Amazon vs Aldi

[pmrid]

Wow, my wife bought a Robot Vacuum from ALDI yesterday. $399. Out of curiosity, I went web searching to find out about the smart phone ALEXA type of App to monitor the thing. In the process, I came across the same item being sold by Amazon (Australia) for $799. Double the price. How can that be?

[astroron]

I guess volume sold.:shrug:
It shows it's wise to check prices
as you have done Peter,but most
people go to Amazon because they
think they are cheaper.
Cheers:thumbsup:

[pgc hunter]

Australian Amazon is a massive ripoff compared to the US and UK counterparts. I wanted to buy a set of books, which are literally half the price on the UK site. Ofcourse, they dont ship to Australia. As usual, we are getting royally screwed in this country.

[jahnpahwa]

I'd go Aldi anyway, regardless of price. Great to see it was cheaper there, too!

[glend]

I do buy selective things from Amazon, and they can be very cheap for things like children's toys (when in Aus stocked), and they can deliver next day (I am a Prime member because I use the video access). Priority delivery. And for some selective things from the USA they can be fast and trouble free, ie some music related equipment.
However, I would never buy an appliance, and frankly robot vacuum cleaners are the rip off of all time, right up there with the old foot spa.

[Imme]

Must disagree on the robotic vac.....it doesn’t do away with a manual vac I agree but I set mine to run twice a week automatically while I’m at work. Has halved the amount of manual work I do to keep floor clean.
The vac bin always has fluff/dusts/etc in it when I get home. Happy with mine.

[highlander2287]

We have a robotic vac also. Have it come on each day and it does help. The wife still does a spot vac now and again but overall we have been very happy with it. We got our first at aldi but later needed a replacement and with aldi out of stock got the same one at bunnings.

[Tandum]

Hmm, looked into this I have.

The cheap ones are reactive. Bangs into a wall, click a switch, turn, continue.

The expensive ones map their environment. They have sonar like modern cars and map the house to memory.

We got one from kogan a few years ago and recently got a 1.2mt round table with 4 chairs. If it gets in there it can't get out and sends out a screaming alarm when stuck. If we leave the swirling brushes on it it gets tangled in the one of a kind woven carpet we brought back from India. Screaming alarm in the middle of the night.

Friends have a Roomba. Never gets stuck or tangled. Maps the place.

You get what you pay.

I doubt both cleaners you saw, where in fact the same ****.

Batery dies in 2 hours and it spends most of its time under that table .... hahahahaha.

[pmrid]

Same Model # and identical images, descriptive blurb, etc. Nope! They’re the same.

[Tandum]

Bezos must need a new jet or something.

[doug mc]

There is a 20-60x 60mm spotting scope going out at Aldi next Saturday. Anyone getting one?

[Kal]

I know alot of people like to bash on Amazon but really the answer to the OP's question lies with the manufacturer ECOVACS. You can view their Australian retailers on this webpage:


https://www.ecovacs.com/au/where-to-buy


That particular model the 920 is not sold at any of the other Australian retailers (apart from ebay which once again would be the ECOVACS own store), and the Amazon shop is ECOVACS own shop, which their own webpage links to.

[Kal]

By the way, on their ebay store you can see they advertise this as being $899 normal retail, special save $300 down to $599, but you can actually buy it for $501.

[DamienB]

I have a robot vac, purchased it from ebay. Was a Xiaomi brand (they make some good things actually, I also have two smart lamps from them). It was $400, maps the house and spare parts are cheap (they suggest you replace brushes etc every 500 hours of use or something). There's also a mop version which one of my employees has so it'll vac, and then mop tiled areas.

I have it set via a google routine so I can just say "Google, start the vacuum" It does such a thorough job, especially with dog hair. I don't have to spot vacuum manually anymore.

Like anything though, it does have it's moments.. like when it pushed a door shut and then tried to get out of my office. Then i hear it announcing with it's voice: Error.. I don't know where I am.

[Max Vondel]

All of this just proves that you have to shop around.
There is no morality involved here
Each of us would sell our astro gear for the best price we can get
That's just how the open market works

[Suzy]

Thankyou! You've no idea how much this has helped me.
I was thinking about getting the Aldi one but it seems to behave the same way as your Kogan. After all these years that robo vacs have been on the market, I just thought it would be a given that even the cheaper ones would map out the area now.

It was just for some inbetween help to deal with cat hairs from 2 cats, they show up on timber floors and I'm a bit pedantic so I'll always get the vacuum cleaner out to do a thorough go over. But I have a split level house (3 levels / 2 flights of stairs )and I can see this robot killing itself quickly :lol:.


I remember when the Romba first came out many years ago, the spiel at the time was it used NASA technology to map things. That impressed me right there.

Thanks for the post Peter, it's been an educational read.

Regarding Amazon, depending on the product, the prices can get quite wild as you scroll. You need to know what you should expect to pay.
In general I've had a really good experience with them and fast delivery.
As Glen said, toys seem to be really well priced. Last week I got a Barbie Chelsea playset for my grandaughter which cost $25, it was good value and I jumped on it. Then yesterday I saw and was blown away at the $50 price tag at BigW and David Jones.

A couple of months ago I got something that wasn't what was depicted in the picture, my first time with a problem in the last 12 months using them, so I filled out the onlineform for them to call me. In the form it says to keep the phone close by for when they ring. Far out... I'd literally *just* keyed in my phone number on the form and my phone rang, gave me a heck of a startle :lol:. The person went to great lengths in taking the time to rectify the problem with no extra charge and free priority shipping now via the US. Done and dusted within a few days. Very impressive.