[clug] Re: Online Shopping

[Dave]

Dont know where the start of this thread went, oh well...

There's been a few posts recently about where to buy stuff.
I felt is was my duty to mention computer fairs! I'd hate to think that
there might be people on this list who dont know about canberra's best
weekend attraction, so here's the low-down (please correct me if
anything is wrong):

General Info:
- It's a market, theres lots of stalls
- Everyone is selling the same stuff, theres lots of competition
- You can bargain with people if you really want to
- Prices are the best in Australia (IMHO). Usually a few % less than the
cheapest online stores, and you dont have to worry about postage.
- You can get pre-built systems, or just bits to DIY.
- You might not find exaclty what you want. Fairs tend to sell mostly
stuff thats in very high demand. Eg. CPU/Mobo/HDD etc. If you are after
a particular fancy aluminium case for example, you might be
dissapointed.
- You *can* return stuff, they are reputable businesses with ABN's (or
so I'm told). Make sure you get a reciept with the business name and
address.

Specifics:
- 2 mobs run em:
1. http://www.computermarkets.com/
2. http://www.computerfairs.com.au/

1) These rotate between 3 canberra locations, theres one roughly 3 of 4
saturdays a month. They are HUGE, prices are excellent. The venue in
woden gets very crouded and quite stinky with all the smelly nerds about
(seriously, it gets into your clothes). The other locations are fine.
Entry cost $2.50

2) This one comes to a different spot in Woden once per Month. It is
MUCH smaller, but it is free. Prices for stuff (if you can find it)
should be much the same as 1), possibly a bit more.

Apologies to everyone who already knows this stuff.

Re. online stores: I've used UMART, AusPCMarket, and Eyo and recommend
them all.

Re. local stores: I concur with the parent post, tech warehouse seem a
little cheaper and friendlier than Cougar.

Dave

PS: I you think I get excited about computer fairs, ask me about "Fry's"
some time.

On Tue, 2004-10-12 at 10:21, Don Hunt wrote:
> Hi All
> 
> >From personal experience i would have to recommend:
> 
> http://www.techwarehouse.com.au/
> 
> My  main reasons are: They are in Mitchell, their prices are very competitive and they accept business cheques - which i find much more convenient than bank deposits, that some companies insist on. 
> 
> regards
> 
> don hunt
> Technician Radio1RPH