Online Shopping Experiences

I wanted to write up a report of my online shopping experiences of 1999's holiday season, here they are...

It's December 1999, time to do some Xmas shopping, as well as some computer upgrades, so here we go.

iMac from MacZone
I ordered an iMac from MacZone, they offered a 10% discount for anything purchased from their site. I hit a snag - when trying to submit the final form, I got an error, tried a few times, and no luck. The page even got an error trying to display the error! This site was using Java Server Pages (note: I make this assumption based off the .jsp file extension, as I will later for .asp and Active Server Pages.) I ended up calling the phone number listed on the error page, and giving the fellow on the the phone all my info - whoops! Wasn't the purpose of ordering it online to not *need* a person to tell my order to? (note: they did have me on file, but with an address from two years ago.) He assured me I'd still get the 10% off. My shipping estimate on the site was $17 - the guy on the phone said "about $23" and it ended up being close to $29. Not the best experience. It did however show up on the day he said it would. I didn't get to track it online, it was either too difficult, or not a feature, I can't remember. Also of note, I learned about this offer and the price from their printed catalog.

ix3D Ultimate Rez video card from MacWarehouse
I'd been tracking video cards for a while looking for a cheap one, and finally saw this one for $49 (note: it was actually $79 but there is a $30 mail in rebate.) MacWarehouse has a site just as ugly as their catalog, but it went pretty smoothly, they appear to be using Active Server Pages, and I came across no problem there. I only say this because I've hit lots of sites using ASP that are broken, usually because some piece of Microsoft software fails somewhere along the line. Anyway, the card came pretty fast, and all was well, overall a pretty good experience. Again, it was the printed catalog that alerted me to this offer.

Various Stuff from Pets.com
I got something from Amazon recently, and it included - yup - a printed brochure, that contained a url for $15 off at Pets.com. So since we've got a fish tank, I went shopping. This was my first visit to Pets.com and I was browsing, since I wasn't sure what I was getting, or what they even sold. Their site looks nice, but functionality suffered in some areas. When they show 12 items per page (showing just the image and item name), and then indicate there's 20 more pages, I just don't have the strength to go thru them all, who would? Presentation of information get's a C-. When I finally tracked down the stuff I wanted I did the final submit, and got a "Sorry, we are unable to process your transaction at this time, please try again in a few hours..." are you kidding me??? I tried again in a few minutes, and it worked. (Another Java Server Pages site, btw) At least I thought it worked. I usually like to see a receipt and clear record of what I purchased, but got none. I then went to 'my account' and it listed two orders, one saying "Authorization Failed" and one that went through. There was very little detail on my order, and even though I used a $15 off coupon, it did not reflect it here. I got a little worried, so found an email address, and sent some email making sure that only one order was placed. Here's where it gets better. I got email back saying that I had two orders, both completely different, and if I wanted to cancel one, I had to specify which one. Damn, time to pickup the phone again! I talked to a helpful fellow, who looked up my order, say I only had one in process, and one cancelled, and all was fine. He did mention that the cancelled order would still be listed in my account, since their software didn't allow them to delete it. (?) Shipping was reasonable. They did include a UPS tracking number on their site, I would have liked an email saying my order shipped, with a url for tracking purposes, that's always a nice touch. (unfortunately, the link was invalid!)

iMac RAM
I went to The Chip Merchant's web site, since I've always found their prices to be pretty good, I was surprised by the lack of information od the items. It used to be when I bought RAM that I wanted to know the size, speed, what machine it fits in, etc. Maybe things are easier now, but the iMac comes in 233/266/333/350 and now 400mhz speeds, do they all take the same RAM? No... they also listed the iMac DV as a G4 machine, which, I don't believe it is. I emailed them to make sure I had the right part number, they emailed back the wrong info, so I emailed again to clarify, and was told I was right... ugh... After that the ordering process went pretty smooth, shipping was way too much for such a small item though.

Misc. Notes

Shipping
It's all in the shipping! Well, not all of it, but shipping is an important part. Shipping is the thorn in the side of online shopping. Outpost's approach is to roll the shipping costs into the item's price. There's one idea. Not sure if it's the best, but nothing bugs me more than being 'surprised' at the end with the shipping cost. Months back when looking for a certain uninterruptable power supply, I found it offered at about 5 or 6 sites, some listed it cheaper than others, the funny thing is, if I had bought it I would *not* have choosen the cheapest one I found, as the shipping cost put it above the ones listed for more when finally added in... I want to know the shipping costs as early in the process as possible, as it will sway my purchasing decision in some cases, maybe the online stores already know this. ;) And what about options? I like sites that give me various shipping options, sometimes you want it next day air and will pay for it, sometimes I'd like to get it USPS and wait a week...

Tracking Let me track the thing! Can I track the status of my order on your site? Can I track it via UPS or whoever is shipping it? I hope so...