Q-Is online shopping really cheaper?
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Q-Is online shopping really cheaper?
| Mon, 07-18-2005 - 8:37pm |
Hi---I am throwing this question out for everyone. Do you think on-line shopping is cheaper? Esp. if there are sale items and free shipping over, say, $50, and minimal taxes (although that may change)? I dont shop at Costo, but I shop online at Target, Sears, etc. What has been your experiences with online shopping? Less expensive than brick and mortar? More tempting? Thanks. WHiz

I'd say for big items, yes. You can get an ideal cut hearts and arrows diamond for A LOT less online if you know what vendors to trust. We just bought a rug for our bedroom off Overstock.com. It was much better quality and cheaper than what we could get elsewhere (and the shipping was $3 . . . for a rug!). A 5 by 8 wool, plush rug for $100.
You need to know what the prices are elsewhere and if taxes or shipping apply to know if it's a good deal. I thought I was getting a good deal on a bathing suit that was for sale on JCrew.com, but with the shipping and tax it really wasn't.
The only way to know the final answer to this question is to research each item. It's a lot of work, but we do research every major purchase (anything over about $50 qualifies as a "major" purchase for this purpose) and look for the best deal (not necessarily the cheapest, although that definitely plays a part in our decision). The biggest advantage to us of online shopping is that we can often find the exact item we are looking for, which might not even be available in stores locally.
For instance, I could probably find a futon cover locally for around $60, which is what we will be paying for the one we are buying online. But online my selection is enormous and we've found one that exactly fits our somewhat unusual tastes, whereas locally our selection was solid colors and a few hideous florals and one or two selections of stripes--and for even that large a selection, we have to drive all over town burning gasoline and most of a day.
It's also easier to find unusual items, such as good quality cloth diapers, the large welded rings I use for making baby slings, and anything related to sustainable living.
As for price, sometimes an item on sale locally will be cheaper. And for most things, when you can find them, the cheapest place is a yard sale. Basically, the way I shop is I have a list of items I'm interested in acquiring at any given time. We never rush around to purchase things (this requires some planning ahead so that we are rarely caught up in *needing* something right away). I research the prices on each item, and determine a range within which I decide it's an excellent deal.
Then I just keep my eyes open for an item falling within that range. We're looking for patio furniture at present, for instance. Mostly I look at garage sales, but I also consider the items available on sale at the grocery and discount stores. When we find it, it will exactly fit our specifications, and cost less than similar models available at regular or even ordinary sale prices. If we were in a hurry or didn't do our research this wouldn't be possible. But because we do, and because I always have a short list of items I'm looking for, and because we maintain an "opportunity fund" so that we always have cash when the item does turn up, we manage to do it this way most of the time. And we're generally purchasing one or two things from our list in any given month, because it's a "running" list, and so we get the regular satisfaction and it doesn't feel like deprivation to us. And it's fun to have the "surprise" element as well--we never know which item we might find this week or this month.
As a result, we have many, many beautiful things that we otherwise would not have been able to afford with cash. My kitchen is very well stocked with appliances and tools, as is our garage with the types of tools we like out there, for instance; and our house is well furnished, with lots of niceties that would otherwise not be in our budget--designer toilet paper pulls, for instance, and good, hardwood furniture, etc. All of it paid for in cash (except the items purchased in our spendthrift days more than four years ago, which we are still paying for--ugh!).
Occasionally, it's not possible to obtain the item by this method, and we do eventually end up purchasing it at full price. Futon covers have fallen under this category. We've been searching for over a year, and now we are simply going to go to ebay, where we've found the best selection and good prices, and purchase the one we want.
Anyway, I guess my point is that there is no one best way of shopping for any given item. Sometimes online shopping is cheaper and better, and sometimes it's not. And don't forget to take into account the psychological angle--some people do better shopping online because they are not as tempted to buy impulse items. Some people do better in the stores for the same reason. Some people do well with discount clubs and other people find it too large a temptation.
So don't forget to account for what works best for you. And remember that the absolute cheapest way to do anything is to find something you already have that will work just fine. Not that you should never buy anything, but sometimes it's better to find an alternative. :)
Good luck and let us hear what turns out to work best for you.
Blessings,
Heather