Cynthia Vaskis
SLM521 Spring 2004
Online Shopping
File: e6shoppg.htm
Online Shopping
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Method |
Description |
Suggested Sites |
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Browsing |
Browsing it like “window shopping” where you are just looking around to see what is there or you look for a specific product in an online store. You may use a general search engine to look for the companies that sell what you are interested in and then go look at the specific results that come up. When you find something you want to remember, you can right click the mouse over the item’s window where it was displayed, save it as a “short cut” to your Desk top and organize it later into a Desk top folder for those similar types of items. |
JoAnn Fabrics www.joann.com to look for fabric and sewing accessories sold online www.realtor.com to
look for a house to purchase anywhere in the |
|
Comparison Shopping |
Comparison shopping is when you compare prices and services to find the lowest cost one and then you decide if you think the item is still worth spending the money on. You are not competing with any one other than the stores themselves. What you are really doing is making the stores compete between them to offer the lowest price in order to get the business. |
www.apartments.com
uses your input criteria (number of bedrooms, washer/dryer hook ups/pets
allowed or not) and produces a comparison price list of those available in
the locality you selected. A book
store in www.amazon.com also
compares book prices for you |
|
Auctions |
In an auction, anyone in the audience (or on the Internet) can compete with anyone else there to raise the initial purchase price set by the owner. People indicate to an auctioneer (here the web site acting as an auctioneer) what price they are willing to pay. The process continues of people looking at what others have offered until no one offers a higher price within a certain time period. Then the person who offered the highest price is told that they must buy that item for the price they said. On the Internet, the web site www.ebay.com is the auctioneer and the owner puts a suggested price in the ebay database that they would sell the item for and also how long they will wait for any offers. Usually, when the wait time is over, the best offer is taken but the owner can withdraw their item from the market and not sell it at all. When a buyer is established, as the person who offered the most (who must record their name or email when their offer is made), the owner is notified of the buyer and the buyer is asked to converse with the owner to handle the method of payment. Once the owner receives the payment, the item is sent to the buyer. Sometimes the owner will send the item to the buyer before payment is received. The sellers (or owners) can be rated by how happy their customers were at the ebay site so if a person sells bad stuff to someone, that buyer can post a complaint at the ebay site and the seller gets a less than 100 percent rating. The web site ebay.com is the auctioneer in this situation because it records the prices offered by different people and keeps the owner’s suggested price hidden from the competing public so that the owner will get the best price, maybe even higher than they wanted. |
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Wish Lists |
A web site that lets you enter a Wish list to itemize things that you would want to get if someone wanted to buy you something or even do something for you as well. You maintain your list and others can select something they would do for you off that list and leave their name check marked there so you know who did it for you. You can also hunt for someone else’s wish list at these sites and find out exactly what someone else wants. You can search the Internet from the site to find what you’d like to include in your wish list. They set up a lot of categories for you to look through to narrow your search. You can also send your wish list to up to 6 people at a time at wishbox.com |
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Gift Giving |
The Internet Gift web sites act just as a real gift store except they will ship the item for you if you want them too. They have menu choices for you to narrow the choices by your recipient’s characteristics or by the occasion. They have catalogs, customer service and shipping. I have seen some companies that allow the buyer to purchase a dollar amount and a catalog is sent to the recipient of the gift to select from and send it back to the store who will then fill that order as long as it is covered by available credit. Usually any store will let you buy a gift certificate or gift card for someone which can be exchanged at that store for the amount the card or certificate was purchased for. You can send electronic gift cards or eCards via email to others. |
is a gift giving web site shop offering gift cards www.redenvelope.com is a gift giving web site |
Security Tips:
Never give anyone a password or number combination over the Internet or phone (or actually to anyone at all) that you use for other reasons (financial or security things like a safety deposit combination) and make any password a mix of letters and numbers that are not associated with any other legal data about you such as your social security number or phone number or birth date.
Beware if the service you want to use is unwilling to tell you if you will or will not receive advertising as a result of your “signing in” with them, even if the service is free.
If someone, or a company, asks for more information than is necessary to perform the purchase don’t give it to them and you may want to terminate that purchase.
Always use a credit card instead of a debit or checking card. Credit cards are protected from misuse for purchases over $50 and you can return the items easier since you have not yet paid for them if you change your mind soon after you bought the item you want to return. You can stop payment on a charge and the store would not get paid for that item so they are more willing to take the item back.
I once purchased a “water” vacuum from a door-to-door saleswoman and I decided not to keep it. I found out that there is a law stating that you can return an item purchased like that within 72 hours and they have to give you your money back. Luckily, I had purchased it on my VISA card and I did get my money back but reluctantly on their part.