@tokyo 14 Posted December 13, 2012 Share Posted December 13, 2012 I wanted to buy myself a USB 3.0 2GB external hard drive and was in the big electric shop today. Checked my phone on kakaku and the exact same thing was 30% cheaper, even with the points they cut off in the shop. 4000 yen saving. As I'm actually buying two at the same time, that's 8000 yen difference. At those prices, it's really difficult to buy in the shop -- even if you feel you want to actually buy it there in the shop. I ordered online and within 1 hour they mailed me to say it had been sent. It will be with me before 10am tomorrow morning. Almost feel sorry for the shops. Will one day we have hardly any shops to walk round? Link to post Share on other sites
hellyer 216 Posted December 13, 2012 Share Posted December 13, 2012 Good deal @tokyo. I did a lot of my Christmas present buying on line this year, more for the convenience than price as I am flat out working leading up to Xmas. Having said that most of the buys were cheaper online though you need a decent lead time for delivery on some items Link to post Share on other sites
@tokyo 14 Posted December 13, 2012 Author Share Posted December 13, 2012 I was pleasantly surprised actually at how cheap a chunky 2GB USB3.0 drive goes for actually. A steal at less than 11,000 yen I reckon. Link to post Share on other sites
Chriselle 158 Posted December 13, 2012 Share Posted December 13, 2012 I wrestle with this dilemma every time I buy something. I would prefer to give my business to the shops but sometimes (most times) the price difference is just too great. Last year when I bought my fairly nice Sony handcam I went to a big box denki-ya san and most of the models on display were only toy look-alike shells of the real cameras. I called the manager over and said....I would really like to support my local community by buying stuff here but these toy camera shells are no different that me looking at a picture posted on Kakaku. He appologized....left it at that .....and I went and spent my $1000 on Kakaku. Link to post Share on other sites
Alexander L 80 Posted December 14, 2012 Share Posted December 14, 2012 Marks n Sparks online is much cheaper than their shops here, even with the shipping. Link to post Share on other sites
NoFakie 45 Posted December 14, 2012 Share Posted December 14, 2012 I was pleasantly surprised actually at how cheap a chunky 2GB USB3.0 drive goes for actually. A steal at less than 11,000 yen I reckon. Yeah, that's over three CDs! Chunky! Link to post Share on other sites
pie-eater 207 Posted December 14, 2012 Share Posted December 14, 2012 Link to post Share on other sites
pie-eater 207 Posted December 14, 2012 Share Posted December 14, 2012 I reckon he means Terabytes! Link to post Share on other sites
RobBright 35 Posted December 14, 2012 Share Posted December 14, 2012 I hate shopping at the best of times, but Chriselle is right. I would love to support local shops, but if I can get something for 75% of the shop price online, why should I buy it in store? Also remember hearing a story once that the big stores that have points card artificially inflate the price of stuff to compensate for the points they give out. Link to post Share on other sites
Chriselle 158 Posted December 14, 2012 Share Posted December 14, 2012 Please MIJ....PLEASE!! Help me convince my wife that the whole points thing is a sham. Maybe she'll listen to someone else because she sure as shit doesn't listen to me. The only points program I subscribe to is my Visa gold card which gives me a nice cash back at the end of the year. Link to post Share on other sites
brit-gob 9 Posted December 14, 2012 Share Posted December 14, 2012 Is it a story or real? I'm sure lots of points card things are not a sham. I know the cake shop my missus goes to and a restaurant we go to aren't for sure. They reward us with food for our continued business. Link to post Share on other sites
pie-eater 207 Posted December 14, 2012 Share Posted December 14, 2012 I prefer buying something in a shop. But the dilemma is there now, it just doesn't sit right paying so much more for the same thing. How can they survive? No doubt that's something they are asking themselves. Definitely a pickle. It will be sad when there are no shops to go to though. There are probably lots of unforseen consequences that I haven't yet been able to unearth in my in-depth analysis of the situation over the last 3 minutes. Link to post Share on other sites
Chriselle 158 Posted December 14, 2012 Share Posted December 14, 2012 I was thinking more along the lines of Autobacs, Nojima Denki....ect. Not so much the little places who are genuinely trying to keep your business. Autobacs is BS.... 500yen every year to have a point card. With all the driving and all the oil changes it still hardly saves beyond the yearly fee. Link to post Share on other sites
muikabochi 208 Posted December 14, 2012 Share Posted December 14, 2012 There's a chain of restaurants here in Niigata that we go to a lot when we go up to Nagaoka and Niigata, sadly not really close-by, but they have a members card that costs 1000 yen, but you get 10% off everything for a year - food, drinks, the lot. With family using it and a few parties there, last year we worked it out we saved about 15,000 yen. Link to post Share on other sites
JA2340 16 Posted December 14, 2012 Share Posted December 14, 2012 Some of the time, I buy instore depending on price and the level of service I require. Ferinstance, I bought jeans from Fletcher Jones online because their fit is superb but they do not have a B & M store anywhere near here. So online - For shoes and most other clothing, I try to buy instore because I usually want to try the product on my finely chiseled bod! IT stuff, however, because I can specify it precisely, I tend to buy online and usually at up to 75% discounted from shop prices. Mr eBay is my second best friend Link to post Share on other sites
RobBright 35 Posted December 14, 2012 Share Posted December 14, 2012 Is it a story or real? I'm sure lots of points card things are not a sham. I know the cake shop my missus goes to and a restaurant we go to aren't for sure. They reward us with food for our continued business. The only thing I can say is do a search for a product on kakaku and compare yodobashi or bic with a smaller cheaper shop, and then look at the points yiy would have got from yodobashi or BIC. Link to post Share on other sites
tokabochi 9 Posted December 14, 2012 Share Posted December 14, 2012 That doesn't prove much though does it. They have higher costs with their shops, they are more expensive than the kakaku winners that's a given isn't it. Their prices aren't above the RPP or whatever you call it... Link to post Share on other sites
Chriselle 158 Posted December 14, 2012 Share Posted December 14, 2012 No...it's just curiously coincidental that most of the cheaper places never have any kinds of discount/points system and sometimes cash only.. Link to post Share on other sites
xxx 2 Posted December 14, 2012 Share Posted December 14, 2012 Just a way of selling isn't it? Some discount price, some do points things. Sometimes they are really worth it, sometimes not. Hardly what I would call a scam, unless they actually lie about stuff. Link to post Share on other sites
Chriselle 158 Posted December 14, 2012 Share Posted December 14, 2012 I said sham....scam to me is a bit more sinister and I agree it isn't that. Link to post Share on other sites
Thundercat 60 Posted December 14, 2012 Share Posted December 14, 2012 Hmmm... It really depends on what you are looking to buy these days. Last week I bought a fridge at Kojima and the online prices were identical to the listed prices at the shop, across the board. I've found over the years that online prices have actually been creeping up a little as the major retailers have started online orders as well. Also, with websites like kakaku, they often display ridiculously low prices but don't have the item in stock which you can't find out until you've clicked on the link and been redirected to the shops webpage. Link to post Share on other sites
SKI 15 Posted December 14, 2012 Share Posted December 14, 2012 There's still a lot of local loyalty going on with elderly here. You know the conked out shops you see in town centres. When that generation goes and all that remaining loyalty with i, they certainly won't be able to survive. I get the feeling lots of those were run almost like hobbies anyway. Link to post Share on other sites
Alexander L 80 Posted December 14, 2012 Share Posted December 14, 2012 the discount liquor store will survive. Link to post Share on other sites
Slippery Jim 65 Posted December 14, 2012 Share Posted December 14, 2012 the discount liquor store will survive. As long as I'm around, it will! Link to post Share on other sites
kokodoko 67 Posted December 14, 2012 Share Posted December 14, 2012 I bought my last 2 sets of skis online from USA. Australian shops are a rip-off. Plus some of the Australian ski shops have a real attitude problem. they try and sell you innapropriate crap. e.g. One of them tried to sell me some 165 skis for Japan! doh! and a wheelie bag, when i specificially asked for a single ski bag.. Link to post Share on other sites
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