Shop Online (eBook)

Richard Seltzer (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2018
375 Seiten
Seltzer Books (Verlag)
978-1-4554-4813-5 (ISBN)

Infos

Practical advice for online shopping and retailing. Based on the book 'Shop Online the Lazy Way' by Richard Seltzer, published in 1999 by Macmillan. Business on the Internet changes quickly. New companies apear, and old ones disappear. Many of the companies names and URLs pointed to no longer exist. But the underlying principles and advice discussed in this book remain true.

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Practical advice for online shopping and retailing. Based on the book "e;Shop Online the Lazy Way"e; by Richard Seltzer, published in 1999 by Macmillan. Business on the Internet changes quickly. New companies apear, and old ones disappear. Many of the companies names and URLs pointed to no longer exist. But the underlying principles and advice discussed in this book remain true.

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Sidebars For This Chapter

All travelled out? Want to enjoy a few cartoons about the hassles of travel and maybe email them to your friends? Go to 1travel.com www.1travel.com/postcard/card.htm.

Would you rather go by bus? Surprisingly, bus companies get short shrift or no shrift at all at travel-related Web sites. If you want to check this low-cost alternative, you can get a list of bus company Web sites at Yahoo dir.yahoo.com/Business_and_Economy/Companies/Transportation/Buses/Bus_Lines

Want to see some background on the travel company you are about to do business with? Then check the "scorecard" on 22 top travel sites at Gomez www.gomez.com.

Do you like ghost movies? If so, maybe you'd like a night at a ghost-infested hotel. travel.yahoo.com/Destinations/Activity/Cruises_and_Adventure_Tours/Paranormal_Phenomenon/

Want a list of all the essential numbers to help you do currency conversion in your destination country? Go to Cheat Sheet* for Travelers www.oanda.com/converter/travel

Need to phone home? Rent cellular and satellite phones, worldwide, at Action Cellular Rent-a-Phone www.globalphone.net.

Do you want the toll-free phone numbers of airlines, hotels, cruise lines, rental car companies, and tour operators? Go to the list of travel-related links at Traveler's Net www.travelersnet.com/links.

Might you be interested in a train ride through South Africa with a steam locomotive? Check a site run by individuals who want to preserve the tradition of train travel in South Africa www.ru.ac.za/departments/iwr/staff/daf/tt/timetabl.html.

Want to plan some special nights out at restaurants during your vacation or business trip? Check DineNet Menus Online www.menusonline.com for a national restaurant directory, with full menus.

Are you planning on traveling with kids? A few words of advice might turn a potential nightmare into a wonderful experience. Check the articles and tips at About.com travelwithkids.about.com. And from there, check their recommendations for "Top Family Vacations."

Are you over 50 and interested in exchanging your home with another family for a vacation? Then check Senior Vacation and Home Exchange www.seniorshomeexchange.com. They currently have over 600 listings in 30 countries.

Would you like to see wildlife in its natural habitat? How about an excursion to Mongolia? Check World Wildlife Fund Travel www.wwfus.org/travel.

Do you want to save postage on postcards? Go to Travel Preview (www.travelpreview.com) and send digital postcards for free from their site. The recipient gets email saying to check a specific URL where they'll find the photo you chose, together with your personal message. To be wickedly lazy, send the postcards before you leave on your trip--take care of your social obligations quickly and easily, and then you can forget everyone but yourself while you're gone.

Chapter Seven: Food

The major online grocery supermarkets are set up to provide the most benefit to those who buy a lot of items at a time and return frequently. They offer convenience and time savings, at reasonable but not cut-rate prices. And, typically, delivery charges more than wipe out the savings from any "specials" unless your order is large enough to qualify for free delivery.

If you are the sort of person who doesn't put much value on time savings, uses lots of coupons, and goes to two or three different real-world grocery stores a week in order to chase the lowest prices, don't bother with the online supermarkets. Do it your way.

If there are gourmet treats that you crave for yourself or would like to buy as a gift, and that aren't available locally, check the online specialty food shops. Once again, you aren't likely to find bargains. A discount of 20 percent off doesn't mean much for relatively low-priced items if you then have to add shipping charges. But you might be able to quickly and conveniently purchase merchandise that otherwise would be very hard to find, except by catalog or while traveling.

Getting Started: Indulge Yourself With A Gourmet Treat

An online shopping trip for hard-to-find foods would be a good way to get started. Once you've bought a few items of this kind, you will probably feel far more comfortable trying an online supermarket for your regular weekly groceries.

For the cheese lover, consider International Gourmet's World of Cheese www.igourmet.com. There you can sign up for the Cheese of the Month and get "a different, exciting world-class gourmet cheese at the beginning of every new month!" You can also order individual items, check cheese-related recipes, and chat with other cheese lovers.

For fresh or smoked seafood shipped overnight from Florida, check Shore to Door Seafood www.shoretodoor.com. That's where you can find Atlantic salmon, swordfish, yellowfin tuna, etc. Shore to Door also offers almost every type of fresh seafood you could ever crave, from stone crab claws in season, to Gulf-fresh shrimp, to live Maine lobster. All items are shipped fresh to your door for a truly gourmet treat. What's your preference?

If you are more interested in health than taste, and if you are particularly concerned about the use of pesticides and other chemicals, you should take a look at the vegetables and fruits available from Diamond Organic www.diamondorganics.com. There you can take a guided tour of the family farm, and meet the family as well as view the produce. To get started, you can order a variety of samplers for about $50, including overnight Federal Express delivery.

Do you crave the perfect cut of beef? Then consider specialty grocers Dean & Deluca www.dean-deluca.com. At this Web site, you can find a 12-lb., bone-in rib roast for $150 or six 10-oz. filet mignon steaks for $80. You'll have to add on shipping, of course--$10 for standard 7--10 day delivery of that filet mignon and $30 for UPS next-day delivery. Dean & Deluca also offers caviar, smoked fish, cakes, pastries, fruits, and many other items. If you are a connoisseur of fine apples, perhaps you'd like their apple sampler (10-lb., 12 apples) for $45, plus shipping.

Are you just dying for goat cheese in oil or white truffles? Then try the "Delicacies" area at Balducci's www.balducci.com. You can also get canned anchovies in their "Specialties" area and a wide variety of homemade pastas and sauces in their "Pasta" section.

In addition to pastas, Balducci's also offers completely prepared entrees, like rack of lamb or chateaubriand, ready to put into your oven and complete with the necessary instructions to finish cooking the entrée items. Buying ready-to-cook gourmet items changes the whole process for busy people who like to entertain.

For more exotic recipes, like potato-and-goat-cheese galette, check Cooking.com www.cooking.com. This site provides complete cooking instructions, including steps and related details, as well as nutritional analysis. Unfortunately, you'll have to shop for the ingredients elsewhere. While the site does sell some specialty foods, including pastas, herbs, salsas, and dips, these ingredients are not correlated with the recipes. Cooking.com's main line of products appears to be cookware, tableware, and cookbooks.

Frieda's www.friedas.com offers Asian and Latin produce, along with exotic fruits and nuts from around the world.

GreatFood.com www.greatfood.com lets you browse by category, brand, review, or meal occasion (such as "back packing, barbecue, beach party[el], cocktail party). This site also has a gift finder where your choices are arranged by price range, in case you'd like to send some Beluga caviar to your aunt in Poughkeepsie.

For herbal tea, including a Tea of the Month offer, visit Snowbound Herbals www.sbherbals.com. This site's related products include herbal oils, salves, and massage oils. Here you'll also find lots of articles related to herbs and teas and how they can benefit your health.

If you want to buy wine or beer online, keep in mind that all deliveries will require an adult signature. As they say at Virtual Vineyards www.virtualvin.com, "Someone of legal age must be at the shipping address during the day to sign for and accept the packages. Packages cannot be left without the signature of an adult." This procedure is intended to prevent minors from buying alcoholic beverages online, and is necessary to comply with state laws. Other online wine dealers include K&L Wine Merchants www.klwines.com and SendWine www.sendwine.com which are set up primarily to handle gift purchases and corporate or multiple orders.

To find an online store that offers the specialty that meets your individual taste, try going to Yahoo! www.yahoo.com; in the query box on the opening page, type the name of the item you want. For instance, enter "Amish food" and then click on the first link, and you'll get three choices--one in Pennsylvania Dutch country and the other two in Illinois. Or enter "lobster" and click on the first link, and you'll get a list of dozens of suppliers. As an alternative route, you can go through the cascade of menus at Yahoo!, clicking first on Business and Economy, then Companies, then Food, and continue down whatever path strikes your fancy. To browse for gourmet, special food, wine, and beer stores at Looksmart www.looksmart.com, click on Shopping, then Food & Wine.

Buying Your Weekly Groceries

Why would you ever want to do your regular grocery shopping on the Internet? The store you always go to is only half a mile away, and you know where--aisle and shelf--to look for just about everything you are likely to buy. You could dash over there, fill...

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 23.9.2018
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Wirtschaft ► Volkswirtschaftslehre
• Schlagworte: Online Retail • Shopping • starting online business
• ISBN-10: 1-4554-4813-3 / 1455448133
• ISBN-13: 978-1-4554-4813-5 / 9781455448135