Price comparison sites useless?

WaywardOne on 05/09/2009 - 17:44
Last edited 05/09/2009 - 17:46

Hi,

I am just venting my frustration :P

Without shipping fees and being only able to compare a single item, has staticice (or all price comparison websites) become useless? I wanted a USB hub, and even Sydney stores were charging at least $12 to deliver to metro Sydney. This is not to mention that various online stores have "conditions apply" on items which require you to buy an additional several hundred $ worth of computer gear. Also some sites require you to sign up or even place an order before they give you the shipping costs (UMart I'm looking at you)!

I understand that margins are thin etc but making profit out of shipping fees is just not cool IMHO.

General Discussion

Related Stores

staticice.com.au
staticice.com.au

Comments

  • Kranbone on 06/09/2009 - 01:21

    If you mean umart (IJK) I'd hastily avoid them as they don't honour warranties and their sales rep actually attacks people on whirlpool. I have also had some pains with static ice when you search for an item and the store has it no longer available (most common with digitan).

    I'll definitely keep my eye out for you though mate :)

  • Davo1111 on 06/09/2009 - 11:33

    oh i feel your pain. Last week i wanted to buy 3 8gb USB keys, and was quoted $25 shipping by certain sites to deliver to sydney (they fit in a small envelope with a 55c stamp on the front!!)
    It ended up cheaper just to go on ebay… was a shame, bc i wanted to buy locally too.

  • scotty on 10/09/2009 - 20:53
    +1

    That's why the free delivery offers are usually pretty hot here in OzBargain :)

    What many of those price comparison sites (ShopBot, GetPrice, etc) don't tell you is that some might be grey imports. Searching for camera or smart phones, and you'll see a big price gap between the grey imports and local stock. So a lot of times we can't just say "hey it's cheaper elsewhere" and then throw a staticICE link — we need to make sure we are not comparing apple with orange, and also include the shipping and handling cost.

  • [Deactivated] on 19/09/2009 - 12:50
    +1

    Handy tip for staticice, add state:wa or state:qld or whatever to the end of your search to only search your state.

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