Online Shopping Tips
November 24, 2006 by admin
The holiday shopping season is in full swing and once again this year, online retailers are expecting record sales as Americans shop on line instead as standing in line. Before you start your cyber shopping, here’s some tips that I pass along on my NBC-TV High tech Talk segment:
Before you click… compare. The Net is awash in comparison-shopping sites and my best advice to you is use them. Sites like shopping.com make it so easy. Type in the item you’re looking for and zap… back comes a roundup from the Web on who has it and at what price.
Shopzilla is another great comparison site.
So is eBay… yes… e-Bay. The auction site has lots of online stores which, because of low overhead and no middleman markups, offer really good buy-it-now pricing.
But price isn’t everything. Look for online specials…like at this T-Shirt and Jewelry portal that offers free shipping on big orders or special discounts on the hottest items. Free shipping can add up to big savings and most merchants have stocked up on the best selling ones so prices can be kept at a minimum.
If you don’t know the online site, look for buttons from the BBB or the Hacker Safe security site. Stores that show these have to be checked out for reliability,meaning you can shop in confidence.
One last tip. Shop early. If you order this week or next, delivery will be in plenty of time for Christmas. But the longer you wait the busier shipping companies will get.
I saw this segment on my local news, but I didn’t agree with one of your online shopping tips. The BBB or Hacker Safe buttons can be easily forged, so there is really no guarantee that the site that displays them is legitimate. I am an IT Admin by trade and daily combat against Internet fraud at work, so I have seen this many times. In my opinion it is dangerous to tell Internet neophytes that these images make a website safe.