Where is best to buy??

The following are extracts of emails between myself and CHRONOS. I leave readers to make up their own minds.

To CHRONOS

Hi Recently received 1/4" Brass Hex x 300mm ordered through your ebay site on 30/5/19, price £3.92. Rather annoyed to see that on your online website the price is only £2.64. Why the discrepancy?

Reply from CHRONOS

Hi

Our minimum order a the the website is £6.00- ebay does not allow this on there site,also ebay take 10-15%of the total from us s well as listing fees etc, so it is generally better to shop at the website rather than ebay

Regards

Mark

If you order one of my 5" boilers off ebay it will set you back a lot more than if you get it from my website - ebay take £74 per sale and paypal take about £30....not difficult to see why traders have to mark up in order to stay in business. I have only one item on there out of about 20 because the fees are extorsionate.

E-bay prices often include the postage within the item cost even if it says "free postage" so you are likely paying for that too.

Not unusual to find the same item on sale at different prices. It applies to almost everything we buy from Insurance to Potatoes. Unfortunately you can't assume one source will always be cheaper than another because what goes changes over time. There are dozens of reasons why prices differ.

To get the best price you always have to shop around and understand the small print. As that can be a right pain I rarely bother double checking small stuff where prices are usually similar, but I always check alternatives before making a big purchase.

It's a jungle out there.

Dave

Macc Models seem to have good prices for small section brass. 1/4 inch brass hex is 90p for 12 inch length, but postage is extra so for a one off piece would probably be more than you paid.

No assocition with the company, but I have bought from them. Quick delivery too.

I can see why you might be a bit annoyed at the price difference but Chronos are being honest. I have been an ebay seller for almost 15 years so I know the fees involved. Chronos will have made next to nothing on that sale. Here is how it would typically break down:

Sale price £3.92

Cost of item (price paid by chronos) unknown lets say £1

ebay commission 39p

paypal fees 33p

Royal Mail 1st class large letter £1.03

Packaging 10p

£3.92 - £2.85 = £1.07 profit!

A big company might be able to reduce those fees by about 50p by buying in bulk etc but Ive not even taken into account listing fees and VAT.

Edited By Hollowpoint on 04/06/2019 17:03:50

Things on ebay can be a fair bit more expense than buying direct. I found this out the other day buying chainwheels for the motor/ hydraulic pump on my surface grinder. Much cheaper buying directly off simply bearings, than ebay.

Hi, seems to me that you saved more than the difference if that is all you wished to purchase. I personally would have thought that it would be prudent to check out both avenues before committing to buy. I've bought a number of items from Chronos over the years, but I always compare items and prices first.

Regards Nick.

Yes, but out of that £1.07 - which is at best margin, not profit - you've got to pay someone to read the order and find, pick and pack the goods, plus the overheads of running and heating the stores. Real profit will be a lot smaller.

I'm amazed they can find it worthwhile to bother to do it at all.

I'm with Alan Waddington on this. I've found Chronos to be straight to deal with, and their answer is unsurprising and fair IMO.

I have never bought anything from Ebay,having heard so much about it ,not all good. I find it is just as cheap to buy from known suppliers ,where you might have some comeback.

Speaking of Chronos, I have bought from them many times and have yet to find fault with them.

I have no connection with them, I just deal with them as required.

Epay sellers often provide ‘free’ postage for any item. Chronos works that way. That means that a multiple purchase may arrive in one package (with multiple separate postage charges - one for each item - included in the final cost) or in separate shipments (typical of some Chinese suppliers) if the handling of separate items is more cost effective than collecting and repackaging by human labour.

The Chronos website, probably like many others, has a ‘basket’ into which the order is compiled? At the checkout, delivery charges will be addressed, also possibly along with a separate VAT charge. As above, a minimum order value is often necessary to avoid low value orders (costing more than the shelf-picking and packaging costs).

The discerning buyer will take all these facets into account before deciding which route is the better one.

The sellers to really avoid are those that do not actually stock the item, but, promise delivery from the UK - then actually make an order to China and then supply at increased cost with no time saving (been caught by that in the past).

Some posts deleted.

What astonishes me is that Zoro offers genuinely free postage on ebay

My last two purchases have cost me £2.00 and £1.61 respectively.

Each was delivered in a large MailLite envelope, via ParcelForce 48

Either they have a very special arrangement, or they treat small orders as a 'loss leader'

MichaelG.

Small orders from anywhere are rarely cost effective. Better to work out what you're likely to need in the future and order in bulk

Roy

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Zoro being the exception that proves your rule, I guess

MichaelG.

Posted by JasonB on 03/06/2019 13:10:28:

I've always thought that "free postage" was a bit of sly way of saying "inclusive of postage".

[This posting has been removed]

Sometimes ebay is cheaper and sometimes not review each items merits everytime.

Sometimes ebay is very expensive this either means ring me or I have no stock.

Many if not most companies who operate an eBay shop alongside a conventional one, not least to cover ebay and paypal fees they don't get if they sell through there own website. Obviously there are the additional costs of running an ebay site as well.

I've bought things off eBay and when they arrive tucked inside is a card or a flyer for the seller's website pointing out lower prices

Basically they would prefer you to buy direct from them but 'have' to do ebay to compete with the cheap and cheerful sellers. So operating an ebay shop can be a promotional strategy...

Neil

Edited By Neil Wyatt on 05/06/2019 20:17:49

If you want the best price, buy direct from the maker, third parties often charge more for acces to their selling vehicle than the maker makes on his product!