Gone are the days when one has to travel long distances, going through heavy traffic, only to end up in crowded market places that take the fun out of shopping. Online shopping has become popular because of the convenience associated with it. Sitting at home in pajamas, we can virtually walk around doing our research and select what we need.

The option of getting what you want from the comfort your home is great, but with the ever increasing sellers online, some genuine and most not genuine, there is also an element of risk when making an online purchase, especially if you are new and have no idea of the workings of cyber dealers.

Let us take a look at a few things that need to be taken into consideration, to find a good bargain auction, in order to shop safe and buy a genuine product.

Research
The product you are looking for needs to be researched before you place a bid in any online auction. Never buy from the first place you find a good deal. Always check out other online shopping sites in order to determine the lowest retail price that is available. In fact, it would help to check out the prices at your local retail shops as well. This will help you bid wisely.

Read Between The Lines
Make sure you read each and every word that describes the product and try and read between the lines to learn what it does not say – such as, is there a guarantee? Is it authentic? If it is, is there any proof of its authenticity? It is better to deal with auctions that are totally open and give you all the information upfront and avoid the others. Read the rest of this entry »

Buying a new digital camera is not work for the faint of heart. The standard display case at an electronics store or large-scale retailer is filled with more choices that you can process in a sitting. Rather than making an impulsive decision, take some time and choose your new digital camera carefully by researching its quality and determining exactly what you need before setting out to buy.

Research

Before you leave for the store, take a few minutes online to be sure you understand what sets one camera apart from another. What is the meaning of optical zoom and what are mega pixels? Take a glance at reviews and ratings to be sure you know the best brands to buy and which to avoid.

Make a List

Make a list of things you need your camera to do. Are you planning to shoot nature photography or just a few snapshots of the pets and kids? Will you be emailing your pictures and uploading them to a photo sharing website or will you be printing from home? Do you plan on modifying your photos for artistic reasons or preparing large prints? What features do you need from your camera to accomplish these goals? Read the rest of this entry »

Mystery shopping is a dream job for many. The benefits are easy to see – you get paid to shop and most of your purchases are free. The downfalls, however, are a bit harder to find in the clever dialog on websites urging you to sign-up. In truth, mystery shopping is a great gig if you can get your foot in the door. But even then, it’s a better hobby than career.

Mystery Shopping

A mystery shopper is an individual paid to visit a store and who must answer a very detailed questionnaire about her experience. She doesn’t get to share her actual opinions very often, however. Instead she answers pages of questions such as “How long did it take before you were greeted?” The shopper is often compensated for a small purchase so that she can experience the full shopping spectrum of the establishment.

The mystery shoppers we envy are those that are invited to partake in resorts, cruises and airline travel so that they can analyze the experience. Even the shoppers invited to spend time in fine restaurants and who are allowed to buy trinkets in designer stores are worthy of envy from those eager to begin their own mystery shopping career. Unfortunately, like professional sports or acting, only a few get the glory – the rest have to find part-time jobs to support the habit. Read the rest of this entry »

Coupon clipping is not a sport to be taken lightly. It used to be that coupons were easy to find and clip, then were even easier to double or triple by shopping on certain days. Today, coupons are a bit less common in newspapers, but can still be found online, at cash registers and other locations as well – they just aren’t all in one section of the paper the way they used to be. But it looks as though finding coupons to clip may quickly be becoming a thing of the past. Coupons are going digital.

Digital Coupons
Kroger and Proctor & Gamble have teamed up to try a new digital coupon field test. Digital coupons can be downloaded onto the loyal member card most grocery stores now offer, and then used at the cash register. The only drawback to these digital coupons, other than the public’s fear of anything new, is that they are not eligible to be doubled or tripled.

Leave the Mess
Digital coupons are simple to “clip.” They are available online through the grocery store websites. Currently, digital coupons are limited, but that won’t last too long. Traditional coupons require hours of sorting, cutting and organizing only to have to reorganize and shuffle the little pieces of paper at the cashier while shopping. Coupon clipping can be rewarding, especially on double or triple days, but the work involved is offsetting to many would-be clippers. Read the rest of this entry »

Streaming video and video downloads have gained significantly in popularity and now two major news items in online movie rentals have made the industry more attractive. Steve Jobs announced that iTunes would begin renting movies for a twenty-four hour period. This is expected, but welcome news nevertheless. Netflix, one of the leading websites for online rentals of traditional DVDs and streaming videos has recently announced that there will be no limit to the amount of streaming video and television shows available from the site.

iTunes
Apple has revolutionized music thanks to the iPod, and now music has given way to movies, music videos, television shows and more that can all be downloaded and enjoyed on your computer and on your iPod or iPhone. Movie and television episodes have had strong sales through Apple’s iTunes for years, but the new streaming video available from the site will heat up competition with others such as Blockbuster and Netflix. iTunes is already a household name associated with music. Expanding downloads to movies is a logical step.

Neflix Video Streaming
Netflix launched its video streaming service last year. In the first six months the service delivered five million movies and television shows. In the six weeks following that time period, sales doubled to ten million. Netflix hasn’t released the official statistics for all of 2007, but early signs are pointing up for video streaming. Of course, Apple’s new service may present some heavy competition as much of the Netflix video streaming clientele are using iTunes already for music, but only time will tell.

As Netflix is the most notable pioneer into video streaming, much of the industry’s data can be gathered from its renters. Video streaming is most popular with individuals under the age of thirty who are comfortable on the internet and watching video on the computer. There are simple ways to transfer video to the television, but many streaming video subscribers watch their movies or shows directly on the computer. Read the rest of this entry »

Why the day that officially begins the joyous Christmas season has such a dismal name, we may never know. Perhaps Black Friday is named for the many stores that open while it is still dark, drawing in eager customers with loss leaders and phenomenal deals.

Although industry experts claim Black Friday is the shopping day that pulls many companies back into the black financially, the traffic jamming shopping mall parking lots and pumping exhaust into the wintry air may better deserve the title. Whatever the reason, Black Friday, and more recently the online equivalent, Cyber Monday, are milestones for retailers of every kind all across America.

Doorbusting Deals
The day after Thanksgiving is not a national holiday, but is typically offered as such to employees. Free from work to get started on Christmas shopping, customers swarm to retailers to take advantage of incredible deals, presented to consumers to draw them in the door. From enduring bumper-to-bumper traffic on the streets and in the parking lots, to standing in hour-long lines, customers are willing to go through a lot to get the perfect gift, not to mention the pocketbook-pleasing price. Read the rest of this entry »

Christmas is a time of year that forces everyone to shop. How customers go about their shopping, and whether or not they enjoy it, is far from universal, however. The shopping styles and preferences of men and women, for instance, are worlds apart. To use the old metaphor, it’s as if men and women were from different planets. Many shoppers, both male and female, are taking their shopping habits online as they rely more on ecommerce to fulfill their Christmas lists.

Ladies Want It All
Simply stated, while Christmas shopping, women are more invested in the whole shopping experience. This means female shoppers are more likely to be willing to browse through seemingly unrelated items, and want salespeople to treat them like they are important, share their knowledge about their products, and offer recommendations that they think may be of value or interest to the customer.

The helpfulness of salespeople when shopping is a priority to women. Almost thirty percent of women claim the number-one problem while shopping is a lack of help when its needed. Having a representative online available to offer individualized help to customers, or at least providing an easily searched list of frequently asked questions or commonly faced problems to help a damsel in distress will help women troubleshoot any difficulties they face while shopping online.

Men on a Mission
Men, on the other hand, are more straightforward. When they shop, they are on a mission to find the item that they came for, pay for it, and then be done so they can go do something that they enjoy more than shopping. They want the item to be easy to find, in stock, and quick to buy. The number one problem men face is lack of parking near the entrance of a store, at least according to twenty-nine percent of those surveyed. Read the rest of this entry »

Safety is critical for children, and an entire industry has sprung up to help keep our children safe. Guidelines are strict and when we discover that something we believed to be safe is in fact, not, there is a powerful reaction from parents, media and even the government. Sometimes we can’t avoid dangers, such as when toys from reputable companies are painted with lead-based paint, but other times we can prevent many of the potential dangers that surround us and our children every day.

Research
The most important step parents can do to keep children safe is to research a decision. In the case of a small toy, the research will obviously be much shorter and might simply be comparison based in the store. But for large items such as cribs and car seats, take plenty of time and read reports to be sure you are purchasing the safest products available.

Recalls can tell you much about products, but be sure to understand the basis of the recall. Cribs were recently recalled because parents were installing part of it upside down. While this can be dangerous, it is not as dangerous as a much smaller recall for crib slats whose screws were falling out. (Both recalls were for Simplicity cribs.) Price doesn’t always mean quality, but there is usually a line where price assures quality without paying for brand names or logos. Read the rest of this entry »

Three internet heavies have developed a new plan to stop, or at least harass phishers. Yahoo!, eBay and PayPal have joined forces to create a tool to protect their users from the constant scams that flood their inboxes. The new technology is an email authentication tool that validates the origins of an email and makes black and white lists work more effectively.

Phishing
Phishing is the fastest growing internet crime. In a phishing scheme, an email is sent to an individual demanding immediate action for their account – usually a bank or ecommerce account. The individual clicks through the email to visit the site and the phisher is able to record as much personal information as possible as the individual types in their usernames, passwords, credit card information and even their social security number.

Phishing is obviously illegal, but is growing more common despite this. Often websites like eBay and PayPal as well as credit card and banking sites are subjected to phishing scams where their site is targeted as the sender of email. This makes it difficult for individuals who use the services to recognize when an email is authentic and when it is part of a scam. You should not even open email from phishers as they can download Trojans or software to record keystrokes. Read the rest of this entry »

Back to school is a huge time in retail. Students need new clothing and new supplies and retailers are glad to make their products available both in stores and online. Of course, once everyone is outfitted and prepared for their academic adventures, retail must focus on what comes next. Is September too early to prepare for the holidays?

Back to School Blues
The start of the school year means big business for clothing manufacturers who specialize in children and teen apparel. With the number of shoppers who take their business online, the boom is not only in the malls, but in cyber space as well. Children, teens and their parents snatch up the latest styles and take advantage of tax holidays and big sales to get all of the essentials they need for the school year. This drives sales in a big way.

Then, suddenly the malls are quiet and the online sales slow. Not only are the students already outfitted, they are also out of the stores and back in the classroom. Shopping is a popular summertime activity, but it simply won’t fit into many schedules once the regular school year begins anew.

So retailers push forward and look to see what is coming down the pipe. For many, the next focus is Christmas. For most consumers, Christmas shopping begins in earnest around mid November. These retailers take these autumn months to prepare for what is absolutely the biggest season of the year. Read the rest of this entry »