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What are popular retail items?

What items are ridiculously over priced at retail stores vs. online?

  • Just bought a bunch of cables on the cheap online, and so now I'm of course wondering -- what are other kinds of products that are generally wildly overpriced at retail stores but actually can be purchased cheaply online? And which online stores are best for these products. Basically, I'm looking for sites equivalent to http://monoprice.com but for non-computer products. I'm aware that most items are less expensive online, often by a good percentage. But cables particularly are ridiculous -- I've been charged $20 for a pretty looking version of what was basically a $2 cable. I'm also aware that you can by used books online for a song but you could do that IRL before pretty much every used bookstore closed their storefront and sold everything through eBay/half/Amazon. Also inspired by http://ask.metafilter.com/170654/Preventing-bag-theft-during-TSA-inspection#2455040 that offered cheap places to buy gaffer's tape, which I've never seen for less than $14/roll.

  • Answer:

    Button batteries: a buck or more apiece at the store vs buying 25-50 of them for ~$3 with free shipping. There's a couple of ebay vendors who seemingly sell nothing else. Curling ribbon (for gift wrapping): ~$4 for a 15' long spool at the store, vs a http://www.papermart.com/Product%20Pages/Product.aspx?GroupID=8825&SubGroupID=8826&ParentGroupID=19014#8826. Plus a better selection of colors. And different http://www.papermart.com/Product%20Pages/Product.aspx?GroupID=8883&SubGroupID=8884&ParentGroupID=19014#8884. Furminators (expensive but effective cat/dog deshedding combs): $30+ in stores and many online stores, inc. Amazon but half that on ebay.

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Wary about sharing this but hell, I learned it recently from AskMe anyway so...high-quality bras on eBay, new with tags. It's insane. Once I figured out the real bra size I should be wearing after all the to-do recently I was like "damn, it doesn't matter because there's no way I'm paying even $40 for one bra" and then ta-da, on eBay I don't have to. Without any crazy burrowing I found my size in Chantelle, Felina, Wacoal, Natori, Panache, Lunaire, Fantasie, Freya, Rigby & Peller, Le Mystere, Elle MacPherson, DKNY, Calvin Klein, etc. and the average price for a NWT bra for any of these was under $20 (this stuff retails at like $40-80!!).

ifjuly

Oh, and eyeglasses can be bought online for a fraction of the retail price you'd pay in stores. I recently purchase 5 pair from Zenni Optical for just under $100 including the shipping. They're nice glasses, not designer, but they seem sturdily made and they have a nice selection of styles. I wore my last pair from them every day for two years and they were still going strong when I had to retire them due to a change in prescription. Of the 5 pair I purchased, one didn't look good on me so I'll be eating the cost of those, something like $12. But having spent about $100 total, that still works out to only $25 a pair for the remaining glasses. I've spent close to $300 for a single pair at my optometrist.

Serene Empress Dork

Most of those nice scented soaps, herbal toothpaste and other "natural health and beauty" products that you see for $$$ at the health food store can be had lots cheaper from http://www.vitacost.com/. They also have some packaged grocery items for pretty cheap. Just don't make my mistake, and order delicious crackers at the same time that you order sandalwood soap. Not delicious.

Corvid

http://www.saffron.com/ I've bought a pound each of the Madagascar and Tahitian beans at this place with good results. Put a several sliced beans in a cheap bottle of vodka and you have a liter of good vanilla. As an aside, the super-cheap "vanilla" sold at Mexican border shops is http://www.lawyersandsettlements.com/case/coumarin-coumadin-warfarin-mexican.html.

benzenedream

easilyamused

Cabinet knobs and pulls (name brand, even) are a fraction of the price at the eBay stores compared to home improvement stores. And there's a better selection online.

Knowyournuts

Chinese tea. Even in China the kinds of tea shops a monolingual Westerner finds are tourist traps. I seem to recall finding a bunch of different stores online, but thefragrantleaf.com is where I settled. They probably had the kind I wanted at the time.

cmoj

I have been very happy buying picture frames online, from places like http://www.americanframe.com/. Much cheaper than going to a frame shop.

smackfu

Spices and dried herbs in general. As with vanilla beans, they are way cheaper and far better quality online. I like http://www.herbco.com/, but I'm sure there are others.

jeoc

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