How to Buy Products and Services Online

No longer just for the techno-savvy, online shopping has been embraced wholeheartedly by the mainstream community. In fact, more than 60 percent of people worldwide have bought something online.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

1. Shop retailers with a reputation for quality products and excellent customer service. Bookmark them for easy access. Pay attention to the experiences of friends and colleagues, and avoid shady or unscrupulous merchants.

2. Find out what fellow surfers think of a site. Epinions.com has customer ratings of online stores, which are helpful when deciding whether to do business with a particular site. Shop at Web sites that are quick to load and easy to navigate through so you can find what you want quickly. Look for secure and simple ordering procedures.

3. Use price comparison tools, such as DealTime.com and Bizrate.com, to compare brands, prices and product features across several sites. Consider buying an online subscription to ConsumerReports.org to get critical information on large and small purchases.

4. Read customer and media reviews to find out more about a product or service. Amazon.com lists editorial and customer reviews. Cnet.com and TechTV.com are good sources for technology reviews. Look for comments from consumers in a demographic similar to your own.

5. Read the "About Us" section if you're buying from an unfamiliar Web site to find out how long the company has been in business and whether it has third-party recommendations. Check for a toll-free customer-service number.

6. Look for enhanced shopping guides and options. For example, apparel merchant Lands' End allows you to shop by size, color, product and preference, and even has virtual mannequins that you can use to "try on" outfits (see How to Buy Clothes Online). Other merchants allow you to listen to partial tracks from CDs or read book excerpts before you buy.

7. If you're shopping for a service, such as a plumber, look for clearly posted cancellation policies and free, instant quotes. Sites like Respond.com and Improvenet.com recommend prescreened service providers or contractors by region.

8. If you're buying a product, review the shipping and handling costs, the return policy and whether the company pays shipping on returned items (see How to Make Returns).

9. Charge your purchases on a credit or debit card. See How to Be a Savvy Consumer.

10. Save a copy of the receipt and confirmation number on your hard drive, or print it out and keep a record of the transaction.

11. Open an electronic wallet. Available at Yahoo! Shopping and elsewhere, this application allows you to store your credit card information in one place to avoid retyping it every time you make a purchase. American Express ID Keeper (www.americanexpress.com/idkeeper) is a Windows-based application that lets users securely store personal data, credit card information, and Web site log-ins and passwords. Additionally, this data is stored directly on the embedded chip on the American Express Blue card.

Tips & Warnings

• The Better Business Bureau Online (bbbonline.org) lets you search for or file complaints against a specific online retailer. Look for the BBB stamp of approval on sites that meet its standards and pay a membership fee.
• Make sure any online retailer posts its privacy policy prominently and allows you to opt out of having your information used for marketing purposes or shared with other parties.
• Make sure that any purchase transactions you conduct are secure. A URL that begins with https:// (instead of http://) signals that you are sending and receiving encrypted information, for security purposes.
• Keep your passwords private. Never share your Social Security number or checking account number when making a purchase, and never send your credit card number via e-mail.

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on 1/12/2009 We sell TV's, Car DVD players, Real Ipods, Nintendo DS and Wii systems, Playstation 3s and PSP systems, and Necklaces-zemzem.ecrater.com