Shopping on the Internet/Pats and Pans

Thanks, Jane. I guess it could be okay if one were dealing with a local shipper. I guess I was imagining products coming from a long ways away and having to return it from whence it came.



Thanks for that, soz. I find it interesting that businesses are able to offer the free shipping, seeing how expensive it can be. All one needs to do is send a parcel themself to find out how much.

Now, you bring up a good example like shoes. I couldn't even imagine buying other than in a physical store. How many times are you allowed to return shoes that were purchased online? It could make for a potentially frusterating purchase, I would think.

Hehe, my daughter always used to say "frusterating" - cute!

Reyn, on bigger items it pays to buy online as you save the sales
tax and if shipping is free, then it's a no brainer. I usually research
beforehand about prices and quality.

Like in the case of the refrigerator, I went to a store here and checked out what I wanted, including prices. I would have paid only $ 100.00 more for the refrigerator here, but they charged for delivery and the CA sales tax
of 7.75 % would have been added as well, and if you buy something
with a ticket price of $ 2000.00 it does make a huge difference.

Dto. with the LCD TV - 3 years ago, plasma was the hit, but through
consumer data research I found out that LCD is better and the two best
companies were Sony and Toschiba. From there I started looking for
prices, and again, if something is more expensive, it does pay off.

The shoes need to be in brand-new condition -- try them on at home, on carpet, same as you would at a store -- but other than that I don't think there are any limits. I often buy a few at a time -- more than one style, or a couple of sizes if I'm not sure -- and keep only the best pair. (I've always gotten my money back, no problem.) I've returned a lot but have never gotten in a chain of returns (like, return, re-order, don't like the re-order, return, etc.).

Zappos also has a very good review section, and guides like "order 1/2 size larger than usual" due to variations in different companies. Even if they no longer have an item in stock they usually have old reviews if you look, so if I find something somewhere else I'll still go to Zappos for reviews. This helps me narrow things down so that the chances of getting a pair of shoes that are just what I want are high.

For something the size of shoes, shipping isn't really that much, especially with bulk deals that can be worked out with shipping companies. I notice that the ones that offer free shipping are usually about $5-10 more expensive than places where you have to pay shipping (it'd cost me about $8.00 to ship a pair of shoes I think), but they have price guarantees (promises to match the cheapest price you find elsewhere) if you just keep your eyes open, and sales. So basically the non-savvy shoppers finance the savvy ones. :-)[/quote]