FRIDAY SURPRISE: eCommerce Kudos

Friday, March 21, 2008 Filed in: Friday Surprise!, Completely irrelevant, Things I like

Today I thought I'd give you some feedback from my Adventures in Online Shopping.

When I factor in my diminishing free time, the price of gas, and the distance between everything in my locale, it becomes faster, easier and often cheaper to shop online. From clothes to chainsaw parts, before I do anything else I check the net - and very often, I choose the BBToJ* over my Suzuki.

Most of the time my virtual transactions occur without a hitch, but on occasion there are problems. Of course, at the other end of the bell curve are those companies that go out of their way to make the faceless exchange a surprisingly pleasant experience.

Size and reputation have no bearing on the shopping outcome, even online. I've had some of my worst purchases from some of the biggest web stores, and some of my best from little mom-and-pop sites. It's tempting to think, on encountering a small, amateurish site, that it is not a place you want to spend your money. Like those great yet undiscovered restaurants, what you see on the outside may not be a good indication of what ends up on your plate!

Take my favorite knife seller, Ragnar's Ragweed Forge. This has got to be the ultimate example of a minimalist site, put together on the cheap and devoid of the e-commerce niceties we've come to expect. No shopping cart here - just a (secure) online form you fill out by copying and pasting the catalog number of the items you want! (Back in the '70s, there was a local chain, a precursor to the Costcos of the world, called Prairie Market. Its claim to fame - remember, this is pre-UPC code times - was that you had to write the shelf price on every item with a grease pencil, so the checker could ring you up.) What you get for your work at Ragnar's is a superb selection of hard-to-get knives, terrific prices, reasonable shipping charges, and fast delivery. Ragweed Forge is almost a legend on the knife forums, and for good reason.

One little place I've come to like is Sage Creek Outfitters. Located in Idaho, it's a small outdoor and hunting supply company with a nice website that belies the personal service they deliver. Their prices are generally good, they actually have the items in stock, and they are FAST! I've never had such fast shipping from an online vendor; part of that is their proximity on our eastern border, but it's still surprising when their packages show up long before I expect them. Great folks, and their customer service is as good as anyone's.

I recently discovered Have A Life Outdoors, a small retailer that handles primarily Gransfors Bruks and associated products. (Gransfors needs their own blog post, but in the meantime - if you want the best axes and hatchets in the world, Gransfors Bruks is the choice.) Again, they're working hard to make a success of their little niche, with a good stock and rapid order turnaround.

We heat our house with a woodstove, and with 11 acres of woodlot I'm always buying some sort of logging equipment or chainsaw part. My two favorite stores are Bailey's and Amick's. I've never had a problem with either, they always ship promptly, and their pricing is better than I can get locally - if I can even find the item. (That's the reason I started doing business with them in the first place - my local outlets rarely have what I need in stock. I hate to hear the term "I can order that for you" - my response is "so can I!") Bailey's stock is aimed primarily at arborists and loggers, while Amick's is more of a general outdoor power equipment source. Both are great places to do business.

Then again, all of the companies I've mentioned have been terrific. Kudos to all!

-=[ Grant ]=-

* Big Brown Truck of Joy, aka UPS. A generic term for any delivery service.
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