What wouldn't you buy online?

Biblioklept · January 5

I know the community is a mix of people like me who have no choice but to only buy online and those who won't buy anything online and those who do a mixture.

I'm interested if there's anything anyone wouldn't buy online and why? And whether these change depending on how easy is it for you to get out and about

66Mustang · January 5

Interesting question.

I am not totally against it, and, if I lived alone I would have no choice, but we prefer to buy fruit, vegetables and meat in the shop. We find if you order it online they just pick up the first one which could be bruised, fatty or whatever. In the shop you get to have a look and choose the best ones.

woodbine · January 5

I avoid buying clothes online unless they are a make that I'm almost 100% sure will fit me.

Albus_Scope · January 5

I'll buy most things online, from the smaller online stores if possible. But like Mustang, I much prefer fresh produce (especially meat) to come from the local shops, I've been burned by that before.

66Mustang · January 5

I use smaller online shops as well, if I can.

I used to have Amazon Prime but for the £80 a year (now more I believe, £100?) I can pay delivery charges here and there and usually spend under £80 in a year on those. Plus I can choose any store and don't feel restricted to using Amazon for economical reasons.

Rosie_Scope · January 5

Maybe this is an odd response, but any products that have a strong smell. Things like shower gels, toiletries and things like that. Unless I can't leave the house or I already know I like the scent, I wouldn't usually gamble by buying those kind of things online.

And again like a lot of other people, I prefer to see fresh fruit or veg before I buy it. I'm very particular about the ripeness of bananas, so I'd never get those on delivery! No brown spots, thank you very much

Biblioklept · January 5

Everything I buy has to be online so even my fruit and veg and I 100000% agree that I wouldn't advise it to people if they can buy it another way. It's always low quality or overripe or just not what I'd pick. Most ends up in landfill which I feel very guilty for but I guess no one else would buy it so it would end up there anyway.

66Mustang · January 5

@Biblioklept I believe it's cheaper and easier for them to leave the duff veggies in with the good veggies and let the customers sort through, than it is to sort them and only put the good ones up for sale.

Something you could do is have a compost bin in the garden if you have one, put the bad veggies in there.

Or another idea, buy the more expensive organic veggies, they often are better quality checked, of course more expensive but it may be cheaper to buy 10 organic carrots and eat them all rather than buy 20 normal carrots and throw half away if you see what I mean?

Biblioklept · January 5

Definitely see what you mean and I noticed that recently with tomatoes!! I always bought the cheapest value / smart price cherry tomatoes and majority would be awful and even the ones that were edible had no flavour so would often be binned.
A few weeks before Christmas they substituted with some on-the-vine, organic cherry tomatoes and not only were they PERFECT, my gawd they tasted sooooooo much nicer!!
I'd honestly always thought a tomato is a tomato so all would be the same, but I was really wrong and will only order vine-ripened tomatoes now

I don't know why I didn't think about the same applying to other fruit and veg but I'm going to try that.

Also, I keep thinking about composting (I have a lot of food waste) but then I don't know what I'm meant to do with compost and wouldn't it smell really bad???

66Mustang · January 5

I'm not an expert but I think you use compost instead of (or alongside) normal mud for planting plants. It has more nutrition than the mud and helps the plants thrive.

We have a lot of gardening experts on here so I am sure someone will put me right and explain properly!!!!!

Albus_Scope · January 5

I'd not recommend throwing veg into a composting pile unless you de-seed them first.

Our houses previous owners threw everything known to man in their composting bin. I had to restart it from scratch due to tomato seedlings popping up all over the garden.

Biblioklept · January 5

Maybe they just really really liked tomatoes?!

Geoark · January 6

We love buying our fruit and salad items online. The company we use specialised in providing fruit to companies and opened this up to households during the pandemic. Everything is always fresh, and last longer than anything we have bought in the local shops, and often taste a lot better.

The only issue we have had was when they had a new younger driver and because the delivery was 'early' he left it outside the door, of the block. So went to check and found he had even managed to leave it outside the wrong block. The guy we speak to each week had already said that he would arrange another delivery if we couldn't find it. I say early as the delivery was at 6am, the earliest has been 4.30 am which is not a problem as we are normally up at 4.

I was concerned that after the pandemic they would go back to just supplying offices, but hybrid working means they are not getting as many orders and they have built up a good customer base supplying homes.

@Bibliokept, regarding composting food waste have you considered using a wormery? No smell and a good liquid fertiliser. Plus they can be kept indoors or outdoors. As I recall the main thing is to remember to remove the fertiliser, via the tap, or the worms can drown. Definitely worth doing some research before buying though.

THE_DUDE · January 6

A treadmill. It would end up a clothes hanger lol

poppy123456 · January 6

A mattress because for me, i need to lie and sit on them before i buy. Curtains because i like to see the colour and quality before buying. Sofa, because i like to sit on them before i buy. I'm with @Rosie_Scope on this one scented candles, perfume, toiletries etc, unless i'm familiar with that actual smell. Strong smells affect me quite a lot so always stay away from them.

durhamjaide2001 · January 6

Flowers

noman · January 6

A Thai bride

OverlyAnxious · January 6

Everything. I always seem to find online purchases disappointing, unsuitable or damaged upon arrival. Reached the point where I'd rather just do without than keep ordering things online!

poppy123456 · January 6

noman said:

A Thai bride

What wouldn't you buy online?

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