*** FREE SHIPPING *** TRIAL STARTS NOW! Please read carefully for Terms & Conditions
- Thread starter RTB
- Start date
Problem is though that if everyone takes this kind of attitude the free delivery won't make any sense to their business. Would be nice to have the benefit of a free delivery for small orders when you only need something quick. Open to abuse though and would soon eat any profits.
Yup for the trial at least it is open to any order value.
Sounds great, give my compliments to who ever made the decision to set it up!
It was a question, not a kind of "attitude". Remember that they are a business, who set up the T&C of this offer themselves. With free shipping my order works out cheaper with OcUK than any other retailer, so they get my hard earned money. It really is as simple as that.
Last edited:
Hello
I placed my order today at 12:25 and I've logged into my account to see...
Order was shipped to: xxxxx xxxxxxxxx
Order Status: COMPLETE
Does that mean it is on its way for tomorrows delivery, and shouldn't I have a tracking number for City Link sent by email..?
I rang the shop at 4:45pm and was told by the lady that she will send me a confirmation email right away, but none has been received.
I placed my order today at 12:25 and I've logged into my account to see...
Order was shipped to: xxxxx xxxxxxxxx
Order Status: COMPLETE
Does that mean it is on its way for tomorrows delivery, and shouldn't I have a tracking number for City Link sent by email..?
I rang the shop at 4:45pm and was told by the lady that she will send me a confirmation email right away, but none has been received.
Sounds great, give my compliments to who ever made the decision to set it up!
It was a question, not a kind of "attitude". Remember that they are a business, who set up the T&C of this offer themselves. With free shipping my order works out cheaper with OcUK than any other retailer, so they get my hard earned money. It really is as simple as that.
I meant no offence and backed up that it would be an ideal situation so no need to be touchy. At the end of the day it was a question intended to lead to a certain action, hence attitude was my chosen phrase. I could have said "followed that kind of plan" or any other similar phrasing if that would have helped.
Regardless it doesn't change the fact that if lots of people use the free delivery on small orders then OCUK will lose money and stop the offer. Most IT kit is sold with margins under 20% and delivery costs around £5. As such any free delivery order under £25 is probably taken at a loss. This can be balanced out if the customer regularly places orders worth a few hundred pounds with you. I would imagine this open trial to the regular users of their forums is to gauge whether free delivery is realistic and what restrictions will be necessary to stop it being abused. As such by using it to get small, split orders you should bear in mind that you are probably just reducing the chances of it becoming a useful permanent addition to the OCUK services.
I wasn't being touchy, a lot can be read into text on a forum when it's just not there.
Most of the smaller orders would go by Royal Mail 1st Class as stated in the opening post, which is very cheap compaired to City Link. Anything valued at under £34 is perfectly safe to go 1st Class and I’m sure this covers all of the small orders you mention. I really don't think they would make a loss on any (or at least many) orders, it wouldn't be in there interests to do so, their margins are bound to cover postage for the free offers with some room for profit. I'm sure the business they are getting where they wouldn't normally (due to some some other retailers being cheaper on certain products) balances it out.
If push came to shove I'm sure that they would just introduce a minimum order requirement for the offer, which I like many other people wouldn't mind.
You can't really imply that my single small order is going to cause the offer to disappear because they have chosen not to have a minimum order requirement! Do you really think they would rather my business go elsewhere? Just because they are not making the same amount of profit?
To be fair the free shipping available at two competitors is a large part of the reason I use them far more than OCUK, and the trade credit account off course
Exactly, don't think OcUK came up with this type of offer. They are doing it to help benifit their large community, increase order volume and to remain competitive.
Last edited:
Soldato
- Joined
- 15 Feb 2003
- Posts
- 10,173
- Location
- Europe
Similar to what what some other well known forums/retailers do.
Awesome that makes ordering form OCUK more competitive again.
Awesome that makes ordering form OCUK more competitive again.
I fully understand that more can be read into forum messages than is there, hence why I stated that no offence was meant with the word "attitude". The fact that you "quoted" my phrase back at me suggested it had bothered you and now the word "touchy" has caused a similar affect
. My girlfriend will confirm I am rubbish at apologising, even though that is what was intended 
By the time you add in recorded delivery (72p) and allow for the weight and size of packages, very few will come in at under £3. For instance a DVD ROM weighs around 1KG before packing, that would cost £4.63 to send with a franked mail account, yet ones are available on OCUK for about £10. Anything with a bit of size or weight will then likely be a city link order, hence about £6-£8. These sort of figures clearly don't add up.
With regards other retailers sometimes being cheaper consider that not all retailers have bought all items at the same rate. Some retailers may have bought a large quantity of a certain item or helped a supplier clear stock and have got a good deal in the process. Alternatively one retailer may just not have the buying power in general or may just have poor buyers (though given some of the deals of the week I think OCUK can definitely find a bargain when they want to).
Clearly that is quite a likely scenario. Would be nicer though if that didn't have to happen because the offer was used sensibly
I am not trying to imply that at all, this is why I said:
I am trying to make people aware of the risk and costs associated with this. Clearly if you are a regular purchaser here then the occasional small order should not be a problem. Unfortunately though, if the result of the trial is that everyone starts splitting their order into little pieces so they can save a couple of quid shopping around, it will likely disappear. For instance the abuse of the AVForums free delivery on hotdealsuk and the like has led to it being taken away.
Agreed, it is definately becoming common these days so it's good that OCUK aren't allowing themselves to lose business over it. OCUK has always had the best product range and anything on the "Offers Of the Week" is usually among the best prices for it from any retailer. Rest of the stock is roughly middle of the road pricing and it is rare that they are far off the mark. All they need to do now is send out the 10% discounts every week and they would take the whole market
No harm done, just seemed like you told me off for asking a simple question! I'm sure it wasn't just me who wanted to know.
That's true, but they don't have to use Recorded delivery and high users would get discounts from both Royal Mail and City Link. I think you will find that on 95% of orders with free postage OcUK would be making a healthy profit. The increase in order volume would surely make up for any that don't.
I'm perfectly aware why some retailers are cheaper than others!
What I'm saying is that above all else price is what I (and many other buyers) order on. OcUK have some great prices on certain products, but often come very close to other retailers when including postage.
That's true it would be good if it stayed that way, but it's only useful if people actually do place some orders with low values on them. Otherwise you might as well have a minimum order requirement.
That's true, but they don't have to use Recorded delivery and high users would get discounts from both Royal Mail and City Link. I think you will find that on 95% of orders with free postage OcUK would be making a healthy profit. The increase in order volume would surely make up for any that don't.
I'm perfectly aware why some retailers are cheaper than others!
What I'm saying is that above all else price is what I (and many other buyers) order on. OcUK have some great prices on certain products, but often come very close to other retailers when including postage.
That's true it would be good if it stayed that way, but it's only useful if people actually do place some orders with low values on them. Otherwise you might as well have a minimum order requirement.
We did the no minimum order value on the trial for this very reason, see what people did when given free roam.
Yes it costs money but as long as the offer generally shows benefit to us then its good for everyone, thankfully I think it is although we will not have the full story until we close the trial.
Yes it costs money but as long as the offer generally shows benefit to us then its good for everyone, thankfully I think it is although we will not have the full story until we close the trial.
Associate
- Joined
- 15 Feb 2004
- Posts
- 318
Free shipping and a 10% off voucher couldnt have been better timed as my pc started to play up!
A great excuse for a rebuild! and a shopping cart of £800 ready to go.
Now are we likely to see and Q9550 E0's before the time runs out...
A great excuse for a rebuild! and a shopping cart of £800 ready to go.
Now are we likely to see and Q9550 E0's before the time runs out...
And can I waffle my way up to 250 posts before the end of the trial without upseting too many people (after lurking here for years)
Glad that the trial is going well Yewen, think that some sort of pre-requisit is definately a good idea though (you don't really want that 300 hotdeals orders for a cheap DVD-RW with free delivery I'd imagine). All you have to do now is sort a nice and simple credit account for my company like the toerags begining with E, and you can take a much larger portion of my business (oh and you could do with some sort of "Overclockers Basics Range" or similar cos I just can't justify Quad cores for word processing)
Glad that the trial is going well Yewen, think that some sort of pre-requisit is definately a good idea though (you don't really want that 300 hotdeals orders for a cheap DVD-RW with free delivery I'd imagine). All you have to do now is sort a nice and simple credit account for my company like the toerags begining with E, and you can take a much larger portion of my business
(oh and you could do with some sort of "Overclockers Basics Range" or similar cos I just can't justify Quad cores for word processing)Rent the office out as a gaming lan at the weekends - have you considered a nice 4850 to go with your quad cores?
And can I waffle my way up to 250 posts before the end of the trial without upseting too many people (after lurking here for years)
Glad that the trial is going well Yewen, think that some sort of pre-requisit is definately a good idea though (you don't really want that 300 hotdeals orders for a cheap DVD-RW with free delivery I'd imagine). All you have to do now is sort a nice and simple credit account for my company like the toerags begining with E, and you can take a much larger portion of my business
We are already in the process of doing B2B services.
Pop a call in to the sales team and ask to speak with the B2B team and we can tell you where we are at, unfortunately not fully rolling yet with everything but certainly have something to offer!
my 2 bits came today (hd and m-atx mobo).
as for the problem of people buying cheap items just to take advantage of free shipping - just set the min order at a certain level and it solves the problem.
I wouldn't have a problem if it was set at 50quid...
as for the problem of people buying cheap items just to take advantage of free shipping - just set the min order at a certain level and it solves the problem.
I wouldn't have a problem if it was set at 50quid...