I must differ with this one part of Tom LaBron's post:

"People feel safer, walking in to a store down the street or near by that
dealing with someone/business on the internet."

Admittedly, I got into the Amazon.com habit when we lived in northern
Vermont, where there was actually quite a bit of stuff we couldn't find
nearby. And then, we really learned to love Amazon because my CPA hubby
could order the specialized books he needs, but that no bookstore would be
likely to sell ($50-90 with no guaranteed market).

I suppose that I might feel "safer" (or more trusting) if I could go to a
store "down the street" but the only thing less than a 10-minute drive
(one-way) is a gas station & hairdresser. Soooo...... to make my point, I
buy online all the time (just as I ordered from catalogues for 20 years
before that, *especially* for Christmas presents, as life is too short for
me to box up stuff & stand in line at the post office).

Just my $.02,

Anne Lurie
[just outside] Raleigh, NC [in horse/cattle country]



"Tom La Bron" wrote in message
...
Hey Folks,

It is typical. I have a small soap business and I am on several listservs
and people are always selling stuff in a "CO-OP" fashion or a "Fast-Buy"
situation. What is interesting is the the price offered can almost always
be beat almost anywhere on the internet even with S&H, but in many cases
most people don't want to deal the a "Business Organization" but will pay
more (after fees and S&H) for the priveledge to deal with an individual
from
the listserv. From what I have ascertained over the years is that people
do get the shaft about as much as dealing with a business.

People feel safer, walking in to a store down the street or near by that
dealing with someone/business on the internet. Plus, business dictates
rule
a small business. As an example, I just bought the pistol air pump from
drsfostersmith.com for $46. The LFS, the owner who is a friend, I checked
with him first and his cost was higher than what I got it for plus S&H
that
I paid. Of course the only person he sells these pumps to is the
University
in the area and they just say buy this pump for me and bills us. Well,
with
his costs and markup the cost is about $90.

Small businesses that can not buy in volume are stuck at paying a lot
higher
prices for single items or special order items and the same items bought
by
big companies are a lot cheaper because of the volume of the total
purchase
or the number of items purchased.

So You should not be too hard on the people who are trying to give a
service to the local community. There are always going to be people that
want to have face to face contact with the people that they are dealing
with
and if the local business is fair and honest with their customers they
will
make it, but if they don't what they are doing and give bad advice and/or
wrong equipment they won't last very long.

It is hard to be local business person giving service to the community.

Tom L.L.
"*muffin*" wrote in message
...
of, course there are people who will pay that much!!!
they are the ones who think they are too good to step inside a k-mart! &
only do their shopping in high-priced stores
(I just cannot get over some people would rather pay $50. for a blender
HERE
than $25 for the same one at k-mart........



"joe" wrote in message
...
Wilson wrote:

What I've learned so far about buying supplies for ponds is you must
look
around, most places prices are way out of wack on most
thing...example:
I
visited a pond supplier in a nearby town that carried barley(my mom
wanted
me to pick her up some for her pond) $45.00 for what amounted to a
1/2
pillow size bag of barley! Unreal.

I've only checked a few places and websites so far but I'd have to
say
that
justliners.com is probably the best and cheapest place to go.


Yup. Caveat emptor. It's amazing to me that in an age when you can
find
pretty much the best price on any item (even after shipping) on the
internet, people are still willing to just plunk down their hard
earned
cash
for over priced stuff.

Just my 2 cents.

Joe



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