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8 reasons to do your shopping online

Posted Mar 25 2008, 10:07 AM by Karen Datko

This post comes from partner blog Blueprint for Financial Prosperity.

I try to do as much shopping as I can online. Nothing beats comparing a bunch of locations all at once to get the best price or taking advantage of a vendor's price-matching policy.

What's also awesome about buying online is that you get to avoid malls, parking and dealing with people who are grumpy or had a bad day.

Here are eight reasons why I prefer to shop online: 

Better prices. While not always true, in general you can find better prices online because online vendors have lower overhead costs. They don't need to rent a physical store location, staff it with people, and support all the other overhead costs associated with a brick-and-mortar store. Online stores have warehousing infrastructure and distribution costs, but they save on the overhead associated with storefronts.

Consider this Reason 1A: You can comparison shop much easier online. You can go with services like MSN Shopping or just hop from site to site. Compare this with running around different stores in the mall. Forget it.

Price matching. Many online vendors offer price matching of some kind. With Amazon, if the price drops within 30 days, you can get a refund of the difference. I wrote about Amazon's unwritten price-drop policy a few years ago and have used it at least 50 times, especially with services like PriceProtectr monitoring and e-mailing me.

No sales tax collected. If you buy something online, the store is required to collect sales tax only if it has a physical location in your state. Amazon collects sales tax in Kansas, Kentucky, North Dakota and Washington (and New York, thanks to the work of then Gov. Eliot Spitzer) because it has warehouses in those states. However, you're supposed to report your purchases and pay a "use tax" on your state's income tax return. (For those of you who don't report the use tax, which is pretty much everyone I know, this means you can make purchases without sales tax.)

It's in stock. Not everything you want will always be in stock, but at least you'll know before you order it. If you go to a store in hopes of finding a particular DVD, only to learn that it's not in stock, you've wasted time getting to the store. Some online vendors are a little shady about stocking information (they want your order, after all), but in general the bigger vendors are honest about what they have on hand and what they will need to acquire.

No driving, less gas. Have you seen the mall lately? At most mall parking lots you could probably drive around for 15 minutes before you find a spot. All told, that's a lot of gas (and headache) being burned up just to be able to walk around a store. Going back to the previous reason, how frustrated would you be if it took you 15 minutes to park only to find out the item was out of stock?

Historical order record. If I buy something in a store, I almost never keep the receipt. If I need to return something, the employees can generally track down the order in their system with my credit card. However, I won't have the historical record of what I bought and when. This may be crucial information for warranties and protections, so having someplace I can go to review my order history can be valuable.

Special offers and coupons. When you purchase online, you usually create an account with the vendor. One of the benefits of having an account is that they may send you special offers or notify you of special online sales. Some see this as a double-edged sword because their inboxes are deluged with every marketing communiqué, but I see it as an opportunity to be notified of a special offer I might like. If I've been buying lots of science fiction DVDs and they're having a sale, I appreciate an e-mail letting me know.

More and longer online sales. Stores generally have sales to move product and are limited by what is available in the store for purchase. When an online vendor has a sale, you have the entire warehouse stock to deplete before it's out of stock.

There are many more reasons to shop online. If you have a reason that I haven't mentioned, please share it in the comments below.

Other articles of interest at Blueprint for Financial Prosperity:

"5 ideas for your 2008 tax stimulus check"

"Citi CashReturns: We got a $500-plus rewards check"

"Why you shouldn't time the market"

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Comments

 

 I have reasons why I do not usually shop online.  Some of these reasons are as follows:

If it's the wrong size or another reason for return you must package up item suitable for the post office to accept.  You must then go to the post office and pay postage to have item returned.  If you had bought the  item at  a store you merely drive back to store (not p.o.) to return it.

At a store you have store associates to talk to about the item being purchased.  Online you have no one to ask questions. You may purchase an item that turns out to need other parts for the first item to work correctly and no where were you told that online.

pat murphy (Posted 03.29.08 5:25 PM)

I shop online whenever possible, and have done so for several years. I'm disabled, and it's painful to walk around stores for even 10 or 15 minutes. Since I've become a regular online shopper, if I choose to get emails from that store, I can get them. You can always ask to be removed from the site's emails. Often they come with a special offer for shipping expenses, or a percentage off the total.

I've had to send back some things, but not many. I've pretty well learned what sites have a "true size" for me. Since I'm also widowed, I have no one to shop for me so online shopping is the way to go for me. Like Karen Datco stated, there's no waste of gas, no driving around a parking lot, no standing in line at a register, etc. And you certainly can hop from site to site to compare prices, styles, special deals, etc. I have my most used sites bookmarked.

Cha (Posted 03.29.08 5:55 PM)

Thanks for writing, Cha. I can't take credit for the post. It was written by our partner blogger Jim at Blueprint for Financial Prosperity.

Karen Datko (Posted 03.29.08 6:07 PM)

KAREN,

HAVE YOU READ THE ONLINE ARTILE ENTITLED "THE WEB'S BEST SHOPPERS" BY MELINDA FULMER? SHE GIVES THE NAMES OF AT LEAST 10 WEB SITES THAT DO COMPARISON SHOPPING FOR YOU, OR GIVE COUPON CODES, NAME ACTUAL REDUCTIONS FROM DIFFERENT STORES, ETC. I WROTE EVERY ONE OF THOSE WEBSITES DOWN, AND HAVE STARTED "RESEARCHIG" ONE SITE. IT'S QUITE EXTENSIVE.

I HOPE THIS HELPS YOU AND JIM TO FIND GREAT DEALS. HAPPY SHOPPING.

CHA (Posted 03.30.08 12:26 AM)

I shop online as much as possible. I live in a very rural area and there's nothing here as everything has closed down and jobs have gone elsewhere. Also, it just costs too darn much to drive for anything under a $100! I make nearly all my purchases for personal and business use online. I try to combine purchases to save on shipping costs. It's not the most perfect way to shop, but it working for me for the most part!

Doktor Root (Posted 03.30.08 11:13 AM)

I shop online sometimes, and would do so more often if some of the sites improved their search/filtering capabilities.  For example, I don't have the time or inclination to click through twenty screens of women's dress shoes, most of which aren't what I want.  I could sort by brand, but I don't care about brand.  What I REALLY need is the ability to sort by features like color and heel height.  So, if I want a pair of black dress shoes with a 1" heel, the site should give me a small selection of shoes that fit exactly that criteria - or else tell me, nothing here, so I don't waste my time.

Diane (Posted 03.30.08 1:17 PM)

There's benefits and drawbacks to buying things online. Just like there's benefits and drawbacks to buying things in a brick and mortar store. In general buying online is advantageous if you know the product, and assuming it's not clothing (or otherwise clothing you the precise fit of through personal experience or what not). One, of many, good examples of this is buying computer parts online. It is much cheaper to buy the parts online and assemble it yourself than it is to buy from Dell or whomever. However, if you can't/won't put it together yourself there's no benefit in it.

William (Posted 03.30.08 11:31 PM)

I do pretty much all my shopping online. About the only things that I don't buy online are groceries and gas. It's definitely more convenient and it's amazing how much you can save online even shopping at the same stores. For example, I recently bought a big screen TV online at circuitcity.com and saved $400 over what the same TV would have cost me at my local circuitcity store. Plus, I got free shipping and setup whereas the store would have charged me an additional $99 for home delivery and setup.

Jackie (Posted 03.31.08 1:37 AM)

I have bought some things on line, and have been very happy. Then I bought some boots from a vendor who's inventory was obviously made in another country, for people with much smaller ankles than most americans. My daughter is a model, and very thin, and she couldn't even get her feet in the boot. When I wanted to return them I was told that I would have to pay the postage and a RESTOCKING FEE, the total of which came to more than the boots cost in the first place. So now I am stuck with them, and can't sell them, cause no one can get their foot in them. Better read the fine print or ask before buying, what the return policy is!

Bev B. (Posted 03.31.08 2:28 AM)

I shop online extensively, better pricing, no crowds, no lines. Oh I shop from my office, and it's delivers to my door step. Ah wonders never cease........

alan (Posted 03.31.08 8:33 AM)

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