Originally Posted by
lostarchitect
Well, maybe. A price difference of 50% is pretty unlikely, though. More like 10-15%, and then you have to pay shipping. My feeling is that if the price is pretty close after you add in the shipping, I'd rather buy from the LBS and support them. But best of all, I won't have to wait 4-10 days to get the thing I ordered.
And there are added bonuses as well, such as when I go to the LBS for some random bolt or whatever, they remember me and often just pull it out of their parts pile and give it to me. If I had to order it online it would probably have been a buck or so plus shipping. And then I'd have to wait.
Here we go again, true you do have to spend for shipping, but you also don't have to spend for taxes. But I always weigh out the total price including shipping and taxes from both sources before I buy. I don't waste my time saving a buck or two on-line when I can get it now at an LBS, but if I'm saving a significant amount of money then I'm going on-line. I just bought a Topeak Road Morph G pump for $32 including shipping, my LBS wanted $42.80 including tax. I bought a Sigma 1609 cadence for $24 plus shipping on line, my LBS wanted $59 plus tax.
I have 9 bikes, you don't think I visit the LBS frequently? Of course I do, and yes I too get free stuff like bolts at my LBS, I wouldn't waste my time buying a low cost item on-line, you'll spend more then it's worth just on shipping! Like I said before, if I go into their store and they help me with something then I'll buy it from them, not walk out and go gleefully to the computer to save some money.
I have a small car collection too, I buy locally and on-line depending on price and service I've obtained.
Because I have mostly older bikes and because I have classic cars you can't go into a local store and buy parts, you have to buy on-line. I went into an LBS to get a new stem for one my bikes and they could not help me, so I got it on-line. I have lots of examples of that sort of thing but there's not enough space to go about it all.