The main advantages from doing your shopping at home, especially during the busy seasons like Christmas and Easter, are you’re ….

Saving Petrol by not going down the High Street, then after finding you can’t get the right thing, driving around the ever increasing Business Parks for what you want.
Saving Parking Fees and that long wait to get out of the multi-storey car park whilst breathing in everyone elses plus your own fuel fumes.
Not walking around bumping into people who don’t say sorry, going up and down stairs and escalators.
Not spending money on a cup of coffee at ‘half time’ to keep you going.
Not in fear of being pick pocketed or fotgetting to pick up a bag whilst having a breather.
Not lugging around countless plastic bags
and
Not coming home completely shattered, tired, miserable and in a strop!

The disadvantages are….
You don’t get to ‘feel’ and ’see’ the finished product (it’s nice flicking through the pages of a book etc).
You are parting your money without actually having the item there and then.
You are worried about security in so far as paying for something with no absolute guarantee of getting the goods.
You sometimes see shopping as a ‘day out’.
The main issue with most people would be security and guarantee of delivery.
In this respect, most major retail outlets now have their own online shopping websites and if in any doubt, stick to the names you know and trust.
Some of these companies actually sell things for less on the Internet than they do in the shops, but look out for delivery charges etc. and in the case of PC purchases, if the VAT is included.

Security isn’t such an issue. It’s probably safer to buy something on the Internet than it is to part with your Credit Card in Restaurants afar.
You would always have the protection of Credit Card insurance. If in doubt, phone the company and order it that way.

The fraud threat comes mainly through emails where ‘made up websites’ proclaiming to be various Banks (or ebay) ask you to re-register your ‘personal details’ because of some problem. NEVER DO THIS. If your actual Bank really need anything - they’ll soon write to you.

With delivery, look out for things like ‘available in 2/4 days’ or ‘167 available’ and so on. This is a pretty good guide.

Obviously, you can’t see colour or touch material down an internet connection. Your monitor may be slightly different to someone elses or the companies graphics may be a little wonky, so often it is best not to buy clothes on the net - others will prove me wrong !

With books, what I often do is have a quiet ‘preview’ down at the local Book Shop before ordering, but in most cases you know what you’re getting and it shouldn’t be a problem. Usually, you’ll find it hard to beat the likes of Amazon.

Many people buy their groceries on the Internet now and most Supermarkets have a delivery service. Some just buy the ‘essentials’ such as packaged products, then get the rest ‘on site’ to make sure the bananas are just how you like them etc.

Holidays are an up and coming sales market. In this case you may be spending a lot of money and it’s worth just phoning them to check things out before you click the ‘pay’ button.

But without a doubt, if you know what you want to buy, the Internet
is the place to be. You can spend 15 minutes touring 10 websites
to find the best deal, at the right price and delivery. Other ways of
price comparism are going to sites such as ‘Froogle’ or ‘Kelkoo’
where you simply type in what you’re after (ie Samsung G6654)
and they will scour the net for the cheapest buy, but give you other
options as well.

It certainly beats the hustle bustle of the shopping trip and you can
sit back at the end of it sipping a nice G&T knowing it’s happening