I always make an additional effort to check my local resources and I always try to buy the fresh food. I am personally not enticed or even slightly interested to buy food online. Maybe, but just maybe if a local shop will have ( one day) a website and they deliver, then it is ok, but I have to know their menu very well.
Honestly, I have had better luck buying food online than other things. I have not been happy with a lot of my Amazon purchases that were not food related. I once paid 28.00 in Amazon gift certificates for towels I could have probably gotten for 6 or 7 dollars at Walmart. Not be repeated! I did buy some potato chips at Amazon that cost a lot of money for a small package though.
@iamawriter I live in Penrith a suburb of Sydney, NSW for a long time and Woolworths has a widespread chain of its stores in almost all parts of Australia. The nearest Woolworth store is 8 minutes walk from my residence in Westfield mall. In fact it's one of the best and most economical in its category.Log In
@Ke Gordon Based on the prices and the items you purchased it doesn't seem to be worth the price, but Amazon definitely covers that by having very competitive prices on various products.
I'm sorry things didn't work out for you. As many have said I would just look for the price of the product as well as the reviews that has been given, always look at the reviews they can help you determine whether a product could be a pass or a fail.
@Ray1 In this Mall that I visited there was a store that was selling homemade chocolates. they were just placed in a basket without any wrappings. I bought a kilo and believe it or not they tasted better than any of the Swiss chocolates that I ever tasted. They were chunky pieces almost one inch in size. I searched everywhere once I returned to place orders online but did not succeed. @tallulah You do not have to be that harsh with online shopping. I am surviving with online shopping most of the time. The only thing I took for granted was a branded product has no grades. I have to be more vigilant from now on and check the prices to determine which is original and whic is not. @Ke Gordon They are open to listen to complaints and will not hesitate to make up if the customer has had genuine issues. I can vouch for their honesty and trust. As for food items the only thing they could perhaps do is to bring to the notice of the prospective buyer that what is being ordered is not original.
That's really hard to tell if item is original. I never truest items from ebay as I have seen many duplicate electronic items on it. But Amazon too!! That's weird as my experience with amazon is so good so far. Though I have never tried out food item from any online shopping site. As other users suggested price different is one of the indicator. I mean if difference is too much then it is one of the indication that it can not be original. But still it is hard to tell as sometime store may be reducing the stock and that's why selling in low price.
I have never bought food items online. When I am buying food, I want to check with my eyes, feel with fingers, smell it, and read the label. These kind of facilities are not available if you are buying online. Therefore, when I am buying food, I always like to visit the store. However, I may buy food from the local store that also has online store.
@Ray1 Yes, I also think the Milo (chocolate drink) I tried in Australia was not as sweet and same went to some other food as well. It seems like the people in my country consume more sugar too. Some eating habits are different too. For example, chicken breast is more expensive there whereas in Malaysia, chicken thighs and drumsticks are always more expensive.
Even I have shared a similar experience while shopping online. But soon I realized that we must compare the prices because I have seen the same products ranging differently. This would be definitely due to quality reason, right? So, from the next time whenever I bought anything online I compared the prices.
I think it depends on the type of food. I have several friends who have ordered survival food and they have had no problems. These kinds of foods are sealed and very well packaged. You also need to check the dates and the pricing. The best you can do is to make sure the seller is legitimate and verify all the descriptions, pictures and information on the items.
Unfortunately a lot of people have a misunderstanding in regards to buying food online, they are not aware that they are well sealed and packaged.
In my opinion, there is no way to tell if a food item is going to be the genuine article until it is delivered to your home and you taste whatever it is that you ordered. I guess as with anything that one orders online, you have to just kind of hope that you are getting the item that you really want. If you find that a certain vendor delivers the appropriate goods, then I'd try to stick with them whenever possible, however, that can be hard when ordering a wide variety of food online.
I agree with your post, checking the authenticity of a product can be very hard let alone food, but all you can do is buy from renowned stores.
It's tempting when you see chocolates on online stores, especially when you don't get them at your nearby shops. It's like taking a chance when you buy them online or you need to buy them exclusively from chocolate online stores.
I don't even need to think about it because I can't even consider that kind of idea. Everything seems very artificial and I don't like the feeling of not being able to feel the products in general (smell and / or taste).
Yeah, buying from a reputable store is something that one should do whenever one can, although I know that some people take chances and buy from stores they've never heard of just because they want the particular product "so bad" that - that store is selling. When it comes to buying food, I think it's okay to buy from the actual sore itself, but there is still the chance that they might have their orders sent out via a third party. Bottom line, one never knows for sure if they are getting what they actually ordered until they receive it in person.
Ever since I go to know about online shopping I am kind of addicted and thoroughly enjoy the experience. We can pick and choose what we want unlike shopping offline considering we live in a semi rural town.
There are some food items that only certain sellers market It is those items that i would be particularly interested in buying online. For food items my experience has taught me how to go about getting the best.