Shop online and save money

A culture of choice
Cheaper prices aside, there are innumerable benefits to shopping online.

No matter what you’re after, however obscure, someone is bound to be selling it online.

Big internet-only retailers such as Amazon work out of large warehouses, which not only allows them to keep the overheads down (and therefore their prices low), but also makes it easier to keep high levels of stock – and not just popular stuff either.

Virtually limitless shelf space means that stores such as Amazon and Play.com are able to keep many less in-demand items that real-world shops simply don’t have room for. So, anyone who is fed up hearing the old shop assistant’s catchphrase “we can order it in for you” can cut out the middle man and order it for themselves.

The internet has well and truly opened up a global market for shoppers, with many online retailers around the world offering international shipping on their goods.

So, once again, if you can’t get hold of that little-known Italian arthouse movie from UK outlets, then go directly to the source – the Italian DVD outlet DVD Online and many like it will be more than happy to send the goods your way from their country of origin. Of course, online auctions and international shopping bring with them their own complications, more of which later.

Safety net
The big question that most people have when it comes to online shopping is usually ‘is it safe?’ We’d be lying if we said there weren’t any risks involved at all, but buying from the web is probably much more secure than you might think.

The truth is that internet crime’s reputation generally far outstretches its actual impact. A recent survey by Get Safe Online, for example, suggests that more than one in five people avoid online shopping altogether due to fears about safety.

In fact, figures from banking body Apacs demonstrate that overall credit card fraud in the UK decreased by three per cent last year, despite greatly increased spending online; shoppers spent as much as 42 per cent more on the net in 2007 compared to 2006, according to Get Safe Online, with an estimated £13bn spent online over Christmas.

That said, it is still necessary to remain wary of the problems that can occur while buying online. As well as worrying about the threat of being ripped off or having their identity stolen, internet shoppers may need to contend with delivery delays, disputes with damaged or incorrect items and, of course, whether or not your order will actually turn up in the first place.