapest, whenever i do a product search i end up with google shopping results and many times i am pleasantly surprised to find ocuk on the list with the cheapest price,

Cleeecooo · 3 Apr 2011 at 21:07

TigerUK said:
ocuk products are higher end of the market, but for any given product ocuk tends to be the cheapest, whenever i do a product search i end up with google shopping results and many times i am pleasantly surprised to find ocuk on the list with the cheapest price,

when I was shopping for a graphics card, OcUK was beaten by some of its larger competitors but they had rubbish RMA's. Besides, Gibbo has some ****ing crazy deals ATM so that makes up for it

nydryl · 3 Apr 2011 at 21:11

You can get bargains online and you can get bargains in shops. Just look in both places before you buy.

Also when I used to be into building and upgrading my computer OcUK was rarely the cheapest. It was reliable though which counts for something and free shipping can make a difference.

Greebo · 4 Apr 2011 at 09:54

Online is generally cheaper but for 99p items the postage kills you.

I have a few brand new bits and bobs and not even worth listing on Ebay/MM as I got them with free postage from ocuk and at £1.49, how much am I going to get after postage and packaging?

Ebay isn't always the cheapest but people think so and just buy from there assuming it is.

For example I was looking at buying a pressure washer recently and screwfix had them at £150 inc free delivery but the same ones were £179 plus postage (£10 to £15) on Ebay.

alx · 4 Apr 2011 at 10:28

This seems like a classic case of assuming ebay is cheaper/the cheapest....it's often not. Always look around as many places as possible, Google Shopping is often useful for this.

Edrof · 4 Apr 2011 at 10:29

Steam sales are bloomin' fantastic, too. Pretty much all the bigger titles I've bought in the past year or two have been £1.75 or £3. Mass Effect, SupCom, Witcher, GTA IV, Orange Box, Bioshocks and so on. Many of them are a little bit older now but I still see them in certain high street shops for £20+ sometimes.

scorza · 4 Apr 2011 at 10:52

TigerUK said:
I bought some cable ties off the bay, not even considering the possiblility that my local hypermarket may have them in stock. I bought them off the bay for £3 delivered, and then went off to asda for my local shop, I found the same ties there for 99p!!

So you paid £2 for the privilege of not having to go to Asda. I'd say that was a bargain.

GravyMonster · 4 Apr 2011 at 10:54

TigerUK said:
I bought some cable ties off the bay, not even considering the possiblility that my local hypermarket may have them in stock.

There's your problem.

Ebay is full of overpriced, mis-described tat as peddled by unscrupulous money grabbers who offer no form of comeback whatsoever if/when something goes wrong. And don't even get me started on what kind of knuts' Paypal are.

Any reputable online retailer is a very good place to do business IMO.

stoofa · 4 Apr 2011 at 12:07

Keep an eye on hotukdeals for some - well deals.
I recently bought a 100cl bottle of a male fragrance for £14.99 at an online companies sale (they also have High Street stores).
Right now you cannot buy a bottle this large for less than around £50.

There are deals out there, but many of them are time limited.

Flare · 4 Apr 2011 at 12:39

I would say your ebay skills are lacking, £3 for cable ties?

I got some extension tubes for my camera off ebay from China for under £5 including delivery, where as the cheapest in England as around £15, How do they make any money on that?!?

matthab · 4 Apr 2011 at 12:52

Of course, ocuk is an exception, I think it's by far the cheapest and best value overclockers suppliers in the whole of the interwebz. I'm generally talking about other general items, not found in OCuk.

You obvisoly dont look around then. Anything I want to buy i find cheaper than OCUK. Once upon a time OCuk used to sell unique and hard to get products. Now everyones caught up and has slashed there prices. OCuk has failed to see this...

Other shop P67 UD7 £275.
Ocuk (Last time I check was) £299?

arknor · 4 Apr 2011 at 12:56

Flare said:
I would say your ebay skills are lacking, £3 for cable ties?

a quick google of "cable ties" gets them for cheaper...
OP is seriously rubbish

Apopcalyptic · 4 Apr 2011 at 12:56

stoofa said:
Keep an eye on hotukdeals for some - well deals.
I recently bought a 100cl bottle of a male fragrance for £14.99 at an online companies sale (they also have High Street stores).
Right now you cannot buy a bottle this large for less than around £50.

There are deals out there, but many of them are time limited.

I'm sorry, but 'male fragrance'? Is that manly fluids bottled and offered for tender?

Goberpiles316 · 4 Apr 2011 at 12:56

Depends prices on ebay used to be cheap as it was mostly second hand items, but now most of the items advertsied are brand new, buy now etc not start at a quid and see what happens.