[S_U_N]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

Very much off-topic in this dedicated (and some of us are very dedicated ) on-line-shopping thread, but I want to encourage people to buy stuff like fruit and veg from their local small vendors. It is not an easy life: they already have to compete with supermarkets.

People will grumble when they are all gone. Let's help to make that not happen.

I think the online vegetable/ fruit market is great for working couples.
We have never purchased anything, though we keep hearing the promos on the radio every day.

My wife picks up several bags of vegetables and fruits from the main market at 7 AM once every week. It is an effort, but it does save about 30% money compared to the market closer to our house.
On another note, she puts on loud music in the car and enjoys the morning drive along with her friend.

[TheTeacher]

Originally Posted by Pallavi

Anyone knows what's happening with BigBasket nowadays?

Recently the quality has gone bad: both veggies and staples. Moving on to the local store till they get the right quality products.

Edit: This downward spiral started around Aug-Sept last year and now the quality is just unacceptable.

They have expanded into Pune, Chennai and other cities, and I guess cannot handle the pace of growth. I am in Bangalore, and during my last delivery a week ago, the delivery guy told me workers in the warehouse had quit en masse and there weren't enough people to do the picking / packing etc. and BB was reducing the # of orders they were accepting. For the first time, for that last order, they gave a delivery slot some 42 hours out. The veggies could be dying because of the delay. The staples are probably not being cleaned / sorted like they used to be.

Originally Posted by n_aditya

Does anyone have any personal experiences shopping at aliexpress.com?

They don't have an option to pay via paypal so I have to use my credit card.

You could use a one-time-use card #, no? Like Netsafe? That's what I do when I buy from lesser known foreign vendors. Did that most recently on ebay.com (Chinese vendor) and DX.com (2 Chinese vendors).

[MuraliR]

Originally Posted by TheTeacher

They have expanded into Pune, Chennai and other cities, and I guess cannot handle the pace of growth. I am in Bangalore, and during my last delivery a week ago, the delivery guy told me workers in the warehouse had quit en masse and there weren't enough people to do the picking / packing etc. and BB was reducing the # of orders they were accepting. For the first time, for that last order, they gave a delivery slot some 42 hours out. The veggies could be dying because of the delay. The staples are probably not being cleaned / sorted like they used to be.

I doubt they hold any inventory.

Their supply/ back-end is a large mall :-)

[phamilyman]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

Very much off-topic in this dedicated (and some of us are very dedicated ) on-line-shopping thread, but I want to encourage people to buy stuff like fruit and veg from their local small vendors. It is not an easy life: they already have to compete with supermarkets.

People will grumble when they are all gone. Let's help to make that not happen.

Some random thoughts here
I believed that way, but most have only passable quality at best. Few have the quality of Kovai Pazhamudir Nilayam. And when I can buy from the same KPN guys online, without the hassle of parking my car (and buying my son a couple of juices to keep him busy) and the time, why not?

In India, I dont think the corner veg shop will go that easily - many pay low rentals and hardly if at all would be paying tax, as opposed to online shopping. We all know how little profits indian ecommerce players have been making!

in a way, shopping online = tax revenues for government. I'm surprised no one has done a comprehensive tax impact of e-commerce - how moving purchases into the organized sector has increases taxes for the government and facilitated infrastructure creation!

[rjstyles69]

Anyone shopped from caratlane ? I was looking to buy something for my better half and some of the designs they have quite good and it's seldom that you find them in the stores.

[pratyush6]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

Very much off-topic in this dedicated (and some of us are very dedicated ) on-line-shopping thread, but I want to encourage people to buy stuff like fruit and veg from their local small vendors. It is not an easy life: they already have to compete with supermarkets.

People will grumble when they are all gone. Let's help to make that not happen.

Honestly, everytime go to purchase from the local vendors, I get the feeling I am being robbed and that too by margins of upto 100%.
First veggie and food online is not cheap when you comapre it to a supermarket but the local vendors mark up is huge. It is almost 150-200% compared to a supermarket (like R Mart, More) and almost 50% compared to online.

Also is the problem of haggling so much - and I cannot do it. Online works best for mem atleast I know that I am not being singled out for not speaking the local language. What you see is what you get.

I use town essentials after a member suggested the same here and it has very rarely disappointed me.

[Pallavi]

Originally Posted by pratyush6

Honestly, everytime go to purchase from the local vendors, I get the feeling I am being robbed and that too by margins of upto 100%.
First veggie and food online is not cheap when you comapre it to a supermarket but the local vendors mark up is huge. It is almost 150-200% compared to a supermarket (like R Mart, More) and almost 50% compared to online.

Not just the price, the weighing scales are faulty too. Didn't realise that i was getting shortchanged for a long time till BigBasket came along.

[theexperthand]

Originally Posted by MuraliR

I doubt they hold any inventory.

Their supply/ back-end is a large mall :-)

Really? Where is this located? I pass a big bigbasket warehouse while commuting to work (off doddanakundi area - near to the Alpine apartments) and thought that they keep all their supplies there.

--Anoop

[avira_tk]

Originally Posted by rjstyles69

Anyone shopped from caratlane ? I was looking to buy something for my better half and some of the designs they have quite good and it's seldom that you find them in the stores.

I have bought a set from them, quick service and the product seems to be of good quality (from my limited expertise in such matters). The prices depend on the quality of gold used, so be advised about displayed and actual prices. The final billing happens when they weigh the goods after they are finished, sometimes you get a refund, I did.

[Mr.Boss]

For those who are interested in basic navigator, Garmin Nuvi 42LM is available in SnapDeal for 5555 INR (costs around 8k at other sites)

We (myself and friends) ordered 4 pieces and got them delivered in less than 3 working days.

[sagarpadaki]

I had ordered an item from Aliexpress. From the seller provided tracking site i found that the item has reached indian shore. It also mentions that the tracking from the Chinese tracking company ends there.

How do i track further progress of the product till it reaches me?

[mayankk]

Originally Posted by sagarpadaki

I had ordered an item from Aliexpress. From the seller provided tracking site i found that the item has reached indian shore. It also mentions that the tracking from the Chinese tracking company ends there.

How do i track further progress of the product till it reaches me?

Go to 17track.net.
You can track it there. I've been able to track goods till they reached my post office with that site.

[rkg]

Originally Posted by phamilyman

Some random thoughts here
I believed that way, but most have only passable quality at best. Few have the quality of Kovai Pazhamudir Nilayam. And when I can buy from the same KPN guys online, without the hassle of parking my car (and buying my son a couple of juices to keep him busy) and the time, why not?

In India, I dont think the corner veg shop will go that easily - many pay low rentals and hardly if at all would be paying tax, as opposed to online shopping. We all know how little profits indian ecommerce players have been making!

in a way, shopping online = tax revenues for government. I'm surprised no one has done a comprehensive tax impact of e-commerce - how moving purchases into the organized sector has increases taxes for the government and facilitated infrastructure creation!

"Bigger the firm higher the tax evasion". This is the norm in India.

Further Vegetables sales are exempted from VAT as far as i know. Similarly many grocery items also

one can get fresh vegetables in local mandi's not super stores and online market place for the simple reason of logistics.

Local vegetable mandi( main one, every city has one) generally starts at midnight with fresh arrivals from nearby villages. form there it reaches different regions of the city by morning. Hence one can get vegetables cut in the evening next day morning.

Super market chains, online stores procure directly from farmers to save costs, then transports them stockyard from there relocation to different stores happens. This generally takes a day or two. to reduce losses these firms treat vegetables with preservatives and then stock them.

[Gannu_1]

Originally Posted by sagarpadaki

I had ordered an item from Aliexpress. From the seller provided tracking site i found that the item has reached indian shore. It also mentions that the tracking from the Chinese tracking company ends there.

How do i track further progress of the product till it reaches me?

http://ipsweb.ptcmysore.gov.in/ipswebtracking/

Updates might be slow. If the vendor has shipped it using China Post, the delivery would be slower. With Hong Kong Post, it would be faster.

Just for info sakes, the last 2 digits of the tracking number indicates the country of origin:

Eg. RT25XXXXX02HK - Hong Kong, RJ05XXXXX69CN - China, CL77XXXXX75DE - Germany, RC628XXXXX0SG - Singapore.

[SunnyBoi]

Originally Posted by sagarpadaki

I had ordered an item from Aliexpress. From the seller provided tracking site i found that the item has reached indian shore. It also mentions that the tracking from the Chinese tracking company ends there.

How do i track further progress of the product till it reaches me?

Originally Posted by mayankk

Go to 17track.net.
You can track it there. I've been able to track goods till they reached my post office with that site.

One more vote for 17track. I check the status of all my shipments there, whether its china post sweden post, hongkong post or singapore post.