Why I am an "online" shopper.....

[ho'ard]

8 million here, and bad news--
it's not any better.

[mikebw]

I should add that despite my proximity, I buy most of my stuff online as well. To me, big cities mean more traffic and higher prices, although sometimes you can find a store that has what you need in a pinch, especially some 24x7 places.

[mjgkramer]

I live in a town of 47,000 and have a reasonable number of stores nearby. I live between two major cities (Austin and San Antonio) so can go there if necessary. I buy everything I can online because:

1. I really don't like to shop in stores, mainly because of the waste of time.
2. I almost always save significant bucks online.
3. I don't have to pay sales tax most of the time.
4. I save a lot on gasoline by not going to town. We live 15 miles from the local stores and 35+ miles from most of the stores in San Antonio, which is the closest major city.
5.The selection online is very wide.
6. I can get things that are not available locally, including Mac stuff.
7. When we go to town, my wife always wants to go to at least two other stores and spends at least $100 buying things that we really don't need. What starts out being a quick run to town ends up being a tiring half day shopping trip.

The downside of shopping online

1. I have to wait to get the items I want.
2. I can't feel the merchandise.
3. Returns can be inconvenient and/or difficult.

[ka jowct]

8 million in my town, but I still buy a lot of things online: books, computer stuff, DVDs, or music, vitamins and supplements.

I was looking for a couple of computer-related books a while back and stopped at Barnes and Noble, thinking that if the prices were reasonably close to what I'd pay online, I'd buy from my local business. But the prices were full retail.

I used to enjoy browsing the classical departments at Tower and J&R, but online competition has made that pointless. J&R all but killed their classical department a few years ago, and Tower's selection is a shadow of its former self. It's too bad, because information online can be pretty skimpy; it's hard in some cases to tell if I already have the recording in question because the actual recording date isn't given.

[$tevie]

Buying classical music online can be like researching a term paper. I put the title and artist and label into Google and see if I can find reviews or other retailers, one or more of which might have further information about that particular recording. Sometimes I stumble across totally different recordings that way and make a nice discovery. It can be fun. Or tedious, depending on how hard it is to find something. But I enjoy researching things online, so usually I have a good time.

[davemchine]

Same story here, the stores in my town don't stock the items I need so I am forced to go somewhere else. Occasionally I get the bug and try to buy local and am usually met with uninformed, rude salespeople who inform me they don't have what I need. Mail order rocks.

Personally I think that if local shops offered their inventory online and had delivery that would help things.

Dave