Online Shopping
|September 21st, 2008|
Yesterday, I searched online for an hour and I ordered 22 Inch Widescreen Acer monitor with blazingly fast 2 ms response time, then I bought sennheiser headphones but guess what It’s frigging wireless, it’s pretty expensive one(there are $20 cheap wireless non-branded every here and there).. ahh.. then, I bought myself latest Geforce 9600GT DDR3 PCIe card(for all those graphic intensive works). I needed some more RAM for my self-assembled PC so, I ordered 2 x 1 GB Kingston PC2 5300 memory cards. I also bought foldable plastic keyboards and wireless Mouse/Keyboards to stay away from those jungles of wires and rests are some household stuffs.. Phew.. I’m spending a lot these days. As written before, I still have to buy Canon HG10 and then I’m done for a year. I ordered it but I found somewhere a lot cheaper than that. So, I cancelled old one but to that new store, it was out-of-stock. I’ve given them my email, once it’s on stock, I’ll jump on it. Just waiting.
These days, I’m occupied with Online Shopping. Online shopping is giving me so much options than the real life shopping. If I went to a store, I’m just limited with their products and I’m usually left with no more choices except wandering here and there, .. that’s heck of a trouble. Unless something comes up, I’ve decided not to buy anything here in store but online.
Some of the reasons that I think real shopping doesn’t suit me:
1. Waste of time(windows shopping,walk past stores, spend heck of a time then finally switch to the same place I had seen first and make purchase there. Why would I needed to buy there? well… many times, that’s what I felt)
2. Waste of Gas(I don’t have car yet, but If I had, it’s total waste of gas for driving) I though pay for bus fares. Who would count the motion sickness , that I sometimes face. Watever, my point is about the waste of energy.
3. Unavailability of the products. That happened to me, I called store guy over the phone, one of those Dukes told me they had it on the stock, when I went there, They didn’t have. You wouldn’t believe How was my reaction. I was cursing myself first for being so jerk.
4. Crazy people: Believe it or not, You’ll face many times such people who don’t know what they are selling. I hate to find myself in such situations.
5. Expensive: Herein Santa Cruz, if I buy a thing, it’ll cost me a lot because, they’ll include their shipping cost/rental charges and blah blah. But if I buy it directly from the location of manufacturers, it’ll cost me lot lot cheaper. So, I avoid real shopping except for groceries.
Why I love online shopping:
1. Varieties of choices: I’m not limited to only one manufacturer’s products. Virtually, I can check a product from different manufacturers at one place, i.e at my browser..
2. Reviews: I’ve formed a habit of reading reviews first and then making purchases. Online shopping helps me to read what other people say about the products. That’s one of the wonderful thing not to overlook. This has helped me to get quality products. Sometimes I read about negative notion, what you see may not be the what you get but before that, make sure what you are paying for and how much you are paying for. So, that ‘HOW MUCH’ matters a lot. Filthy products look good on those web pages, but check out how much you are paying for. Don’t expect to get for what you’ve not paid for.
3. Ease of payments: The only requirement is one has to have credit card. Most of the credit card victims are computer illiterate. No offense, I actually meant to someone technologically not inclined. I suggest everyone to search on how credit card works, what to do if credit cards get stolen and How to check regularly one’s account status. Everyday, I check online whats going on my bank account, I’ve setup a thing or two in such that when anything happens to my account like some expenses or any charge up, I’m sent email alerts instantaneously. On this regard, I’m very much watchful. I pay my credit card due online. That’s time effective. And, when I see this many benefits, I stand zero second to use it online.
4. Saves Time and Gas: I’ve no more words on this, it definitely saves time and gas. That’s the bottomline.
5. Shipping cost: Shipping cost is nominal as compared to the cost of traveling back and forth. I still remember the incident when I went with my friend to get one computer part at Sunnyvale’s FRY’s Electronic store. It was always 1 hour go and 1 hour come journey. It nearly cost me around $115 for the part but my friend has to burn some $25 worth gas. So, it was about $140 expenses plus the cost of travelling and the time spent. I came back, checked it out on their site, and found out: that particular product, they were giving free ground shipping. uhhh..
6. Fun: You know what, Its so pleasurable to unbox the things even if you know it has something in it that you already knew of. I really love unwrapping things, it’s so much fun. That’s why I love gift.. unwrapping gifts to check out what’s in it is so much fun. 
And, online shopping usually get me wrapped gift-like boxes.
7. Surprise: If you know it’s your father’s birthday, give him surprise. Make it to the same shipping address except his name printed on it. He’ll be so surprised. That’s what I did. There are so many online shopping sites which give you option for gift wrapping and wonder words they’ll put for you on your demand. Cool hah??
8. I just couldn’t remember other good things but as soon as I remember, I’ll update it 
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How to play Safe:
If you are not that tech-savvy, most of the time, you’ll be in trouble. Make sure, the site where you are putting your credit card and personal informations is fully encrypted. Check if there is LOCK icon lying on the browser’s task bar on lower right. And make sure, ‘https’ is there instead of ‘http’ on web addressbar location. Rest is search for the site’s review on Internet. Use your logic and common sense, you’ll be safe.
The only thing that sucks is waiting for the things to get arrived. blyahhhhhhhhhhh
September 22nd, 2008 at 6:52 am
i love online shopping! for the same reason as you…and no hassle that’s the most important..
shipping is costly though…
hmmmn…you’re buying stuff again! and you want me to believe u’r not earning a lot?
September 23rd, 2008 at 10:27 pm
webby, I think these stuffs are not that big reasons to prove someone is earning a lot.. what do you say??
September 24th, 2008 at 11:59 pm
ah well…I figured you have a credit card…and let me tell you if ever you have one you’ll be in debt by the time you’re 35..since you’re buying a lot of stuff…
I agree with you.
We actually have a belief/saying that if you’re spending much you’re probably earning a lot. something like that.