Online Shopping--My Experiences

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old tex

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Mar 19, 2024
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San Angelo Tx
As the title says this is just my experiences shopping online. Understand, I live in a town of 100,000 which has all the stuff we need but not all the stuff we want. So, I buy a fair amount of stuff online. And of course you may not have experiences like mine. This is just what I've seen.

Walmart: I won't buy from them again. I bought a wheelchair that was shipped from wherever (in the US), it made it to Dallas & then dropped off the radar. Turns out it had 2 different addresses on it & the PO shipped it back to WM. The ordeal took about 2 weeks with me in limo most of the time. The killer was that the guy who delivered the wheelchair (from someone else) said that he's seen that before with Walmart items.

Etsy: I haven't bought more than 10 items from them. Every now & then you can find a "deal", but mostly they tend to see the items that they are selling as more valuable than I do. Generally a lot more valuable, but sometimes you can find reasonable prices.

Amazon: They are pretty good. Rarely are they slow on shipping & generally have pretty good prices. I like that you can go there, sign in & see what's going on with your order. Mostly from them I buy bread & butter items that would be available if I lived in a larger city. I do buy some fringe items like garden sun protection for my garden that might be hard to find even in a larger place & they have come through very well. I'd rate them as very good. Oh & the wheelchair I got came from them in 4 days.

Temu: I know, Chinese companies & everyone worries about theft & cheap stuff but these are my experiences. The higher priced items I've bought there (garden planters, food cabinet, etc. have all been at least as good of quality as I can get around here & much cheaper. I "love, love, love" that when I get an update on an item it has a picture of the item. I don't have to wonder what I'm being updated on. I also love that they keep you updated. The longest shipping has taken was about 2 weeks & that was for a spice rack. I'll throw this in, I bought a broom & dustpan set just because I could use another & I was intrigued by the design. First impression was that it was a bit cheap (it was lightweight). After using it I feel that it's far superior to the one (American made) that I have. I also wasn't impressed with a bathroom set I ordered. But it does the job (shower curtain, rug, toilet rug), not typical American quality on the rugs but they do the job & look good.

Please rate the mail order (I guess it's email order now days) that you use & let others know your opinion. If you've had good or bad experiences, tell us what happened.
 
I have mostly used Amazon and Temu, and have had good experiences with both. Amazon, IMHO, has a better delivery record. I get their items much quicker than Temu.

Temu has unbelievably low prices, but don't order from them if you need the item quickly. Sometimes it is a few days, and sometimes it is a few weeks, but at least for me, it has shown up eventually.

I would rate the quality of the items from both (Amazon and Temu) equal. I have not been disappointed with the quality of any of the items I have ordered.

There is a Wal Mart a stone's throw from my house, so I don't order anything from them. I am in the store at least a couple times a month. My wife has ordered from them, but to the best of my knowledge, she hasn't had any problems.
 
I'll include this here. I was looking through the back friday adds this morning. I spotted something that the wife & I talked about buying. I started to go out & just buy it but beforehand I wanted to make sure which WM in our area had what I wanted. So I checked the stores (we have 3 super centers here). On each store I checked the box, on hand before doing the search. Each store listed the item in my search as having them, yet once in them I had to order it. I like Walmart but they are wasting my time when they try to promote their online ordering & waste my time.
 
My biggest online is Amazon, even if it gets lost and never delivers, they make it right.

Lots of stuff from independents: Books, seeds, flashights, tools, some pet stuff.

My main learning is NEVER BUY FROM A SPONSORED FACEBOOK AD. Might look great, but you will likely get hosed.
 
Sometimes I order from Sam's Club, they ship UPS, everything goes well. If something is damaged Sam's is quick to replace it and send an online coupon. I order from Amazon, eBay, and Walmart.com! If something is from Amazon and shipped by Amazon, the returns are easy if you must return an item! I don't order stuff from Walmart (the store), but Walmart.com. has sellers just like eBay and Amazon, sometimes they have a better price or the seller will offer free shipping! The only problem I have had with ordering online has been if the item is shipped with the USPS!! Our post office is a hideous mess!! They can hardly get the regular mail to my house, good luck with packages!!
 
You gotta know your prices!!
Although it is a pain to do so, shopping around for a while helps with that. A friend was looking for a new carpet shampooer. She had been to Kohls. A couple weeks later, Kohls had a "sale" on carpet shampooers and the price was higher when it was on sale than it had been before the sale.
 
It's a little limited on what I'll buy online because wanting to buy made in USA products. Occasionally I'll but some soda pop and certain candy's from Amazon that I can't find locally. Or reloading components and spare parts. We also buy our baby chick's online.
 
I would never spend a penny of my money at Temu or Wish, unless I had stolen credit card. But I buy a lot of stuff (online) from Walmart, Amazon, Costco and about 20-25 gun/ammo places like Primary Arms, MidwayUSA, Brownells, Wing Tactical, FieldsUSA, MidwestGunWorks, MagShack, GunMagWarehouse, SG Ammo, BulkAmmo, BattleHawkArmory, GunPrime, RainierArms, etc. without a single company related issue. I have had issues with both UPS and FedEx being dumb as rocks and screwing the pooch, but those were never the retailers fault.
 

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