On-line Stores & Sellers

Started by Expresso, July 02, 2007, 09:09:12 AM

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Baron Scarpia

Most recent order from Zoverstocks arrived after 2 1/2 weeks, more or less as expected. My faith in them is starting to return.

SurprisedByBeauty

MDT is out of business, I take it?  :o

Ghost of Baron Scarpia

Quote from: SurprisedByBeauty on January 24, 2019, 08:27:22 AM
MDT is out of business, I take it?  :o

Haven't visited their site for years. Could be just server problems, I suppose.

SurprisedByBeauty

Quote from: Ghost of Baron Scarpia on January 24, 2019, 08:30:38 AM
Haven't visited their site for years. Could be just server problems, I suppose.

Social media accounts are gone. Telephone goes unanswered for the last week. And e-mails bounce. (I'm told.) Leads me to assume it is more than just a server problem.

Ghost of Baron Scarpia

Quote from: SurprisedByBeauty on January 24, 2019, 08:35:14 AM
Social media accounts are gone. Telephone goes unanswered for the last week. And e-mails bounce. (I'm told.) Leads me to assume it is more than just a server problem.

Oh well. I feel a sense of nostalgia, mdt and crotchet were my two sites for overseas CDs back in the day. But both became noncompetitive. There is very little not distributed in the US these days, and amazon.com marketplace sellers always seem to be the cheapest ways to get bargains from the continent.

I remember, before Amazon marketplace, I used to use a site called cdworld.com, long gone.

The new erato

A sad world if only amazon's left.....

SurprisedByBeauty

Quote from: The new erato on January 28, 2019, 09:55:10 AM
A sad world if only amazon's left.....

Not a healthy one, although I'm as guilty as any, not having patronized anyone else. (Except JPC every so often. And very occasionally a store I like.)

Mirror Image

Quote from: The new erato on January 28, 2019, 09:55:10 AM
A sad world if only amazon's left.....

Yes, but unless something better comes along, it's all a lot of us have unless you have the luxury of a having a music store near you that stocks all your favorite composers and their prices are competitive with Amazon's.

Ghost of Baron Scarpia

Quote from: The new erato on January 28, 2019, 09:55:10 AM
A sad world if only amazon's left.....

If you count distinct Amazon marketplace sellers, I'm patronizing more sources than I did in the pre-amazon era, although Amazon takes a healthy cut of that.

Que

The growing lack of  choice in resources is definitely disconcerting...

And Amazon doesn't do much sales on labels or series. Also, market place sellers usually offer the best prices but the shipping costs per individual item sure add up.... jpc offers me  a shopping experience that Amazon doesn't. As did Swiss DiscPlus and the annual sales at French Abeille Musique, now both gone.

I also dearly miss the experience of physical browsing and surprise discoveries, but the bargain store in my town dissapeared and those times will not return. For used CDs Medimops.de (Momox) has been a convenient source -  next to Amazon, naturally... ;)

Q

flyingdutchman

It was Classical Millenium here in Oregon until they up and eliminated that resource.  Now it's just 1-2 rows in the main section.  Don't even go there any more.

The new erato

Quote from: Que on January 28, 2019, 02:45:13 PM

And Amazon doesn't do much sales on labels or series. Also, market place sellers usually offer the best prices but the shipping costs per individual item sure add up....

This. Service and prices are usually superior at shops like mdt and presto. And  marketplace sellers have huge P&P costs to countries like Norway if they ship at all.

Pat B

Quote from: SurprisedByBeauty on January 28, 2019, 01:05:35 PM
Not a healthy one, although I'm as guilty as any, not having patronized anyone else. (Except JPC every so often. And very occasionally a store I like.)

For now there are still quite a few choices for new CDs: I have bought from presto, jpc, importcds, grooves.land, and alibris (usually from seller Classical Music Superstore aka Naxos USA). (And from Berkshire, though that's a somewhat different market.) I rarely buy new CDs from amazon, unless I have a credit, because their prices tend to be high.

The used market is a different matter. I sometimes use ebay, or find things at local stores, but amazon marketplace dominates.

Ghost of Baron Scarpia

#1233
Quote from: Pat B on January 29, 2019, 09:06:19 AM
For now there are still quite a few choices for new CDs: I have bought from presto, jpc, importcds, grooves.land, and alibris (usually from seller Classical Music Superstore aka Naxos USA). (And from Berkshire, though that's a somewhat different market.) I rarely buy new CDs from amazon, unless I have a credit, because their prices tend to be high.

The used market is a different matter. I sometimes use ebay, or find things at local stores, but amazon marketplace dominates.

It never occurs to me to look at eBay or jpc, but my purchases come from.

Amazon (big boxes are often cheapest on amazon proper, and I have Prime for free shipping)
Classical Music Superstore (amazon marketplace, Naxos USA)
importcds (amazon marketplace)
decluttr (amazon marketplace)
Zoverstocks (amazon marketplace, nominally UK based but shipment seem to come from all over)
OxfordshireEngland (amazon marketplace)
importcds.com (sometimes their own web site is a better deal than amazon marketplace version)
Presto Classical (mostly downloads)
and the random amazon seller that has good ratings.

I used to order from Berkshire Record Outlet, but not for years.

I once ordered from a store in a place I had never heard of. Then I moved and found the store was within walking distance of my new home. :)


Pohjolas Daughter

#1234
Quote from: flyingdutchman on January 28, 2019, 09:00:44 PM
It was Classical Millenium here in Oregon until they up and eliminated that resource.  Now it's just 1-2 rows in the main section.  Don't even go there any more.

I've ordered CDs from several good places in Oregon and also California (used items).  Are Everyday Music and Amoeba (California - a few locations) still around?  I hadn't heard of Classical Millennium before?  Were they a store or strictly online?

PD

Pohjolas Daughter

flyingdutchman

Quote from: Pohjolas Daughter on January 29, 2019, 11:01:03 AM
I've ordered CDs from several good places in Oregon and also California (used items).  Are Everyday Music and Amoeba (California - a few locations) still around?  I hadn't heard of Classical Millennium before?  Were they a store or strictly online?

PD

They were a store...and the best in any state.  But, the powers that be took it away.  Now all there is is Everyday.  It's ok, but it couldn't hold a torch to Classical Millenium.

Pat B

Quote from: Ghost of Baron Scarpia on January 29, 2019, 09:33:23 AM
importcds.com (sometimes their own web site is a better deal than amazon marketplace version)

In my experience, the nominal prices are usually similar, but their website discounts on shipping for multiple items. They also have site-wide sales a couple times per year.

Classical Music Superstore on alibris is similar. They don't have sales as such, but alibris almost always has a coupon.

Aside from saving a few bucks per order, I think there is value in supporting alternatives to the behemoth.

Ghost of Baron Scarpia

Quote from: Pat B on January 29, 2019, 02:31:35 PM
In my experience, the nominal prices are usually similar, but their website discounts on shipping for multiple items.

Depends, before the holiday break I picked up the complete Arrau and the Rostropovich/DG for 25% less than on marketplace. But more often than not I agree prices are similar.

JBS

For the last several weeks, Arkivmusic has been having problems with its system.  Instock status of items is not reliable, I have received items without being notified of being shipped or charged to my credit card, etc.
The last such was a fairly large order, so I emailed them to let them know that once again I received CDs not yet paid for. 

The response should be of interest to anyone who uses them on a regular basis.

QuoteThank you for contacting us. I do apologize our customers have not been getting email notifications about shipments going out. Also accounts not showing that the orders unshipped. We are in the process of moving our warehouse and updating our system. This is causing delay with the tracking numbers going to our customer's Arkivmusic accounts to be billed and an email sent with tracking information. We are working really hard to get this fixed and updated as fast as we can. If you have any other questions please let us know.

Hollywood Beach Broadwalk

Brian

Thanks, I just placed an order from the Alpha sale of stuff that's mostly out of stock so that is good to know. I'll expect the CDs to arrive some random day in the next few months  :P