Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Chrome extension recommends local businesses while shopping on Amazon or eBay

chrome.google.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

191–200 of 310 posts

Re: Chrome extension recommends local businesses while shopping on Amazon or eBay

#191

Post by anigbrowl »

lotsofpulp wrote: post #42
usrusr wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> and ghasp talk to real people, potentially a few, at different stores, to get what you need. That's really an issue: if you aren't the hard-boiled, super unemphatic negotiator type you'll likely buy the very first thing a salesperson has invested face-minutes in, if it just gets the easy 80% of requirements/desires right. "Thanks for your time, but I'll go see if there's another offer that is maybe 3% better or 2%…

People in the US were not haggling for anything less than a car in the decades before the internet.

Not true. As recently the 90s expensive niche gear like a pro audio or video stuff was almost always subject to price negotiation, especially if you were a repeat customer or indicated an interest in possibly purchasing other stuff. It still is to some extent.

In general the more knowledgeable the dealership/salespeople, the more likely negotiation is possible, especially if you present as a knowledgeable customer so that neither of you are wasting each others' time.

Re: Chrome extension recommends local businesses while shopping on Amazon or eBay

#192

Post by dylan604 »

jazu wrote: post #121
halikular wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Being able to test clothes before you buy them to so if they fit is so much more convenient than ordering the wrong size online.

You can try them on in the local store and then buy the same size online. Works wonders for some products like brand sneakers or jeans.

A lot of stores have a price match even for online prices to keep you from doing this. So if you're so cheap to do this, then you could at least reward the local store for providing you a service rather than cheating them out of a sale.

Re: Chrome extension recommends local businesses while shopping on Amazon or eBay

#193

Post by dylan604 »

nsainaney wrote: post #147
jazu wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can try them on in the local store and then buy the same size online. Works wonders for some products like brand sneakers or jeans.

Agreed. Doesn't anyone go out in their neighbourhood anymore. What's with wanting everything to come to you. I like going out and know the names of the bar managers and store staff at the places I shop....

I'm assuming you mean when there's not a global pandemic

Re: Chrome extension recommends local businesses while shopping on Amazon or eBay

#194

Post by tgsovlerkhgsel »

spicybright wrote: post #184
notatoad wrote: post #176

Earlier quoted context omitted.

yeah, this is a problem i've solved by learning what brands are internally consistent with their sizing. i know my size in Levi's, and as long as they don't suddenly start making 36/32 jeans fit differently than they used to, i'll keep ordering from them without having to worry about fit.

Guy jeans are real easy because those numbers are actual measurements. Woman's jeans just change that to a single number that changes through the years. Uhg, so annoying.

No they aren't. I got two pairs of jeans from the same (house) brand in the same store at the same time. I tried on one of them in the store, and naively assumed the other would fit too.

There was a 5 cm (2 inch) difference.

Re: Chrome extension recommends local businesses while shopping on Amazon or eBay

#195

Post by tgsovlerkhgsel »

usrusr wrote: post #32
corytheboyd wrote: post #11

This is a really good idea! I love my small businesses but being coddled by the internet is so real, you get used to immediately finding exactly what you want. With local stores, you have to put in some work sometimes, and ghasp talk to real people, potentially a few, at different stores, to get what you need. It sounds like a lot written out like that, but the important bits are that the people you talk to, you lear…

> and ghasp talk to real people, potentially a few, at different stores, to get what you need. That's really an issue: if you aren't the hard-boiled, super unemphatic negotiator type you'll likely buy the very first thing a salesperson has invested face-minutes in, if it just gets the easy 80% of requirements/desires right. "Thanks for your time, but I'll go see if there's another offer that is maybe 3% better or 2%…

> 2% cheaper

Unless it's a really big ticket item, going to another store to get it 2% cheaper would almost certainly be a net loss (due to the time involved) vs. just buying the first thing you see at a slightly inflated price.

Re: Chrome extension recommends local businesses while shopping on Amazon or eBay

#196

Post by dylan604 »

greenie_beans wrote: post #69
londons_explore wrote: post #60

Small business near me never seem to have online catalogues or stock levels. Hunting for a specific product (for example a washing line) might involve walking into 3 different shops and guessing which shop might sell what you need. When you arrive in the shop, they always arrange aisles differently so unless you have 20 minutes to hunt you might not find it either. Whereas online it's a simple search and click "buy n…

I’m sorry, I can’t help but point out that you could call the store before you left your house. And when in the store, you could ask a sales associate for help. Just sayin!

I love going into my local Ace Hardware stores. I have found that these are usually staffed by older/retired guys that have been there, done that, and they are eager to assist. In fact, one guy would recognize me and ask what "crazy" thing I'm trying to do now. This is all because the first time we interacted I was attempting to build a "portable" 25' long suspension cable system for a camera rig. We probably spent 2 hours looking at all of the doodads they had available (of course he'd help other customers when needed). However, we did spend a lot of time just chatting about random projects. At the end, he asked if I'd show him the result of it when finished. It was sad day when I learned he had passed away. Kind of like losing a distant relative.

Show me where Amazon or whatever online shop can emulate that.

Re: Chrome extension recommends local businesses while shopping on Amazon or eBay

#197

Post by dylan604 »

UncleMeat wrote: post #142
nactivint wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Actually my wife does this all the time and it works, especially for small businesses. Larger companies have websites, and small businesses care enough to do things like check the stock for you. So I guess my anecdote cancels yours out?

I live in a fairly small town. Almost every store is minimally staffed, often by a single person. Phones regularly go to voicemail. Calling up the local shoe store to ask whether they have something in my size will get an interesting response. I’m also thinner than average here, so entire pants racks at the local clothing stores just don’t carry a single piece in my size.

One store I frequented was owner operated with probably their daughter as an employee. They would walk around with a cordless phone on their hip so as to not miss a call. If there's enough interest, people find a way.

Re: Chrome extension recommends local businesses while shopping on Amazon or eBay

#198

Post by rrrrrrrrrrrryan »

londons_explore wrote: post #60

Small business near me never seem to have online catalogues or stock levels. Hunting for a specific product (for example a washing line) might involve walking into 3 different shops and guessing which shop might sell what you need. When you arrive in the shop, they always arrange aisles differently so unless you have 20 minutes to hunt you might not find it either. Whereas online it's a simple search and click "buy n…

If you already know exactly what you want, buying online from a big corporation will always be better than buying from a local brick and mortar store.

I think bookstores are one of the best examples. Amazon has literally everything, but if you're not exactly sure what to read next, if you walk through the highly curated aisles of a local used bookstore, or talk to the (highly knowledgeable) person behind the front desk, you'll probably walk out of the door with something awesome.

Re: Chrome extension recommends local businesses while shopping on Amazon or eBay

#199

Post by YeBanKo »

mamaluigie wrote: post #113
crazygringo wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's hilarious! Do you... try that regularly? Stores are so understaffed, you're lucky to get them to pick up the phone at all, and if they do you often won't get accurate information. They'll never walk to an aisle to see if something is physically there, they'll tell you if it's "in the system", but frequently "the system" will show 3 in stock while the reality is zero on the shelf. Or 48 in stock but they're all…

Yes. Just tell the guy to get off his butt and go and see if the item is in stock. This has worked every time for me. I call walmart on a reg to see if an item is in stock before having to drive all the way there.

Walmart is not a local shop. They have a pretty large software dept i house and you could probably check availability online yourself.

Re: Chrome extension recommends local businesses while shopping on Amazon or eBay

#200

Post by adrianmonk »

robbrown451 wrote: post #150
halikular wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Being able to test clothes before you buy them to so if they fit is so much more convenient than ordering the wrong size online.

As long as you can find your size. I'm tall and thin, so if I want to buy something as basic as Levi's jeans, I have to go to a ton of stores and have limited choices. Now I just get them on Amazon, problem solved. This is a problem that should have been solved years ago. You should be able to measure yourself very accurately and thoroughly, keep it on some sort of file that you can share what you need, and then use…

There's a company called True Fit (https://www.truefit.com/) which attempts to solve this.

True Fit partners with several stores. You go on a store's web site (for example, macys.com), and you tell True Fit about some clothing you already have that fits well (brand, size, style). Based on that, it refers to its database to recommend the best size of the product you're considering now, and it tells you whether it thinks it will be "snug", "true to you", or "loose".

Basically it just formalizes the kind of knowledge that shoppers use about how brand A tends to run small, brand B runs large, brand C is aimed at young people so its shirts are more tailored, brand D is aimed at older people and their shirts are more "generous" in the waist, etc.

Their web site calls it the "Fashion Genome™", which is a "comprehensive, normalized fashion graph".

Post reply on HN