# Keyboard Shopping.



## ian (Jun 18, 2016)

We needed a new coffee maker.

Read the reviews online, decided on what we wanted.

Keyed in the model, shopped on line. Prices ranged from $229 at the Bay to $148 at Visions...same for same.

Ordered in on line. Picked it up at a store near us (could have had it shipped gratis if we wanted).

Shopping took about five minutes from the time I compared prices to the time I hit the buy button on the Visions site.


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## m3s (Apr 3, 2010)

Welcome to 2000?


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## Beaver101 (Nov 14, 2011)

ian said:


> We needed a new coffee maker.
> 
> Read the reviews online, decided on what we wanted.
> 
> ...


 ... keyboard shopping ain't hard. It's reception of it is - not sure where you're located but lots of porch pirates in my area. Yeah, and it's year 2022 here in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.


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## ian (Jun 18, 2016)

I cannot remember the last time I shopped in a store, other than for groceries. All on line. Either pickup or delivery. No porch pirates yet! Shopping centres…no thanks.


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## Plugging Along (Jan 3, 2011)

I still go into stores, but usually start with what's on line and go from there to see if I have to physically go in. There have been times I have gone into a store for something else, think I see a good deal, then I quickly check it out on line to see if it's really a good deal or not. I don't shop without check on line.

I don't have problems with porch pirates primarily because you can't see my door from the street, and I have big old plastic bin by my door that I ask amazon to stick the items in.


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## Beaver101 (Nov 14, 2011)

Plugging Along said:


> ...
> 
> I don't have problems with porch pirates primarily because you can't see my door from the street, and I have big old plastic bin by my door that I ask amazon to stick the items in.


 ... I would be very happy if the delivery guy just ring the doorbell as instructed "online" plus a reminder at the door.

8 out of 10 times they don't and the package is dumped right at the door in full view of passer-bys. Some are keen enough to set it aside hidden behind a bin ... others are even smarter and go to the extent of taking a picture, sending it to the customer to "prove" that they "made the delivery" regardless you received it or not. Sigh. 

Now I got security cams so any thief goes on candid camera. At the same time, I prefer to in-store shop if I can.


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## m3s (Apr 3, 2010)

amazon has its own delivery service in the US now

They text a picture immediately and they can also deliver into smart garage/doors/vehicles. USPS also texts on delivery now (I hear them drive away while getting the text) They also have smart lockers

Canada will get there in 5 years or so. Germany had all this 10 years ago


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## MrMatt (Dec 21, 2011)

m3s said:


> amazon has its own delivery service in the US now
> 
> They text a picture immediately and they can also deliver into smart garage/doors/vehicles. USPS also texts on delivery now (I hear them drive away while getting the text) They also have smart lockers
> 
> Canada will get there in 5 years or so. Germany had all this 10 years ago


Amazon has had it's own delivery service for years, they seem to have at least as many distribution centers as UPS/Purolator.
They send photos through their app now, don't know about texts.


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## MrMatt (Dec 21, 2011)

ian said:


> Keyed in the model, shopped on line. Prices ranged from $229 at the Bay to $148 at Visions...same for same.


I think Visions is a surplus store, so they'll sell overstock, and lots of refurb stuff.
I think they are pretty clear what is refurb, which is good. I'm not accusing them of being sketchy.


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## m3s (Apr 3, 2010)

In Canada? It's probably only in GTA/southern Ontario. I don't think Canada has all the amazon delivery options yet

UPS/Purolator in Canada were absolutely terrible compared to Germany/USA. Deutsch Post is on another level


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## gardner (Feb 13, 2014)

I still buy most consumer items in person. I do shop online a lot, but for specialty items -- electronics test equipment, components, parts. I needed a couple of cables for my snowblower. Both available online, but one was 80 bucks. I bought the $18 one from Amazon and fabricated the other from a $10 bicycle cable I got at crappy-tire. A coffee maker I would buy in person at Home Hardware or CT. I am old fashioned.


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## afulldeck (Mar 28, 2012)

If I could order gas for my vehicle by keyboard I would. I see no real reason to go to any store these days.


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## jonmacleod (Oct 27, 2020)

Yes, as nearly everyone above has noted, online shopping is super convenient and often preferable to going into a physical store.

I’ve had some bad experiences lately with marketplace shopping, though. Places like Amazon, WalMart, and Best Buy have 3rd party sellers who list their products on the company’s website, and it can sometimes be tricky to tell the difference between these sellers and product listings from the actual company.

It seems to happen far too often that people order from Amazon, Walmart, etc., thinking they’re getting a quality product from the company, but what arrives is nothing like the item they expected. The quality is often questionable, knockoffs and counterfeit items are common, and delivery times can take way longer than estimated.

All this to say, be careful when shopping online. Make sure you know the seller and where the item is actually coming from. Double and triple check return policies and shipping details, and take extra precautions to keep your credit card information safe. 

Maybe you’ve heard all of this before, but it bears repeating. Nobody’s happy when an online shopping session results in crappy products at ridiculous prices.


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## gardner (Feb 13, 2014)

jonmacleod said:


> 3rd party sellers who list their products on the company’s website


Yes. I think major vendors are putting their business at risk by allowing this. Way at the beginning of COVID I got scammed by a, Amazon 3rd party vendor. I order an SSD and, I assumed due to COVID it was just delayed. I was too patient. When I finally got tired of waiting the window for complaints was closed and the vendor was desisted from Amazon leaving nothing but a bunch of nasty complaints in their wake. Amazon should totally wear this sort of thing, but they cleverly structure their web-site so that you can't access any complaint mechanism on the order after a while. You can't review or complain about the vendor because they're desisted.

Since then I do not order anything from Amazon that is not actually fulfilled by either Amazon or a recognizable Canadian business. I also do not order anything that is not shipped with prime and within a week or less. On Amazon limiting searching to prime seems to weed out many of the 3rd party sellers, but I would like to just see a search setting that excludes them completely.


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