eCOST.com: Is this a good online store?
Written: Feb 29 '04 (Updated Mar 10 '04)
| Ease of Ordering: |
 |
|
| Selection: |
|
|
| On-Time Delivery: |
|
|
|
| Full Review |
After several attempts to snatch a bargain from other low price vendors like InfinityCameras.com, BeachCamera.com and even more respected shops like etronics.com, this has been attempt #4 (after numerous calls with the same result: too expensive, not in stock or grey import model) to get hold of one Canon Digital Rebel Kit ... online.
In a nutshell
After a disturbing series of unsuccessful attempt to get a Canon Digital Rebel Kit for a reasonable price this time it turned out to be real. Not as cheap as originally planned (or hoped) but still a good deal. It was really in stock, shipped the same day and was the US model. I guess that's where the saying "You get what you pay for" has a good application.
Shipping charges are reasonable but beware of additional handling charges that are uncommon for most online retailers in this price category.
The full shopping experience.
I have been tracking this item on many websites and found several stores that continiously claim availability which then turns into a backorder for several reasons like (a) not in stock at all or (b) didn't buy anything else like accessories. eCost.com seemed more honest and showed that the item was not in stock. (The price is not as 'fantastic' as other offers either.)
So, when the inventory status switched from "Please Call" to "Same Day" for availability, the camera pretty much had to be in stock. (This usually doesn't mean anything since vendors like InfinityCameras.com, Bilibi.com and so on seem to always claim availability online but a call with the 'right' questions reveals that it's not.)
So this time it seems to be real. I placed the online order at 2:30PM and the online process is pretty much standard, not the best but better or on par with average. The shopping cart allows to estimate the shipping cost based on the product and chosen option. Upon checkout one has to log in to complete the process by submitting personal and payment information. (Note: Only the shipping cost is visible before logging in, additional charges for handling occur and are listed in the final step only. In my case that added $10.62 for handling (shipping was free for UPS Ground).
A confirmation e-mail was sent immediately after submitting the order, which can be tracked online but it took 30 minutes for the order number to be recognized as valid and return a status. The first step of the process is a review of the order which was complete by 3:30PM.
(That's about the time when Provantage.com notified me that they too got 18 units in stock now for practically the same price, including shipping.)
The status then changed to "Verifying shipping status" (w/ order status In Progress) and remained that way until close to midnight the same day. I basically gave up on the possibility that this item might be shipped today. (and that is according to ecost.com anytime between 2PM and 10PM depending on the warehouse it's going to ship from.
Close to midnight the account has been updated again and it now indeed claims that the product has been shipped and a link for package tracking has been provided. (Note: One will need the order number and ZIP code to access the order status.) The now provided tracking link is somewhat cryptic and consists of a combination of the order number and some other number (not the typical 1Z... number). (The actual number is hidden for your protection but also requires to use the provided link in order to get a status update.)
Well, since ordered on a Friday, UPS usually does not update the tracking results over the weekend, which caused me to not have an actual tracking result before 70 some hours after the supposed shipment. (Monday evening).
A notification email that the order has been shipped (with included tracking link) would be nice but ecost.com did not provide it in this case. However, in another instance (memory), the shipping confirmation e-mail was sent.
More info about this online store.
Appearance: The site looks and feels a little sub-standard but still professional. Straight to business, but a little unorganized and inconsistent.
Navigation: As with other stores, the sitewide Search is the most helpful feature. Other than that there not such a good structure that would allow effective browsing and finding stuff one didn't know before that it exists. However, the bargain page may be a nice resource to find current special quickly.
Selection: The selection is great. However, provided information is very sparse and certainly is not a site to come to for research.
Inventory: Basically a good example of inventory tracking (shipable same day, next day or backordered) though not as detailed as on Provantage.com where one can track backordered items and actually see the no. of items in stock. Exception: The Bargain Countdown lists the number of items in stock along with the time until this 'bargain' runs out.
Product Prices: Honestly, I didn't choose ecost.com for the best price but rather a reasonable price and the seeming honest price advertisement and order fullfillment. (The is too many black sheep in photo equipment sales.) Prices of the items I checked where some below average (which in this case was MSRP). In comparison it was on par with Provantage.com when choosing the free shipping option from ecost.com (provantage does not offer free shipping).
Order Status: Good, since one can track the order online and feedback is given about the stages the merchandise runs thru until including shipment. However, it seems far from real-time. It also does not allow to influence the order once placed, like cancel or change if need be. (Etronics.com actually showed a nice execution of online ordering in this regard.)
Shipping: Shipping options are standard and include free shipping for some orders. (The Digital Rebel was included.) However, while extra charges like tax and shipping are listed before submitting any personal data, the added handling and processing fee offsets even free shipping a little bit and is listed not before one logged in and is ready to pay. (Amount of this fee depends on the merchandise value, in my case it translated into 1.1% of the value or $10.62) However, the handling fee is a higher percentage for low cost items and for recently ordered memory ($62 value) at a significant $4.95 which is about 8%.
Customer Service: I only used the CS to verify that the item indeed has been shipped despite the tracking number returning pretty much an empty page. (This is more UPS' issue than anybody elses.)
Recommended:
Yes
What product did you purchase or try to purchase? Canon Digital Rebel Kit
|
|
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.