Online shopping in the Netherlands

Hello everyone,

Shopping online can be far more convenient and offer greater choice than going into shops, be it grocery shopping or retail.

Are there options for online shopping in the Netherlands? Which sites or apps do you use most frequently and are these local or international?

Are there particular products that are cheaper to buy online or that are perhaps not available in the Netherlands?

What is the delivery process like — is it easy to receive deliveries and what are the costs of shipping? Are there any taxes to pay upon receipt?

Thank you for sharing your experience.

Priscilla

Picnic - Home delivery groceries
Thuisbezorgd.nl Home delivery food
Bol.com - Huge online shop
Mediamarkt.nl. - Huge online shop
Zalando - Huge online clothing shop
H&M - Online shopping

Amazon will also deliver to Holland.

Bol.com for anything you can think of, but they are a bit expensive.
Amazon.de delivers from Germany, which is great
vanastenbabysuperstore.nl for baby stuff, great products and offers

Delivery fees depends on the website and the total bill amount, some add delivery, others don't.

Online shopping is easy, but the order doesn't usually arrive within the time interval they mention. Also it requires someone to be at home to receive the delivery during weekdays if it's a big box that cannot be put into the mailbox.

Online shopping is a piece of cake as long as you're buying from Dutch retailers. I don't have a credit card so I can only use sites that accept iDEAL (which deducts the money directly from your checking account) or PayPal.  PayPal and credit cards are starting to catch on with the larger retailers but if you're buying something from a smaller shop you'll have to break out the e-dentifier....

I buy most of my electronics online, most of them from coolblue.nl, which not only has good prices, but also great service.  They have free next-day delivery for most things, and I believe it is possible to schedule a delivery so that it suits you.  The one shop I do NOT recommend is BCC - we tried to buy a new washer through them, which was supposed to be delivered in a week...and then they told us that it was out of stock, and that new ones would arrive in a week...and then they told us that the replacements still hadn't arrived....suffice it to say we ended up using coolblue.nl and got a washer the next day. 

For most things it's best to use webshops like bol.com or wehkamp.nl, but if you're looking for things from the American/UK market you may need to use Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.co.de instead.  My husband had to use Amazon DE to order an Instant Pot, for example. 

The one tricky matter is ordering from companies abroad (i.e., China, Australia, other places).  In those cases you may need to pay an extra customs fee before you're allowed to have your package.  I'm not sure what the rules are or how the fees are calculated, but suffice it to say that if you're ordering something from outside the EU you may need to pony up additional fees.

Online shopping is great in the Netherlands. IDEAL is a really convenient and free(I think) way to pay. As long as you buy from an EU company you have two weeks by law to return items for any reason, as long as the product is not used/damaged by you. Some sites offer longer periods for returns or guarantees and are generally good about giving money back no questions asked.
Like many I use a bicycle for transport and it's very convenient to have things delivered. Just about every chain store will have a web store and even small stores will often offer online ordering.

http://www.zooplus.nl/ has the best prices for pet supplies.
Aliexpress delivers just about anywhere in the world but they do take IDEAL payments which is nice and the postal system in the Netherlands is great, I order a lot of odd and/or very cheap things on there that I can't find elsewhere -some sellers are less than honest so one needs to read reviews etc. and bigger packages can get flagged for customs duty but personally I have never had to pay any.
Conrad.nl is a great online hardware store with a huge range and good prices. Their minimum spend for delivery is also quite low.