Do you prefer online shopping or B&M

[Arrowmunda]

Jan 23, 2018 21:22:34 GMT stephengeo said:

Jan 23, 2018 21:17:22 GMT Postmodern Smoking said:

Here's the poll results, so far stephengeo :

Thanks a lot, I'll have to start putting some trust into online shopping more now, what's the average postal time for packages from China? Or does it depend on who your buying from, I used to think it'd take about a month to receive anything from China

I would say anywhere between a week and 3 weeks is normal from fasttech and 3fvape, not sure on others

[Postmodern Smoking]

stephengeo There are certain Chinese online shops where, through experience of other people, are regarded as generally trusted (although always use Paypal... not your credit/debit card directly). One popular one is called Fasttech, if you look around the forum, others will be mentioned too. Not everything is great... so again forum recommendations can be useful. Shipping can vary from around 7+ days to about 4-6 weeks. So yes it is generally much slower than online UK shopping, but a lot cheaper.

[stephengeo]

Jan 23, 2018 21:43:08 GMT Postmodern Smoking said:

stephengeo There are certain Chinese online shops where, through experience of other people, are regarded as generally trusted (although always use Paypal... not your credit/debit card directly). One popular one is called Fasttech, if you look around the forum, others will be mentioned too. Not everything is great... so again forum recommendations can be useful. Shipping can vary from around 7+ days to about 4-6 weeks. So yes it is generally much slower than online UK shopping, but a lot cheaper.

Thanks, I'll keep "fastech" For future shopping now, I've heard of it, but never looked, Will do now though. I should have come on this forum ages ago, probably have saved me a bomb

[ghostrider1971]

Arrowmunda - A new B&M opened fairly recently near me.....a chain B&M.....completely empty of customers, very bright lights, a "minimalist" (i.e. very little) approach to stock apart from 80 quid plus kits for new people they can rip off vapers. Four staff who jump on people as soon as they walk in with a very cheerful "What do you want to buy today"?

A recipe for success

The store in question also recently heavily featured on a FB group for refusing to refund or being helpful when replacing a faulty starter kit for a new vaper....

[Clivia]

definitely online - in the Uk and China
If there is a vape shop - like in the little town close by - I like to go in and browse - but the 99 % is online

[striker42]

If you go the China option stephengeo check your item is in stock. If it says ships in x days then be wary, more often than not , that will end up in you waiting weeks for your goods.

[Richard46]

When I started vaping there where no Vaping B&M. I have just carried on buying stuff online. Never even been in a vaping B&M.

NB actually when I started vaping I sometimes used to ring up Jason Cropper (totally wicked) and place an order IIRC.

[Get Off My Cloud]

stephengeo a couple of other decent Chinese sites are Gearbest or 3fvape.
Efun.top are ok too but they charge a bit more for shipping than Fasttech and Gearbest.

Most of the Chinese suppliers take around 3 to 5 business days to process the order after that it's down to the mail carrier how long it takes to get to your door.
The Chinese sites tend to mark the value of the package on the shipping forms below the threshold where import duty would be required to be paid.

Like others if there is a significant saving to be had i will buy hardware from China or from within the EU as neither is going to result in an import duty payment and that daft £8 handling charge Royal Mail charge you for collecting the duty money( i don't resent paying the tax but i do resent being charged £8 for the privilege of paying the tax).
I avoid the US or anywhere else outside the EU for that reason.

I buy everything online.

[snow]

If it hadn't been for a B&M shop I suspect I wouldn't now be vaping it gave me the chance to go in and try a few liquids and set ups before I bought and as I was pretty clueless at the time I needed that kind of hands on try before you buy facility HOWEVER I got lucky with the shop I went into and the fact the owner was reasonably knowledgeable, I've been in other B&M's since starting to vape and have been at times horrified by their distinct lack of knowledge, incensed at some of their very poor advice to new vapers that has been quite dangerous, disgusted by their marked up prices for hardware and "premium" liquids which are nothing of the sort and left fuming at what were clearly clones and cheap copies being openly sold as the real thing with price tag to match. Even the shop I bought from has inflated prices and once I'd found AAEC and saw for myself what my set up would have cost me direct from China or even from UK online sellers I set about making sure I asked questions, read all I could and took on board lots of reviews and recommendations before buying from China.

Just out of curiosity I have just had a look at the prices my original B&M shop are selling hardware at today - 1x Samsumg 25R 18650 = £7.99 75w istick Pico = £44.99 (without a tank) 30w Istick £38.99 (thats just shocking!!) online from Fogstar the 25R is £3.75 the postage cost (£1.49) is less than it would cost for me to drive to the B&M and park. The Pico on Fasttech is £18.42 and the 30w Istick is £15.80 whilst I understand B&M's have overheads the mark ups are simply ridiculous!

[Get Off My Cloud]

Jan 23, 2018 22:50:10 GMT snow said:

If it hadn't been for a B&M shop I suspect I wouldn't now be vaping it gave me the chance to go in and try a few liquids and set ups before I bought and as I was pretty clueless at the time I needed that kind of hands on try before you buy facility HOWEVER I got lucky with the shop I went into and the fact the owner was reasonably knowledgeable, I've been in other B&M's since starting to vape and have been at times horrified by their distinct lack of knowledge, incensed at some of their very poor advice to new vapers that has been quite dangerous, disgusted by their marked up prices for hardware and "premium" liquids which are nothing of the sort and left fuming at what were clearly clones and cheap copies being openly sold as the real thing with price tag to match. Even the shop I bought from has inflated prices and once I'd found AAEC and saw for myself what my set up would have cost me direct from China or even from UK online sellers I set about making sure I asked questions, read all I could and took on board lots of reviews and recommendations before buying from China.

Just out of curiosity I have just had a look at the prices my original B&M shop are selling hardware at today - 1x Samsumg 25R 18650 = £7.99 75w istick Pico = £44.99 (without a tank) 30w Istick £38.99 (thats just shocking!!) online from Fogstar the 25R is £3.75 the postage cost (£1.49) is less than it would cost for me to drive to the B&M and park. The Pico on Fasttech is £18.42 and the 30w Istick is £15.80 whilst I understand B&M's have overheads the mark ups are simply ridiculous!

It's really not all down to greed that the prices are so different.
Aside from the more expensive overheads of running a store compared to a warehouse if you have a physical store your potential customer base is just those people that happen to be physically passing by the store whereas online you have a much larger potential customer base which is inevitably going to mean shifting a larger number of units per day especially a big site like fasttech so a physical store has to offset shifting a lower number of units by having larger margins per unit.

[Postmodern Smoking]

Jan 23, 2018 22:50:10 GMT snow said:

...

Just out of curiosity I have just had a look at the prices my original B&M shop are selling hardware at today - 1x Samsumg 25R 18650 = £7.99 75w istick Pico = £44.99 (without a tank) 30w Istick £38.99 (thats just shocking!!) online from Fogstar the 25R is £3.75 the postage cost (£1.49) is less than it would cost for me to drive to the B&M and park. The Pico on Fasttech is £18.42 and the 30w Istick is £15.80 whilst I understand B&M's have overheads the mark ups are simply ridiculous!

In defence of the B&M (as far as price is concerned) retail markup (not just vaping gear) is typically double, or more the cost price. B&M's wholesale purchase price is not very different to that of some Chinese sellers + shipping + import duty+ VAT. B&M's have often high overheads... clueless staff , leases, insurance, phone, electricity, warranty losses, etc. etc.to cover .... so I can understand much of the inflated prices.... imho they aren't that inflated compared with other stuff that we buy.... only we are aware of the savings (and risk) that can be made by going direct to China. It's probably the reason why at Vapefest these days, it appears to be dominated by e-liquid and concentrate vendors....

[dagl]

Jan 23, 2018 21:35:18 GMT Arrowmunda said:

Jan 23, 2018 21:22:34 GMT stephengeo said:

Thanks a lot, I'll have to start putting some trust into online shopping more now, what's the average postal time for packages from China? Or does it depend on who your buying from, I used to think it'd take about a month to receive anything from China

I would say anywhere between a week and 3 weeks is normal from fasttech and 3fvape, not sure on others

Worth mentioning that batteries and mods with built in batteries can take longer due to the shipping restrictions.
I get my batteries from uk online as well as all mixing conc's etc.
Mods and attys from China (unless there's a temptation in the classies  )

[DaveJ]

Be nice to have a choice

All mine is online - mostly from China.

[Postmodern Smoking]

Here's an update of the results at the moment, for those unable to see the poll directly :



Very similar to yesterday's snapshot, but now 31 voters

[TJ]

Majority of hardware (mods,tanks etc) from China although having spent out in last yrs TPD sales over here I've haven't actually bought much since, all concentrates etc from the UK, have been in 2 real shops in the last 3 yrs, TW to spend a voucher I had and Ape Vaping to get a tank that I couldn't source elsewhere.

Although in my local town now, we have a couple of dedicated shops and then the phone shops have also started selling actually quite a big range of hardware and liquids but they are extortionately priced and the staff are into phones not vaping so haven't a clue really, it's a shame as their stock is definitely sourced overseas as I've even seen FT stickers on them