[LINK] Ebay vrs Bricks

[Craig Sanders]

On Mon, Jan 24, 2011 at 07:30:10AM +0000, stephen at melbpc.org.au wrote:

> For country Australia, Ebay and your post office is a killer combination.

and for city dwellers too.

now if only most online shops with their own .com.au shopping cart sites
would actually use Australia Post rather than whatever crappy courier
they get a good deal from, they'd be almost as good as ebay sellers.

a few do but, in my experience, many only claim they do and send your
order via courier instead.

and lots of them lie about stock levels too, saying "in stock" when they
mean "we'll get around to ordering it from our supplier sometime after
we get your money. if you're lucky, they might have it in stock. or they
might have to order it from their supplier. expect weeks or months of
delays".

so, yeah, online shopping can be good. or even great. but australian
mail order businesses have a lot to learn from their american (and
other foreign) counterparts. and, IMO, the industry needs regulation to
safeguard buyers' interests.

craig

-- 
craig sanders <cas at taz.net.au>