Shopping on the Internet is simple, but it can be overwhelming. There are zillions of merchants for any given product or service. Merchants range from giants like Amazon to individuals who sell a single item on eBay. This section includes tips for safe shopping, different types of online shopping tools, and resources for evaluating products and merchants.


Guidelines for safe online shopping:

• Consider total cost when buying online, including shipping, and any restocking fee should the item need to be returned.
  

• Shop with a merchant you trust, either from personal experience or by reputation. If you're not familiar with a given merchant, you can check consumer and professional reviews. (See below.)
  

• Buying online is one of the few situations where it pays to favor a search engine's "sponsored links" (e.g., in the results of a Google search for a specific item.) These are websites that pay a fee to be included at the top of the search results. Merchants who can afford this fee may be more established and less likely to suddenly go out of business.
  

• When filling out a form with your personal information, make sure you are on a secure website. You'll know the website is secure if the URL in the address bar begins with https: (rather than simply http:), or if you see an icon showing a locked padlock in the bottom part of the frame of your browser window.
  

• Stay away from deals that sound too good to be true, including "free" expensive items in exchange for your personal information. Don't take a chance on transactions that will probably cause you great inconvenience and regret later on.
  

• Stick with dealers who have a street address and telephone number. This not only gives assurance that the dealer is legitimate; it is also important in case something goes wrong with your order.
  

• Use a separate email address to give to online merchants. if you don't have one, you can set up one or more email addresses free at Hotmail or Yahoo!. If you end up getting unwanted email from merchants, you can later close that extra email address.
  

• To minimize getting unwanted email from merchants, look for a line in the order form that says something like, "Keep me informed of other offers that I might be interested in." If the box beside such a statement is checked, uncheck it.
  

• Read the privacy statement. If merchants share your personal information with others, they must stipulate this fact in their privacy statements. There is usually a procedure for opting out, but it requires extra steps on your part.
  

• Always pay with a credit card instead of a check or debit card. If you never receive the item, or if it's defective, you can complain to the credit card company and you won't be charged while they investigate the situation. There is no such protection with checks and debit cards.
  

• Beware of "phishing" scams. These are official-looking emails, ostensibly from banks, eBay and other online merchants, urging you to update your account information for "security purposes" or to prevent your account from expiring. Legitimate online businesses never ask for such information in this way. Such emails are sent by crooks who try to get you to release private information, which they sell or use to steal your money or your identity. If you get a solicitation like this, ignore it. Better yet, report it to the entity that the email is trying to impersonate. Check at the real company's website for instructions on how to report the scam.

The word bot is short for robot. Price-comparison search engines are essentially robots that find products and prices to match your search terms. Except for Froogle, most of the following are paid by the merchants they compare. Thus, it pays to check with more than one.

• Froogle: This is Google's shopping site. Unless a link is marked "sponsored" all of the listings are unpaid, ranked by merchants' popularity. Personally, I have not found Froogle very comprehensive or useful.
• MySimon
• Bizrate
• PriceGrabber
• Shopping.com
• NexTag

Most major search engines incorporate results from one or more of the above shopping bots into their own search results. When searching for, say, printer ink on Lycos, select the Products tab. Lycos will display Bizrate search results, as well as its own listings.

Google has links to mail-order catalogs, such as Land's End, Harry & David, and Dell. You can search several catalogs at once for a specific item.


Specific search engines for products or services

When shopping for a specific item or model number, you may have better luck with specialized search engines. Here are a few of them:

• Books: Addall, ISBN.nu or BestBookBuys.

• Computer memory: Dealram, RamSeeker.

• Printer ink: Dealink, Printer-Ink-Cartridges-Info

• Contact lenses: Lensprice, Contact Lens Price

• Cell phone sales and service: A1 Wireless, Lower My Bills

• Travel: Travelocity. Expedia, Yahoo Travel. Also try Mobissimo, which searches other travel search engines.

• Compare shipping costs by U.S. Post Office, FedEx, UPS and DHL: Intershipper Quick Quote:

• Local gas prices: Gas Price Watch, Gas Buddy. You can search both of these websites simultaneously via Yahoo!. Just go to Yahoo and enter the following into the search box:
  gas [your zip code]
  without the brackets. At the very top of the search list you'll see links to the 2 price comparison sites, who have already found your results when you click to them.

Many online merchants offer special discounts, but you need the "coupon code" to take advantage of them.   Two sites that list codes for specific merchants include Flamingoworld and FatWallet Savings are typically in the $10-$40 range.

You can also find deeply discounted items on eBay. You need not enter into the bidding process - some items are available for a fixed, "buy it now" price. Half.com, owned by eBay, is another source for good deals.


Evaluate Products and Merchants

If you're looking for product reviews or comparisons, Consumer Search compiles product reviews from various sources and summarizes reviewers' opinions.

Consumer opinions are posted at Epinions and also at Amazon

If you want to see ratings of online merchants before you buy, go to Bizrate or ResellerRatings.com.

eBay and Half.com show customer ratings for each seller. Before you place your order, make sure the seller has a good reputation.