I recently concluded a massive online shopping haul. I bought two boxes of D’Addario classical guitar strings (and 3 ‘loose’ sets), an Oasis arm sleeve, a pair of Wristies (to keep my hands warm when performing) and a new pair of Ecco shoes.
I’ve been doing a ton of online shopping over the years. I’ve bought things that range from Transformer collectible toys, to iPad accessories, to skin care products to laptops.
Since I rejoined the work force two years ago, I’ve steadily gotten more busy and I have replaced almost all with ‘real-world’ shopping with online shopping (sans clothing, toiletries and food). My relationship with ‘real-world’ shopping came to a grind several weeks ago when I went shopping for the above mentioned Eccos.
It’s about time I bought a new pair of ‘formal’ shoes. My current Rockports are nearly six years old, and though they are still going strong (to its remarkable credit), it is starting to show its age. So I visited Ecco’s website to see if they had anything I fancied. I’ve been looking to replace the Rockports for quite a while, but I could never find anything I liked.
Lo and behold I finally found something I was willing to wear for the next five years, so I took leave to buy a pair from the Takashimaya Shopping Department. Alas, they did not have my size, so I went across the road to Men’s Department at Metro(Paragon) only to discover that their Ecco section did not even stock the model I wanted, which in turn lead me to the Ecco boutique store at Ion.
It was there that I learnt that they were completely sold-out and were not brining in that model anymore. Great. What a waste of leave, time and effort. To be fair, I probably should have called Ecco before going down, but I was hoping to make the purchase from Takashimaya and they did not have a contact number readily accessible on their website.
I went home and made the purchase from a US website. It took me 10 minutes.
How convenient and quick!
The same applies to the D’Addario Strings. Typically I buy them in bulk from either Ranking Sports or Music Theme, both of which are very competitively priced, but this would still require me to make the time to go down and pick them up. So I made this purchase through StringsByMail. Because I was buying them in bulk, the additional shipping cost was quite negligible. It was a small premium I was willing to pay for the added convenience.
Most of the time, my online purchases are actually considerably cheaper than the retail price, so I actual save money and time by shopping from the comfort of home. Case and point: three years ago, I ordered a Motorola ROKR EQ 7 bluetooth speaker set from the US, and even with shipping included, it was 60% cheaper than buying it from the store in Singapore.
To hell with the lack of warranty. With those kinds of savings, I’ll just buy another one if it gets spoilt. Fortunately, it is still going strong.
About 75% of the non-essential things I’ve bought over the last two years were from online transactions. Considering the Ecco fiasco, I’m wondering if I should increase that quota to 95%. It’s convenient and by shopping at the correct online stores, I can save money and stretch my dollar.
Now if I could find an online hawker centre that delivers…
After reading this, I never want to go shopping again! Think I might go online and shop to my heart’s content!
You should! Who has the time to actually go around comparing prices nowadays? :p
Hey Dedrick, may I know where did you purchase your ipad smart cover and the grey faux suede iPad draw string pouch? 🙂
Hey Ed,
I got it from ebay. Looks like the sellers I bought it from doesn’t currently have stock, but there are plenty of alternative sellers. happy shopping! 🙂