What I should look for when shopping online

Shopping Online Safely

When you shop online you should look for a number of things to help insure a good shopping experience. First, is the checkout process secure? When you go to checkout your items and pay for them look for a padlock in your browser. This tells you that your information is encrypted and won't be seen by prying eyes. For an example, look at this Shopping Link.

You can see the padlock in the browser.

Return Policy and Shipping

Every decent online shopping site will have a return and shipping policy. This is needed in case you receive the wrong merchadise or the merchandise is defective. Shipping methods should also be stated. Note: UPS will not ship to PO Boxes.

Reviews of the Site

Try to find reviews from other buyers who used the site. You might find them on the site itself, through Google, Google Checkout, or other shopping sites like ShopMania, Shopzilla, etc. Even giant sites like Amazon will have some disgruntled customers. What to look for here is whether the majority of users were satisfied with their shopping experience.

Item Prices

Item prices are probably the first thing on a shopper's mind. This makes sense since it is your money and perhaps you are not a billionaire. You can use comparison shopping sites like Shopzilla, Shopping.com,Google Product Search, and also MSN's Product Search

Overall, most online shopping should be done with common sense. If you feel uncomfortable shopping any site, remember you can come back some other time or shop somewhere you feel secure shopping

Shopping On Ebay

Ebay is one of the largest sites on the internet. Ebay is also the largest auction site on the internet.

Just about any type of item can be found here. Not everything though. Ebay does not sell firearms, pornographic material,or anything remotely controversial or considered illegal.

The number one thing to look for when bidding or buying an item is to check the seller's feedback. A good seller on Ebay will have a lot of positive feedback. Outstanding seller's will have feedback of 100%. Showing they are trusty and reliable.

Never try to buy and item from a seller that has zero feedback or just joined the site. This can be a sign of a shady seller who is just trying to get money and then disappear like a ghost.

Online Shopping Tips

I created this blog for shopping tips and online shopping. Today, more and more people shop online. Shopping online is great for some products such as music, small products,ebooks,and other products that are lightweight or downloadable.

However, some products such as cars, homes, or clothes may be difficult to look over or try on just by looking at pictures and descriptions onlinne. Items like these are still mostly bought in brick and mortar stores. These are items that need to be looked at or tried on in person.

Heavy items will sometimes cost you more in shipping than the retail price of the item.
So, you have to definitely check out the shipping and handling before confirming an order.

So, shop smart and compare prices including the shipping before making your purchase