Quote:
Originally Posted by xort
West is just like most retailers. Thye have some good deals, some great deals and some bad deals.
You gotta shop around, shop shop, shop around.
But I do shop West, I have found some very good deals and I've found stuff there I NEEDED!
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Agree. And don't forget to always consider whether some other type of retailer might also be selling what you need. For maintenance work, especially, much of the materials are generic enough to also be found at the hardware store. Thus, you can probably buy the exact same or functionally/qualitatively identical product elsewhere for a fraction of the price.
Case in point, I needed a new voltmeter a couple of weeks ago (which will probably be a post unto itself here soon). Home Depot had one for $12. A comparable one at WM was $32.
Unless it's truly marine-specific, you can probably find it more cheaply elsewhere. I suspect they count on the fact that you'll overpay for non-marine specific items in order to only have to make one stop, and in my case they're often right--I may be an anomaly, but my time is generally at a much greater premium than saving a few dollars per transaction.
The Internet vs. WestMarine price debate is the same thing, only with the question being, "What premium will you pay for immediate fulfillment/gratification and the ability to handle the item beforehand?" Maybe if I lived in a place where the season was nearly year-around, I'd have more patience for downtime, but up here on the Great Lakes, we don't have enough of a season to piss it away waiting on parts to ship to save a few bucks.
So I tend to shop on-line when buying materials for a planned project, but head to WM for getting parts for repairs which are standing between me and getting on the water. Incremental price is almost immaterial, especially given that I'd probably burn all the savings that I got by ordering from Defender on priority shipping anyway.
