One of the likely survivors is Amazon.com. While caught up with the high expenses of a rapid expansion, Amazon will likely survive as it has diversified from a simple bookseller, to a company carrying a broad merchandise assortment, along with a successful auction house listing thousands of items for sale by individuals and commercial sellers.
Most likely to survive on the net are the virtual brothers of the "bricks and mortar" stores such as the online stores of Sears, Wal Mart, Toys R Us, Office Depot, Office Max, Best Buy, Staples, Circuit City, Sam's, and hundreds of other existing retailers. These retailers are likely to survive and prosper on the net not just because of their established name, but also because they typically have a distribution infrastructure already in operation, and therefore have an economy of scale not available to the pure dot coms. Several of these stores provide for physical pick up and accept returns of goods purchased online, which many find a convenience. Many of these same stores have some advantages for shoppers who periodically check the stores' websites; several have online or "internet only" specials; some offer weekly email specials; some offer "sneak previews" of their weekly sale flyers; and many offer a wider selection of goods online then they do in their retail stores. Almost all of the major retailers have a strong online presence, and surfing their sites can be fun and enlightening, as well as a source of potential bargains for the shopper, and revenues for the retailer.
Among the most popular shopping site categories are the booksellers such as Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Books-A-Million; computers and electronics sellers; and the extremely popular auction sales sites such as the monster site Ebay.
Because there are an enormous number of sites selling consumer goods of all types, comparison shopping is both fast and easy, and cumbersome at the same time. To ease the burden on comparison or bargain shopping a number of shopping "bots" have appeared. One of the most popular, and widely advertised, is mySimon.com. Claiming to be, "…(T)he largest comparison shopping site on the Web, with over 2,000 merchants in categories such as Computers, Books & Music, Electronics, Fashion, Flowers, Sporting Goods, Toys and many more. MySimon's shopping service offers unbiased information on products and merchants, including price comparisons, availability and other merchant information." With mySimon, the surfer can easily enter a category, brand name, model number, or other identifying information, and quickly get a side-by-side comparison of the pricing, stock status, delivery terms, and reputation of the sellers. Product reviews and feature comparisons are often available as well. One mouse click will take the user directly to the sellers website, where the transaction actually takes place. MySimon has some other features as well; one that I like is the "Consumer Reports Guides" that has the ratings from the popular magazine. Another useful feature is the "User Reviews" where other shoppers leave their comments about merchandise and sellers. For bargain hunters, mySimon also has a free email alert service where specials are periodically announced to the subscribers.
For computers and related equipment there are several excellent shopping "bots". CNET's shopper.com is a comprehensive site where thousands of computer related items could be comparison shopped. Using either an easy to use menu hierarchy, or a direct search, shopper.com is an easy to use and reliable source of computer and related bargains. After selecting an item, this site shows the sellers, their "Gomez Merchant Review " rating, price, shipping, sellers phone number, and stock status. The total sales price including shipping can differ significantly from one seller to another. As I type this, I am comparing AMD Athlon Thunderbird 1200 MHz CPU chips, one of the fastest chips on the market, all with the identical AMD stock number. The delivered price from the 11 stocking sellers ranges from a low of $171 to a high of $222, a $51 difference. An even greater difference exists for the popular new Pentium 4 -1.4 GHz CPU chip; delivered prices varied from $222 to $356, a whopping difference of $134. Similar difference can be found for the thousands of items listed. A popular feature offered on this site is a "price alert", a free service where an email will be sent whenever there is a price change for the items selected. CNET has a "Certified Store" program where merchant listings carrying the logo are committed to fair dealings, certified by CNET.
A similar but competitive website is ZDNET's computershopper.com. While not as comprehensive as CNET's site above, it is an excellent comparison shopping "bot" for computers and related goods.
One of the explosively popular online shopping genres is the auction site, most notably the giant Ebay. Listing well over a million items at any given time, Ebay is simply amazing. With both a menu hierarchy and a comprehensive search engine, it is relatively easy to find almost anything on Ebay. Seller ratings and Ebay's "Safe Harbor" guarantee limit the buyers' risk from fraud (after a deductible) while shopping on this mega site. In addition to millions of new and used items of merchandise and collectables, Ebay now offers automobiles, professional services, travel auctions, local and regional auctions, and a variety of other services. Personally, I use Ebay to quickly get ideas about products and prices. One warning to the bidder on any auction site - always try and know what similar items are selling for elsewhere by using the "bots" mentioned above. All too often I have seen items soar in price in the final minutes of an auction to a price well above that of stocking retailers, as adrenaline excitement takes over for common sense. Auctions are very exciting, especially as the online clock runs down, but remember to set a personal limit and do not cross it. I have found that nothing I bid on is so unique that I have to pay a step premium for it.
Ebay is not the only mega-auction site. I have successfully bid on dozens of items on Yahoo's auctions, often beating the prices available on Ebay, as there are often fewer bidders competing for an item. For computers and related goods, I have also purchased items on Ubid.com and Egghead's onsale.com. Both offer a wide selection of both new and refurbished goods. Last year, for example, I purchased a factory refurbished HP computer from Ubid for delivery to my daughter in law school in Miami, for about a third less, delivered, than it was available for locally. It had the same warranty as a new one, and was promptly delivered to her by FedEx.
Many auction sellers use online payment services. Ebay and Yahoo offer their own proprietary payment services that utilize electronic funds transfer or credit card transactions between the seller and buyer. One of the most popular and widely used online payment systems is PayPal at PayPal.com. PayPal can literally send money electronically to anyone with an email address. If PayPal verifies the seller, then PayPal effectively guarantees the transaction.
One concern often expressed is the security of the payment, as many are reluctant to send their credit card information over the net. Despite some anecdotal horror stories in the media, with reasonable care, the use of a credit card (not a debit card!) on the major shopping sites is a low risk operation. Virtually all of the major retail sites use online encryption to receive credit and other personal data. The user can easily tell if they are sending their credit card on a reasonably secure line if the "padlock" or "key" shown on the bottom right of the browser window is "locked". Another concern is the security of the credit card number itself at the retail site. Some credit card security experts allege that the user has a greater risk using their card locally than online. Many users fear sending their card information online, but will not hesitate to hand it to a waitperson at a restaurant, where it will be carried out of sight for several minutes. The skeptic may wonder what is actually being done with their card while it is out of site; who is copying their numbers and what else is being charged? That is explicitly why all credit card transactions on a statement should be examined, and any in question, either online or local transactions, should be investigated. There is usually a $50 limit of loss under most circumstances, if proper procedures are followed.
Internet shopping for travel (see last week's Examiner), retail goods, collectables, services, and auctions can be a lot of fun and possibly both a money and time saver. A wise and careful shopper has little to fear and much to gain.
Ira Wilsker is an Instructor IV of Management Development at Lamar Institute of Technology. Ira has been working with computers since 1965 when he took his first computer class at the Illinois Institute of Technology, in Chicago. A past president of the Golden Triangle PC Club, and a board member of the Association of PC Users Groups, Ira is a frequent guest on the local television news, and has lectured locally to internationally on a variety of computer topics ranging from computer and Internet basics, to CyberCrime, and Community Oriented Policing. Ira is the host of the Computer Information Hour on KLVI 560AM every Tuesday, 6-7pm
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