Blogadda-quikr shopping fiesta: My experience

                  It was a rainy Sunday afternoon and since I had nothing better  to do,my consistently hyperactive mind advised me to do a bit of blogwalking.Thanks to my ten years of life as a blogger , I had grown wise enough to figure out  that virgin blogs were  the best places to do blogwalking.So,I started off  by checking out some notable newbie bloggers listed at blogadda (If you haven't chanced upon this section yet,please do it at the earliest.You may get acquainted with some really talented newbies here).I was all set to click on one new 'promising blog’ when I saw that banner- blogadda-quikr.com Free Shopping Fiesta. It basically meant blogadda would pay for the purchase the bloggers(participants) were making through quikr.com.(It’s amazing how these wonderful guys at blogadda come up with innovative programs for bloggers in such frequent intervals.Whetever said and done, their bookreview program for bloggers is the best one IMHO).C’mmon which sane mind would miss an awesome opportunity like this? I definitely didn’t want to miss it and registered myself for the program within no time.

                Though I had seen dozens of their (quikr.com) multi-coloured hoardings stretching across the length and breadth of the city of Bangalore with the catchy tag line (buyer aur seller ka perfect matchmaker),had never felt motivated enough to buy any product from their website .Actually more than anything,it was my aversion to buying any 'used' or 'second-hand' stuff in general which had prevented me from trying out their site.Moreover,at a time when the likes of amazon and snapdeal were making me more and more lazy by home delivering whatever product I wanted (read books) at quite attractive prices,why buy used stuff,I always used to wonder. As it is often said,all good things happen rather unexpectedly and my decision to register for the Diwali shopping fiesta and try out quikr.com was definitely one such .

              Days and nights passed by with no news from the blogaddaguys.My dreams of 'free diwali shopping' were slowly but surely biting the dust. It was again a hospital holiday and I was on the verge of a nap when my chechi ventured to stretch her vocal cords.

“Nikhilesh,your gmail account is logged in.Shall I log out?I wanna check something urgently.You have a new mail from blogadda,btw.."

“Blog….??”- the name was enough to wake me up from my deep slumber.I found myself in front of the desktop within a nanosecond.There was a new mail indeed. It read-

Congratulations!!

You are shortlisted to be a part of the 'Quikr Free Shopping Fiesta' activity. Opportunities like this come only because you are a part of the most happening adda for bloggers :) Time now to shop and have fun. Here are a few things to remember to make this experience a one to remember. 

    No prizes for guessing that I was jumping with joy after reading that mail.More than the joy of shopping something for free,it was the recognition and accolades which my blog had managed to win that made me ecstatic.I wanted to share this with someone and couldn’t help dialling my friend and soulmate Arun.

Me: (trying my best not to sound hyperecstatic): “ Hi,Arun”

Arun:(Making zilch effort to hide his irritation;having known him for the last ten years or so,I could easily sense that he was in the midst of a post-coital nap when my call had graced his brand new I phone 6) "Yeah,tell"

Me:“I have been shortlisted for the blogadda-quikr shopping fiesta.You have to do me one favour”

A:“What? So?” (fearing I were going to ask for his personal porn dvd collection)

Me:“I want you to accompany me in checking out a few stuff” (My linguistic skill as far as Kannada was considered being non-existent,I really wanted his company while going to buy the stuff)

A:“Ok,will come”-he briskly hung up and got back to sleep. Little did we know that it was only the beginning of an adventurous journey!

Once the initial phase of euphoria and enthusiasm was over,the realisation hit me hard.What will I buy from quikr?

The various categories in quikr/item listing

It was again my chechi who came to my rescue."Why can’t you buy a couple of cots from your website?We want two – three of them for the newly built room anyways"-she asked me one fine morning.We had just made an extension on our flat recently.I found it to be an interesting suggestion.Logged in to quikr,searched for cots in Bangalore and ended up in the following page.

The Ad listed in quikr

The 'Cots'

Pic-iii

                                     

          So,finally I decided to buy the three cots which was listed in quikr.com, for the sake of my chechi.Logged in to quikr and figured out that the product of my choice might be available in BTM lay out.Though my knowledge about the geography and topography of the city of Bengaluru was still in the rudimentary stage,I knew that  BTM layout couldn't be that far off from where I was staying.My hunch was right and the place was quite  near indeed (infact,walkable distance from my flat).I called up the seller.A  young lady answered my call, told me her address and requested me to reach there and see the cots as early as possible(she was getting a lot of enquiries for it,she said).Without much difficulty,we (Arun and myself)could find the place.

"Madam,We had called you a couple of minutes back,the ad in quikr…..”

“Yeah,come in”-

“See,I have got three cots to sell.”

“Can we see them,Madam?”

“Ofcourse,come inside”-she took us to the inner hall and started showing the three cots which were up for sale.

My friend Arun is always pessimistic.I could hear him whisper in my ear -

“Nikhilesh,the cots look new but I bet there is some problem with them,otherwise why should she sell them?”

Perhaps sensing the constipated look on my face to be of bad prognostic significance,the Lady told-

“I myself bought these only a couple of months back.Unfortunately I won’t be able to use it much as I have got a job opportunity abroad and am shifting to the U.S. by the 30 th of this month”

"Yeah,these cots look brand new"-making frantic efforts to hide the embarassement.

"But 1200 is too much for each piece,I'll buy all the three but you should bring down the prices a bit",I said thinking about the prospects of buying something else also with the remaining 1500 INR if she was willing to sell the cots for 3500 INR(remember,the program was for 5000 INR)

"Ok,done"- (I was surprised that she didn't make much of an effort to bargain with me,may be she was in a hurry to get rid off that stuff and fly to the U.S.)

We hired a career rickshaw,brought the three cots to my house and took the following snaps-

The 3 cots lying quietly in my flat

Pic ii

  

         After having fulfilled my chechi’s ‘needs’,I thought I would spend some money on my first love-i.e. books.Wasting no time,the bibliophile in me started searching for ‘books in Bangalore’ in quikr.The search was fruitful and yielded more than two dozen results.Shortlisted three ads from them(I was in no mood to go to really far off places).Actually,the funny thing was that the books listed in these three ads had nothing in common(neither their genre nor their ‘condition’ were comparable).While the first ad was for books(on spirituality) in somewhat good condition,the second one was for crime-thrillers(which looked some 3-4 years old)and the third one was offering an old,battered copy of an 18 th Century classic(infact what made me shortlist the title nevertheless was it’s ‘rarity’,I had been searching for this book in the local Library and online bookstores for the last couple of years and the reply which I always used to get was a meek “Sorry sir,the book is currently Out-of-Print”).  I called the first two numbers.The first guy didn’t pick up the call while the second guy(who had listed the rare classic)told me in a sympathetic tone-“Beta,You are a couple of hours late”. I could clearly make out that he was a wise,learned man in his 70 s and was genuinely sad that I had missed out the chance to buy the book which I badly wanted.

Feeling slightly dejected,dialled the third number(the ad was for a couple of internationally best selling crime thrillers at ‘attractive prices’)-

“Sir,I saw your ad on quikr…….”

“……………………well,I’ll SMS my address,you can get down at XXXXXX and take an auto to XXXXXXXX”

A few hours and a bumpy autorickshaw ride later,I was at his home running my fingers through his rather impressive collection of best-sellers.Though the books weren’t exactly in the ‘excellent’ condition as claimed in the quikr ad,they were definitely in a readable state.There were many well known titles and ‘you should by books by the same author as a set’,he had reminded me.I was perfectly okay with that and X rupees per copy for the set of books by XXXXXXX,  made my mental calculation.Had picked up one bundle and was all set to make it mine when that realisation dawned me-I hadn’t asked him to quote his price.

“I will take this set,how much do you expect for this?”.He didn’t reply for sometime and before I could add anything further,he swiftly went inside and returned with a calculator after a few minutes.The next couple of minutes passed by with neither of us saying anything.I was almost falling into asleep when the guy slowly began to speak up in a calm,serene voice-

“The printed price for each of these books is INR XXX,I’m giving it to you at a 45% discount i.e you have to give me 55% of it’s MRP for each of these books”. He looked at me as if he had just said that he was giving me his 100 crore worth ancestral property  for  100 rupees!

“What……???”For how much? (the bewildered look on my face was unmissable,I persume)”

  “xxxx.com are selling brand new books of the same title at a discount of 50% in their Diwali sale.The price you quoted is way too much,that too for  3-4 year old copies “ -I continued,trying my best to sound decent.

The seller was furious,his angry look reminding me of Amrish Puri in Indiana Jones.

“Sir,I’ll buy them at 40 % of M.R.P”-I tried to pacify him by making a generous offer.

“No,I won’t.You may leave”.

It was like a slap on my face.Thankfully Arun was not there with me to witness by embarassement. I was all set to call him when some random piece of paper with a phone number written on it from my pocket caught my attention. 

The Hcl Mp3 player Ad

The product listed in quikr.com

It was the piece of paper in which i had written the contact number of a seller who had listed his HCLmp3 music player in quikr.He was from J.P Nagar,quite near to where I was standing then.I called him and the response was pretty quick.

“Boss,unakku Garuda Mall theriyuma?”

“Yes”-I replied

“I will come there with the product within ten minutes”

True to his word,he met me after ten minutes.Fresh from the ‘crime-thriller’ debacle,I was in no mood to prolong the deal too much.He handed over the product.I switched it on,played a couple of songs and asked him bluntly (the player though a couple of years old,looked quite new btw)-

“Can you quote your final price?”

“Okay,I’ll give it to you for 1500 INR/- and no more bargaining please”-he responded matter-of-factly

“Fine,I’ll take it”

The deal took exactly twenty two minutes (thanks to date with the aborted book deal, I was too quick this time),I reached home in another half an hour and started using it while clicking snaps of it simultaneously.

Me with my new MP3 player-the Hcl neopad 

                             

Pic-ii

• Home-Office Furniture 
• Electronics & Appliances-MP3 Player       

My experience of buying from quikr was inshort,a memorable and pleasant one.The site was easy to navigate,the items neatly categorised, allowing the user to search for the product availability in the nearest locality of his/her choice.I should also say that after this shopping adventure, a couple of my misconceptions about quikr.com were also cleared for good.Quikr is not just about used stuff alone,there are brand new items also listed in this website (by dealers).It's just that you have to look carefully in the ad whether it's a used item or a brand new one and whether it is posted by an individual or a dealer.(if by a dealer,there are high chances of the product being delivered to your home,free of cost)

       Thank you blogadda for shortlisting my blog for this program,thank you for the wonderful experience and thanks a lot for making me an active buyer,once again.

This post is a part of quikr.com activity at blogadda.com

-nikhimenon

This post is a part of quikr.com activity at BlogAdda.com