Have Fun Shopping Online

Today I want to talk about shopping online and how to make the best out of it. Shopping online has more advantages than shopping in stores, because with shopping online you have the choice of visiting so many stores in a short time without wasting so much time as compared to getting into your car trying to beat traffic and driving from store to store before finding what you need, When you shop online you have a wide variety and a huge range of products to choose from, unlike in a store where you have to settle for what the store has in stock at that time and nothing else.

A quick example is this, say you want to plan a birthday party or a baby shower, you are always limited to what your local stores have, especially if you live a place with no good party stores and shopping for decorations and getting your theme is so difficult. ShindigZis one of my favorite online party stores because they have over 38,000 party supplies, decorations, favors and ideas for theme to choose from like Western, Luau, Hollywood, Casino, Fifties, Paris, Pirate Party, Fiesta, Mardi Gras, Stars, Under the Sea, Retro, Parisian, Jungle/Safari, Asian and lots more.
Another favourite of mine is Oriental Trading, I just love this store, sometimes you get to pay $2.95 for shipping for your entire order and other times they have Free shipping offers, check Coupon codes and discount deals often to see when they have any Free shipping offers available.

Sometimes you may buy things online and when they are shipped to you, you realize that was not exactly what you were hoping for, or did not receive it in time for your needs. Most online stores allow you to return your items you purchased from them. There are a few things you have to look out for when shopping online, just in case you have to return them.

1. Loot out for the store’s Return Policy, which tells what you need to do to return the item, some merchants will require you to obtain a Return Authorization Number first, others may charge you a re stocking fee for having to re stock huge items like some electronics while others may not.

2. You also need to check their Shipping Policy before buying, if you need the item within a certain frame of time. Especially during holidays, some sites will inform you of their cut off dates for shipping so you can receive your items in time. This will also inform you of which shipping method they use. Once I ordered a wall mount TV stand to use at home, only to realize the company had it shipped through USPS, it took forever to arrive, by then I had ordered the same item through a different company and so was stuck with 2 of them, because it was cumbersome returning the other one. As of now, I have one installed on the wall and the other sitting in my storage closet.

3. Another thing you will want to look out for is a customer service number or contact information, where you can reach the company just in case you need to cancel your order or make changes.

4. I know some people are a bit skeptical about shopping online. One thing you have to look out for when shopping online is a secure checkout. Check to make sure that on the page where you check out and enter your credit card information, there is small padlock sign on your status bar if you are using Internet Explorer, and in most cases if you are on a secure page during checkout the web site address in the address bar will have a https instead of a http. If you use a visa card in your transactions, some merchants have the Verified By Visa program so you can protect your existing Visa card with a password you create, giving you assurance that only you can use your Visa card online.
If you are not so sure about shopping on a specific site, check out their About Us page, Privacy Policy and any Contact Information.

Although there is no 100% guarantee in anything, I hope this will help you and make you much comfortable when shopping online. I love to shop online a whole lot, saves me time, gives me so many options and I can shop anytime of the day, especially when my kids are in bed with no interruptions

Welcome to the first post of my blog, I am really excited to to get this blog going and hope you will all enjoy it.

Shopping has always been close to my heart and my second love next to my hubby and kids so i hope to share a few pointers and tips with you in my blog. Thank you for all for reading.