GPS - Where to buy Bluetooth GPS Receiver

Author

Where to buy Bluetooth GPS Receiver

LUE42

2007-05-15, 3:33 pm

I am located in Canada, and am heading to Michigan this weekend (all
over tour) and was looking for a deal on a bluetooth GPS receiver for
my Axim.

Does anyone have any suggestions where to go or generally, retail
stores that carry them?

I am equally interested in either the SiRF III or MTK chipset.

I like the Qstarz Q818 model, but have only been able to find them
online... after shipping and (sometimes) duty, the price gets kind of
high.

Any ideas would be appreciated...

Thank you!

Cory

nemo

2007-05-16, 10:33 pm

On May 15, 2:30 pm, LUE42 <corywood...@gmail.com> wrote:
> I am located in Canada, and am heading to Michigan this weekend (all
> over tour) and was looking for a deal on a bluetooth GPS receiver for
> my Axim.
>
> Does anyone have any suggestions where to go or generally, retail
> stores that carry them?
>
> I am equally interested in either the SiRF III or MTK chipset.
>
> I like the Qstarz Q818 model, but have only been able to find them
> online... after shipping and (sometimes) duty, the price gets kind of
> high.
>
> Any ideas would be appreciated...

I find that you get the best prices on eBay. But watch out for high
shipping costs. As the shipping goes up, my bids go down.

I got a Holux 240 bluetooth GPSr for $47 + $20 shipping. You can get
other units like the Holux 236 or the Globalsat 359 for under $40 plus
shipping. I believe the Qstarz units have the MTK chipset including
the Q818 which is the one with a 32 hour battery life. I see that on
eBay for about $60 plus shipping. I don't know why all of the
bluetooth GPS vendors have the $20 shipping charge. I find it an
insult since the one I bought was shipped in a padded envelope by US
mail. I think it costs about $3 including the envelope! Still, $60-
$80 for a receiver is still better than the other vendors.

SteveG

2007-05-16, 10:33 pm

Jack Erbes

2007-05-16, 10:33 pm

nemo wrote:
> On May 15, 2:30 pm, LUE42 <corywood...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> I find that you get the best prices on eBay. But watch out for high
> shipping costs. As the shipping goes up, my bids go down.
>
> I got a Holux 240 bluetooth GPSr for $47 + $20 shipping. You can get
> other units like the Holux 236 or the Globalsat 359 for under $40 plus
> shipping. I believe the Qstarz units have the MTK chipset including
> the Q818 which is the one with a 32 hour battery life. I see that on
> eBay for about $60 plus shipping. I don't know why all of the
> bluetooth GPS vendors have the $20 shipping charge. I find it an
> insult since the one I bought was shipped in a padded envelope by US
> mail. I think it costs about $3 including the envelope! Still, $60-
> $80 for a receiver is still better than the other vendors.

eBay sellers want to advertise the lowest prices they possibly can in
their listings. So they move as much of the selling price as they can
to the shipping costs. That also shields that portion of their profits
from the eBay a Seller's Fee since that is charged as a percentage of
the selling price only, not the including the shipping charge.

eBay has a little known policy that says buyers can file complaints
against sellers who charge excessive shipping fees. But eBay does not
have any guidelines or shipping charge schedules and lets sellers charge
anything they want to charge.

I've complained several times and never got any support from eBay. They
simply want the money to keep rolling in and don't want to shoulder any
responsibility that works to protect the buyers.

The bottom line is that I when I evaluate a possible purchase, I always
look my cost as the cost of the merchandise and shipping cost. If I am
willing to spend $40 for something and the shipping is $20, I won't bid
over $20 for it.

Jack

nemo

2007-05-17, 10:33 pm

On May 16, 7:34 pm, Jack Erbes <jac...@midmaine.com> wrote:
> nemo wrote:
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> eBay sellers want to advertise the lowest prices they possibly can in
> their listings. So they move as much of the selling price as they can
> to the shipping costs. That also shields that portion of their profits
> from the eBay a Seller's Fee since that is charged as a percentage of
> the selling price only, not the including the shipping charge.
>
> eBay has a little known policy that says buyers can file complaints
> against sellers who charge excessive shipping fees. But eBay does not
> have any guidelines or shipping charge schedules and lets sellers charge
> anything they want to charge.
>
> I've complained several times and never got any support from eBay. They
> simply want the money to keep rolling in and don't want to shoulder any
> responsibility that works to protect the buyers.
>
> The bottom line is that I when I evaluate a possible purchase, I always
> look my cost as the cost of the merchandise and shipping cost. If I am
> willing to spend $40 for something and the shipping is $20, I won't bid
> over $20 for it.

Yes, of course the shipping cost has to be considered part of the
purchase price. But it is different in that if you have a problem
with the item, even if it is the seller's fault, you don't get a
refund on the shipping. So I see this as their way of assuring that
you pay a "restocking" fee.

But the bottom line is that they will continue to charge high shipping
as long as buyers buy and that is the real reason that sellers have
more power than buyers. The small number of sellers (on some items)
can see what each other do and know that they are safe selling this
way. I think there is an economic term for this sort of near-
monopoly. The buyers on the other hand have no communication and
there are so many that they can never know what the others are going
to do.

I do buy a lot less on eBay than I would otherwise. I think the
overall idea is a great thing. But it is just too hard to get a good
price and be sure you are buying from a reputable seller. So I only
use eBay when it makes a big difference in the price I would be
paying, mostly because I am buying something used vs new.

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