{"id":548552,"date":"2006-04-18T17:24:45","date_gmt":"2006-04-18T17:24:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost:8888\/wordpress\/technology\/548552-on-line-shopping-easy-cheaper.html"},"modified":"2006-04-18T17:24:45","modified_gmt":"2006-04-18T17:24:45","slug":"on-line-shopping-easy-cheaper","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/technology\/548552-on-line-shopping-easy-cheaper.html","title":{"rendered":"On-line shopping ‘easy, cheaper’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Now on a working holiday in the United Kingdom, Wegner has found a substitute for the swops in eBay, an internet site where you can buy and sell just about anything through online auctions – and he’s hooked. <\/font><\/p>\n

Wegner, 23, said he had bought about 50 items on-line over the past year – from skateboards and shoes to a snowboarding jacket. <\/font><\/p>\n

He’s one of a growing number of South Africans shopping on-line – and finding purchasing easier and, in most cases, cheaper than conventional buying. <\/font><\/p>\n

While import duties and shipping costs can push prices up, and there are occasional delivery delays, on-line shoppers contacted by Weekend Post agreed the pros outweighed the cons. <\/font><\/p>\n

None reported security problems with their credit details. <\/font><\/p>\n

"It’s addictive and there’s so much to look for. You can also get stuff from all over the world – there are lots of options," said Wegner. "There was a dispute once when an order never arrived, but I got my money back. People also need to watch out for fakes," he warned. <\/font><\/p>\n

Former Port Elizabeth woman Leigh van den Berg, now a Cape Town magazine editor, has been using cosmetics website strawberrynet.com for "years". <\/font><\/p>\n

"Now it’s inconceivable to think of buying cosmetic or fragrances locally – it’s a total rip-off. Shopping on-line saves me to up 60 %." <\/font><\/p>\n

One of Van der Berg’s "tricks" is to select the "free delivery, unregistered postage" option, which means no import duties. <\/font><\/p>\n

Margie Cullen, senior lecturer in the MBA Unit at Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, buys academic research books from Amazon.com. "There’s a wider range of books and they’re usually a whole lot cheaper. <\/font><\/p>\n

"I’ve only ever had one problem, but that was because a post office in South Africa did not send notification that my book had arrived. But Amazon re-sent the book for free. <\/font><\/p>\n

"If a book store hasn’t got what you’re looking for and places an order, it generally takes six weeks to arrive." <\/font><\/p>\n

While she usually pays import duties at the post office, Cullen said the books were still cheaper. "I’ve bought about 25 books over the internet over the past few years." <\/font><\/p>\n

Cullen also books plane tickets and accommodation on the net. "People are usually nervous about credit card purchases online, but I’ve had no problems." <\/font><\/p>\n

Port Elizabeth IT technician Johan Kolesky has bought about 250 CDs, 120 DVDs and 50 books on-line from Amazon.com and South African sites kalahari.net and take2.co.za over the past two years, and has stopped going to shops to buy these items. <\/font><\/p>\n

"The stuff I want is usually not available in the shops – it’s either too old or too new and I’d have to order it anyway. <\/font><\/p>\n

"It’s also a lot cheaper (on-line), even when you include the import tax. And the items usually arrive sealed and wrapped – the DVDs are never scratched or broken." <\/font><\/p>\n

He said there were plenty of "safeguards" to ensure credit card details remained secure. "When I order on-line, the first thing I do is check a website’s security certificates." <\/font><\/p>\n

Brent Mundell, who upgrades PCs, buys computer games, hardware and software from take2.co.za, when he can’t find what he wants in the shops. <\/font><\/p>\n

"Sometimes it’s a bit more expensive, with shipping costs of R29 an order." <\/font><\/p>\n

Take2 managing director Pierre Potgieter said between 100 and 150 on-line purchases were made every day. "The number of purchases has doubled since this time last year." <\/font><\/p>\n

He said customers paying by credit card were protected. "If you notice a suspicious purchase on your credit card, you have six months to query that transaction. If the seller can’t provide the bank with a signed receipt, it will be the seller’s loss." <\/font><\/p>\n

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\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Weekend Post swop column used to be former Port Elizabeth student Eon Wegner’s favourite hunting ground for bargains.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"idle","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"","_sma_facebook_post_id":"","_sma_instagram_post_id":"","_sma_threads_post_id":"","_sma_x_attempts":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-548552","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/548552"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=548552"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/548552\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=548552"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=548552"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=548552"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}