Online Sales - The importance of buying from local businesses

[almitywife]

....... Most online retailers however, get their merchandise from stores going out of business........

i support 2 lds's..... one happens to be online and on the opposite side of the country from where i live, he is an authorized dealer with manufacturer support and training and even though today is a public holiday he has already answered a few questions i had today about some new gear - the dive shop 15mins away is closed so who is providing better service??



edit: oh, and drinking and posting is bad, m'kay

cheers

 

[GrumpyOldGuy]

Craig,

No offense, but your post is a load of bull!!

Sure, some people have problems with online purchasing, programming VCR's or using paragraphs to make post clear. But most intelligent people can order online with minimal problems. As a diver, you need to keep learning and learning to work with an on-line world is a pretty basic necessity.

Certainly, there are situations where purchasing from an LDS has merit. If you are lucky enought to live near a good LDS, they may be the best choice for you. For me, my closest LDS is a 60 mile round trip and then his stock is minimal. After few few trips out to his shop and getting the "I don't have it in stock but I can special order it for you" line, I just order it direct for 30-50% off and save myself 12 gallons of gas.

 

[DivingPrincessE]

I believe that supporting your LDS is important and I rarely shop online now that I found a good one. The shop that I originally used was awful. They barely carried anything, high-pressure, prices WAY jacked up, and had the whole "buy from us or leave" mentality. As a result I did my first scuba purchases online. Then a new shop (NOVA Dive Center) opened and they are great. Prices are lower than I find online, low pressure, and more than helpful.

If LDSs want to compete with online stores, they need to adjust their prices and attitudes accordingly.

 

[jasondcrawford]

ScubaToys has better service and return policies than any of my 20 local dive shops. I'm guessing they have better service than you too Craig.

 

[Zeeman]

All you can do at that point is send the merchandise back to where you bought it, at your expense, and wait for a long time to get results.

This particular part bugs me. Here is why...

I ordered a set of regs from Scubatoys about 2 years ago, that same day, I went to my LDS to buy a dive knife - the one I wanted was not in stock, so I ordered it. The regs I ordered from Scubatoys arrived a day earlier than my dive knife - AND - the dive knife was not the one I was actually expecting.

Next, warranty... Everything I heard about Scubatoys (and many others) is that they are excellent in terms of taking care of warranty claims. I made a warranty claim on a Canon camera I purchased here, from an authorised reseller - it took 6 weeks (!!!!!!!!!!!!!) for the warranty repairs to be carried out. Now, I know this is not a scuba product, but had I purchased that item from the US, apart from being able to just buy 2 for the price of the one I bought here, it would have been FASTER to send it back to the US, have it repaired there, and then have it sent back. Sure, this wont always be the case, but often, it is.

In closing, I buy from the store (online or otherwise) that will give me the best service. 2 of them are online, one on the other side of the planet, the other on the other side of the country, and the bricks and mortar store I buy from is on the other side of the city - because my LDS in the suburb where I live, quite frankly, sucks. They survive only on the tourists who decide to do OW courses, I'm sure, because prices and service sure ain't the reason.

By the way Craig, maybe "Knowone" loves this sport more than you do, but very few of us love it any less, or are less passionate about it, as I'm sure you are now aware.

Z..

 

[Craig Clark]

Sales slow Craig?

Actually business is doing quite well thank you. Do you have the balls to put your life savings on the line to go into business for something you love to do?

 

[telemonster]

Actually business is doing quite well thank you. Do you have the balls to put your life savings on the line to go into business for something you love to do?

I'm saving all my cash to take advantage of all the deals that will arise as the recession hits, due to the insane amounts of credit that have been extended to people who will not be able to repay (housing bubble).

BUT, on to the Brick & Mortar argument.

Scuba equipment is life support equipment. Can you cite examples of where an online purchase led to an accident, that a local purchase would not have? When I've second guessed my local dive shop(s), people on here set me straight that the local shops are taking shortcuts to save $1 in the service of my equipment. *shrug*

If you got the cash, support the local guys. Bang that credit card, run up that debt. Or shop wisely and make your money go as far as possible.

Some of us like toys that the local shops don't carry.

 

[jpsexton]

Actually business is doing quite well thank you. Do you have the balls to put your life savings on the line to go into business for something you love to do?

I have much respect for anyone who has the balls to put it all on the line for something they love. Running you own business demands many sacrifices, many hours of hard work and in the end very little glory. But if you truly love it the personal rewards for some are many.

Instead of thinking about how you can change your customer to suit your business perhaps you should think of how you can change your business to suit your customer.

You only have a few posts so maybe you really are new around here. I would recommend you look up some of the posts here by Phil at Divesports. I think you will find some very insightful information about the scuba business in those and then some.

After that come back and tell us if you really believe everything in your original post.

BTW, Welcome to ScubaBoard!

 

[Geoff_H]

It looks like this is Craig's LDS

Florida Scuba Diving - Aquatic Center of Ocala - Best Scuba Dive Center in North Central Florida

While it is possible to have sympathy for the store & people involved, I find it harder to have sympathy for the argument that LDS's have a divine right to eist and we should all pay more to shop there.

If LDS's go bust, we can continue to get gear from online retails, and fills from our own compressors or groups that will form together to run one.

Any business needs to be able to adapt to changing conditions, and provide a service or goods it's customers want. If it can't do that, people can & will vote with their feet and wallets.

 

[Craig Clark]

Ths particular part bugs me. Here is why...

I ordered a set of regs from Scubatoys about 2 years ago, that same day, I went to my LDS to buy a dive knife - the one I wanted was not in stock, so I ordered it. The regs I ordered from Scubatoys arrived a day earlier than my dive knife - AND - the dive knife was not the one I was actually expecting.

Next, warranty... Everything I heard about Scubatoys (and many others) is that they are excellent in terms of taking care of warranty claims. I made a warranty claim on a Canon camera I purchased here, from an authorised reseller - it took 6 weeks (!!!!!!!!!!!!!) for the warranty repairs to be carried out. Now, I know this is not a scuba product, but had I purchased that item from the US, apart from being able to just buy 2 for the price of the one I bought here, it would have been FASTER to send it back to the US, have it repaired there, and then have it sent back. Sure, this wont always be the case, but often, it is.
In closing, I buy from the store (online or otherwise) that will give me the best

service. 2 of them are online, one on the other side of the planet, the other on the


other side of the country, and the bricks and mortar store I buy from is on the other side of the city - because my LDS in the suburb where I live, quite frankly, sucks. They survive only on the tourists who decide to do OW courses, I'm sure, because prices and service sure ain't the reason.

By the way Craig, maybe "Knowone" loves this sport more than you do, but very few of us love it any less, or are less passionate about it, as I'm sure you are now aware.

Z..

Well it sounds as if your local dive shop has done what so many have been guilty of in the past and that is bad customer service. So many people years ago that got in the dive retail business were just divers and hobbiest and not business people. Business today has changed and the dive shops going out of business are the ones that have not adjusted to that change.
This is true with alot of other businesses also. I know people want customer service and it does not surprise me that there are some people that have not a clue as far as what it takes. My purpoose in writing the article however, was to let everyone know that if possilbe find a dive shop you like in your area and support it. There are many things behind the scenes that the public in general is not aware of but as I said can lp or st give you air fills, classes, equipment repair, trips and other things a brick and mortar shop can offer? Finally, one last question to all that said "here we go again" in response to my article, do any of you have the balls to put your life savings on the line to go into business for yourself? It is so easy to be critical when you don't know what goes on in the day to day running of a business.