buy.com

I came across this site for the first time lately and I have to admit my first impression was ‘This Looks Cheap’. Everything I looked at looked fairly good value for money until I noticed that there was two prices and I was looking at the one excluding VAT. It is still cheaper than many places though so I continue to look around.

Home Page
I am quite impressed with the way the Home Page looks, although there may be a bit too much information to take in. I also think they could use a bit more colour to show the different sections more clearly. Buy.com relies very heavily on a dark blue colour which is nice but I think they have too much of it.

The site is split into different sections as follows,

Computers
This gives you options from Scanners to printers and Keyboards to data storage. I went to have a look at printers and it was split into sections by the brand. I was surprised to see how many different items they had on offer.

Software
Here you can shop by brand or you can shop for types of product you want such as education software for kids or business software.

Consumables
This section-contained things like ink cartridges and toners. I also found here floppy disks. I was quite impressed with the price; only £1.60 for 10 disks is in my opinion, cheap.

Digital Imaging
This is where you will find digital cameras, camcorders and other things related to taking photos. I was quite impressed with the prices here and I wish I had discovered this site a few weeks ago before spending an extra £10 on a smart media card elsewhere.

Networking
This section can be a bit confusing for the computer novice. You will find things like Cabling and hubs here so if you are technical look here.

Gifts
I was surprised when looking in this section there was a link for fresh flowers and chocolates although this didn’t seem to work when I looked.

Digital Prints
Here you can download some free digital printing software. Prices are quite good starting from 49p for one print.

Office supplies
Here there is a wide range of office supplies from pens and paper to batteries and calculators.

Mailing and shipping
Here you will find weighing scales, labels, envelopes and other mailing accessories.

Janitorial
Here you can find fire extinguishers and first aid equipment as well as other things.

Presentation and Planning
Here you will find laminating material, calendars, tapes and other presentation materials.

Writing and Graphics
Here you will find pens, pencils and other writing instruments.

You can purchase gift vouchers for friend’s birthdays that they will get via an email. I like the sound of this although I always prefer seeing an actual voucher and I am often a bit apprehensive about ordering e vouchers encase they do not work.

The availability is shown giving a symbol for stock available and a different symbol if the stock is on order. Most of the things I looked at were in Stock.

I liked the fact that there were photos of all the products so you know what you are ordering.

There is also a section for beginners that shows you how to use the site and answers some of your questions for you. Delivery is quite expensive for orders under £50 at £4.95. All orders over £50 are free though. You can request next day delivery if you are prepared to pay £11.95 extra or weekend delivery for £14.95. A bit expensive I know and this could persuade you to shop elsewhere. It is confusing to see when your order will be delivered as it depends where you live. There is a list of postcodes on the site but I didn’t really understand it myself.

If you wish to return your goods you can within 14 days. If you need to replace your faulty product it will take up to seven days to receive a replacement.

I answered a questionnaire giving my opinion on the website, which means you get put into a prize draw to win £100 of buy.com vouchers.

I pretended I was purchasing a product from this site and you have to register to get to the checkout. I didn’t bother, as I am not sure I will ever purchase anything from there.

This website is more than just an online retailer for computers, you can purchase lots of things from here. I think I will look here gain in the future. I haven’t ordered from here yet but I think I may have another look in the near future when there is something I need. (Over £50, as I refuse to pay high delivery charges)
Overall I think this site is easy to navigate but I am a bit disappointed with their high delivery charges and long wait for delivery.
I have heard many bad reports about this website which would put me off ordering from here but if I was prepared to wait for something and it was cheaper from here than anywhere else I may be persuaded.