What is online shopping?

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ONLINE SHOPPING TIPS

BUYER BEWARE
Watch Out for Hidden Costs

So you saved 20% buying that new Danielle Steele book at barnesandnoble.com instead of driving downtown to the local store. Great! But keep in mind that you're going to have to pay shipping and handling. The upside? Most sites offer a variety of shipping terms from UPS to Priority Mail to Overnight Delivery. The downside? The faster you want it, the more it's gonna cost ya. So while you saved 20% off cover, your shipping costs may end up being more than the money you saved!

Bottom line: before you pat yourself on the back for buying something cheaper online, make sure to calculate any added fees.

NAME GAME
Creating Smart Passwords

Membership has its privileges. Yep, lots of sites ask you to sign up as a member before taking advantage of their services. That means selecting a username and password.

Don't worry about the username-pick whatever you want. But for the password, you definitely want to be careful. Sure, it's easy to remember the last four digits of your phone number, but it's also real easy for someone else to figure out. Same goes for your spouse's name, birthday, etc. Good rule? Don't be cute, be smart. The best thing you can do is create a password that mixes letters and numbers.

Once you've settled on a good, safe password, write it down and keep it in a safe place away from your computer. And to be extra careful, change your more important passwords every few months.

Chances are, you already know what Online Shopping is. At its basic, Online Shopping is...well, shopping you do online. Simple, huh? Yeah, except it gets a little deeper than that, mainly because there are literally dozens of different ways to shop online. There are sites that let you buy directly from manufacturers, online versions of regular retail stores, auctions, specialty sites, comparison sites, group buying sites and so on. Some sell items, others give advice and still others search the Internet to find you the best deal. Don't worry, we'll get into each specific site later.

So how does a shopping site work?

While every shopping site is different, they all seem to follow a general layout. The first thing you'll notice when you log onto a shopping site is lots of bells and whistles. SALE! 50% OFF! SPECIAL OF THE DAY! HOT DEAL! Click on any of these and you can follow up on these flashy sales pitches. But if you're logging on to find a particular item, you should direct your way to a search box. They're usually located in the upper left corner and look something like this:

Just type in a word or words that best describe what you're looking for. Use either product name, manufacturer or type. For example: If you're looking to pick up a new Pro-Form treadmill for yourself, you can type in "Pro-Form 585EX," "Pro-Form" or "treadmill." After you enter your search words, you'll get a list of items matching your description. Simply click on any link for get more specifics.

But say you're not looking for anything in particular - you're just browsing. Maybe you're in the mood to buy some new clothes, furniture or electronics. Well, most sites organizes their wares into categories. General stores can break it down by apparel, computers, toys, furniture, music, etc. Specific stores-like a clothing store-may break it down by garment (sleepwear, formalwear, sweaters, lingerie) or customer (men's, women's, children). Whatever the case, these categories are usually written on "tabs" near the top of the screen or running down the side.

Click on the appropriate tab and you'll instantly jump to that category's page. There, you'll either find a listing of items in that category or a breakdown of even more categories to search through. Again, just click on whatever piques your interest and you'll be given more details, as well as a photo of the item.

But how do I buy something?

Okay, you've read through the day's sales, searched for that treadmill and browsed through the clothing section for that perfect sweater. Now what? Well, as you browse from item to item, you'll find a button or link that says something along the lines of "ADD TO SHOPPING CART." The button might look something like this:

Similar to the real world, you push around a virtual shopping cart during your online shopping ventures. This cart collects all the items you add to it during your visit. When you're finished shopping, work your way over to the "CHECKOUT" link. There, everything that's been collected in your cart will be listed along with the appropriate quantities.

At this point you may notice you got a little carried away and don't really need 17 pairs of stockings. Not to worry, you can easily alter anything on your order. Make your changes and when you're completely satisfied with your order, just click on "FINISHED" (or something similar). You'll jump to a screen where you enter all your personal information like name, address, phone number and most importantly, your credit card info. Don't worry, using a credit card is safe, as long as you're shopping on a secure site. Once you're order goes through, you'll jump to a confirmation page listing all your purchases, as well as a confirmation number. Make sure to print this out and save it as your receipt. Then sit back, relax and wait for your package to arrive!

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