Ikea's online selling practices-help me understand

At least in Canada, shopping online with IKEA is a nightmare. Many products aren’t available, and if you do manage to find what you want, you have to go through several steps, plus a phone call, to place your order.

I noticed on eBay today that a seller who lives near two IKEA locations is selling many IKEA products online. Which seems very smart to me - he sells products that are not available on IKEAs website, at an average of 100% mark-up.

IKEA is considered a forward-thinking company - their security systems are state-of-the-art and their packaging and marketing methods seem sophisticated and streamlined.

So WHY don’t they have a better online sales system? I have to assume this is a conscious decision. Is it too much of a resource drain? Does it make better business sense for them to rely on second-party sellers to hawk their goods on the 'net?

Thoughts?

Several steps plus a phone call? Outrageous.

(FTR, I have never ordered online from Ikea. I’m just going from your description)

I don’t know what the answer is, but I agree, it is almost impossible to order anything from them.

I’ve never ordered online from Ikea. The stores are designed for Do-It-Yourself for the customer. You come in, you choose, you pick up the stuff from the storagerooms, pay and haul it out yourself. That’s what keeps the Ikea-prices down.

Anyway; I’ve had a lot of success with ordering second-hand-Ikea on E-bay or Craigslist. If someone on E-bay offers up for sale their Poang, a Billy or Knudde, you can look up exactly how it will look if you browse the site, the stores and the catalogues. Ikea stuff is so cheap that often people will sell entire sets just because they want something in oak-color this year. The only drawback I’ve found is this: Ikea-stuff loses quality fast if it is assembled more then once. Better to buy it assembled from the previous user.

Not only is it really hard to buy anything on their website. Sometimes I have a hard time finding things on their site. Terrible design.

Are sure it’s not just becuase the stuff is crap.

Well, I’ve lived among IKEA stuff for over 15 years now and I like it. Sturdy, practical, light, innovative and cheerful. And amazingly cheap.
Of you’re more of an massive-oak-furniture-for-the-next-three-generations type, well, then Ikea isn’t for you. But personally, I’d dread inheriting the last’ generations taste in furniture.