I’ve Been Shopping!

“A package was shipped to you…”

Aaaah. Could there be any sweeter words? Stash is on the way 🙂 As Jamie guessed, I did indeed buy some more stash with the money I made from selling other stash. Sounds counterproductive, but honestly, the charts I sold were all things I was never going to stitch (many were from the prize pool from the Wagon Challenge I was on in ’05 – no offense to those who contributed, but they just weren’t my thing – those who bought them from me got a great deal though!). Anyway, I’ve bought a few things at SB&B, but I can’t quite remember exactly what (I think my itemised order notification went astray in the ether somewhere). I know there is this, this and this, but the rest will have to be a surprise!

Speaking of online shopping, I heard yesterday on the radio that 60% of Australians have never made a purchase online! Actually, I was surprised that the figure was not higher. I sat in a Secure E-Commerce lecture a couple of years ago and the lecturer asked who had purchased from an online store, and only about a dozen hands were raised – in a class of over 100! A class of the geekily inclined what’s more. I was astounded. I simply couldn’t imagine not shopping online. 95% of my stash (at least) has come from online sources, mostly overseas. I shop from Amazon, and eBay, and etsy. From bead stores, cloth nappy stores, fabric stores, and more. Christmas shopping last year would have been so much more difficult without the Web – most of my gifts came from etsy sellers.

I’ve also bought groceries online, but only the once – a number of things stopped me doing that again – the prices were a fair bit higher, the website I used was a pain to navigate (in fact we used Supermarket sites as case studies in my Usability course), and when the delivery was made, the ratio of plastic bags to products was ridiculous. (I wonder if there’s a greener option for online grocery shopping now that Australia has become a little more environmentally aware, generally speaking?)

Anyway, what I’m trying to say is, apart from the groceries, I <heart> online shopping. That other 60% don’t know what they’re missing out on. Products that simply are not available to us in Australia, or are available at seriously inflated prices, are there for the buying, and it can be done in a shorter space of time than it would take me to get the kids into the car!

And, finally, still on the online shopping, here’s a tip for my Aussie readers. Forget about Amazon for books – the shipping prices are a bit of a killer (though still an order usually works out cheaper than buying here). A trip through the comments of Sooz’s blog one day led me to the Book Depository. I hope you’ll forgive the shouting, but: FREE DELIVERY WORLDWIDE!!! Does it get any better than that?! Admittedly, the book selection is not as extensive as Amazon (they are linked to Amazon.co.uk where a book is not available), but so far I’ve been able to order everything I have wanted, and delivery is fast – they aren’t skimping by sending packages via surface mail. My most recent purchase was this, and I’m off to check it out now. Colour me one very happy online shopper :giggle: