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Online shopping in Singapore

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ysogrumpy
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Online shopping in Singapore

Post by ysogrumpy » Sun, 24 Aug 2014 12:31 am

Online shopping in Singapore is starting to take off, but it's hard to keep track of which ones are around and products offered. I thought it would be helpful to get a list of various stores that do business exclusively online in Singapore, and therefore hopefully cheaper. Let's get a list going! Here are some that I've come across:

www.zalora.sg - Fashion for men & women
www.qoo10.sg - Fashion, home, electronics etc.
www.reebonz.com.sg/ - Known for their women's bags
www.rakuten.com.sg - Electronics, home goods etc.
www.taula.com - Gold & Silver jewellery
www.lazada.sg - Similar to Rakuten

Looking to learn of others.

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Max Headroom
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Post by Max Headroom » Sun, 24 Aug 2014 8:39 am

If only it was this easy, my friend.

:wave:

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ecureilx
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Post by ecureilx » Sun, 24 Aug 2014 8:49 am

Max Headroom wrote:If only it was this easy, my friend.

:wave:
atleast one of the websites sells reconditioned items and puts those words in 'small' fonts, and online? no you need to pay online but have to collect it personally ... no delivery!!!

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Post by x9200 » Sun, 24 Aug 2014 9:19 am

Regardless what is in the fine print and what is not you never know what you are going to get and if you are going to get it at all. The hit rate across all different merchants I have tried so far is like 50%.
Common cases:
- they sell something "no stock" but you pay (as this info is not given) and have to wait for a few weeks for the stock to come
- the goods appear to be used (dirty, broken stickers etc.)
- the goods are defective

Of course you can exchange/return what was bought at your cost and time and the money you paid will eventually be paid* back but this is the overall landscape of online buying in Singapore as much as I see it. It's not about the choice but maturity and I don't see the later coming any soon, as in general, service quality in Singapore sucks.

*) or not; using Paypal is highly recommended

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Post by ysogrumpy » Sun, 24 Aug 2014 6:37 pm

Here's my feedback for the ones I've used

Rakuten - Bought a new appliance, it actually worked out quite well with delivery at an excellent price (serviced by ParisSilk). They called next day to schedule delivery, and were flexible. It almost reminded me of buying my TV online from Amazon when I was back in the US and gave me hope. But navigation is terrible. You really have to know exactly what you want, no browsing.

Taula was a solid experience with quick 2 day delivery for a pendant I bought as a gift. It's a new company, but the courteous responses to questions I had won me over. Great experience all around.

Zalora was a great experience as well. Bought two pairs of slip on shoes and they were delivered promptly. 4 months later, still love the shoes and have no issues.

Other websites mentioned below can be a visual assault in terms of blinking product adverts and are next to impossible to navigate effectively and browse for products. Annoying. Can't imagine how that could be a pleasant shopping experience.

Reebonz does the re-conditioned products, but that's their business model.

I've fallen into that "no stock" issue with a big name brick and mortar electronic retailer here (sounds like 'warts') . Bought a laser printer online, but was told it's not in stock and the order should arrive in 2 days. Which then turned to 4 days, then 1 week....Not buying from them again.

Anyone have a positive experience for an online retailer not mentioned? Lack of maturity and a short term "quick buck" mentality are prevalent in many Singapore businesses, but hopefully the few solid ones rise above.

Anything to avoid pushy sales people! :)

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Post by taxico » Sun, 24 Aug 2014 9:40 pm

i bought a pair of shoe trees from o that shop last october. it took a while for them to verify my order was received although i had paid up. i believe i had to call them up once or twice to chase my order through

the knob fell off after a few months because of the grain - a manufacturing defect obviously.

i decided that because they are a singapore entity, they will not be hearing any of that exchanging nonsense so i just lived with it. this resulted in my (unfair) conclusion never to recommend or use them again.

i try to stick with overseas merchants i am used to, including fleabay but i have bought once or twice off gumtree.sg (used stuff, self-pickup).

i prefer shopping on yahoo.jp and rakuten.jp than rakuten.sg...
Aut viam ad caelum inveniam aut faciam

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aster
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Re: Online shopping in Singapore

Post by aster » Mon, 25 Aug 2014 3:24 am

ysogrumpy wrote:I thought it would be helpful to get a list of various stores that do business exclusively online in Singapore, and therefore hopefully cheaper.
Not sure how doing business exclusively in Singapore would make a store cheaper? Lower customer base and hence lower turnover cannot help. Lack of competitive prices locally cannot help.

I'd rather find some big stores that allow shipping to Singapore. For most non-bulky stuff you can now get free shipping from Amazon.com for instance. For Amazon.co.uk you can sometimes get stuff cheaper than if you were living in the UK as anything ordered here will have the 20% VAT (GST) deducted at payout, which often provides bigger savings than the shipping costs.

Any big online stores sell direct to SG without the need to use shipping agents like vpost?

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Post by x9200 » Mon, 25 Aug 2014 8:01 am

It should be cheaper (as compared to other local shops) for two reasons:
- delivery costs
- less the costs related to the physical retail outlet(s).

But it is not any cheaper and more often is more expensive.

Amazon (US) is in principle fine but they insist on relaying on cheap and unreliable service providers (namely i-parcel) and it does not look anything is going to change in near future. Just because of it I practically stopped using Amazon at this point.

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Post by JR8 » Mon, 25 Aug 2014 8:31 am

sg.rs-online.com/

They are a global company, and in SG they claim to stock 500,000 products. You order online, and they have same day despatch and free next day delivery.

---
'RS Components is the world's leading high-service distributor of electronics and maintenance products serving over one million engineers worldwide. With operations in 32 countries and 17 warehouses, we offer 500,000 products ranging from electronics, automation and control, test and measurement, to electrical and mechanical components and ship around 44,000 parcels per day.'
---

I've used them twice now. Once for a highly obscure battery, and the second time for a set of torque wrenches. The packaging is amazing, and arguably OTT. I was astounded to have a courier deliver a S$10 battery to my door (how do they profit, I have no idea).

In terms of stock, ease of ordering, and speed and quality of service they remind me rather of Screwfix* in the UK. A notch way, way above the typical online shopping experience you usually get.

The wonder, to me, was finding that a place such as that exists here in Singapore! I.e. That kind of AAA+ online experience IS possible here.


* Absolutely vast online DIY+ store.
Order by lunchtime, for next morning delivery.
You can even order into the evening, and pay an added fee to get it next day. Very useful when in the middle of a big project.

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Re:

Post by ecureilx » Mon, 11 May 2015 10:58 pm

JR8 wrote: I've used them twice now. Once for a highly obscure battery, and the second time for a set of torque wrenches. The packaging is amazing, and arguably OTT. I was astounded to have a courier deliver a S$10 battery to my door (how do they profit, I have no idea).
because when you order in super large volume, the battery may cost just over 50 cents or 1 $ .. and the courier, pay him about 5$ per delivery - there is still some money to be made, for example

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Re: Re:

Post by x9200 » Tue, 12 May 2015 7:05 am

ecureilx wrote:
JR8 wrote: I've used them twice now. Once for a highly obscure battery, and the second time for a set of torque wrenches. The packaging is amazing, and arguably OTT. I was astounded to have a courier deliver a S$10 battery to my door (how do they profit, I have no idea).
because when you order in super large volume, the battery may cost just over 50 cents or 1 $ .. and the courier, pay him about 5$ per delivery - there is still some money to be made, for example
I don't think this is the case. For low value purchases IMHO the profit is zero or negative. What matters is the average profit from a variety of clients where the low delivery rate is used to attract clients in general.

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Re: Online shopping in Singapore

Post by Steve1960 » Tue, 12 May 2015 8:31 am

My wife uses Lazada and Zalora extensively. She has had great service and no issues with the products and she can pay cash on delivery so no money lay out in advance. I would have to recommend both companies on the experiences we have had.

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Re: Online shopping in Singapore

Post by ecureilx » Tue, 12 May 2015 9:22 am

Steve1960 wrote:My wife uses Lazada and Zalora extensively. She has had great service and no issues with the products and she can pay cash on delivery so no money lay out in advance. I would have to recommend both companies on the experiences we have had.
Re: Lazada, I had mixed experience, to be honest

Ordered 2 USB lights, those that can be charged directly from the USB Port

In both, the rubber covering was like a bit melted, and one had the Popular Book store tag not removed.

One didn't hold the charge for more than 5 minutes, and the other worked fine though.

I was tempted to return the failed one, but considering the logistics, I gave up.

I believe they are buying discarded / outdated stuff and resell - apart from new stuff, and hence able to sell a 15$ kit at 3$ (plus 5$ shipping ;) )

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Re: Online shopping in Singapore

Post by x9200 » Tue, 12 May 2015 10:16 am

I have exactly this sort of experience with goupon. For probably 10 items I ordered from them roughly in 50% cases something was wrong what appeared to be of one of the category: a brand new item but of old age (a headset with the cushions literally getting apart into powder); 2 pcs ordered, one DOA; item showing signs of repairs (i.e. broken warranty seal), scratches near the fixing screws.

Lazada seems a similar type to Qoo10, meaning they provide just a sell a platform for individual sellers and at the and of the day the quality depends on the seller and perhaps how the platform owner handles different cases. I bought a No of things with Qoo10 and noticed that there are many sellers over there that claim they have the item locally while they don't so instead of waiting few days one has to wait more like weeks. I reported such cases to Qoo10 but did not see any effect of this (I did not get any response and the sellers continue to claim it was a local stock while it clearly was not). I stopped using them.

Now I moved to Lazada and so far so good with what appears much better coordination/tracking of everything with no disasters and problems of any kind. Funny, sometimes the goods are delivered before they are formally marked as shipped and all in a matter of 1-2 days.

BTW, many of the local companies apparently don't realize that paying via Paypal gives the buyer an extra protection. It helps sometimes a lot to kick the customer service to the right level of involvement and if they do not comply Paypal recovers the money.

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Re: Online shopping in Singapore

Post by rajagainstthemachine » Tue, 12 May 2015 3:18 pm

I bought a piece of gym equipment from La za da , i had no troubles with the shipping or packaging or timely delivery but the quality of the product and the finish left much to be desired, the worst thing about it was the assembling instructions ( in poorly printed Chinese with no English) anyway I assembled it but it doesn't fulfill my expectations of the product.
To get there early is on time and showing up on time is late

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