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Thread: Internet shopping

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    Internet shopping

    Years ago, in about 1999, I was with an organisation that was about to promote online shopping. Unfortunately I think that they were a bit "too early" in a sense. I kind of lost touch with them.

    What online shopping would you recommend to us...what are the products, and is it an enjoyable experience? How can you pay for the goods/services?

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    Papa Smurf
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    Re: Internet shopping

    Some online shopping sites are terrible even now. My pet hates: Shops that dont tell you postage until the very end, have features that don't work, shoping carts that time out after 2 mins so you lose everything in your basket, have browser specific sites, have a terrible layout and "hide" the checkout button from you, have no decent search feature..etc...

    Good

    among the best are Amazon (books,dvds,toys,music..etc..), Dabs (electronic stuff), CDwow (cd's, dvd's), AllofMp3 (downloadable music)...etc..please add your own to this thread..

    Bad

    Even ones i use regularly, could be improved - ebuyer.co.uk is a great bargain shop for a lot of computer and electronic stuff BUT their description of items is sometimes shockingly bad and their search is not very clever at all.

    Comparison Sites

    Shopping comparison sites can be useful but are one of the most annoying things on the web at the same time. why? becasue a search for an item or a review of an item invariably comes up with pages of links to these sites, which in turn allow you to search again when you realise the initial page is not quite what you searched form . What we really want is a list of places we can buy from. So for that reason its a good idea to START with a comparison site rather than a search engine - kelkoo, dealtime, froogle - there's plenty of them...

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    Registered User Tessalicious's Avatar
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    Re: Internet shopping

    Play.com is really good for CDs - they don't always have quite as wide a selection as amazon, but will always deliver within three days for no extra charge and are often well discounted as well. I always look here for a single CD purchase before anywhere else.

    I had issues with a recent order (a random US photographic equipment site, no prizes for guessing why) where it didn't tell me until I'd actually paid that the expected delivery date would be January 2nd, despite the quote for international delivery being 5-7 days and me ordering it on Monday last week.

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    Registered User Beowulf's Avatar
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    Re: Internet shopping

    www.photobox.co.uk excellent for prints of digital photographs. cheap and very very fast .

    http://www.7dayshop.com a great site for bargins but a very poor site to navigate though. Their rechargeable batteries and Flash memory deals are excellent

    other votes for Play.com, amazon and Cdwow.

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    Re: Internet shopping

    Quote Originally Posted by Dreadful Scathe View Post
    Shopping comparison sites can be useful but are one of the most annoying things on the web at the same time. why? becasue a search for an item or a review of an item invariably comes up with pages of links to these sites, which in turn allow you to search again when you realise the initial page is not quite what you searched form . What we really want is a list of places we can buy from. So for that reason its a good idea to START with a comparison site rather than a search engine - kelkoo, dealtime, froogle - there's plenty of them...
    What we really want is for Google to come up with a way of notifying us which links on a search results page are going to take us to another search engine. Then we can ignore them. Better still would be if Google's crawlers didn't add those sites to the database at all. For one thing, sometimes (because some of these sites disguise their URL so that you can't tell what they are) I click through only to find out that the thing I'm looking for cannot be found on that search engine - a double waste of time. Grrr.

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    Re: Internet shopping

    Quote Originally Posted by Barry Shnikov View Post
    What we really want is for Google to come up with a way of notifying us which links on a search results page are going to take us to another search engine. Then we can ignore them. Better still would be if Google's crawlers didn't add those sites to the database at all. For one thing, sometimes (because some of these sites disguise their URL so that you can't tell what they are) I click through only to find out that the thing I'm looking for cannot be found on that search engine - a double waste of time. Grrr.
    Yes indeed. A lot of comparison sites somehow manage to show up for specific requests even although they have no results for that request. Very annoying. Im toying with the idea of creating a search engine front that automatically restricts known comparison sites from results...hmm...I know I'd use it.

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    Re: Internet shopping

    For computer stuff

    http://uk.insight.com/index.php Beware bold prices are plus VAT

    For Tools … nut screws washers and bolts

    http://www.screwfix.com

    Both above have fantastic next day delivery sevice

    Photographic accessories
    http://www.speedgraphic.co.uk
    If you get lost on the web site just give them a ring and they will talk you through it
    Delivery might take a week but they really know their stuff

    And for just about everything else

    http://www.ebay.co.uk/

    Or Amazon

    BEWARE

    Only problem with Internet shopping is, if they deliver when you are out

    I always have everything delivered to work

    The only things I don’t by on line are food and clothes

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    Re: Internet shopping

    Quote Originally Posted by Dreadful Scathe View Post
    . .......Im toying with the idea of creating a search engine front that automatically restricts known comparison sites from results....
    Excellent ideal should put Google out of business over night

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    Re: Internet shopping

    Quote Originally Posted by Dreadful Scathe View Post
    Yes indeed. A lot of comparison sites somehow manage to show up for specific requests even although they have no results for that request. Very annoying. Im toying with the idea of creating a search engine front that automatically restricts known comparison sites from results...hmm...I know I'd use it.


    I can usually find a word that I can exclude from the search which removes these results from my search – something like "-compare" or "-review".
    Let your mind go and your body will follow. – Steve Martin, LA Story

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    Registered User Lynn's Avatar
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    Re: Internet shopping

    Quote Originally Posted by philsmove View Post
    Only problem with Internet shopping is, if they deliver when you are out

    I always have everything delivered to work

    The only things I don’t by on line are food and clothes
    I also get deliveries to work as even if I'm not here they will be left at my desk. Aside from some Ebay shopping (mostly books), I haven't got that much over the internet, but recently ordered something from a dance wear site. One of the items didn't fit so I had to return it, and the whole process was really simple and straightforward with fast delivery.

    I did recently do a search and comparison on a pair of dance shoes I might like to buy, to see the best price I could get, and it was an interesting comparion in terms of how easy the sites were to use.

    I really, really dislike sites that won't tell me postage till after they ask for my name and address - I usually simply don't bother bying from those sites.

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    Re: Internet shopping

    Quote Originally Posted by Ste View Post
    Years ago, in about 1999, I was with an organisation that was about to promote online shopping. Unfortunately I think that they were a bit "too early" in a sense. I kind of lost touch with them.

    What online shopping would you recommend to us...what are the products, and is it an enjoyable experience? How can you pay for the goods/services?
    Ste - am curious as to who the us is that you refer to?

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    Re: Internet shopping

    Quote Originally Posted by Twirly View Post
    Ste - am curious as to who the us is that you refer to?
    us.. as in Us us. You know you , Me , them, everybody us.

    True it's hard to suggest places to shop unless we know who and what we're shopping for.

    Latex Palace? Spanners Direct?

    one sensible one though (be warned.. even the web pages make you gain a few pounds)

    http://www.hotelchocolat.co.uk/

    *licks screen*

    Not cheap, but delivery is good (deliver in boxes designed to go through letter boxes)

    and

    http://www.flyingflowers.com/ a lot cheaper than Interflora !!

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    Registered User Twirly's Avatar
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    Re: Internet shopping

    Quote Originally Posted by Beowulf1970 View Post
    one sensible one though (be warned.. even the web pages make you gain a few pounds)

    http://www.hotelchocolat.co.uk/

    *licks screen*

    Not cheap, but delivery is good (deliver in boxes designed to go through letter boxes)
    Funny you should mention them. They have a shop on Moorgate and I was just in there - they only opened a couple of weeks ago. I might have been Christmas shopping, then again, I might have just been browsing...

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    Re: Internet shopping

    Quote Originally Posted by Dreadful Scathe View Post
    among the best are Amazon
    I've used them many times.. they're very often the cheapest and deliver when they say they will.


    Quote Originally Posted by philsmove View Post
    For Tools … nut screws washers and bolts

    http://www.screwfix.com

    Both above have fantastic next day delivery sevice
    too

    I made an order of a few assorted items at 4pm on Monday and it arrived before 9am yesterday!

    Quote Originally Posted by Dreadful Scathe View Post
    A lot of comparison sites somehow manage to show up for specific requests even although they have no results for that request.
    Very oddly, I was looking up 'cradle cap (stuff baby's get on their head) and I got an offer to 'BUY CRADLE CAP online at ebay.com'
    MODERATOR AT YOUR SERVICE
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    Re: Internet shopping

    I am outraged, Im never shopping at ebay again today.

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    Re: Internet shopping

    Quote Originally Posted by Beowulf1970 View Post
    http://www.7dayshop.com a great site for bargins but a very poor site to navigate though. Their rechargeable batteries and Flash memory deals are excellent


    Bought some spare batteries for my Canon DSLR and flash memory, all really cheap from there

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