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B R O W S I N G
On portals and price comparison engines
There's no shortage of sites aiming to help consumers figure out what to buy and where online to buy it. Google's Froogle.com seems to cast the widest net, and you can sort the returns by price. Yahoo's new Products Search works (and looks) just like it. MSN's shopping portal favors paying advertisers, but dig around and you'll find links to buying guides and bargains. New player Shopping.com merges DealTime's handy price comparison search tool with Epinions' consumer product reviews. For tech gear and electronics, CNET's new Digital Living info center will steer you straight and help you find the best price. In development: a shopping search engine from Amazon.com offshoot A9.
E B A Y
When you can't find it anywhere else
Every year is the same: the season's most popular toys vanish from retail store shelves, only to turn up on eBay. Savvy eBay sellers pick up on the trends early—easy to do when eBay posts its own hot list. They buy up stock and wait for the right time to strike—usually after the product has vanished from retail store shelves. So if the holidays are fast approaching, you can't find that Bratz Formal Funk Super Stylin' Runway Disco doll set anywhere and Peggy Sue simply has to have it, don't panic—and certainly don't rush to bid on the first one you find on the auction site. If an item is really hot, more than one merchant will be offering it. Plug the appropriate keywords into eBay's main search engine to pull up all the listings. Compare lowest acceptable bids, how the sellers plan to ship and how fast they can deliver. Look for the Buy It Now button, which lets you avoid bidding altogether. And read seller feedback ratings to make sure you're dealing with a straight shooter.
B A R G A I N S
Working the inventory close-out sites and other online discounters
Close-out sites like Overstock.com can yield some amazing deals, but they are hit-or-miss. Inventory can flip faster than a hotcake and new stuff is always coming in. Be careful when buying luxury goods at a discount; be especially wary if the offer makes your eyes pop. "If it's a current item, and something everybody wants, and it's super-discounted, then it's probably too good to be true," says Hillary Mendelsohn, author of thepurplebook, the definitive guide to exceptional online shopping (Bantam Books, October 2003). "If it's from two seasons ago, then you're probably getting the real deal." Look for authenticity guarantees. And if the site sells new goods but does not accept returns, that's a red flag.
W I N E
Getting around the restrictions
Thinking of giving wine as a gift? Online wine retailers can make it easy to choose the right bottle at the right price. But some states prohibit direct-to-consumer shipments from out-of-state merchants. Sherry-Lehmann and other well-run wine sites keep information about where they can and can't ship in plain sight, or let you check specific zip codes. California-based Wine.com, for example, is able to ship to New York, Florida and Arizona (three of the stricter states) because it fills those orders from its in-state warehouses. If you like a particular wine, but the wine site you're at can't ship it to your chosen destination, try another site. Or Google to find the website for the winery it comes from, and either place a direct order or ask about distributors in your locale.
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