Online Shopping
All posts about online shopping will appear here, in order to create a clickable category. Oldest posts will appear at the top. Scroll down to see newer posts.
Thursday, February 1, 2007
Online shopping - eBay
Online shoppers can save a lot of money over retail stores, because the online resources can offer lower prices due to their lack of overhead.
EBay is a different kind of online shopping experience, because it is an auction site and you are buying from any one of multi-thousands of sellers, and sometimes in competition with other buyers.
A number one tip for saving money while shopping on eBay is to know your seller. Of course you can't know them in person, but be sure to click on the number in parenthesis after the seller's name to view their feedbacks. You will see an overall percentage rating at the top of the page which lets you know the percentage of buyers who rate them as good sellers. That's not the whole story though.
If their total number of feedbacks are low, one upset trading partner can cause the percentage to drop drastically. Check to see if the person bought from them, or sold to them, and what the actual comment was. You also want to check the complainer's feedback, to see if possibly they are only retaliating for negative feedback left to them.
You can click on tabs at the top to check what feedback has been received from either buyers or sellers, and also another tab to view feedback left.
If their single bad feedback is from a person who regularly leaves negative feedback to various sellers, while they have other positives from other buyers, it is much less of a red flag.
Also notice whether the feedbacks contributing to their score are from buyers or sellers. It is harder, perhaps, to receive good feedbacks from buyers than from those you sent money to, so it speaks better about their reliability if they have many satisfied customers than if they have only satisfied sellers.
Lastly, click on a few of the item numbers for the items sold, if they are still clickable. See what others say about the type of item you wish to purchase from them. Maybe they are great at selling books, but the last two video games they sold were both scratched.
A little research can save you some disappointment, not to mention money.
Happy Shopping!
Thursday, February 8, 2007
Buying books Online
Some great places to search for books (and other media-type purchases) ...
I used to use mysimon.com to compare prices, but it's been less helpful the last couple of years.
Alibris.com is probably my favorite store for the past few years. They often have shipping specials and free shipping, but as they are both a large store AND a chain outlet for many retailers, you have to be careful on free shipping -- it doesn't usually apply to stores other than Alibris' own stores.
Half.com is also a great source, often very cheap. You will usually end up paying a separate shipping charge for each book, but the cost is sometimes so low that it still works out to be a best buy.
Amazon.com CAN be good, depending on what you are looking for, and the level of quality you expect. If you want new, Amazon is often a good bet.
Always check eBay.com of course ...
Good luck!
Thursday, February 1, 2007
Online shopping - eBay
Online shoppers can save a lot of money over retail stores, because the online resources can offer lower prices due to their lack of overhead.
EBay is a different kind of online shopping experience, because it is an auction site and you are buying from any one of multi-thousands of sellers, and sometimes in competition with other buyers.
A number one tip for saving money while shopping on eBay is to know your seller. Of course you can't know them in person, but be sure to click on the number in parenthesis after the seller's name to view their feedbacks. You will see an overall percentage rating at the top of the page which lets you know the percentage of buyers who rate them as good sellers. That's not the whole story though.
If their total number of feedbacks are low, one upset trading partner can cause the percentage to drop drastically. Check to see if the person bought from them, or sold to them, and what the actual comment was. You also want to check the complainer's feedback, to see if possibly they are only retaliating for negative feedback left to them.
You can click on tabs at the top to check what feedback has been received from either buyers or sellers, and also another tab to view feedback left.
If their single bad feedback is from a person who regularly leaves negative feedback to various sellers, while they have other positives from other buyers, it is much less of a red flag.
Also notice whether the feedbacks contributing to their score are from buyers or sellers. It is harder, perhaps, to receive good feedbacks from buyers than from those you sent money to, so it speaks better about their reliability if they have many satisfied customers than if they have only satisfied sellers.
Lastly, click on a few of the item numbers for the items sold, if they are still clickable. See what others say about the type of item you wish to purchase from them. Maybe they are great at selling books, but the last two video games they sold were both scratched.
A little research can save you some disappointment, not to mention money.
Happy Shopping!
Thursday, February 8, 2007
Buying books Online
Some great places to search for books (and other media-type purchases) ...
I used to use mysimon.com to compare prices, but it's been less helpful the last couple of years.
Alibris.com is probably my favorite store for the past few years. They often have shipping specials and free shipping, but as they are both a large store AND a chain outlet for many retailers, you have to be careful on free shipping -- it doesn't usually apply to stores other than Alibris' own stores.
Half.com is also a great source, often very cheap. You will usually end up paying a separate shipping charge for each book, but the cost is sometimes so low that it still works out to be a best buy.
Amazon.com CAN be good, depending on what you are looking for, and the level of quality you expect. If you want new, Amazon is often a good bet.
Always check eBay.com of course ...
Good luck!
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