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The end of online shopping is nigh

As an early adopter and very long-time user of the internet, I've been buying stuff online for decades.

Instead of being limited to whatever products the local stores decided or were able to stock, I've had the benefit of shopping from the world's largest catalog of products and the widest range of prices. Now everyone is doing it.

Or should I say, "everyone was doing it".

More recently, I've started returning to the "bricks and mortar" shops instead of exercising my credit-card online.

Why is that? What is it that has soured me to the online shopping experience?

In a word (or two): delivery costs.

While there are still some great deals to be had online, most of the savings evaporate the moment you get that cool new device or must-have purchase to the online checkout.

Suddenly, the price you're being asked to pay is hiked by 25 percent or more as a result of shipping costs.

Initially I thought this was just a transient effect of the Covid pandemic but it seems that high shipping and freight charges are not going away. DHL, for example, still imposes its pandemic surcharge *years* after the lockdowns were lifted -- why not, any excuse to pad profits eh?

Some sites such as Ali Express and other Sino-etailers still offer free or near-free shipping but it's very slow, often taking a month or longer. If you want your purchase within a week or two then you have no option but to fork out a sizeable chunk of change for the privilege.

Example... I wanted to buy a relatively low-cost 3D printer part from Ali Express. The price of this component is a mere NZ$50 (plus GST) and shipping is free if you use the regular slow-boat from China method. Expedited shipping is NZ$60... more than the price of the part itself and even that only guarantees delivery in 10 working days.

Owch!

Right now I'm waiting on a few parts I ordered last month from Ali Express, apparently they're now with the local delivery agent so I expect to see them in the next few days. These parts weren't urgent so I still got value but a number of other bits and pieces I needed "right now" were purchased locally and in doing so I saved quite bit of money.

You might think that online shopping from NZ-based etailers would be different though, right? I mean, there's no international component to the delivery so shipping charges would be more reasonable.

Well in some cases that is true -- but in others I'm left scratching my head.

For example, the predictions are for a very hot summer this year thanks to El Nino. With this in mind I decided to purchase a small portable airconditioning unit that I can use to cool my office and then the bedroom at night during the predicted heatwaves.

I did the usual online shopping research and discovered the unit that seemed least offensive to my wallet whilst also delivering a useful level of performance. Mitre 10 online seemed to have the best price for this unit and so I went about creating an account.

The product-page for this unit said "shipping from $70" which I thought was a little expensive for something that only costs $500 or so -- but never the less I threw the thing in my cart and proceeded to the checkout.

MEDIC!!! Bring the defibrilator!

Once at the checkout, the freight charge soared to $168 -- WTF?

That's a huge amount and brought the total cost outside of my budget.

I contacted Mitre 10's online support and queried the cost. They told me "nah, that's the price".

So, with this option crossed off my shopping list I went to the Bunnings website and found a similar (but slightly inferior) option. Naturally this unit was not in stock at our local Bunnings store (nothing ever is here) so I checked the freight cost...

OMG... seven freaking dollars?

Surely this is a mistake? Someone must have forgotten a zero!

I threw the unit in my shopping cart, skipped to the checkout and -- holy crap... it's still just a $7 freight charge.

Credit card in hand I completed the transaction and waited for the inevitable "we're sorry but the freight was miscalculated, you owe us an additional $63" email -- but it never came.

How is it that Bunnings can charge me just $7 for the same thing that Mitre10 believes is impossible to do for less than almost $170? That's over an order of magnitude difference.

Mitre10 are very proud of their "we'll match any price" policy but that doesn't include shipping costs so if you're buying online, it's pretty meaningless.

With all this in mind, I'm really souring somewhat to online shopping -- it's not as simple nor as cost-effective as it used to be.

Sure, as in the case of the air conditioner and some otherwise unobtainable parts I'll continue to shop online but for a growing number of other purchases I'll do it in person. The prices may be slightly higher but the shipping is free and I can often haggle them down by a few dollars and have a little fun at the same time.

The convenience of shopping online is great but be aware that if you don't do your homework or if you're just out of luck then be aware that this convenience may come at a price.

Carpe Diem folks!

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