Buying gear online: good or evil?

[Reg Braithwaite]

WARNING: The plural of "anecdote" is NOT "data."

That being said, I have purchased from several of my LDSs, purchased new gear online, and purchased used gear online as well. So far, my experience has been just as good on line as it has been in the LDS. So far, I would say that for me, being a knowledgeable consumer is critical.

My LDS was happy to sell me what everyone else was buying, and pooh-poohed diving a wing as being only for "tech" divers. I do not believe jackets are the work of the devil, but I did my research, bought a wing from the LDS any ways, and am happier for it.

OTOH, my LDS offers courses and for $10 I get a tank and can dive the pool while they teach OW classes every Monday night. Extreme Exposure can't do that for me, at least not in Toronto!

 

[imasinker]

I know this is an old topic, but the with Leisurepro dumping excess stock at deep discount prices, and many dive stores facing potentially closing their doors due to the recession, I thought it might be a good time to run a straw poll.

Not picking out LP in particular (although I am sure they are the biggest), but I think the basic issues of the debate are the same for all the major online retailers. Is the sport poorer if local dive stores become a rarity?

Just remember online shopping is what it is. They too are bound by the same procedures as LDS in regards to advertising prices. Alot of diving equipment manufactures do not allow some equipment to be advertised with prices via online store or LDS flyers/web pages. Yes some online dealers sell of old stock at reduced prices and if you ask your LDS they can likely match the prices and I have seen many people do this before. As a consumer you have the right to shop around. Maybe you don't have a LDS close by so then what? Will it hurt the LDS shops, I say no. Loyalty goes along way. With some online products not being warranted or hard to get serviced, being they need to be sent back or delivery perhaps longer. These things may be worth it to some. Others may want latest newer up to date gear and warranties, able to do quick purchase returns and knowing the place the bought it will service it for them on site. I believe it will force the LDS shops to become more competitive, open up their own online stores/web page as I have seen many start to do. LDS shops also tend to show off the latest new equipment that some online stores cannot sell yet or have in stock. There are people who want these Items and there are some that don't mind the older stock. To each their own. Since the dawn of man people been shopping around for cheaper prices, but still, you can't get air fills online. One other important point I have noticed is, online you are limited to the inventory they carry, at a dive shop they can look for you search anything you want and get it to you at least mine does and that's why I keep going back!.

 

[dl348]

EtherFill 5000 enables gas fills over the Internet

I have one, it works great

 

[maged_mmh]

EtherFill 5000 enables gas fills over the Internet

Yeah, but can I save the gas on my hard drive for later fills?

Or, can I download it to my AI dive computer for an OOA emergency?

OK that rules!

I have one, it works great

R U GUYS SERIOUS!!!!

 

[imasinker]

Don't buy this yet, they are coming out with a network card so you can network tanks together and this will resolve the age old share air policy within the dive world.

 

[maged_mmh]

Don't buy this yet, they are coming out with a network card so you can network tanks together and this will resolve the age old share air policy within the dive world.

if not wireless...not interested.:scorned:

 

[Sas]

Any shop that does not realise the potential of selling stuff online will most likely fail in the long run. I have shopped mainly at two LDSs rather than online stores. One bags out online shopping constantly, even sending out club newsletters about the 'perils of online shopping'. In my mind, this is very backwards and they should instead be embracing the internet.. I can handle paying probably an extra 10% or so from a local store in order to gain some advice and also because it lets me check out gear first. However, not double or more, which is what most LDSs around me charge as opposed to Leisurepro and the like. It's ridiculous and I will never use shops like that again for gear. These shops also immediately put up their price when the Aussie dollar dropped, even though they are still selling stock that they bought when the dollar was good! Good LDSs do not do this in my opinion.

Luckily I have found a new LDS, which I now buy my gear from. The new shop I go to has an online store, the owner is strongly supportive of online sales of scuba gear and the prices are very competitive, so much so that I do not need to shop overseas for gear (the Aussie dollar has dropped a lot anyway, so purchasing online from Leisurepro, etc has become *far* less attractive these days). He will even recommend me to buy gear from other stores if he can't compete with the price, instead of buying off him. I went in to talk to him about setting up doubles and he said 'buy your regs online, it will be much cheaper, you know about the internet yes?' As a result I will probably end up buying more stuff from him in the long run due to his honesty, so I see it as smart business practice.

As far as the question of 'where will we get our air fills from?', well if there is enough demand for air fills, then people will supply air fills, that's how markets work. If scuba shops are finding it hard to compete, that implies to me that there is excess supply, and that the market is now taking care of businesses that are inefficient and can't compete. They've been protected for a long time by some of the practices of large distributors (MRSP, etc), and now the net has taken that protection away somewhat

 

[KY_BOB]

Someone tell me if this is wrong.

I did my research on dive computers and decided that I wanted a Wisdom 2. I did my online research and found my best price.

I called my LDS and told them that I wanted to buy it from them. I told them the online price and ask if they could get within $100 of the price, I wanted one. I would have happily paid the LDS $100 more but the best they could do was $300 more, counting tax, shipping, ect.

I bought it from leisurepro.

I hate it but my budget is tight and I want to have all of my gear ready for spring.

 

[ScubaSteve]

.......As far as the question of 'where will we get our air fills from?', well if there is enough demand for air fills, then people will supply air fills, that's how markets work.........

Now that sounds like logic....shame on you . :joke: of course. This needs to be pointed out more in these threads.

 

[divestoclimb]

Well, there's a problem with online sales: the number of online SCUBA retailers that the market will bear is not necessarily the same number of brick-and-mortar dive shops the market used to bear. Even if every dive store today put up an online presence I don't think all of them would succeed; if they did it would have to be because they cut into the sales margins of the shops that already have an established online presence.

I suspect that the optimum number of online stores is smaller, especially to get good pricing. Unless a new model can be found for the services that have to be local (gas fills, rentals, classes) there will be a lower density of places that offer these services, and that reduced convenience will impact the number of divers in a region (not counting vacation divers).