A Shopper's Guide to the Internet

In this day and age - when eharmony.com has reached acceptable status on the cultural backdrop (SNL spoofed it) - when Weight Watchers is getting into the Internet act with clubs that help people shed pounds without meeting face to face (www.worldthinweb) is it any surprise that Amazon.com made a profit of $78 million in the most recent business quarter?

While gas prices continue to rise, the U.S. Postal service and UPS have shipping rates that look ever more favorable in the eyes of those who would forego days-long shopping trips of comparison pricing for the big purchases like new TVs or exercise equipment. Sites like bizrate.com and shopzilla do the dirty work for you- pushing out pricelists care of major retailers on everything from new shoes to toasters to refrigerators.

If new is not your thing- if you find yourself looking ever more longingly at the used hope chest at a yard-sale down the street- before you make that purchase, see if Amazon.com or ebay has something a little more suited to your fancy. Ideally, the hope chest would have filled a larger space? Been a different color? Originated from an earlier period? Good. Amazon wish lists in the open market area allow you to request notification when your ideal item is put up for sale somewhere on the world wide globe.

The key to shopping, as with life, is come prepared. Whether you believe the Internet is the greatest thing since sliced bread or an unholy distraction, you should utilize it before any major purchase to background items (and handle slick salespeople, those thick with catchphrases and little real knowledge, at brick and mortar establishments). Additionally, most purchases these days offer slight variations in accessory equipment- a key to the evolving technology sector and new computers that are outdated before they're unpacked from the box.

Who doesn't want a good deal? Whose momma hasn't taught them that someone, somewhere has trouble selling something? I speak from experience and nearly ten years in sales - a certain climate, a cooler region, a more conservative voting district. THAT'S the place to make your Manolo Blahnik purchases because they aren't selling regular price. So here's your next key bit to remember: someone always has trouble moving some product. Rather than drive round and round in circles, make the purchase online. What you lose in shipping charges you save in gas prices.

Let's get back to the shoe analogy, as uber-talent Candace Bushnell's newest book will probably put Carrie Bradshaw's Blahnik obsession to shame. Eshoesale.com has among the best off-season prices available online. However, it's not the high-end stuff. Their regular sale prices are pretty good, too. But if you buy sandals from them in January, you'll get five for the price of one good pair in June.

Zappos, the goliath of foot accessories in the online world, is perhaps the best choice for high-end/decently priced merchandise. More often than not, their free shipping/ free return deals are in effect, and if you live on the northeastern seaboard near Philadelphia or New York, you'll have your shoes quick, quick, quick!

Keeping with the shoe analogy, let's look at ebay in the context of last year's Ugg craze. Brick and mortar retailers quickly saw this for what it was. They hopped online and sold their wares for twice the normal price. The main fact to take away from this is that many ebay sellers and most Amazon sellers are merchants in real life. If you want better, more reliable, faster service- if you want to haggle over prices- contact the seller via their email address and ask for a phone number. You can likely bring any ebay high-volume seller down just by contacting them in real time. (Plus, it's a terrific way to locate retailers for specific fringe merchandise like the vegetarian Blackspot sneaker.)

Again, making that real life contact will be a big help to those who fear identity theft. Because it's the media's job to make everything a bigger deal than it is, countless consumers and business owners are afraid to make the leap online. The fact is, nearly every credit card lender makes allowances for fraudulent purposes whereby the card owner is NOT held responsible. The extent to which this fraud is not only covered but placated in some cases is extreme!

A well-documented TTY scam has affected countless merchant/retailers in the Northeastern US for the past year. From a third location, a thief with a stolen credit card makes online contact with a TTY operator (for the hearing impaired). The operator then acts as middleman for an attempted purchase using the stolen numbers. Recent cases of this fraud were reluctantly thwarted through warnings from the operators themselves, as well as FED EX and UPS employees. There were potential legal obligations that could have prevented these people from warning retailers. Furthermore, a segment of retailers have even gone ahead with these mass TTY frauds (most of the documented cases involved large quantity purchases). Heinous though it is, in a dog-eat-dog world, the retailers know that most cardholders are protected from these clearly fraudulent purchases.

From the consumer perspective, where possible it makes sense to avoid using a credit card attached to your checking account. Though more banks offer protections, such accounts are far more vulnerable.

The extent to which fraud worries credit lenders and retailers alike has become apparent in issuing practices and card-stripe machine protocols. Mastercard/ Visa now has numerous safeguards in place whenever the card itself is not present (to prevent someone who's picked up a lost receipt from stealing the numbers and prepaying an order by phone to some establishment). These safeguards are in effect for brick-and-mortar establishments. Online, a special three digit code on the back of the card is now required for most purchases.