Do you shop online?

@dumindum (160)
Oman
December 6, 2008 11:55am CST
Thses days shopping via the internet has become a sort of a trend. Is it fun to shop online? I think things are cheaper online but i dont shop online because of security resons. and also because it takes some time for your stuff to ship when you are not in the U.S. How is your experience?
13 people like this
50 responses
@BubblyIan (750)
6 Dec 08
I see no future in the High Street for shopping. Most products and services can be ordered on-line and it is so much easier to compare prices than to walk round a dozen shops. There are no visible queues. You will not be discriminated against or embarrassed by for example being a man in a woman's shop buying presents for your partner. Most high street shops do not appear to like having customers and tend to have very few staff - particularly at busy times like lunch-times - hence very poor customer service. Yes there is a problem over being there to receive the delivery, but I see this as the way of the future. The evidence from sales figures supports my view. On-line shopping is booming and the high street is declining..
1 person likes this
• United States
7 Dec 08
I second that
@quinnkl (1667)
• United States
8 Dec 08
I do shop online more. Mostly because I am not a shopper and don't enjoy shopping in stores in general, so it is "easier" on me to shop online. But it always depends on the shipping charges, etc. I always make sure I only shop at stores or places I know have good security. If I am not sure and cannot find out enough information on the online store, I will not shop there. I have been very lucky and have had very good online shopping experiences.
1 person likes this
@mflower2053 (3223)
• United States
8 Dec 08
I like to shop online sometimes it may be only to check out what deals each store has but I think it makes life a bit easier when something just comes to the door. Sadly sometimes thats the highlight of my day rofl.
1 person likes this
@jsitko (1169)
• United States
8 Dec 08
I do a fair amount of shopping online, especially this time of the year. I also like some of the features that some of the major retailers are offering, the ship to store, you can purchase items on line and have it shipped free to the store for you to pick up. I also find better deals online and usually shop through a program where I get rebates from 100+ retailers including ebay. I love to shop ebay too and I get 20% rebate when I do. When my husband and I go on vacation or just a little get away, I make hotel reservations on line, getting a better deal than just going directly to hotel. It pays to make plans. I also get rebates for that too. It actually saves me money to purchase things online than it does going to the stores them selves. Saves gas too.
@cortney09 (1345)
• United States
8 Dec 08
I shop both on and off line. It all depends on what I need to get and how quickly I need the item or items. I think a lot of the time bigger ticket items can be cheaper online. However smaller ticket or cheaper items can usually be less expensive off line or at least the same price.
1 person likes this
@freda529 (136)
• China
8 Dec 08
I do shop online.It's much convenient to compare the price without seeing so many shops and don't worry about how many I have bought,cuz I don't need to hold them.they will be arrived in my place one by one.and it's also very funny.
1 person likes this
• Canada
9 Jan 09
Yes I do shop online. It is the most exciting type of shopping for me. I live in Canada, so I don't have to worry about security reason. However, outside of North America you should be very careful about online shopping & just don't give your credit card number to any site unless you know for sure that it is safe.
@santuccie (3384)
• United States
6 Dec 08
Fortunately, my machines are secure. I love the prices online. All my computers have SATA hard drives, but most of the computers I fix for friends and family use PATA (IDE) hard drives. They cost $200 US at Staples, but I can get them for $45 at TigerDirect. I can't say much about the wait; I happen to live in the U.S.
@santuccie (3384)
• United States
7 Dec 08
Not so in this case. Sure, TigerDirect sells some refurbished items, just like most retail stores do. But I've never heard of a refurbished HDD, and rather doubt there is such a thing. There is delicate technology that goes into the making of a hard drive. The platters are smoother than a mirror, and the R/W heads float over the surface at 3 millionths of an inch. The drive is filtered so nothing from the air gets in; even smoke particles are larger than 3 nanometers, and can cause a head crash. I'm not always right. There may be such a thing as a refurbished hard drive, but it doesn't seem likely. I would assume it's cheaper to make a new drive than to disassemble the unit in a clean room and work on its parts. The unit I refer to is a WD Caviar, and it's actually $40 US, not $45. Do a search on the page, and you won't find "refurbished" anywhere: http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=322750&CatId=134
@santuccie (3384)
• United States
7 Dec 08
It's an OEM drive, meaning it's just the drive. No cables or software come with this drive. But of course, I don't need either of those things. When I'm working on someone's machine, I tend to be working on a unit whose original HDD has failed or is about to. The IDE cable has no moving parts, and should be quite fit for continued use unless the owner has unplugged and plugged it back in frequently (unlikely when they're coming to me for help). And partitioning software is easy to get; there's even suitable freeware complete with GUI interface available for download. Cheers!
• United States
7 Dec 08
That's true.. but one thing you forgot to mention is, they sell you factory recertified item at that fraction of the cost. otherwise, that huge difference wouldn't be there. In Staples, we wouldn't have that choice. So, online shopping is much feasible now-a-days for me too
1 person likes this
@suruchi86 (1873)
• India
26 May 09
I also do that. But not on regular basis. It is about once a month or so.
• United States
7 Dec 08
you've to be smart enough while shopping online. As all people are not concerned about that. better protect your system with robust security softwares like anti virus, antispyware and firewalls. then, make sure your shopping store online got that 'https' in the address bar. that 's' after 'http' makes sure that the everything passing through it is encrypted. And, then you can check the 'LOCK' yellow icon at the bottom right of your browser or these days, they've it right on the address bar on new browsers. Whatever make sure, you can see that 'yellow' LOCK icon there. other than that, it's much safer and economically best way to shop online than shopping around in real life.. that's what i think. in US, there is option for overnight shippping, i usually do on standard which arrives within 4-5 business days.
1 person likes this
@BubblyIan (750)
6 Dec 08
I see no future in the High Street for shopping. Most products and services can be ordered on-line and it is so much easier to compare prices than to walk round a dozen shops. There are no visible queues. You will not be discriminated against or embarrassed by for example being a man in a woman's shop buying presents for your partner. Most high street shops do not appear to like having customers and tend to have very few staff - particularly at busy times like lunch-times - hence very poor customer service. Yes there is a problem over being there to receive the delivery, but I see this as the way of the future. The evidence from sales figures supports my view. On-line shopping is booming and the high street is declining..
1 person likes this
@jlovesbsb (243)
• United States
6 Dec 08
i am addicted to internet shopping. i have recently tried to cut down on the online shopping because of the global financial crisis. i know my profile says that i'm from the states but i'm really not. i'm from Trinidad and Tobago and there are allot of things that i want and can't get here. All the stuff i want i can find on the internet. the shipping is a little costly and i do have to wait a really long time for the delivery but i can't find it anywhere else so that's why i end up going on ebay or amazon.
• United States
7 Dec 08
yeah, it depends upon where you are ordering from. Last time, I happened to order from Chinese Store located in China, but their website left me of impression of being located in USA when I ordered. It took almost 1 month to get my stuff on my doorstep. That was the longest time I've waited so far. These days, I check geographical locations of stores before I order from them doing some lil research online.
@krfanlim (232)
• Malaysia
6 Dec 08
I've been shopping online for a couple of times already. And my experiences were all wonderful!! Of course, it would have been more wonderful if they'd provide free EMS or courier service, haha. But that's impossible. I live in Malaysia. I've bought items from the US and Hong Kong, respectively. And surprisingly, it takes the same time for them to reach me, which is an average of 9 days!!
• China
13 Dec 08
Becasue HONGKONG is near you. Honey, i suggest you can check sth in WWW.TAOBAO.COM, chinese website. THings are much cheaper than in HONGKONG. I can help to buy.
@divkris (1156)
• India
26 May 09
Well, we used to once shop online for groceries and other stuffs in fabindia but then they stopped shipping goods to our state. from then on we prefer going to the nearest mall and picking out stuffs. This way you ge to see and feel what you are going to spend on. Many of my cousins do buy electronic goods from ebay and they say they have had no problem. Probably this is because they stay in the US!
@onesiobhan (1327)
• Canada
7 Dec 08
I do purchase things online and I also do a lot of my banking online. The trick is to make sure the site is using a secure server. A good site will allow you the option of examining the security certificate
@idowrite72 (2213)
• United States
9 Dec 08
I never did much online shopping until this year and I really like it. It is so easy to do and so convenient. The only thing I don't like is having to pay for the shipping. One item I bought, that was a one of a kind thing, cost me more to ship than for the item. I have been amazed at quickly the things have gotten to me, too. I have done quite a bit of my Christmas shopping online and have been able to find some unique gifts that I wouldn't have been able to find in the stores. I haven't had any bad experiences, so far, and hope that I don't.
@fineartist (1217)
• United States
7 Dec 08
My experience with online shopping has been excellent! I take advantage of sales on an ongoing basis and have been, for the most part, very happy with my purchases. I have been shopping online for at least 5 years. Many of my friends and family members shop online and only have very good experiences to speak of, as well. It is fun to shop online. I have not had security problems. Have a good evening.
@chrislotz (8137)
• Canada
13 Dec 08
I don't shop too much online but I have at times. I have bidded on items in ebay and have won the bid and bought the item, but I have only done that a couple times. I always buy my airline tickets online. I fly by Westjet only, because they are always the cheapest, so I go to their site to buy my tickets. I fly to Winnipeg about once every two months so I am on planes a lot and it is just so much easier to buy my tickets online. They already have my visa number so I just tell them to charge my tickets to me and I don't have to enter my visa everytime. When I shop in ebay I use my paypal to pay for the items because I don't want to give them my visa number. I try not to use my visa too often because I don't want my number all over the internet. I always have money in my paypal account because I do a few other things on the internet and I get paid by paypal for them and I don't transfer my money to my bank account because I like to have the money in my paypal account incase I come across something I may want to purchase. Alrighty then, talk to you later my friend, Have a good mylotting day, Chris
• United States
7 Jan 09
It is the main way I buy things for my partners birthday, or when I have a good amount of shopping to do. Usually, it goes well. There are a few times now and then where it takes a long time for them to even ship the order out. Sometimes, you do not get what you ordered, and with return time and such, might of been easier to go to some store. I do find that most merchants are eager to make things right, sometimes with additional incentives. One annoying problem I keep having is when things become out of stock after you have ordered, and you do not know you are not getting an item until the rest of the order has shipped, and you see the note there, and later, see a charge back to your account.
@mariposaman (2959)
• Canada
7 Dec 08
I have bought several items online, usually electronics. I have bought computers and even a refrigerator. They did not have the frig in the stores and it was on for several hundreds of dollars off the regular price and there is a local store but they did not have it in stock. I got free delivery. I have never waited more than a few days for the items to arrive. So far I have not had any problems with security but I deal only with major retailers.