This rant is a bit too mild for the pit so I’m sticking it here. I buy the odd book I can’t find from my local suppliers and occasionally I’ll purchase CDs/DVDs or music downloads occasionally too but I’ve never really got much into online shopping and after what I’ve just experienced I’m not sure I ever will.
Today I tried to purchase some boxer shorts of a particular brand and size. I recently got a Visa Debit card*, this is 2013, it should have been a few clicks and away we go. Instead, I left in a slight rage. I found lots of (US and UK) sites that won’t deliver to Ireland including ones that purport to be the Irish (.ie) branch of a site. There were also sites that purported to carry what I was looking for but then offered an alternative. There were some sites that looked so dodgy I wouldn’t touch them with a digital barge pole. And don’t get me started on mandatory sign up for the website before you can make a purchase. Do online vendors realise how much money they’re losing by making potential customers jump through pointless hoops? As an aside many US or UK sites that purport to sell to a global audience still require a ZIP or postcode when filling in information. I don’t have either and I’m sure there are tonnes of potential customers around the world who don’t either.
End result, I haven’t been able to purchase what I want online. I suppose I could get the boxers delivered to friends of family in Northern Ireland but how hard is it to make international deliveries in this day and age? Just charge a few quid extra.
Anyway there you go, a post that is by any definition, mundane and pointless.
*My previous debit card was of the Laser system, which wasn’t used much internationally and hence was of marginal use for online purchases.
Sympathies for the run-around. And, yeah, they ought to deliver to you. Ireland is hardly a pariah nation! If you were in Kazakhstan, just maybe, but Ireland? C’mon! You guys were civilized before most of the rest of us were!
I do, however, accept the need to register on a company’s web site before shopping. That actually makes sense. It helps protect both the company and the customer. It (slightly) reduces the chances of somebody going on a spree with a stolen credit card.
Yes, it lets them track you. Believe me, I detest this! I hate seeing pop-up ads on, say, Google, that relate directly to the last thing I bought on Amazon. Leave me alone, you boobs!
Good luck finding a vendor that works to your satisfaction. I’m betting you’ll find one eventually. FWIW, I’ve never had a bad experience with Amazon (other than their ad-stalking.)
It’s the same thing with Canada. I like to browse online a lot, but hardly make purchases from companies outside of Canada because shipping is either flat out non-existent or shipping costs are outrageous. One time I saw a canvas bag at an overstock website selling for a dollar and their shipping policy page said they’d ship “internationally”. So I put the item in the cart, proceed to checkout, only to find that shipping a $1 canvas bag will cost me $85. :rolleyes: I’m lucky enough that I am a close drive to the US border so sometimes I ship to a parcel service and hop over to pick it up, but the limitations are irritating.
Yup, I have the same experience as Grapefruit - either they won’t ship to Canada, or they want to charge an exorbitant fee (in spite of the item being able to ship for about $10 via USPS). It is indeed frustrating and irritating, especially when you find out at the end of a long process that they won’t ship to you.
That is unreal. I assumed the problems I was dealing with was because of Ireland’s relatively miniscule population but Canada is far more populace. It’s very strange in this day and age that Canadians would have problems with online sales too.
I consider it a factor of trying to shop from US American suppliers - they simply can’t or won’t consider anyone beyond their borders as a potential customer. It strikes me as terribly short-sighted, too (Canadians are phenomenal users of technology - you have another potential pool of 30 million customers that you can’t be bothered with because you don’t want to make a few minor adjustments?), but I guess when you have a pool of 300 million customers, that extra 30 million doesn’t seem so important.
Have you looked at forwarding services? I’m glad Amazon is now shipping more and more things overseas, but lots of things still can’t be shipped overseas. I use HopShopGo quite often. They’re much more expensive than Amazon’s international shipping, but cheaper than other services I’ve found, and no trouble so far.
And if you can find somebody who will ship to Canada, you cannot forget than in addition to shipping, we in Canada have to pay exorbitant import duties. If it’s over $20CAD, we’re on the hook for federal and provincial taxes (can be 15% or more of the retail price), as well as custom brokerage fees ($30 at least).
Is it any wonder that Canadians, with so few domestic sources, have not taken to online shopping as others have? I’ll go to the local Brick-and-Mortar before I have to deal with Canada Customs. Even if what I want is less expensive from an online foreign supplier, by the time it gets to me, it is invariably more expensive than it is locally.
I shop online all the time from Ireland. Just in case you didn’t realise, if you put “000” as your post code or Zip code, most vendor’s sites happily accept it, and the Irish postal service, DHL, or whoever is delivering your purchase will happily ignore the extra zeroes.
Today I found out that online shopping is not a complete lost cause! I lucked out and found an American retailer who will ship me my crafty goods for just a little bit over $10. Huzzah! These vendors are hard to find, but when I do find them, I latch on. If only other online retailers realized the loyalty they’d gain. IF ONLY!
Yep. There was a storage item I wanted to buy a few years ago. I can’t remember what it was but it was ideal for my needs. Small and light, the cost of the item was about $US4.95. They wanted to charge me over $50 to ship it. Needless to say, I decided not to bother.
That said, I’ve bought from B & H a few times and, while their shipping costs are high, the total at the checkout is still always lower than what I’d pay locally. I love B & H. If I ever make it to New York, that’s where I’ll be spending most of my time (and dollars).
