good/bad online experiences!

Hi,
I was thinking about my experiences with shopping online and I have had my ups and downs in the past (I now keep to just a few trusted sites) and I keep my internet purchases to a minimum and only buy items like lures which are hard to find in my local tackle shops plus the odd bargain now and then!
What are your good or bad experiences with shopping on the world wide web?

Mark

Mark

Maybe I've been lucky but I do the majority of my shopping on the web and I've yet to have a problem of any kind. I use e-bay a lot too [though I do stick to what look like "proper" people] and had no problems there either. On reflection ,so far as tackle is concerned, I do tend to stick to certain retailers though this is largely because they are competitive & have proved themselves to be reliable though if I can get it locally for what I think is a reasonable price then I will.

Some traders seem to have wised up to the fact that its a buyers market at present.One site I use were doing free P&P during December & got a bit of business from me as a result. The price differentials from site to site can be astonishing and with all this in the public domain why on earth would I give trader A £20 more than trader B] for exactly the same thing ? More to the point...why does trader b] think I will ? That [for me] is one of the big advantages of t'internet.

And I can "shop" for tackle every day,in the warm ,drinking tea & using no petrol.

Skippy

There is definately a confidence thing regarding buying online, after all anyone can set up a dodgy website to get all your card details. I sell via a website and on ebay but the sales are so bad on my site that i'm going to close it down, yet my ebay shop is doing fine. I'm the same though prefering to use ebay over websites when buying, although you can be dissapointed with the product if you cant physically go into a shop and see or touch it.

Some stuff i need to get online as my local tackle shop doesn't stock but i tend to only buy gear i know and trust from sellers who have good feedback.

I'd also happily pay ten percent more on the knowledge that you know its going to arrive safely and as described than go for the cheaper risky option. Plus another ten percent more to go into a shop and buy it if it is something really importnt or something that needs trying out first.

theartist said:

Some stuff i need to get online as my local tackle shop doesn't stock but i tend to only buy gear i know and trust from sellers who have good feedback.

I'd also happily pay ten percent more on the knowledge that you know its going to arrive safely and as described than go for the cheaper risky option. Plus another ten percent more to go into a shop and buy it if it is something really importnt or something that needs trying out first.

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Yes...that's exactly my postion too.

One of the best sites I use (for lures) is harris angling, simple reason is that it's free P+P and a lot of the time they have really big discounts (15-50%!) and the service they give now is superb!

Mark

It was always damned good Mark, and the choices of lures was much better when Sue and Chris had the business. This time of year was great to pick up bargains in their winter sale, providing you didn't have any particular preference to colour.

My confidence in ebay is high because I tend to stick to established traders with a good history or at least explore why they have a tarnished one, it's usually a case of some idiot moaning about postage after they've won the bidding. I've not been done yet by anyone, but I have knowingly bought a fake just to prove to ebay that the goods were fake and the trader should be stopped. He was, it cost me £4, I was happy.

The problem with e-bay for tackle is it's too damn competitive.

You can get some good bargains for most things on e-bay, but any halfway decent second hand tackle almost always seems to go for absurd prices.

Where something like a reel costs £50 new, I can't understand why people bid up to £48.50 (sometimes more!) for a second hand one. It seems crazy to me.

I bought a rod on line - came in a tube and everything was ok##i've bought some cheap flies (not must of a fly angler but I dabble) 2 lots came ok 1 lot ddin't arrrive - I contacted the seller and he resent me the flies

Touch wood my online purchases have been mostly good, especially when dealing with established traders, Erics Angling, Medway Tackle, Big Fish all come to mind as giving first class service.

On the negative side I did buy some alarms from a total so-and-so who clearly advertised X and yet supplied Y on E-Bay. Put it down to experience, but it is a fact that for every 100 honest e-bayers, there are one or two that will not play the game. The more you buy, the more your chances of coming across one of them!

In the main good, all these have provided good service englandangling, matchmansupplies, harrissportsmail mullarkeys & poingdestres.

As for ebay traders I have never had a problem, with individuals mainly down to their perception of condition such as a reel I won on auction “mint" I would expect it to be as new, some would see it as scratched, clogged with muck and never greased/oiled....but I put in a low bid and won.

I had another seller claimed 5 minutes after the auction they had broken the "floats" I won and could not post them, I complained to ebay and he actually sent the "floats" in a tube, full (80) of new and hardly used Drennan and Preston floats in a middy tube, his hang up was they went for £10 inc P&P and addmited this to me.

His title "floats", his description "lots of floats" so not very descriptive, not my fault either, his loss my gain, I could understand his issue with it but if you want more money in your auction a better description and title would go a long way.....at least he sent them and to get 80 and a tube it was a bargain.

Anyway buying tackle online is very naughty and guarantees you to a first class ticket to hell, we should be supporting our local tackle shop.

I've never had a particularly bad experience when buying on line from any source. Most proper commercial sites give little potential for problems. The postal carrier they use is the biggest issue. Ebay is always going to be more troublesome, especially when buying from private individuals, particularly those selling for no reason other than them being skint. Even so, I've had one seller that didn't play ball in all the years and hundreds of transactions I've had. Paypal refunded that one with no drama. I've got no complaints whatsoever with online purchasing.

terry m said:

it is a fact that for every 100 honest e-bayers, there are one or two that will not play the game.

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Isn't that true of life in general though Terry? They don't have to be e-bayers, cheating bankers are even more prolific.

I had a dream last night that I'd bought a rod off ebay and when I opened it the condition of it was nothing like as stated. It was dirty, the rings were bent, it was older than stated, but it was a Preston Feeder rod with just one very strong quiver tip. But hang on, I do have a Korum feeder in first class condition that's exactly like that so why did I buy this one? I spent the rest of the night trying to get my money back - swindlers! I'm tired out now!