[Random_guy]

Try before you buy is the one thing that i think shops have over buying online. Don't get me wrong, i respect how much work a lot of shops and shop staff put into making sure their customer gets whats right for them, but the biggest advantage they have is letting the customer try different combos and find what's right for them.

I am lucky in that at the local club there is a large enough variety of equipment and a large enough wealth of knowledge and experience that there is little that a shop could offer extra, and as such i buy my equipment online. However, if there were the equipment to try but not the experience, i'd probably still buy online, whilst using sources such as the internet etc. to find out the information i need.

Now, if i could not try the equipment before hand then i would probably go to a shop in order to try it. If a shop could not offer the 'try before you buy' service, then i wouldn't bother, and would still buy online, as it would make little difference to me.

It is harsh when ppl do as has been described here and figure out what they want, lowering the value of a shop's stock in the process, only to buy online to save money (and depending on the product, shop and the online retailer, that saving can be A LOT more than £10-£15!). And i can understand this causing retailers to stop the 'try before you buy service', but i would have thought that would cause them to lose even more buissness to the internet.