Poll: What do you find buying online really hard or annoying? • Hacker News Board

Re: Poll: What do you find buying online really hard or annoying?

#31

Post by joshontheweb » Mon, Jul 04, 2011, 6:03 PM UTC

revorad wrote: post #13

joshontheweb wrote: post #12

I have never found a good grocery delivery service that had an interface that didn't make me want to shoot myself.

Yes, that's a big one, although I must say I've been pleasantly surprised by the big supermarkets online service here in the UK. The Tesco and Asda websites are not exactly usability masterpieces but they are pretty good.

At least http://Tesco.com has the gallery sliders so you can browse. http://vons.com makes you drill down through endless, nebulous taxonomies. The browsing method of shopping that we are accustomed to isn't being satisfied. I just want to navigate to the produce section and see images of all the produce.

Re: Poll: What do you find buying online really hard or annoying?

#32

Post by ZeroMinx » Mon, Jul 04, 2011, 6:12 PM UTC

revorad wrote: post #13

joshontheweb wrote: post #12

I have never found a good grocery delivery service that had an interface that didn't make me want to shoot myself.

Yes, that's a big one, although I must say I've been pleasantly surprised by the big supermarkets online service here in the UK. The Tesco and Asda websites are not exactly usability masterpieces but they are pretty good.

I find the Ocado website (and mobile app) quite good. Their service is also excellent.

Re: Poll: What do you find buying online really hard or annoying?

#33

Post by bconway » Mon, Jul 04, 2011, 6:13 PM UTC

How about cars? Despite extensive Flash sites for ever make and model, as well as a million third-party sites (Edmunds.com, etc), if I want to search for a sedan that offers a manual transmission and uses regular gas, and then sort by torque, weight, and price, I have zero options.

Of course, I would only use this service once every 5-10 years, so it may not be a big money-maker.

Re: Poll: What do you find buying online really hard or annoying?

#34

Post by revorad » Mon, Jul 04, 2011, 6:20 PM UTC

bconway wrote: post #33

How about cars? Despite extensive Flash sites for ever make and model, as well as a million third-party sites (Edmunds.com, etc), if I want to search for a sedan that offers a manual transmission and uses regular gas, and then sort by torque, weight, and price, I have zero options. Of course, I would only use this service once every 5-10 years, so it may not be a big money-maker.

There's YC-backed Carwoo - http://carwoo.com. I believe they are quite experienced guys and have built relationships with lots of US dealers.

Even though any individual won't use such a service often, each sale is quite big in absolute terms (compared to other verticals I'm considering) and a lot of people buy cars. So, it is a big market but not one I'm currently thinking of, mainly because I'm only looking at stuff you'd actually order online.

Re: Poll: What do you find buying online really hard or annoying?

#35

Post by patio11 » Mon, Jul 04, 2011, 6:23 PM UTC

Commenting only because I was asked to on Twitter:

I don't find any of the above difficult, because of the enumerated items, the only ones I buy are computers and software. Computers: Dell works; software: most easily distributed good in world.

Almost all of my furniture/etc is hand-me-down from someone or other. When I need something not in the set, I go straight to the big $WHATEVER store and ask the friendly salesman "What is the best selling $ITEM?" because there is no way that I'm going to outresearch Japan on consumer electronics.

Re: Poll: What do you find buying online really hard or annoying?

#36

Post by [deleted] » Mon, Jul 04, 2011, 6:26 PM UTC

georgefox wrote: post #2

Clothing. Granted, I hate buying clothes in person too, but not being able to try things on makes it seem like quite a gamble.

[deleted]

Re: Poll: What do you find buying online really hard or annoying?

#37

Post by revorad » Mon, Jul 04, 2011, 6:29 PM UTC

patio11 wrote: post #35

Commenting only because I was asked to on Twitter: I don't find any of the above difficult, because of the enumerated items, the only ones I buy are computers and software. Computers: Dell works; software: most easily distributed good in world. Almost all of my furniture/etc is hand-me-down from someone or other. When I need something not in the set, I go straight to the big $WHATEVER store and ask the friendly sales…

What can I say? You're a man of simple needs :-)

I expect things might get slightly more complicated if/when you have a family.

Regarding software, distribution is clearly not the problem. But distribution is not a problem for most other things now. Choosing what to buy out of a hundred options is the problem. That's what I'm trying to help people with.

Thanks for taking the time to answer. Hope you didn't find the tweet rude.

Re: Poll: What do you find buying online really hard or annoying?

#38

Post by revorad » Mon, Jul 04, 2011, 6:31 PM UTC

ZeroMinx wrote: post #32

revorad wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, that's a big one, although I must say I've been pleasantly surprised by the big supermarkets online service here in the UK. The Tesco and Asda websites are not exactly usability masterpieces but they are pretty good.

I find the Ocado website (and mobile app) quite good. Their service is also excellent.

Yes, they are really good but more expensive than the others.

Re: Poll: What do you find buying online really hard or annoying?

#39

Post by gonewest » Mon, Jul 04, 2011, 6:31 PM UTC

any kind of replacement parts: - kitchen appliances - automotive - garage door opener - electronics

yes, there are specialty sites for most of these but wow, all such sites are categorically awful.

Re: Poll: What do you find buying online really hard or annoying?

#40

Post by revorad » Mon, Jul 04, 2011, 6:34 PM UTC

joshontheweb wrote: post #31

revorad wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, that's a big one, although I must say I've been pleasantly surprised by the big supermarkets online service here in the UK. The Tesco and Asda websites are not exactly usability masterpieces but they are pretty good.

At least http://Tesco.com has the gallery sliders so you can browse. http://vons.com makes you drill down through endless, nebulous taxonomies. The browsing method of shopping that we are accustomed to isn't being satisfied. I just want to navigate to the produce section and see images of all the produce.

I agree. A lot can be improved there. The reason I'm not touching this is that a few big boys have complete control over actually selling those things affordably. I haven't looked into it much, but if my users can't fill a basket full of things and checkout at one of the stores, it won't be very useful.