Online Shopping

[anthony]

Countries wonder why there are such deficits in their economies, when online shopping has the ease today of reaching across borders to obtain the same goods cheaper.

Australia is a very expensive country to live... and needing new hard drives for a NAS drive we have, it would cost me $950 to buy them here, where I got them for $630 delivered, from Amazon in the US, directly via the manufacturer.

Country politicians wonder why people don't shop local any more!

 

[EverOnly358]

I agree with you. There's a real disconnect between pricing and value. And I really just think it's so stupid sometimes... it's so much better for the local economy and the environment to buy local (even like in this case where local just means the same COUNTRY), and yet what is common sense and good for us is the exact opposite of the way the economic system works.

So, @anthony, I think the real question is... which did you buy? ;) (I would buy the cheaper ones, cheaper always wins out, even over my civic concerns.)

(P.S. I really like the duck avatars all the moderators have now.)

 

[Britt.f7]

I believe in shopping local, and keeping the single proprietors in business, as my dad and father in law both own their own business. However, I have to watch both my health and my pocket book. It does not make sense to pay more when you don't have to. Especially if the pocket book can not afford it.

As far as health, it is easier to shop on line then go running around from store to store.

 

[arfie]

Saving money is not the only reason I enjoy internet shopping. My health allows me to go store to store, and I even have the health for it. The planet... Not so sure. I can't count how many times the internet has saved the planet from me starting my mighty 4 cylinder steed. Consequently, I often have that $320 savings I get to spend on the authentic local flavor instead of fattening generic corporation returns.

So take that $320 to a local craft or trade show and enjoy! Amends made with a smile for all.

 

[Lady of Longbourn]

I buy a lot of things online.

@anthony I did the same thing about a year ago with Amazon. I wanted all of the Harry Potter movies in Blue-Ray. Amazon Us had it but it was $20 or $30 more (there might have also been a few weeks wait, I can't remember)so Husband bought it from Amazon UK instead. A lot cheaper and we got 2 or 3 day shipping becasue we are Prime members. The only difference was the name of the first movie.

An example is the Barnes and Nobles (book seller) down the street. If you want a new hard copy of a brand new bestseller then it is at $26.99 but it you go on their website then it ravels Amazon prices at $15 or $16 dollars. Or then you can also go to the local Costco and pick up the book for about $15 too, so no need to wait for it to come in the mail. I sort of feel like I am being punished for buying it in store...and the service sucks. So I don't go there.

And then @Britt.f7 point is good. Sometimes I don't have the energy to leave the house or don't want brave the crowds. And you can find some good deals online that can't be found in their actual shop down the street. Like American Eagle emails about 40% clearance but 'online only!', why bother to go to the store??

I wonder if the stores like that are digging their own grave by doing that.

 

[Candleflames]

I do most of my shopping locally and second hand so I can feel good about supporting local businesses and save money and reduce waste. I also donate to the same second hand stores I shop at. Once I came across an item I had donated. When we do have to buy things new I still tend to buy from local shops even if I have to pay more. However the price difference isn't nearly as much as many other places. What I like the most about shopping in smaller stores is the quality of customer service and getting to know the shop owners. I'm much more willing to spend more if I feel like my purchase matters.

My shopping this way has much more to do with fortunate circumstances than my feelings of civic responsibility. I happen to live in an area that has a relatively moderate cost of living and my husband earns a decent salary. I'm also not running basically a nonprofit business out of the goodness of my heart that needs to have it's technology running smoothly 24/7.

I do sometimes shop online. Usually I'm shopping for presents for people who live far away from me and I will have their gifts sent directly to them. Going to the post office freaks me out. The other big reason I shop online is because my favorite chocolate makers don't export to any U.S. stores so I have to put in an order online.

 

[HëllaBubz]

I do my shopping online, and if worse comes to worse and the seller is greedy with shipping, I'll get it sent to a company that rents out PO boxes within an address, so that you can take advantage of the free shipping within the states, and then have it forwarded to my address here in Australia.

But despite that, I was looking for a rug for my nursery (The Very Hungry Caterpillar Theme) and a seller here in Australia wanted $120 for it. I found it on Amazon for $40 plus $30?? postage.... absolute idiocy.

If I want to buy books, I rarely buy here in Australia, I go to the Book Depository....the price difference, about 90% of the time is absolutely staggering.

Besides, I like getting things in the mail, and it's an incentive for me to get off my arse and walk down to the PO box.
@anthony, what type of NAS units did you get, and how many? We were looking for RAID 10 for our server and security camera system, but buying here in Australia is insanity as you know!

 

[anthony]

@D123 I purchased via Amazon.

@TheBubzilla we use Drobo via our network, which use what most NAS do today utilising a combination RAID approach of various forms, automatically via NAS software. Servers are hard coded to use a specific RAID, whereas many NAS typically come with a multi-faceted RAID system.

I would only recommend two NAS sellers:

1. [DLMURL]http://www.drobo.com[/DLMURL]
   
2. [DLMURL]http://www.synology.com[/DLMURL]

Both of those are excellent. NAS is useless though via USB, Firewire or such IMHO. If MAC, thunderbolt should technically be faster than LAN. LAN is ideal for an all round solution though, and is my preferred.

We have 2 x Drobo FS. The Drobo FS is now called the Drobo 5N, (or 5D for USB / Thunderbolt connectivity). The new versions cater SSD drives as well as SATA II / III drives, where ours is only SATA drives.

If you're confused about the RAID mix I was talking about, read: [DLMURL]http://www.drobo.com/how-it-works/beyond-raid/[/DLMURL] which is a complex RAID system built-in to Drobo that allows you to use many RAID formats all at once, which is just unheard off in a server setup. They're expensive, yes... but worth the value to have peace of mind for all your data. It doesn't matter if your computer crashes when you keep everything on NAS.

If you want it for business use... use SSD if you can afford it. If you need lots of storage, use SATA III drives with dual redundancy, which is how ours is configured. Ours is using RAID 6, which is double redundancy for two drive failures, dual backup of data, yet reads / writes as RAID10 otherwise because of how beyond RAID works.

 

[HëllaBubz]

Oooo. Sounds frigging amazing, might just buy for the geek toy factor alone. :D

I'm off to go read more, thanks heaps for that!

 

[RussH]

(P.S. I really like the duck avatars all the moderators have now.)

I didn' realize all the staff members were using duck avatars. Did you hear the rubber duck was in(duck)ed (sorry couldn't resist:) ) into the toys hall of fame this week?
My avatar, the zebra, is because my daugther really likes zebras.

 

[Changing4Best]

Our little town of 2600 folks has a Main St. that has more empty stores than filled ones. It is like a ghost town on Main St., but the Big Box store 12 miles from here is booming!

 

[KP the nut]

I shop both online and local.

All of my fresh produce (meat, fruit and veg, bread etc) is bought from independent shops in our small town. When we renovated the house I used local tradesmen and bought paint from the town hardware store. Loyalty works 2 ways in our town.

For larger items, I always shop around online. I don't really have much choice as my county is very rural.

Anyway, I love shopping online and avoiding the crowds.