Support your local business???

[Checkmate]

Popped into the ink cartridge shop on the high street this afternoon, and told them I'd been on their website to find what I wanted.

Imagine my surprise when told that their prices if you order online are cheaper than their prices when you walk in and buy.

So if I am forced to order online, I am going to look round a few sites and compare the market dot com.

Which will probably mean I find my cartridges cheaper elsewhere and won't use the shop just down the road.

Simples.

[marymck]

The last time I bought a cartridge I found - weirdly enough - that the cheapest place to buy what I wanted was Jersey. And that even included next day delivery. Very strange.

[Rachael]

It's all from Jersey these days - printer cart, CDs, DVDs etc. It's a tax dodge.

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[leenewham]

We use 'the Green Desk' for all our office stuff as they offer eco paper, printer cartidges etc and we like them. They aren't in Sydenham, although they aren't far away.

We now shop little and often, we use the co-operative a lot and we find we waste very little food because we buy what we need rather than being seduced by stupid bogoff offers (buy one get one free) which encourage wastage and is a way for supermarkets to offer full shelves of product and reduce food wastage.

On that note, I think supermarkets should ban 'display until' dates. We need to get back to using common sense with food, if it smells bad, don't eat it. If it doesn't, it if smells ro feels fresh, then it is. Ignore the date.

[Checkmate]

Yeah but does anyone think that charging more to go into a shop and buy something than it costs to order it online makes any sense?

These people were seriously telling me that it would be cheaper for me to order online, therefore giving them the hassle of purchasing a jiffy bag or similar, packing up ink cartirdges, and posting it to an address no more than five minutes walk from the shop, wasting money, resources (packaging) and time - theirs in doing all this, and most crucially, mine, in waiting for the Post Office to deliver them (cue another can of worms.....will it arrive.....will I be here to answer the door when it does.....trek to Forest Hill to collect....etc etc etc) when I need them now and just want to walk across the road and get them!!!!!

Jesus Christ!!!!!

[mummycat]

Your answer probably comes down to the high cost of rent!

We get our cartridges from various eBay sellers, it's so competitive and they arrive free delivery the next day. Just search your product code and you'll see!

[Austin]

I used to sell hundreds of small car accessories through eBay every week. I charged £2.50 postage and packing for each item which covered everything from the time going to the sorting office to loses through the post. The Internet is unbelievably competitive, putting 10% on a product can be difficult but then again you deal with volume. Most small local shops would need to charge a great deal more, probably double the trade price to cover all the overheads associated with having a property. I used to find it immensley annoying when buyers would ask me if they could pick items up to save themselves the postage cost. It just wasn't worth the time dealing with a customer. Selling on the Internet is a completely different kettle of fish. But why wouldn't you support your local shop just for the sake of a few pounds? I used to pay much more at my local hardware store rather than buying through the likes of screwfix but at least I had the knowledge my hard earned money was staying in the local community!
Simples!!!

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[Robin Orton]

Jesus Christ!!!!!

What's he got to do with it?

[leenewham]

I'm sure he would have shopped local.