Shopping the geek way

[vilakins]

I'm trying to find Greg something from the ThinkGeek site and I think I may do the classic 'buy him what you want to play with yourself' because first of all I really rather fancied a desk-top catapult (and I do love their product descriptions). But wait. ThinkGeek tells me (and they're right) that I might also like:
Retro Ballistics - even cooler!
Backyard Ballistics - ooh!
The Art of the Catapult - no dynamite needed; this could be safer.

Decisions...

Hey, they have phasers (did I mention how much I like their descriptions?) and I kind of fancy the airzooka but it's far too big for a stealth attack.

Hang on; found it! They have an Artoo Potatoo to go with our Darth Tater and Spud Trooper, and there's a Bender! Much more Greg's style - he isn't as much into retro weaponry as me - sorted!

That site is dangerous. I could spend a lot of money there, though the thought of freight being at least half that again is, luckily, somewhat off-putting.

Comments

[redstarrobot.livejournal.com]

I want geek toys!

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

They have radio-controlled Daleks (http://www.thinkgeek.com/geektoys/rc/84dc/)! And you can earn geek points; I can't.

[kerravonsen]

Wah! I can't justify the expense. As you say, with freight half the cost, not to mention the exchange rate...

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

And yours isn't as bad as ours. :-(

[zoefruitcake.livejournal.com]

It's a great site :0) I've seen the airzooka in action on telly, really good!

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

It's too big to get sent here though. :-(

[zoefruitcake.livejournal.com]

shame :0(

It gave me a couple of ideas and I found a couple of UK sites selling similar stuff

[sallymn.livejournal.com]

Oooh, I could easily spend a fortune there, and none of it on anyone else :)

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

It's only the huge freight charges that stop me buying a lot more.

[astrogirl2.livejournal.com]

That site is dangerous. I'm trying hard to resist clicking on any of those links, because I know that once I go there, it'll try very hard to tunnel into my wallet via the geekish parts of my brain. :)

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

At least the freight won't kill you, and you can earn geek points.

[astrogirl2.livejournal.com]

Like incentive systems that induce me to buy more are a good thing for my wallet. :)

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

[looks at your icon] One of the smaller things I bought was binary wrapping paper. I won't provide a link so you won't be tempted, but it's matrixy: green and black.

[astrogirl2.livejournal.com]

*is tempted anyway* :)

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

OK, the wrapping papers are here (http://www.thinkgeek.com/interests/binary/7a5c/). Go to additional images (http://www.thinkgeek.com/interests/binary/7a5c/images/) to see them in more detail. I bought 'equations' last year and 'binary' this year; 'birthday' looks pretty cool: leet, binary, what looks like Klingon... A mutual acquaintance might like 'Christmasbots', and the non-denominational one is funny but I avoid snowy stuff.

[astrogirl2.livejournal.com]

It's a good thing I already wrapped all of my presents... :)

[jaxomsride.livejournal.com]

My husband is addicted to the think geek site too! Not that we've bought things from there. It pays to shop around though there are other sites that offer the same products - "I want one of those" for instance!

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

One of those?

Some places won't ship to here, and since ThinkGeek does, and quickly too, I'll buy from them.

[jaxomsride.livejournal.com]

Well reliable fast service is a plus. As an example though of how much shipping can inflat a price, try 3 times the original selling price of the item we were going to buy! - not "Think Geek" just San Diego Zoo's shop,if you live outside mainland US.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

I live very much outside the US. Usually things cost twice as much, so 50% of the price is cool. Big places like ThinkGeek and Amazon are usually OK for me to buy from.