I often see better deals for products online versus in a store. I understand some of the savings is because of the extra shipping costs that don't or do apply. Yet, I can't help take notice that online shopping is often much better for my pocketbook, especially on sites such as Amazon.com. Can you relate?
i brought most of the christmas gifts from the online store. i got an amazing discount and deals on those gifts. but few gifts i brought from the offline store also.
I think it is down to personal preference. Some people actually like to walk around the busy shops and do their shopping. I for one, do all my shopping online because it is convenient and I always find it to save me money overall. Most of the time, you can find vouchers and discounts to save on the shipping anyway.
I wanted to purchase them online. I figured I could get Swagbuck points for shopping at Amazon, which already offers lower prices. That way I could get even more of a discount. I am to broke to even buy one Christmas gift right now. I did not buy anything online, or in the store, yet. I don't have much time, and there are three children depending on me. I am sure it will all turn out to be OK. I just won't get the discounts I needed because of timing.
I think you are better off shopping online because you can get stuff for a lot cheaper and without the stress of the holiday crowds. So for that reason, I mainly do my christmas shopping online. But I do love walking around the shops in winter, getting a hot chocolate whilst it's snowing and nibbling foods around the christmas markets! Yum, definitely one of my favourite things to do in winter.
Yeah I normally buy Christmas gifts online too. I hate going to a bunch of different stores to get all my gifts and end up having to fight off crowds and wait in lines. I can go somewhere like Amazon and get almost everything I need for everyone without having to leave my couch and save money. Yeah it sometimes sucks to pay shipping and have to wait for the stuff to come, but Amazon is pretty fast with shipping and a lot of things have free shipping!
I agree! I think it's better to do the shopping online cause they have way better deals than in store. And a lot of times you can get promo codes online for certain places to save 5 or 10 bucks or a certain percentage off your purchase so I think online is the best option.
Yes, I have noticed that online prices of items are quite cheaper as compared to offline stores. I guess it's because they don't have to pay for the staff and the lease fee of the store. Some items are even 50% cheaper online than offline, like flash drives and memory cards, and they're all genuine, so I just buy them online.
There is a local campaign over here promoting local shopping since they say economy of local commerce can benefit significantly if one shop directly here rather than benefit huge transnational companies that, by this time of the year, could may delay delivery if an order is not submitted with enough anticipation. Personally I will not buy online nor locally, but craft with my own hands all the Christmas gifts.
The whole issue with buying online is that most of the time you think you are getting a great deal. For instance, I purchased a 7lb tub on amazon for $8.75 with free shipping. I thought I got a amazing deal for organic sugar and condemned stores for not having it. Then I went to a local chain and saw it on the shelf for $5.50.
It depends where you're shopping. I still tend to find things cheaper elsewhere than Amazon because the Canadian version sucks. I'd rather go in town and support the locals, but I'd much rather it if they have a website and save me the trip and the frustration of large crowds of grumpy Scrooges. If everyone felt about Christmas as I did, I would love to go shopping from store to store, it's part of the experience. I grew up that way... it seems the larger the city, the grumpier the people.
Last Christmas we were in some really tough financial situations and we had a newborn baby and my husband had gotten layed off in October so we literally had no money to do Christmas what so ever. It was so stressful. I ended up listing my very expensive breast pump on ebay that I had intended on using for my newborn baby but I had no choice, if I wanted to have a Christmas for my children. Any way it was the very end of November and I listed a 5 day auction starting at 500 bucks and it ended up selling for 730 bucks. I got it shipped out right away and the money was put into my paypal account. I did not have a bank account just a prepaid card so the only way to get the cash would have been to request a check up to 500 and I would not have had enough time for it to get here because it could take up to 6 weeks so I used my paypal to do all of my Christmas shopping online. I used paypal at Walmart.com ebay.com toysrus.com and other websites. It was actually awesome because I was able to compare prices for the things I wanted to get the kids and most of the sites offered free shipping when you spend a certain amount so I actually did not pay shipping for anything I got the kids. I am doing the same thing this year, well not selling a breast pump, but doing all of my Christmas shopping online. I placed a few orders last night and did not pay shipping. I also picked the gifts I wanted to buy and cross referenced all the sites and found the site which I could get it cheapest and not pay shipping. I love online shopping. I shop online for pretty much everything besides groceries.
I forgot to post where I do my of my Christmas shopping! I do most of my Christmas shopping online. Mostly because it is much easier to find what I want.
I do almost all of my Christmas shopping online. It is much more convenient and easier to find what I am looking for. It is often cheaper too. I HATE how crowded stores are around the holidays and try to avoid it as much as possible. You can usually find better deals online anyway, not to mention you can do it from the comfort of your own home.
I think it just depends on where you can find the most unique items or the biggest discounts at any given time. For example, I have come across a lot of very unique items strolling through a mall that I otherwise would have never found online, and since they are unique they didn't need to be pricey to get a good reaction from the family members I gave them to. Sometimes the discounts and items online are also very good though so it's much better to choose that instead. I think being flexible is key.
I agree with @DrRipley - I buy wherever I can find the best discounts and deals regardless of whether that's online or in store. I prefer to buy in store because that way I can examine the product first to make sure it'll be suitable for the recipient but if the deal is good enough I'm happy to buy online and would keep the product if it wasn't suitable for the recipient for whatever reason or give it to another person if it would be more suitable for them.
I have always sort of had an issue with the word, 'should.' It implies that there is only one reasonable path, but there are multiple different situation combinations that may or may not arise in life, and in many of those situations, the most conventional 'should' does not apply. So I think it depends on the situation.
It doesn't really matter whether you buy something in a store or online especially if you are doing your shopping early. The only thing I'd take into consideration is where I'd save more money. With online shopping I must factor in the shipping fees but if what I'm buying is still cheaper then I'll buy online. The only time when I won't buy Christmas gifts online is just before Christmas. Since it takes about a week and some times longer for things one buys online to be delivered [here], I wouldn't take the risk at that time.
I will probably obtain the goods at a cheaper price online compared to buying in the store. However, shopping in the store does provide an advantage over online shopping in certain aspects: I am able to inspect the goods to see if it's in good order There is no long wait because of shipping schedule It's much easier to return faulty goods Therefore, there are only a few trusted sites that I will shop from online because I had bought goods on more than one sites before and have had difficulty in getting problems with having my order sorted out.
