Do you believe in purchasing stuff off the net?

[truva]

I support my LDS as much as I can. Most of the time I buy from them the larger items which fit it important, since their rates are usually very competative and I am impressed by their service. However, I would have no problem buying online for some of the smaller items if I can get a much better deal. I'm not made on cash, and I need to think of my own finances first, and my LDS's finances second.

If it is expensive then I shop around, but then I service my own stuff and I suggest that to everyone. You should know how this stuff works if you are trusting it to keep you alive.

I worked on instrumentation for a living for 15 years, but the only SCUBA regulators I have had apart are the Apeks DS4, DST and a Scubapro MK 20. That’s my disclaimer BTW.

I will spend 10 bucks extra on an item to have right now (flash light or something) but a regulator or a computer or something very expensive I am going to shop around.

Truva

 

[Kat]

OMG... has this topic not been discussed to death yet?

Do a search on this topic, it will take you days to read the same 4 answers over & over.
Why does it matter what other people say? Do what is right for you.

Does anyone really believe that if every dive shop in the world went out of business, that we'd never be able to dive again, because we couldn't get our tanks filled?

 

[Trisha]

Actually, yes to all the above.
Does finding gear underwater count, too? A friend of ours can find the darndest things... spearguns, anchors, etc. Just look for the beer cans and root around!

 

[jviehe]

Simply put..

I will buy equipment from an individual, but will not buy from a business. Gotta support the LDS.

How about telling us why? You are obvisouly trying to convince us, and youll find if you do a search that most of these guys own at least one thing they purchased from a online shop.

 

[pitah]

I`m at Mexico, and in my city, my LDS provide limited quantity of products, but very high quality (SCUBAPRO - HALCYON - DUI) but for accessories, i like to buy by internet, for example, books on specific dive sites, and marine life, for the places you`re planning to go, cameras, wetnotes, wetsuits, wetshoes,..... it works for me for that kind of things. But regarding equipment i like to be sure that maintenance can be provide at a local reliable place.

 

[xtracheese4me]

I usually just wait fir the LDS to have the once a year sale.. It amazes me how they can hold a sale for 50-70 % off of everything in the store. for a weekend. and the rest of the year charge retail (msrp). Ive bought both ways . The more equipment I have the more I dive and inturn the more air and service work I use from the LDS. It all works out. I often think the ones screaming on these threads are LDS owners.

 

[jplacson]

Yes I will, & yes I have bought from an online shop.

Mainly because ordering the items from my friend's dive shop would take forever! :lol:

Got some stuff from DIRDirect

 

[DrMike]

Yes I do and will,

But never again from Ndivers australia - I dont trust them as far as I can throw them (In my opinion and based on my experience) I had to get my credit card company to investigate cos they took my money but just wouldnt deliver the goods - plenty of B.S but no goods.

Got them in the end - but not without the threat of action from the bank.

[nasty word deleted]

 

[Bretagne]

I eventually buy on the net on the site of my Diving Shop. Or I buy directly in the shop. Or I buy in another shop via my club...

 

[divefan]

I get a kick out of the too often used expression "you must support your local dive shop." Your LDS is a business like any other retail business. You wouldn't overpay for your car or telephone service. You shop sales in malls and check ads for the best deals on household goods, electronics, and food. So why pray tell should you overpay for something as unnecessary and expensive as dive gear? Dive gear is a luxury we indulge ourselves in. It is not a necessity in life. It may be our passion but we can live without it longer than we can live without food.

If the LDS owner is not a good business man he goes out of business and the market will replace him with someone that knows how to stay in business. Why should we as divers and consumers support someone who is incompetent to begin with? I say incompetent because if he weren't incompetent he wouldn't need to rely on this ridiculous overused phrase "you must support your local dive shop." He wouldn't need your pity to earn a living. He would earn your business and keep it because he deserves it. Simple. SYLDS is a phrase coined by DEMA to con trusting and mostly new divers/consumers into believing that they are supporting some higher noble cause by acting with others to overpay for products that can be bought for less elsewhere. Aren't companies like Divers Direct and LP supporting the dive industry also? They sell dive gear so they must have an interest in the industry. They attend all the trade shows just like everyone else does. So why do they deserve less of a shake than anyone else? No, I have no financial interest in any of the aforementioned companies. I just have an opinion of why the industry has the problems it does. You shouldn't need to subsidize a shop that can't figure out how to make a buck without gouging it's customers. They don't deserve to stay in business anyway if they're incompetent. Isn't that what a free market system does?

For the record I do get fills and do buy some items at LDS's. But, I also buy online. I try to get a fair shake for what I spend. I don't nickel and dime but I would never pay retail either. There is such a thing as a happy medium where both parties walk away happy. Opinions?