Surf and Turf - are you an impatient online shopper?.

If I am guilty it is usually because I discover - at the end of the process that I will be responsible for high delivery for even more annoyingly, high returns charges.

I assume that a retailing model is robust enough to include these charges (which obviously, as it is a postal service, have to be paid). As some stores do charge and some don't, it is a bit of a minefield.

I do now try and ascertain the charges I will be responsible for before putting anything into my basket but even these change from time to time as the company offers a promotion.

I think that obfuscation is a word that could be used in relation to on-line shopping....!

It's best not to think of it as an actual basket and I wouldn't have thought that 'shops' or 'online retailers' can actually see what's in your 'basket' till you get to the paying stage. Don't feel guilty! You're doing all the work. If you don't 'save' the things you may be interested in then often you can't find them again. It is just a place to collate what you have liked the look of before comparing further with other sites, checking the details more fully and considering whether you need them or not. It is not the same as getting help from a shop assistant, using her time and expertise, getting to the checkout then walking away. Don't forget, we are doing all the work as well as being the customer. It is not 'lost sales' and saying they lose millions is absolute rubbish! I have often been pesters with 'have you forgotten sonething?' emails from places I've not completed a purchase from. I am not sure that I've given them my email address either but maybe I have previously.....I find that an intrusion-I can make my own decisions!

I have abandoned shopping when sites wanted me to register and sign on for an account. I will not do this, so just left the site and bought elsewhere. I think I was not alone in doing this because fewer and fewer sites demand that you register in order to buy. Most offer you a choice.

I rarely buy clothes online because, with a few limited exceptions, almost every garment I have ever ordered has been returned because, either colour, size or quality has not measured up to what was shown online.

I am not a prolific clothes buyer, never have been. I would rather go into a good shopping town blitz the shops for an hour or two, return home and be glad that I can forget about clothes shopping for the next six months.

I’ve just had the experience of Lakeland expiring my basket of £70 worth of goods because I didn’t complete the purchase immediately but left it for an hour or so.

I’ve often left a basket for an hour or two before checking out as I like to be sure I don’t want to remove anything or add anything first. Plus sometimes, I want to watch something on tv, or make a cuppa, or have otherwise been interrupted.

This has never happened to me before with any other company and I do quite a lot of online shopping. It’s a blooming nuisance as I’ve to do it all again or forget it. (Sigh).

Often postage doesn't come up until you're about to pay and sometimes it makes the item too expensive. Also, like Missfoodlove I used to prefer paying by PayPal, but when my DD didn't receive an item she went to her credit card company who said as it was through PayPal she had to take it up with them, even though it still uses her credit card. You have much more protection using your credit card.

Me too Hooty. I live 'off shore' but we get mail and parcel deliveries just the same as anywhere on the mainland, usually transported as 'bulk deliveries to the island'. So it really annoys me when I get to the checkout stage and the cost of P&P suddenly rockets when I put my postcode in, especially when the items I'm buying are small or lightweight. So sometimes I am guilty of abandoning my shopping cart at that point and going elsewhere. It says something about our postal system and charges that I can often buy from overseas (especially China) cheaper than I can from mainland UK !

I don't understand how stores lose money because of this either. I must admit to doing this quite often on line. Like Hooty I don't want to pay excessive charges and sometimes annoyingly the transaction fails at the last minute.

I have on the odd occasion, usually when I get through to the checkout and they lob an unexpected high p&p charge! I think "I'm not paying that!" and log out.

Cotton Traders usually send an email a few days after you've left something in your basket to remind you. I have received discount offers & free P & P from some companies. M & S delete your basket after a day or two if you have left things in it.

sue01 I have had same problem, also sometimes broadband fails part way through

No surf n turf for me.... I’ve got loads of patience. Been married 46 years so must have!

I thought 'surf and turf' meant fish and meat in the same meal! ?

Stores may have lost but think how much we have saved.

I became a Surf and Turfer by accident !

I live out in the sticks and power cuts are a way of life. On one occasion, I was halfway through the buying process when the village conked out.

Hours later... reconnected... I discovered that the company I was ordering from were offering me a 10% discount to complete my purchase.

I wonder if the stores really lose out. For example, I recently was looking at a pair of earrings online, I put them in my basket but then felt guilty, questioning if I really needed them and couldn't quite bring myself to enter my c/c details until I'd convinced myself I really should get them. Came back to my online shopping basket an hour or so later and they'd sold out!. Seems like the items only are taken off their inventory once the sale is completed. Perhaps there are more steps to the process, but don't understand how they lose out.

And don't forget the times when the site freezes before you get to the point of paying!

I get intrusive ads for blouses or dresses or trainers when I am looking at other pages. Presumably I have looked at something similar. I sometimes like the look of them and go and see the page, I might put something in a basket and carry on looking, and then see prices and delivery costs. I quite like the item but really don't need it. I have a dress I've only worn once in 5 years since I got it and a blouse never worn, so I decide to think about it, go and so something else and forget it and decide I don't need it when I remember.

I think that on the ‘purchase’ page with online products, the total amount including delivery charges is evident for the first time. This means the customer then compares total prices elsewhere and leads to baskets not being emptied. I remember watching Dragons’Den a while ago and a couple of guys had produced software to overcome this by comparing prices at an earlier stage. I dont believe the Dragons bought into it ....

How are stores ‘losing millions’ in this way? They don’t talk like this of people who wander round their shops without buying anything.
And it’s not just invasive questions. It’s often impossible to avoiding creating an account, signing up (in the small print) to the receipt of newsletters and ‘promotional offers’ and so on. I’ve abandoned shopping in these circs.
Some companies have a Guest checkout which sidesteps all this and I’ve never heard of anyone’s security being compromised. I heave a sigh of relief when I see it.

Online....Wonderful. much easier to look at several products at one time. Love it....

I will abandon a basket if the questions at checkout are too invasive, date of birth etc.
I prefer to use PayPal to pay for security yet for some reason payment options are only shown at checkout. I wish they were on the main page.

Well played Teetime . Unfortunately that never happens on Ebay, which is where I like to do most of my clothes shopping ........

It does happen to me I got £100 of a Hobbs coat like that. I look for a discount with on line shopping so I take a chance put something in my basket and see if a discount pops up - it often does.

I hadn't thought of that wildswan.

I can see how folks could think that they might get offered a bargain by abandoning goods. After all we are lead to believe that every footprint we leave on the internet is being 'mined' by someone or other.

But in the radio programme I was listening to there was no mention of discounts offered or given at a later time - although it wouldn't be in the store's best interests to say so would it ......

There is a belief / perception that if you put stuff in your basket (online) and then leave it in there without paying and checking out, that the company will notice and offer you something like "free delivery" or 5% off your next order. That will then encourage you to buy and you get it a bit cheaper.

Another Not Guilty here.You certainly learn something new every day..............and I have duly noted this "Surf and Turf!!"