Have you ever bought something online only to find it in the stores sooner?

[Forever Knight]

Have you ever purchased an item online or through mail order (like in the 80s) only to walk into a store and find the exact same item... for cheaper... and you still have not recieved the item you ordered?.

Happend to me 2 times now. 1st time was in 1989 with the BATWING from Tim Burton's Batman movie. The Shipping took like 2 months, and the fucken item was in stores forever at that point.

2nd time is yesterday. I ordered A&E's Shark Week: Jaws of Steel Collection Blu-ray online and it JUST came out I might add.... Wasn't expecting it in stores until next month probally. I walked into Future Shop yesterday and there it was... for $15 cheaper too.



*HULK SMAAAAASSSHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH*

 

[GekiBlack]

Shouldn't it be the other way round whereby buying a particular item online is cheaper since stores tend to put a high price for that item ?


Well, the reason i am saying is because i buy CDs alot online and it is always cheaper than buying it at HMV here ... which tends to be pricey


Toy-wise i can't really say since i haven't bought a toy for a long time but the shops here tend to charge about the same price as it is in Japan ... but it depends on the shops of course :/

 

[The_Emperor]

That's why I don't buy DVDs right when they come out. 99.9% chance they're going to fall in price eventually. And I especially do not buy DVDs online only if it's a rare title that I can't find elsewhere. I always buy those special packaging DVDs too (i.e. steelbook, tin case, etc.) since those don't always stick around for that long. Plus, I won't start kicking myself if I see the same movie for a lot cheaper later either since I'd own the steelbook edition and the one I see is those boring same old normal DVD cases.

Though I mainly buy TV shows on DVDs now. Some shows come out and the price is somewhat fair but because it's a relatively unknown and/or older TV show, the price hardly ever changes. (e.g. Flashpoint, PSI Factor: Chronicles of the Paranormal, etc.) Plus, I wouldn't want to risk them being sold out and never getting restocks anyway. But bigger name TV shows (like Smallville, Heroes, etc.) tend to be found everywhere at pretty much any store that carries DVDs and they tend to go on sale once in a while. That's the only time I would pick those up.

Toy-wise, yes, it's happened. >8( Happened with those MMPR SL figures (Green, Zedd, and White). Though it was not necessarily more expensive because I refuse to overpay for stuff. That's why scalpers would never get my business.

For those, I wanted 2 of each figure (1 to open and 1 to keep MOC) due to the nostalgia MMPR packaging so that was good that I was able to get the English-only packaging without the bilingual crap that just makes it all fugly. But the second set was why I was kicking myself. I could've just picked up the second set locally instead since I'd be opening the damn things anyway and the packaging doesn't even matter one bit. :redface2:

I remember it happened a few other instances due to me being impatient and toy distribution in Canada being slow as ****. Didn't necessarily pay more but I would've loved the feeling of "FINALLY!!! It's in stores!!!" *goes to pick it up and purchase* rather than "WHOOPDEEDOO!!! NOW it hits stores... but I already got it online." *SIGH* Now I always just wait it out instead because I know it's going to hit stores everywhere sooner or later.

 

[Mr. Yellow]

I bought the Gold RPM Ranger and Samurai Ranger online...walked into Wal-Mart the next day and found them....after months of searching.

 

[SamuraiEchidna]

What is this... "store" you speak of? :eyebrow: People actually leave their house to buy things?! :O_O:

Ha! But no, seriously... I do sometimes go shopping at stores. It's nice to divide things up, you know? Get out of the house once in a while, buy something at a store. Why not? You get the item quicker and it helps out your local economy. :thumbs:

I try not to make comparison between online and store prices. For me, I still get surprised when I see how low or how high an item has gone in its store price when I remember how much they use to charge for it. Another reason I don't like to compare between places is because, in my experience, the prices are usually about the same, the online price only being slightly higher because of shipping. Lastly, I've learned that internet prices aren't always the way to gauge in-store prices. Sometimes the price is lower IF you buy it from the the store's online store instead.

But really, in the end, it's just a matter of factors. How new/old/rare is the item? How big is the demand on it? Are you sure ebay doesn't have it? Those kind of things. I try to avoid ebay many times because of bootleg and imitation goods. Seems like special, particular items are the things you need to search elsewhere for, and that can make it harder. And there is always the chance that what you want could get an improved, future release. Like remastered DVD sets, or how Figuarts has eliminated my need to hunt down just about any other Kamen Rider figures.

 

[PSI Ground]

Back in 02 I wanted the Megazord from Wild Force that was GaoHunter. I got it off Amazon, but then found it at Wal*Mart for 18 bucks. So yeah.

 

[Forever Knight]

I bought the Gold RPM Ranger and Samurai Ranger online...walked into Wal-Mart the next day and found them....after months of searching.

Back in 02 I wanted the Megazord from Wild Force that was GaoHunter. I got it off Amazon, but then found it at Wal*Mart for 18 bucks. So yeah.

:shakefist

 

[B Samurai]

Happened to me when I purchased an edition of 'The Warriors'. Got it off of eBay for like twenty bucks. Went into Target, eleven.