Market Research: Buying local vs. online. Please help!

[lastlight]

Originally Posted by BlueAbyss

1. Perishibility (will it be alive when it gets here?)
2. Fragility (will my Solana be broken by the time it gets here?)
3. Shipment (will my Solana cost me my left kidney to ship to a remote area?)
4. Availability (where can I get cool expensive stuff to put in my new $1K Solana?)
5. Technical (who can tell me how to add a sump to my Solana?)

What type of tank are you running btw?

[GreenSpottedPuffer]

Originally Posted by lastlight

What type of tank are you running btw?

Clearly a BioCube 29. You really should read his post again, it's quite obvious.

[BlueAbyss]

Originally Posted by lastlight

What type of tank are you running btw?

Right now, a 10 gallon with 5 gallon sump. I used the Solana as an example, since I've found some but I really don't want to have something that large (expensive, heavy, fragile!) shipped to me. So I'm stuck with the tanks Wally world sells. When I put perishability first, I was thinking of livestock rather than dry goods (lots of dry goods aren't overly fragile, but livestock has about 48 hours or so to get to you before it's done).

As far as the difference between buying local and buying online, since I live a looooong ways from the closest LFS, personally there's no contest. I either have to go to the city and buy stuff (which limits me to what is in stock at the time... often, not much ) or order online. Specially livestock, unless I just want a Nemo and some xenia (pretty much all they had in the last store I was in).

[soapy]

I am with Stircrazy, price is a huge consideration. If I can get something way cheaper online then I am there. I always weigh it against the other considerations but cost is king.