Comparision of Postage Speeds with Online shops

[samonwalkabout]

Ok, folks, had a great bit of fishing over the weekend and am determined to do some more in the coming weeks, with this i mind i ordered some tackle online from various sources early in the week hoping it would arrive by Friday for a boat session on Saturday.. here is the results

Guy on Ebay.ie (Just 4 german Sprats)..arrived next day
Veals 10X mackeral rigs..arrived 2 days later
CrabRock (rang me to say that they had an incomplete address..told them the correct address..arrived next day (Large order with a Reel + they gave me a free Knife !!

Eurotackle..? Nothing so far
MacTackle..? Nothing so far

Soooooo... draw your own conclusions on that..seem like Veals are consistantly good and CrabRock seem to be the new kids on the block they got the stuff to me super quick even though there was a problem with the address they sorted it fast. The prices were pretty much the same on the bits that i got. I'm sure postal delays ect can have an impact but i think some crowds must just dispatch there goods faster than others.

In future i will be using Veals for choice of goods and CrabRock for speed...

DISCLAIMER **These are just my experiance's and am not making any claims for or against any of these shops**

[corbyeire]

seems to be the general experience - from those ive spoken to

[petekd]

Quite disappointed with Mac-Tackle TBH, ordered stuff 2 days before they actually responded on this site to issues forumers had brought up. 2 weeks later and no sign of my order, I will be contacting them tomorrow if still no show. I buy a lot of stuff on Ebay mostly from the UK, what I have found though is that larger items arrive really quickly, smaller items take much longer sometimes whatever the story is?

Incidentally Samonwalkabout, how did you get on at the weekend?

[samonwalkabout]

No luck on the Shore fishing frount, waves were pretty big and a lot of weed in the water (so i gave up and grabbed my surf board) will try again soon though! Thanks for the tips...

Had a better day out on a boat on Monday..see the boat fishing reports section..

Hope my bits from MacTackle arrive before 2 long after all the fuss they made on here not so long ago

[Donagh]

One tip with mail order is alway email before hand to see what their response is. I know this from bitter experience of trying to get in contact with a now defunct mail order company that didn't answer my mails. Spent a good few extra quid trying to get in contact with them on daytime international mobile rates. I now email before hand even with veals to check they have what I order in stock.

Donagh

[samonwalkabout]

Good tip, maybe we should come up with a best practice sticky for online shopping in general..

With Ebay

I would say the same..if they respond to mails quickly and answer questions then chances are that they are going to be easier to contact if things do go wrong.

Also check the feedback carefully..im always seeing guys with 10 positive selling stuff but when you check the 10 feedback are all from sellers that only have 1 or 2 FB themselves (and from each other), its all the same guy just someone out to scam ebay newbie's.

Also never pay with money transfer services no matter how good the deal seems or what assurances you get about Escrow services or anything else they might say.

With other online shops try contacting them and getting an estimated delivery time and agree a dispatch time and what will happen if dispatch time is not met.I.e we will send you a free XYZ if we do not dispatch within 72 hours....I recently bought a coffee machine and the damn thing wasn't posted out for 3 weeks..only took 24 hours to get here once it was sent wish I had made them agree to a dispatch time up front as I was at their mercy as the site only stated an estimated delivery time after dispatch.

Any other tips out there ??