Seapets Or Local

[bally]

Hi there


was looking to buy a new fish tank Spoke to the local shop who can provide me with the tank i like for around £400.


However i noticed online that a store called Seapets do the same tank for £298.00, free del and about £50.00 of extras. So of course i am tempted to go with the cheaper offer but does anyone have any experiance of these people. The good thing about local is in the past the shop has been very helpful and if anything goes wrong with the tank i can call on him, though in the past he has had to send away for parts which take awhile


But again i am very attracted to the £100. saving. Anyone got any views or advice, would be very much much appreciated.



cheers

 

[BigbruiserAl]

sea pets if you dont have problem are fine, however if something goes wrong they are a ball ache. For £100 saving i would risk it again, on the other hand have a word with your LFS they might be able to close the gap and you can support your LFS. I did the same and my LFS matched it to within £20 but said they will sort me out with fish

 

[soybean]

I printed off the seapets offer and lfs could nearly match it. Far better to buy local if you can - and if you have a dodgy light etc its often easier to go through the shop than deal with internet customer services.

 

[bally]

all ready explained to the shop seapets were £100 cheaper could they match and they told me seapets were being looking into by the tank makes for selling at the low prices.

 

[soybean]

Well it's up to you really - save money or have a local contact. Try elsewhere?

 

[Cazgar]

For big purchases I'd always go local, as if something goes wrong it's usually less hassle to sort out, & I like to support local shops whenever I can
Having said that, there are some good deals to be had online, but I'd rather see the item before buying

 

[smokeyjo]

Surely its up to seapets what price they sell the equipment at. They will have already bought the their stock for a certain price set by the manufacturer and they will then decide what they want to sell it for sounds to me like the lfs is trying to pull the wool over ur eyes. But I personally would rather buy from the lfs to show support plus if they are good ur helping to keep them in buisness. Ask him to match it within 50 quid or u will buy it off seapets surely he would rather have the buisness than lose out

 

[alihar]

I always try to buy from my LFS and my 200 litre i purchased from them was only £20 dearer than Seapets.
However i bought my 125 litre from Seapets as it was £100 cheaper than my LFS.
Their delivery and communication was spot on and their after sales care ( as I thought I had a deep scratch on glass ) was excellent.

 

[CezzaXV]

I generally like to support local businesses, but £100 is ALOT of money.

 

[MBOU]

Personally I hate websites like that one, they put local fish shops out of business.

Wholesalers are looking into what their products are being sold at online because websites selling them so cheap completely devalues their products.

The only sensible wholesaler i know is Hagen, who have got such strict rules on the G Series filters that web shops arent allowed to sell them at different prices.

Always support your LFS. Everyone complains about LFS being too small/not having the stock/not having the selection/not having the prices/not being so totally perfect in everyones eyes.

But if everyone insists on buying online, soon you wont even have any shops to go to. It might mean saving a bit of money for yourselves. But a lot of people end up losing jobs.. having hours cut etc because there are no customers.

 

[bally]

rang round a couple of local shop in my area and they are all offering the tank at the same price as Seapets anyway. So i will be buying locally after all, just not to the local guy i was going to use

 

[the_lock_man]

Surely its up to seapets what price they sell the equipment at. They will have already bought the their stock for a certain price set by the manufacturer and they will then decide what they want to sell it for sounds to me like the lfs is trying to pull the wool over ur eyes. But I personally would rather buy from the lfs to show support plus if they are good ur helping to keep them in buisness. Ask him to match it within 50 quid or u will buy it off seapets surely he would rather have the buisness than lose out

Personally I hate websites like that one, they put local fish shops out of business.

Wholesalers are looking into what their products are being sold at online because websites selling them so cheap completely devalues their products.

The only sensible wholesaler i know is Hagen, who have got such strict rules on the G Series filters that web shops arent allowed to sell them at different prices.

Always support your LFS. Everyone complains about LFS being too small/not having the stock/not having the selection/not having the prices/not being so totally perfect in everyones eyes.

But if everyone insists on buying online, soon you wont even have any shops to go to. It might mean saving a bit of money for yourselves. But a lot of people end up losing jobs.. having hours cut etc because there are no customers.

It is illegal for any manufacturer to dictate what price a retailer can sell their product for. If Seapets feel they can afford to sell at such a low profit margin, that is their decision, and the manufacturers and wholesalers cannot do anything about it, except refuse to sell to them. The only thing they can do is to print a RRP on the packaging, which makes it harder to sell for more, but actually makes a lower price look even better.

 

[Tizer]

But if everyone insists on buying online, soon you wont even have any shops to go to. It might mean saving a bit of money for yourselves. But a lot of people end up losing jobs.. having hours cut etc because there are no customers.

All the more reason for them to get online themselves I'll buy online if its cheaper 9 times outa 10, i see no reason to hand over my hard earned money to keep someone elses business alive, if the shops cant evolve to deal with it, its not my problem Its a career choice at the end of the day.

 

[bally]

its hard not to buy online, where i live its not easy to get what i need locally. I have no electric shops with 20 miles and when i can cheaper prices and del online, its crazy to travel the 20 miles to keep business in the town. However i will be buying my tank locally as the price is the same as the online one