The name of this site (www.7dayshop.com) no doubt states the obvious without telling you what it's really about. Online shops, barring unforeseen downtime, are invariably open not only seven days a week but also 24 hours a day. Like the old Windmill Theatre, they never close. Other than that, the name doesn't really give you a clue as to what the site is actually selling those 7 days.
The company has in fact been selling photographic goods since 1998 and began its internet operation in 2000. Everything is now done through the website with no contact at all by telephone. All ordering is online and enquiries are made by submitting a ticket. The aim of this is to cut costs and keep prices low, so anyone wanting a more personal touch will have to look elsewhere.
The original photography side of the business has everything the amateur or professional photographer will need. This includes digital cameras and camcorders (although the range is quite limited), lenses, filters, tripods, flash guns and even film, which for the younger members among you is what photographs were recorded on before digital cameras came along ... just like VHS, music cassettes and floppy discs ... why do I feel like a dinosaur saying that? It hasn't even been a decade!
Added to this are items that are used for modern-day photography, as well as for other uses, such as flash memory, paper and ink cartridges, batteries and chargers. For photo processing, there's a link to the www.snapmad.com website for digital prints and to www.dlab7.com for prints from film or CD.
The product range has extended way beyond photography. There are games and game console accessories, computing equipment, network cables, communications devices, memory (with a memory configurator to find the right type), optical disks and accessories for mobile phones, audio/visual devices, sat navs and various other gadgets.
If you're after a bargain, there's usually a long list of stock clearance items and other products on limited special offer. There are also 'B-grade' items that have been returned but tested to be in working order but bought as non-returnable. You can find what you want by selecting a category, product type and manufacturer or searching by keyword. There's also the usual option to join the mailing list and access to social networking site entries if you're looking to bulk up your Facebook friends list with whomever will take you.
The stated aim is to supply the best products at the lowest prices. One consequence of this is that some items are sourced from the US, meaning you'll have to rely on the company's warranty rather than a full UK warranty. Another is that PayPal payments aren't an option since, they say, these require commission payments and the additional cost would lead to higher prices. As far as I'm aware, Paypal commissions are comparable to any credit card merchant processor so not quite sure what that's really all about.
The 7 Days Shop is based in Guernsey, which means that there is no VAT payable on items where the value is below a set limit, at time of writing this was £18. For this reason, orders with multiple items are often broken down into several deliveries to keep below the threshold. A downside of the Channel Island base is that deliveries may take a little longer, generally around one day extra. However, this doesn't seem to be a particular concern to many customers. Most seem happy with the prices and service although there are some doubts expressed about the quality of the order tracking facility.
Of course, whilst the 7Day part of their name indicates that orders can be placed anytime, the dayshop part tells you that people are still involved and therefore if you place your order at 5pm on a Saturday evening there's probably not going to be much activity on that order until Monday morning. 24/7 online shopping is not always the same as 24/7 brick and mortar advertised shopping - though generally more comfortable.
Unlike most number insertion branding, such as Phones4U, 7 Day Shop is not a number representing a word so the confusion is limited when searching online for the store. The only variant we've seen in the search logs is for Seven Day Shop, not seventh or 247. With browser bar type-ins we're not seeing a whole host of web address issues either with only www.7-day-shop.com and www.sevendayshop.com featuring regularly - however, only the latter takes you to the store's main site with the former being owned by a totally different company. We'd imagine, though, that with this particular retailer selling consumables and parts that you'll be bookmarking for regular visits anyway.
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