Drawing lessons from my first-ever purchase during a Facebook Live session, yesterday I thought I was prepared for the second installment of grocery shopping via FB Live. And if you’re wondering, the word “near-purchase” in this blogpost title is very likely not a word. Just something I made up. ‘Cos *ahem* I did abandon my shopping cart in the end. (As an aside, may I just add that today’s weather is ridiculously hot? I’m not going anywhere but I just had to take a cold shower. Also, M1’s network being down does not help!)
So… yesterday evening, we tuned in to a Facebook Live session hosted by the same organizers from the previous round. Instead of 14 items for sale, yesterday’s had over 30 products. I’d set my alarm, we’d emptied our bladders prior to the session, and had pen, paper and water mugs ready. What could go wrong?
Well, plenty.
(1) Not everyone can handle a 2.5hour-long session
My darling was beside me and by the 9th item (which was dog food), he wanted to ask the host if it’s for male dogs or female dogs. I was horrified… and told him “NO!”, quickly followed by “Use your own FB account!” XD
Then I stepped away for a bit. And before I knew it, he’d opened another window just to see if the FB video could be expanded to fill more of the laptop screen. I’m not sure how but… in the process of doing so, things got ‘laggy’ and we were not watching the live video in real time, but many seconds behind. Then it went downhill from there. Items which I really wanted to get, and thought I’d secured for sure, weren’t actually ‘in my cart’ when I thought they were. In the end, the only items I managed to get were a set of 18 toothbrushes, 72 soon-to-expire granola bars and 24 bottles of again-soon-to-expire bottles of Snapple. With shipping included, it’d be $73. No choice. Had to abandon cart.
(2) Less ‘laggy’ on mobile
For some reason unknown to us, after starting the FB live video again on both my laptop and handphone, the mobile one was ahead by a few seconds. A few seconds really doesn’t sound like much, but when it’s a ‘live’ event with limited quantities of a few ‘hot’ items, and some 200 to 300+ people who all want to get the same thing, you cannot miss even one second or a fraction of it.
So… we learn. For the next session (yes there’s going to be one more!), I’ll have my laptop and handphone ready.
(3) Product codes voided by the host
I had not expected that such a thing would happen. One product was held out, people sent in their orders, and it got sold out. And when the host brought up the next product, he realized he’d made a mistake with the first one. So he said he’s going to redo everything, and all those who’d supposedly ‘gotten’ the first product would have to try again to get it (with no guarantee they’ll succeed the second time) after the host introduced replacement product codes.
Wow. If you’d thought you got the item the first time, and then went for your pee break, you’ll be in for a rude shock when you get back. If you ask me, I think shopping on an actual website would be better. I click on what I want, check that the items are correct, make payment, and wait for them to be delivered. Here, it’s just so random.
And at the end of the session, if you realize that you’ve scored one or two items you really want, but did not meet the minimum spending of $150 to qualify for free delivery, you might want to cancel your order anyway.
~
I’m glad the organizer allowed for the canceling of my order, without any fuss. I just want to avoid buyer’s remorse again. As I still have those cartons of fabric softener sitting in the hallway, reminding me daily of my silly purchase. I’ll have to make more of an effort to get rid of give them away this week. (@_@)