Shopping online.

Dry_bean.

Ross Gittins has certainly hit the nail on the head with his observations in this well researched article.
Wonder what the buying habits of Crema members are?

http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/society-and-culture/mouse-is-mightier-than-the-stores-20110531-1feee.html

Rider

Hey DB, multi question poll, but we are only able to check one box. I wanted to check "from overseas" and "seldom" but I can only do one or the other.

Dry_bean.

on 1306913135:

Hey DB, multi question poll, but we are only able to check one box. I wanted to check "from overseas" and "seldom" but I can only do one or the other.

G'day Rider, I realised that after setting it up so changed the questions :-[ Cheers, DB.

Rider

cool

shape_shifter

We buy from wherever we can get what we're looking for, for the best price  ;D This will be a good one for you all to read: we just ordered something from the US $90 plus approximately $20 shipping, AUS price $400 not shipped !!! BUT get this, the product from the US is the geniune part, brand new, and the AUS part is a reproduction!!!

Dry_bean.

on 1306915090:

This will be a good one for you all to read: we just ordered something from the US $90 plus approximately $20 shipping, AUS price $400 not shipped !!! BUT get this, the product from the US is the geniune part, brand new, and the AUS part is a reproduction!!!

I'm not in the least bit surprised.

admin

yes have to say, having just returned from teh US - it amazes me that we pay $250 for a pair of running shoes that are $120 in the shops in the states!!

Dry_bean.

on 1306925448:

yes have to say, having just returned from teh US - it amazes me that we pay $250 for a pair of running shoes that are $120 in the shops in the states!!

Try Rockports here for A$230 same thing in the US $80.

Koffee_Kosmo

My girls buy shoes mainly KK

Rider

A year ago.... Levi's 501's in a sports store (Sports Academy, Lafayette La) for USD 35..... Asics that are $240 here - USD 60... Visited my brother and did alright - recouped some of the airfare I guess  :D Late last year, a grinder that is $1300 here,  $850 on the doorstep from a retailer in Italy  ::) I had never bought anything online from overseas before this one, but  ::)

Bottom Line

Went looking around for acoustic guitar strings that I like. $20 per packet at the local store, also their online price. Best online price in Aus? $13.99. Set of 6 delivered to my door from the USA - $49, about $8.20 each set. Sounds like the article suggests. I can just understand the $13.99 but $20 is just taking the piss. Today I went get a electrical connector. In store $110.52. I asked "What?" Online store that is located in Melbourne, same connector, same brand, delivered for $28. >:(

Lacehim

I went looking for a new scanner so that I can get rid of the masses of paper.  Decided on a Fujitsu ScanSnap S1300.  The cheapest I can buy this item in Australia is $388 + delivery.  On Amazon.com in the US it was $249 (delivered free to any state in the US by the way) or about $40 to Australia.  The scanner is powered by USB, so it's not like you have to worry about the power difference.  I even emailed the Australia Distributor and their only comment about the high Australian price was to ask Fujitsu!  ??? It still amazes me that in Australia companies are the first to complain when you buy offshore, but looking at prices globally their prices suck in a few retail areas. Personally I love to buy local, but I don't see why I should pay 30% or so more for something just because it has an Australia warrenty.  The excuses that companies come up with for ripping off the average Aussie really just reinforces by belief that they are taking us for ride. I've purchased stuff form the US & UK, very quick postage too.

Brett H

What annoys me most is when I buy a music score locally it can take weeks for it to arrive from the "Sydney Warehouse" yet the same score can be here in sometimes under a week from Amazon for half the price.  Working for an education institution I feel a moral obligation to shop locally where possible but for slightly obscure purchases or non-education musical/operatic/classical scores I am consistently forced to look OS for reliability of product availability and service/transport.  I sometimes feel that many sheet music sellers don't stock items but advertise Amazon +25%+GST and simply wait for an order before placing theirs. Sure storage costs money but don't complain if the general public gets wise and cuts out the middle man.  I want to shop locally and largely I do until I feel I'm being taken advantage of.  I am lucky because I have recently found a wonderful local education music supplier whose service is quick and efficient.  I direct all purchases and purchase enquiries to them as a result in the hope that they'll stay in business, grow and fill my particular niche market. Sure they aren't always as cheap but their product is value added with ease of accessibility and transaction. More retailers like this and the Internet may be less of a threat to that poor Mr Harvey!

Muscles

Why would you not shop online? Take MyCuppa for example (hope you don't mind Jeff)... great prices, great product and prompt service. I shopped online on his site last night at 10pm, was in and out in less than 2 minutes, a couple of minutes later I got an email asking how fresh I wanted my beans ie ready for consumption immediately or a few days after their arrival. At 10:26am today I got a notification by email that my order was complete. It doesn't get any better than that. So why would I put in more time, effort and money to get a similar product from an actual store? So I can smell the beans first? I would say 97% of my shopping is done online. I know the Fastway, FEDEX, AusPost, and AAE guys for my local area all by their first names not to mention all the ladies at the local PO. The only problems I see with it are when you want to try-before-you-buy. Soon you will be limited for choice. I know the owners of the local GoodGuys and Drummond Golf stores so I'll use them as an example. GoodGuys sell online and most of their products are purchased after research "online" has been done. Either that or a friend recommends that someone buy a product so they are still going strong. Drummond, I have heard it mentioned that they should charge a club-fitting fee and then take it off the end price if the clubs are bought in their store - this was to combat the people who want to try it in store and then buy for less online. Don't think they have done it but I reckon they should and I can see many other retail stores doing something similar in the next year or two. Don't get me started on Hardly Normal...

mycuppa

Thanks for the feedback Marc. Online takes a huge amount of effort to run - it's literally 24x7 and to be very honest it can wear you down (it's a 90+hr a week job). In my mind, it's much tougher than a retail store where people come to you - the number of parcels, labels, phone calls, emails, etc. per order can be quite high - and then of course you need good back-end processes to support it. One of the biggest bugbears I hear is that people expect online to be massively cheaper and at the same time complain about postage charges and my favorite are the people who wait till they run out of coffee and then scream for escalated, VIP service at 5:15pm forcing us to rush towards a 6pm lodgement deadline. The reality is there is nothing cheap about running an online business. You just cannot run on the smell of an oily rag and some people treat you as if you should be selling your products at or below cost. There is a very ugly side of online selling which I will not get into. When it comes down to it.........there are very few differences between online and retail businesses - it's just a mindset and market approach that is different. Too much is played up by the press looking for an edgy angle in any story to create unnecessary sensationalism and drama. Retail is dead ? - no way.  I pay a mortgage on 1 factory and rent on a second factory. We have the same cost in plant and equipment, cost of goods and marketing overheads as a typical coffee company - really there is no difference, just a goto market.

Muscles

No worries Jeff, I'll tell it as I see it and I must say I have had asimilar experience recently with Ministry of Grounds and a few other coffee related vendors. Quite simply it's good and prompt service. My online shopping is primarily for convenience with my staples and gadgets - cheaper prices and more choice are often perks that coincide with shopping online. Many online sales sites are easily setup and operate without the need for separate business premises. This means you get more punters opening stores. More punters = more competition and before long the prices drop. Prices drop and you get more retailers complaining. FWIW I run an online store for aquarium products. Most goods are drop shipped so there is nearly zero stock holding. Items ranging in price from $5-$5000 dollars. Seeing markups first hand and knowing the lengths that both the retail stores and the distributors themselves have gone to to keep online stores from getting access to a product range really opens your eyes. When I started the store I applied for accounts with around 80 different distributors and ended up getting 4 accounts set up - the rest have a "we don't deal with online" policy and the government allow this. Then on the other hand they try to make it difficult to buy from the sources overseas - go figure. Yeah the media love to hype it up but the retailers don't do themselves any favors. Most of them need to rethink their business models and adapt or look at a different line of business.

madpierre

I have done some online shopping, initially with ebay as both a buyer and seller, then moving slowly into general purchasing like books and so on.  I have done more over the last 2 1/2  years once I got into coffee, and have had nothing but excellent experiences. CS, Ministry Grounds and only recently MyCuppa have all been excellent to deal with. I have also purchased from a couple of US coffee outlets, and had nothing but top notch dealings with those who would actually send goods down under. I also sought dealings with another couple of southern coffee outlets who promised to let me know when a particular bean turned up and falied to deliver.  I would be unlikely to return to them. To me, integrity is a key in any dealings. If you can't deliver, say so. If it is too much trouble to offer a particular service, then don't promise me that you will then don't follow through. I would respect and rather deal with someone who was just straight and upfront with me. It is how I have conducted my ebay dealings, and I have found that when I give bad or unwanted news honestly it is well received on most occasions. There are some people you will never please though  ;D I am starting to look abroad for more goods now, such as shoes and clothes and the like. And my fishing gear is short a couple reels, the difference in price is astronomical and I am intending to look offshore also.

UNM

What should I do? I've been buying a few things on fleabay recently and picked up a 6w led gu10 bulb. It arrived, seemed to work ok, so ordered another. Second arrived, plugged in and within a minute all lights in the house went out. Reset safety breaker, led  dead. Seller (360handy) offered to replace. Ten days later the first one died, same way. Various internal SMDs carbonised. Left feedback that product quality is crap. Next day seller contacts me offering full refund and asking me to change feedback. What do you think? If I leave positive feedback, people won't know there is a product quality issue and could waste time and money. OTOH, the seller is doing the right thing and should be commended for addressing the customer issue (don't know if they care about the product quality though).

Koffee_Kosmo

on 1316583262:

What should I do? I've been buying a few things on fleabay recently and picked up a 6w led gu10 bulb. It arrived, seemed to work ok, so ordered another. Second arrived, plugged in and within a minute all lights in the house went out. Reset safety breaker, led  dead. Seller (360handy) offered to replace. Ten days later the first one died, same way. Various internal SMDs carbonised. Left feedback that product quality is crap. Next day seller contacts me offering full refund and asking me to change feedback. What do you think? If I leave positive feedback, people won't know there is a product quality issue and could waste time and money. OTOH, the seller is doing the right thing and should be commended for addressing the customer issue (don't know if they care about the product quality though).

You can still leave good feedback Postage communication quick replacement ect However you can also say that " in your home the product did not work as advertised" KK

mycuppa

on 1316583262:

What should I do? I've been buying a few things on fleabay recently and picked up a 6w led gu10 bulb. It arrived, seemed to work ok, so ordered another. Second arrived, plugged in and within a minute all lights in the house went out. Reset safety breaker, led  dead. Seller (360handy) offered to replace. Ten days later the first one died, same way. Various internal SMDs carbonised. Left feedback that product quality is crap. Next day seller contacts me offering full refund and asking me to change feedback. What do you think? If I leave positive feedback, people won't know there is a product quality issue and could waste time and money. OTOH, the seller is doing the right thing and should be commended for addressing the customer issue (don't know if they care about the product quality though).

Selling on eBay has to be one of the toughest gigs around and maintaining a 100% positive feedback on eBay is like running a marathon every day. I sell on eBay and I'll quite openly admit I do not enjoy the experience, despite the excellent feedback we receive. eBay is a marketing channel for us only, it's not a business to make money as we basically lose selling on eBay .....and of course it comes with the added burden of having to deal with sometimes very silly questions or requests 24x7. Most people who have experienced a less than ideal transaction tend to have a degree of emotion that triggers an instant negative feedback - it's a human thing and on balance seems reasonable. In your case Ewan, it's a natural response to warn others, so your intent was noble. However, negative (and even neutral) feedback for an eBay seller is like a death sentence - instantly retarding sales and taking 6 or 12 months to recover as the feedback entry only gets "weeded out" after elapsed time. It also affects the ranking of "Best Match", the default eBay search result engine in displaying the sellers items below other sellers who may have a higher feedback percentage. Again, this is a very important factor for sellers. 95% of eBay buyers look at a sellers feedback before committing to a Buy transaction - that's how critical the mythical 100% feedback is to sellers. In the event of an unfortunate transactions, the best policy is to contact the seller and give them the opportunity to respond to the issue before deciding upon feedback. If the feedback has already been entered, there is a small number of chances (I think from memory it is once per 3 or 6 months) a seller can request to have negative feedback revised. I know this because once a buyer accidentally pressed on the wrong button on his iphone in providing feedback and we had to endure the back & forth to get it corrected. Advice to eBay buyers - always give the seller a chance, they are typically hard-working people who take pride in their feedback rankings. I could tell you some crazy stories about eBay transactions and the lengths we have gone to in order to make people happy !

Brett H

Thanks for another great post Jeff.  I had no idea that the negative feedback ramifications were so huge for sellers.  Sure I've old stuff but my rating has never concerned me... but for under 50 sales all up, why would it.  I bought a Boss tie recently and despite the seller saying it was genuine it clearly isnt!  Given the price however, I really have no right to imagine that it should be so I'm going to just let it slide.  I really can't be bothered entering into discussions or a $20 tie that I'll wear to work irrespective of whether it's Hugo Boss, Hugro Bloss or Fairy Floss.  It has stripes and I like it.

Rider

Undoubtedly the wrong place to mention this, off topic angle but here goes... We have a video camera (with a shirt load of extras) to sell. Not just a video camera but something special in the Mini DV stakes. We are looking at putting it on the bay but neither of us have really any experience with it - certainly never sold on there. Q1. As a 1st time seller, is this going to be a difficult experience based on what I read above? Q2. Is anyone interested in a Canon XL1s with every conceivable trimming before we go the the bay? I'd rather if someone was keen to go through here than sell it to a faceless person. Mods - if inappropriate, feel free... Chris

Brett H

on 1316610748:

Undoubtedly the wrong place to mention this, off topic angle but here goes... We have a video camera (with a shirt load of extras) to sell. Not just a video camera but something special in the Mini DV stakes. We are looking at putting it on the bay but neither of us have really any experience with it - certainly never sold on there. Q1. As a 1st time seller, is this going to be a difficult experience based on what I read above? Q2. Is anyone interested in a Canon XL1s with every conceivable trimming before we go the the bay? I'd rather if someone was keen to go through here than sell it to a faceless person. Mods - if inappropriate, feel free... Chris

Why not list it first in the For Sale section here.  Then pop over to EBay and buy this: http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/ESPRESSO-2-GROUP-COFFEE-MACHINE-GRINDER-/280743069379?pt=AU_CoffeeMakers&hash=item415d9746c3#ht_500wt_922 BEFORE I DO.... and am condemned to living in a tent for the rest of my days!

shape_shifter

Love the side panels on that one Brett. I'd love to buy local, but geez even the local roasters can't roast the way I like it hence why Jeff now gets my pre-roasted bean business :D

madpierre

on 1316610748:

Undoubtedly the wrong place to mention this, off topic angle but here goes... We have a video camera (with a shirt load of extras) to sell. Not just a video camera but something special in the Mini DV stakes. We are looking at putting it on the bay but neither of us have really any experience with it - certainly never sold on there. Q1. As a 1st time seller, is this going to be a difficult experience based on what I read above? Q2. Is anyone interested in a Canon XL1s with every conceivable trimming before we go the the bay? I'd rather if someone was keen to go through here than sell it to a faceless person. Mods - if inappropriate, feel free... Chris

My experience as both a buyer and seller has been primarily positive. When selling, I try and add the personal touch with a slightly humourous side to my descriptions and be completely honest about what the buyer is getting. That prevents any legitimate comebacks. I put as much detail as possible in the description, I have found that I get better prices for the effort into my sales. PM sent about the camera.

mycuppa

on 1316610748:

Undoubtedly the wrong place to mention this, off topic angle but here goes... We have a video camera (with a shirt load of extras) to sell. Not just a video camera but something special in the Mini DV stakes. We are looking at putting it on the bay but neither of us have really any experience with it - certainly never sold on there. Q1. As a 1st time seller, is this going to be a difficult experience based on what I read above? Q2. Is anyone interested in a Canon XL1s with every conceivable trimming before we go the the bay? I'd rather if someone was keen to go through here than sell it to a faceless person. Mods - if inappropriate, feel free... Chris

Chris, eBay is a great place to buy or sell unique, rare or unusual items for a good price. If you have something that is different to the norm, then it could be the right place, but please be aware the whole concept of eBay relies on gut-wrenching insane low starting prices and then creating buyer competition. Selling commodity items, or being one of many sellers of an item means you are subjected to the dynamics of supply and demand. Unfortunately, that is a race to the bottom. If you have something that is desirable and you can generate enough buyer demand, then eBay may yield you a decent result when you get a few people trying to outbid each other (just like a house auction in Melbourne !). It's great for getting rid of stuff quickly when you don't really want a reasonable return for your sold asset. More often than not many thousands of items never sell on the first attempt, buyers sit back and watch, wait and then attempt to prey on desperate sellers by making a low-ball offer after a sale period ends with no bids. This is particularly evident when buyers use eBay's free re-listing policy for items that don't sell first attempt as a "watched" item is flagged as relisted by the seller and thus opening up the opportunity for an interested buyer to come back and take another look - or to think you are desperate and insult you with a really low price. The other thing about eBay is there has been a transition over the last 2 years to more fixed-price selling rather than auctions. We made that move long before eBay started changing the fee structures. eBay ultimately wants to end up being a place with lots of buyers and sellers trading so they take quite high valuation fees on sales as there can be some real issues with dummy bidders on auction listings. Chris, the most difficult part about selling on eBay is deciding whether to use a Fixed Price or an Auction listing and then determining your start and minimum acceptance prices. Keep in mind that eBay gives preference to insanely low starting prices, such as $0.99 I would encourage you to at least jump onto eBay and see comparable products - what prices and terms, etc. and then try selling something small and low value first before putting up a high $$ item. Good Luck.

UNM

I know that positive feedback is critically important to businesses selling on ebay. I think the number of times you can request feedback changes is at least partly dependent on sale volume. I've pretty much decided to change to positive feedback, but with a comment regarding product quality. Assuming seller treats others fairly, any other buyers could get their money back and it is always risky buying electronic goods from hong kong at $5 delivered, can't expect great product quality at that price. Something like: CRAP product quality but seller promptly offered full refund. I'm happy. Hardly anyone reads feedback, esPecially positive feedback, so it has to stand out.

Rider

on 1316611187:

Why not list it first in the For Sale section here.  Then pop over to EBay and buy this: http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/ESPRESSO-2-GROUP-COFFEE-MACHINE-GRINDER-/280743069379?pt=AU_CoffeeMakers&hash=item415d9746c3#ht_500wt_922 BEFORE I DO.... and am condemned to living in a tent for the rest of my days!

Hi Brett Thanks, but I thought the for sale section here was for coffee gear... Could Iget away with saying it is "coffee pour filming gear"?  ;D  ;D  ;D

Koffee_Kosmo

on 1316669074:

Hi Brett Thanks, but I thought the for sale section here was for coffee gear... Could Iget away with saying it is "coffee pour filming gear"?  ;D  ;D  ;D

That works for me Crema is not an iron curtain forum site KK

askthecoffeeguy

on 1316669074:

Hi Brett Thanks, but I thought the for sale section here was for coffee gear... Could Iget away with saying it is "coffee pour filming gear"?  ;D  ;D  ;D

Two group mirage available for two grand boo hoo hoo wish I had a lazy two k and a tool shed!

Brett H

on 1316690427:

Two group mirage available for two grand boo hoo hoo wish I had a lazy two k and a tool shed!

And a grinder!!!! It would be an RR45 for sure whis is no slouch.