Comparison shopping

[LCHIEN]

Observation Seen recently

Harbor Freight: Storehouse 67591 set of 120 roll pins: $4.99 store pickup.

Amazon: HF Storehouse 67591 set of 120 roll pins $14.31, but, one day Prime shipping.

Buyer beware.

[duramen]

Harbor Freight online here: $4.99

Adding: I have been in one of the local stores when the price was higher than online. I show them the online price on my phone, and they give it to me. It happens often enough that I check online prices before going there. I usually need to look anyway, to see if they carry what I want.

[cwsmith]

Rarely do I make a purchase without making a comparison. While my Amazon purchases have grown over the last few years, they certainly are not always the cheapest option. Problem is that Amazon uses a lot of different suppliers and from one month to then next there are variences. One also has to be aware that Amazon suppliers are not always 'authorized' dealers, especially when it comes to electronics and photo equipment. (For example, 'Canon' purchases.)

That said, it's hard to find a supplier who matches the ease of shopping and handling of returns, the way Amazon does.

Let the buyer beware,

CWS

[dbhost]

I rarely purchase without making comparison shopping a priority.

The HF Metric O ring assotment box is about 8 dollars, the Amazon one is 10 dollars. The amazon one is shipped and has twice as many of the same quality O rings. I ordered Amazon.

HF Isn't always the lowest price either. Especially lately, they seem to be trying to climb the price ladder...

[capncarl]

These small boxes of o-rings, roll pins and other misc hardware are great to have around. That box of o rings might keep you from having to make a trip to a hardware store, if you can still find one! But, a box of 60 o rings probably has 2 that you will actually use, so getting a larger number is a non issue

i believe the assortment of springs are from the manufacturers list of springs that are never used because I always have to stretch or shorten a spring to get it to work, never a near perfect fit.

I created a photo file and laid out each of my assortment boxes and photographed them. That way when I run into them at the auto swap meet or wherever I won’t have another senior I’m stupid moment and buy my 3rd box of springs or my 4th box of polyurethane o rings, yea, I’ve done that.

[LCHIEN]

It shows our consistent good sense although poor memory when we buy the same stuff over and over again.

[dbhost]

Looks a bit like my automotive fuse and crimp connectors selection. Part of what I have been trying to organize for the past year is to find out what box this or that blister pack of this or that size fuses, or cimps I have and to put them in one of my small parts bins assorted by type and size...

There are certain sizes of certain hardware I go through frequently, 3/4" hose washers / O rings I go through a lot of, 1/2" flat rubber washers for things like shower heads etc... 5/16" machine threaded and lag bolts of various lengths etc...

I tend to use a wide variety of sizes but end up with certain sizes that are just common for the jobs I am doing. I buy the assortments, find out where I need lots more of a given size, and buy those to either backfill, or backfill and add. Again I never have enough 5/16 bolts, nuts, washers etc...

My heat shrink crimps, the 16 - 14 ga butt splices went through in one project. Bought a box of 100, will be buying another box before the camper build is done.

[leehljp]

Yes, I do comparison shopping between HF, HD, Lowes and Amazon (and sometimes an Automotive store or Tractor supply or even eBay. There are more variables than price alone that come into play for me, such as:

How close is the price between the stores or Amazon?
How quick can I get it?
Is it of equal quality and or quantity?
How much do I need it now?
Can I wait the extra time to get it at a cheaper price?

I live 35 miles from HD, Lowes, and HF, so that is 2 gallons of gas for me, and 1 1/2 hours of travel.

Some things are available from eBay cheaper than I can get in other places simply because I can get a very good used part much cheaper than a new one anywhere else - case in point was a mulch cover for my 22 year old lawn tractor mower.

[dbhost]

You bring up something interesting not calculated here. Time. My closest Harbor Freight is in Webster TX on the Gulf freeway. Webster is just north of League City and this is an area a LOT of small town borders criss cross with the outer edges of Houston. It takes me 25 minutes minimum to get out of my neighborhood and through League City to just GET to the freeway, and THEN I have to go through all that construction junk to get between League City and NASA Parkway in Webster where Harbor Freight is. I have probably spent 45 minutes, each way, so 1.5 hours travel time, vs. the convenience factor of just having stuff dropped off at your front door. There IS value in that.

Having said that I also have Walmart+, so for example. My battery box and electrical pass through for the camper build were the same item, from both Walmart and Amazon, and Walmart was cheaper.... For those interested the pass through / 110V is pretty simple. It is just a male pins to plug an extension cord to get to either a campground power post, or my generator, on the inside it is a heavy duty extension cord to an outlet box and a single duplex 15 amp outlet. I intend of running as much as possible on 12v, but the AC kind of needs 110v.

Honestly in my area, road construction is so bad, I don't want to get anywhere near the freeway if possible.

[capncarl]

My problem with shopping for items like this with Amazon and EBay is I can’t use just one vendor and done. Example. Last week I need 3/16x3/4 large head pop rivets, and I am low on several other sizes of rivets and might as well stock back up on rivet back up washers. I could not find a single source vendor where I could get the whole order placed and get it coming, so I ordered from 4 vendors and said to heck with some of it that didn’t have free shipping, I’ll get it at lowes. So far I’ve gotten 2 items and notifications that the others will ship soon. Crap they have complicated and easy system.

[capncarl]

How much longer is free shipping going to be a thing with rising fuel prices going sky high?

Sorry Lchien, didn’t mean to derail you post on comparison shopping, but my last comment on Amazon and eBay is in line with it.