I recently bought a large set of saucepans from COTD here on ebay. It wasn't available on their website (so there goes that theory of website being cheaper or directing buyers to their website from ebay)
COTD had the cheapest online price for the items, as well as being cheaper than from B&M stores near me. I'm near 3 major Westfield & same size shopping centres & another huge factory outlet complex, plus a small specialist cookware store that is a seller of the KitchenAid brand, so I did my homework on the purchase prior to buying.
Postage was flat rate & as a local I paid at least $6.00 over the odds for that, (allowing for reasonable P&H, came via AP eparcel & poorly packed in just shrinkwrap & an address sticker over the outer box - showing all contents of parcel) Items took 4 days from payment to mark as posted, & 4 more to travel a 1 hour journey across Melb. If you were in FNQ or elsewhere rurally, the fixed postage would be a bonus on such a large box of items.
How is the average ebay seller supposed to compete with that? Even a fairly high volume one with an AP contract? Or the High St B&M shop that had the same items I bought for $200 more, on special? I try to support the small seller wherever I go. So rarely shop at the big complexes where the stores are all the same. Now ebay is becoming just like all those Westfields & similar, all the diversity is disappearing. Thank heavens I still have a local greengrocer & bakery! Though nearly all the Milk Bars, Delis & small butchers have gone from my area.
