How I buy things
Mel Kirk posted an question on twitter earlier about price comparison sites and it got me thinking about my online shopping habits.
I very rarely use any comparison sites, if I do then its usually Google product search but that’s more to find who sells something than to find the best price, for me price isn’t the only factor in where I buy from, in fact it isn’t even usually the main factor. If I’m sat at home and decide I want to buy product X I usually work in this order:
1) Is there a shop locally(ish) that I can walk into an buy it from, Ok I might pay a little more but I’ll have it now and don’t have to face a trip to the parcel depot to collect it. Also if there’s any problems returns are easier.
2) If nowhere sells it retail then I tend to look at online store’s I’ve bough form in the past, generally I buy geek gadgets so for Me the usual suppliers are Dabs, Expansys, or sometime Amazon
3) If none of these people sell it then the next stop is usually ebay, however I tend to only go for Buy It Now as I can’t be bothered with auctions, I want click click, card number and its on its way! Most of the time its ‘proper’ companies with eBay stores that I end up buying from.
4) If that fails then its probably google product search but then I’ll look at the any of the top 10 suppliers and I’ll probably choose more based on the feel of their site than price. Also I’ll usually try twitter at this point for a recommendation.
5) Finally its wide open so a regular google search and I’ll look on comparison sites that that finds and also start to look at eBay auctions.
I guess I’m not completely unusual in my methods here, I’m a young successful person with a reasonable disposable income and no kids! I place quite a high value on my time and so if that means paying a bit more to avoid any hassle then I’m happy to do that. I’m also the customer from hell if things go wrong, If I’ve paid that bit more in the expectation of quality and service and then I don’t get it I’ll raise merry hell with the company, again this is why I like retail stores, is much easier to complain in person than remotely 
