Last week I had to return the borrowed fat calipers, so today I decided I would buy some of our own. Since there isn't a fitness store nearby, I looked online to see if I could get them there. Since currently live in Canada, I was hoping to find a seller this side of the border to save on duty and currency exchange (even though the CDN dollar is currently worth $0.97 USD, and there probably wouldn't be duty on an item like this). I found a couple Canadian sites, but their prices seemed unrealistic compared to what I found on USA sites; sometimes 3 times as much! I finally found what I was looking for on Amazon.com; Amazon.ca is pretty weak in the variety of items they sell - they don't even have a health and wellness section on their web site.
I have purchased from Amazon.com/ca and I like purchasing from them for a number of reasons:
1. they have the ordering and delivery system mastered - smooth transactions and quick shipping
2. their guarantee - if there is a defect or it was damaged in shipping, they will replace it! You don't have to pay extra for insurance as some other online stores do
3. quick customer service - I was able to talk to a customer rep today in a matter of 2 minutes... a live customer rep who spoke great English... that is rare in customer service today
Something I learned from today's Amazon purchase
One thing to note - as I was looking for the fat calipers I noticed that there were several sellers selling the same product for different prices. Naturally, I chose the lowest priced and went to checkout. I then found out that they didn't ship to Canada (a bit annoying). I was a bit confused as to why they didn't ship to Canada, so I called the Amazon customer service rep and they pointed out that I need to read some of the small print on the item description that spells out who they ship to - this was a great help.
Eventually, I found an Amazon vendor that ships to Canada, but when I went to checkout - the shipping was twice as much as the product! That was unacceptable for me; I could have bought it from a Canadian vendor for that much.
After a bit more searching I found a vendor that cost a bit more for the product, but shipped to Canada for $2.95 USD. The total price for product and shipping: $14.90 - done deal! If you are interested, here is a link to the calipers and measuring tape.
What did I learn?
Amazon is still a great reliable place to purchase product, but you need to check the fine print to find those that will sell and ship for a reasonable amount; shipping and handling can kill any bargain price!
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