Did a fair bit of online shopping last year and here is a post I threw together of my experiences in it. Now it’s a good reminder on the stuff one has to look out for when doing the same.
Frustrating.
Sometimes people question why I have this tendency to buy products straight off the shelf instead of participating in that venerable Asian pastime of bargain hunting. The most common answer is that I’ve already taken the time to research the item, have decided that I need/want it and that I want to have it now so this is the fastest way. “But second-hand would be so much cheaper!” would be the reply and there is truth in that statement. I’m not against buying second-hand or refurbished items if the opportunity arises. My current Palm Treo 650 and some older PDAs were of first-hand.
But bargain hunting can be a study in frustration, especially when it becomes time-consuming or worse; when you turn around yourself into a fix.
Like recently: After picking up some pieces of Computer Audio software and hardware on the cheap (second-hand some of them), I once again have fallen in love with the hobby. Boosted by this, I began eying the most innovative of them all, Ableton Live. Now in it’s 6 version, I have been following the software since version 4 but it has always been out of reach in terms of it’s daunting cost. That hasn’t changed. But with a steady work salary and a renewed drive to expand on my computing and musical interests, I figured that now was the time to bite the bullet. Of course that doesn’t mean I was going to just go blindly to the vendor main online shop to order it straight away; since I was going to buy it online, why not look around online for better deals? Sure beats doing it physically. And naturally, the first place one would go to online to look for bargins is Ebay. *cue Weird Al original song*
Judging from the options I had before me, Ebay US was the best as I have a vpostUSA account setup to help offset shipping costs from there. On top of that, I really didn’t want to be messing with the Euro or Sterling Pound if I could help it. Furthermore one can argue that Ebay US had the widest range of stuff as compared to the rest. I wasn’t just looking at Ableton Live alone. It’s pretty hard to use with out a MIDI control interface so I planned to look out for one of those on the cheap too.
With that in mind, off I went to trawl the depths of Ebay and in no time I came across many viable hits. Too many as a matter of fact. It seems that there are two types of sellers on Ebay. The Shops and the Users. One of the sure fire ways to tell the difference is that the Shops mostly sell under the “Buy It Now” feature, that allows you to immediately purchase the retail item at the listed price. All well and good, but the basic image that comes to mind when thinking about Ebay is the 2nd hand items being offered. And for those I had to look out for this items that were still being offered under the bidding feature.
That being said, out of the stuff that I got off Ebay last year, the one I had no trouble with was the item bought from one of the Ebay shops. It was one of those rare cases where they were selling the retail item much less than what I could get it for at retail locally, thus not needing to resort to getting a 2nd hand item. The transaction was made without issue, there was ample and prompt response from the Shop contact, and it was delivered without delay to the VpostUSA holding warehouse.
Therefore Point number (1) that I’ve learn from buying from Ebay: Try to buy from the shops whenever possible unless the price is still too high for your needs.
One other item I bought was a 2nd hand item from a user. While I eventually got the item in question safely. There was quite a substantial delay cause by a lack of communication. For example in this case the seller was on holiday and didn’t ship it out till much later. And he didn’t inform me of the fact at the time. Also the shipping address details had a typo that was not caught, further adding to the delays.
So here’s are points number (2): Be sure to establish good and constant communications with the seller. And point (3): Ensure that all your details, especially shipping addresses are correct before anything else.
And lastly, how did I fare with getting The Ableton Live software? I found a seller selling an unopened box from his former business. After waiting two weeks for the overseas shipping via vpostUSA. It was discovered that the serial number details were not inside the box as normal but emailed directly. Since it was his former business staff that directly ordered it and that the email used was no longer in use, the box itself was pretty much useless. The seller was willing to give me full refund and let me keep the box because the oversight was his. But I had already paid for the shipping costs which are separate. Opps. But in all honestly, there was nothing I could do about it.
In in end I was able to get ahold of another box of the software for pretty much the same price. Only problem was the shipping costs was again separate. Therefore I ended up paying the shipping cost twice and now have two boxes of the software sitting at home.
So point number (4) of what I have learned in my Adventures in Shopping on Ebay: Sometimes things are totally out of your hands, track the whole process carefully and be prepared for surprises.
Ableton Live version 7 is now currently out and I’m entitled to a discounted direct upgrade from the developers themselves with out the need to go through Ebay. Saving up for that now at the moment. Glad that I don’t have to go through all that again. But with increased knowledge there is always that temptation to find an ‘oooo…shiny!’ item and again put forward the whole process.
