The down sides of buying online

I don't like clothes shopping in general never have but I'd rather do it in real life than virtually. Likewise there is joy to be had in having a wander around real streets and real shops. The problem for me has always been the homogenous nature of the modern high street. Not enough independents and too many changes but the internet is killing them too.

I'm making an active effort to move away from online purchasing where I can. It's not always possible and sometimes the cost differential is too much to bear. But I don't see reducing human endeavour to warehouse or delivery drones as being the apex of cultural civilisation. We're becoming disconnected from labour and reduced to wetware in the chain of global finance, it's kind of sad. May as well get in the pod now and hook yourself up because Nike and Co are expecting you to do your shift watching there ads and buying their tat from Amazon.
 
Retro6 said:
That all sounds like a good idea except its not possible to do where I live there is no space to put it plus the outside area is shared by my neighbor who is in a wheelchair so he wouldn't be able to get past. I guess I could ask my Mom if I could put one outside her door but I'm pretty sure the answer will be no.

I don't normally order so many things at once but on this occasion I needed new clothes so I bought a lot but after this it will just be the odd thing here and there where I can go out and not worry about it.
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Do you have a driveway or a garden? Either of those could be used to house a parcel box, and not be in the way of your neighbour. You'd just have to remember to put on your delivery note where to go if not in.
 
This is where a smart doorbell such as the Ring is great - you can speak to the delivery person on your phone and tell them where to stash it if you can't get to the door in time.

The only downside I see to buying online is when something arrives broken, it's not as advertised or some other reason to return it, which can be a bit of a faff.
 
Retro6 said:
I wanted to create this thread about buying online. One of the down sides to buying online is having to waste many hours of the day or days waiting in for deliveries especially when no tracking info provided or the seller takes a week to dispatch goods.

Generally its not so bad if things are being delivered by royal mail because if you miss a delivery then you know its either going to be re-delivered or the parcel will be at the sorting office. If something is being delivered by Hermes and your not in it can be returned back to sender.

Today has been one of those days I've been waiting in all day bored and still no sign of the post man and I have no tracking info despite asking the sellers to provide some details. I've got many deliveries that should be arriving today or tomorrow some will run into next week. Its now the afternoon and still no sign of the postman. I feel like going out but if I do I could miss deliveries or I could continue to wait in and waste the whole day if nothing arrives.

Many people will say "Don't buy online" but that is the only option today because the high street has nothing interesting and its expensive. Nearly everything has moved online so there isn't really an option to not buy online if you want decent things.

I guess getting the things you want and getting things much cheaper has a price and that is time.
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bored retired people should turn their house into an amazon locker but accept all couriers and charge a £1 fee per parcel
 
Mysterae_ said:
This is where a smart doorbell such as the Ring is great - you can speak to the delivery person on your phone and tell them where to stash it if you can't get to the door in time.

The only downside I see to buying online is when something arrives broken, it's not as advertised or some other reason to return it, which can be a bit of a faff.
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That is another down side particularly when buying clothes because you can't try them on before buying so there is always a risk of something not fitting right or looking a bit odd. I only go for brands I'm familiar with that I know will more likely fit. I bought some g star jeans in my size except they were women's jeans and looked really dodgy on me. These were advertised as mens jeans. I don't normally have a problem with G-Star. It happens sometimes and its part of buying clothes online you take a risk.
 
Yeah it is nice to go out and buy stuff its part of the shopping experience. Its part of the reason why I like going to CEX stores to look for bits and pieces. I can imagine they will be closing there stores in the not so distant future to be an online store only. Its one of the last still around.

I went to Curry's the other day because they had 120GB PNY SSD's on sale going cheap so I took the opportunity to go out to a store to buy a couple only to be told that there not available in store, they can only be purchased online. Well I went to McDonalds and had a look around Londons WestEnd but nothing much to see so I went home after a long wonder.

I can see by 2050 90% of people will not be leaving there home because everything will have moved online, including people working from home.
 
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uber soldat said:
Town centres are full of closed shops and pound shops, thankyou Amazon.
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Not amazon's fault is it? It's just online shopping that's killed it, and it's not going to get any better. Not a hard choice for me, sit on sofa click order, wait for for delivery, or cost of driving somewhere, cost of parking, time it takes to walk to shop or shops, then they might not have it in stock, so you have to drive somewhere else, shopping online is a no brainer
 
Haze said:
Not amazon's fault is it? It's just online shopping that's killed it, and it's not going to get any better. Not a hard choice for me, sit on sofa click order, wait for for delivery, or cost of driving somewhere, cost of parking, time it takes to walk to shop or shops, then they might not have it in stock, so you have to drive somewhere else, shopping online is a no brainer
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Totally agree.
 
Haze said:
Not amazon's fault is it? It's just online shopping that's killed it, and it's not going to get any better. Not a hard choice for me, sit on sofa click order, wait for for delivery, or cost of driving somewhere, cost of parking, time it takes to walk to shop or shops, then they might not have it in stock, so you have to drive somewhere else, shopping online is a no brainer
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Except no one else offered next day delivery guaranteed, or even same day, or delivery on Sundays. It was a trend we were going into but if you needed something right now, going to a brick and mortar store still won. It's not entirely Amazon's fault but they put a bloody big jackhammer on the progress. IMO they tipped the balance from "Prefer to stay home and wait a few days" (my agoraphobic preference) to "Never leave the house".
 
You can buy better stuff on ebay. Amazon is ok for new things.

What about going out and socializing? Meeting people when out and about shopping? getting exercise? I guess that is all done online too. More isolation and increase in mental illness in people. Its not healthy. Maybe all this online stuff is for the new generation. I much prefer to get out and about shopping etc rather than sitting on a coach clicking things and sure its nice to do that too but there is no balance between the two. Now days its all over priced undesirable stuff in stores with all the more desirable cheaper stuff online. I'm from a different generation I guess.
 
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BUDFORCE said:
I am the opposite personally.

Shopping at....shops... is my idea of hell. Have to get up, get dressed, leave the house, drive as I live in the middle of nowhere.

Get there, cant find parking, drive around eventually find overpriced parking with hardly any spaces, go to pay, nope, cash no acccepted, download the app (FFS) then try and figure that out. Pay.

Find the shop, get harrased by the staff, can I help you? I am thinking yes, build a bloody car park.

Spend ages not finding what I am looking for to find something, similar, not as good, more expensive to be told, oh yea sorry, thats out of stock, you can order it now we can deliver it to your house the next working day.....

Even clothes I buy online now, mostly from ebay.

Food shopping I get Tesco to deliver it.
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Wow! I loved that in the late 80s and most of the 90s. To be honest to a degree I kind of miss those days. Seeing people you hadn't seen in a while. Hands on goods, reading the items. The in-shop experience when shops carried massive amounts of stock then. Going there and getting nice things with the goods driving back home to unbox. More so the fun of Saturdays. Just like the days of video and game shops. The whole social shopping aspect. Blockbuster and such were the days after school.

It's just not the same anymore downloading stuff.

uber soldat said:
Town centres are full of closed shops and pound shops, thankyou Amazon.
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Yes, that's the depressing part. The Highstreets are mainly cheap junk shops. Poundland, Tattoo parlours, Food and drink shops, very little newsagents with very little stock compared to the 80s/90s. Bet shops are fading away mostly now since it's all online but they used to be everywhere in the 00s. Clothes shops are filtering away as well to a degree. No TV/Hi-Fi shops in my Highstreet. Up until 2006/08. Even now the Bank and one Bank at the bottom of the Highstreet closes at lunchtime these days. One time there used to be 4 - 5.

Even art shops are fading away fast. When one time they were very popular.

Highstreets used to be great places more so during the summer. Not anymore sadly. Everywhere looks so empty and deserted and the people you do see are glued to phones.
 
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