Who is the author of this article? What online web sites to use? From which companies can you buy? From whom should you read the advice?

I am twenty seven year old man living in the suburb of Chicago and working as a bookkeeper. I graduated from DePaul University with the degree in Economics. I studied HTML, and few other subjects at Solex Computer Academy. I have approximately four years experience with the Internet as a user. I am not afraid to give you the personal information about me. I am single, Russian Jew from Minsk. I came to the Chicago land approximately eight years ago and now I am the US citizen. Do I have enough knowledge to give you an advise which web sites to visit and from which to buy? I am an Internet user like you. I believe that my personal experience and my limited research will be a help to you, my online friend. Why do I have the desire to help the user? It is a mitzvah to do good stuff. I will not receive money from the article, but maybe my interests toward the online market will be of interests to established companies like AC Nielson, BizRate, PriceScan, BankRate, Cnet, Consumer Report, etc. and they will hire me as a consultant. There are dozens of books about Internet use, and thousands of articles. I am sure that one more article will not hurt you. I bought only few used books from Amazon.com. Most of the time I purchase from Wal-Mart, Jewel, Home Depot, and few other local shops.

Sometimes, the smart customer must visit Internet before he buys stuff even from the local company. How to know the best checking account? There are dozens of companies in the area. There are thousands of companies in the USA. You will save time and money, if you visit BankRate, and your local banks online first rather then driving all over the town and making hundreds of calls. The same holds true about money market accounts and CDs. For the rich and curious friends, I believe that Internet is more convenient then your investment advisor. You can watch your investments 24/7 and do trading yourself. No more phone calls to the middleman and commission to him. Sharebuilder is one company that I know help you to get started.

Books are also popular on the web. Usually Internet is used for research and comparison, and after the research customer goes to the local physical store. In books, it was different for me. I went to my local Barnes and Nobles and looked through books and their prices and bought the used ones from Amazon for half the price. There are other companies that are not that worse then Amazon.com. There is also a web site of comparison prices of the same books, which are sold from different web sites like allbookstore.com

Auctions, rare and used stuff are another hot area. EBay is just one auction site. It seems like you save time and money if you buy online. I bought from individual sellers of books without any problem. Yet, I heard horror stories from the radio that somebody ripped off somebody. Well, deal with secure site that has a lock symbol on your bottom right side. I think VerisSign symbol is good idea too. Amazon promises that they have a good secure site. I don’t know. I am not Amazon security web master and I am not hacker. I just feel more comfortable with Amazon then with a site who has only one ugly page with no address and phone number and no security credentials and whose owner lives in Hong Cong.

How to visit only best sites and always be happy? The only 100% protection that you will not get disappointed from the seller is to never visit him. The truth is that as long as a person lives other people surround him. Some has desire to help him, some has desire to hurt him, and the majority do not care. Sellers are in business because they want your money. Majority of them want your money legally because they want to have a good sleep at home without any problems with the conscience You have a choice to ignore them, to talk to them or to buy from them, or all of the above. If you extremely like adventures, trouble, and buying on impulse and not thinking about the purchases you made you can buy from any sites. I just don’t think that you will have a lot of money in a long run. Well, what to do if the online seller or web site rip you off? Complain to the state agencies like Better Business Bureau and the one, which regulates the seller industry. Sue them in small claim court in pro se case. Write to you local and national elective politicians. Write to President of the USA and the Secretary of the UN. Complain to rabbi, mullah, shaman, or Christian priests. Complain to family and friends. Make your own justice. I believe that words are capable to accomplish more then guns. Yet, if physical violence is the way to solve disputes in your community, you don’t need my article at all.

What are the criteria for the good web site? You are the judge. It is about your personal preferences. I can only give you a difference between established and just a start up company. I believe that well-known companies are trusted more. I check out dozens of web sites which offer work at home schemes. I found out through Regiter.com that often the owner of the site is not from the US, it is a person, not a company, and often these web sites disappear from the web and come back under different name.
1. BBB member logo.
Check out bbb site if you want to understand more why the better business is important
2. Secure sign lock symbol.
You all heard about hackers and how easy for them to steal your personal information. Make an extra step to security.
3. Physical address of the company.
You want a good refund policy and you need to know where to send bad product.
4. Years in business.
Majority of start up fail within their first few years. Again, you want to refund your product if you don’t like it.
5. Number of pages.
By number of pages I mean of web pages with the same company name on your status bar. You typed xyz.com www.geocitis.com/xyz. So, if you see that there are no links to other pages, this site has only 1 page. Or it can give you a link to cnn.com. It still only 1 page. I am very careful before I buy from sub domains of geocities, tripod, angelfire, webSamba, dlxdomain, hypermart, etc. It costs nothing in order to have these sites. Any guy can have it. Yet, just the fact that he is an individual does not mean that he is a crook. Just be careful, If you are offered the same product from an individual and a big store, from which one will you buy? The same logic goes to the web. I want to have a good refund policy. I want to find a seller.
6. Information about this company in business directories and mass media.
It is about the registration of the business and the ability to protect your money. If nobody heard about this company, it maybe a bad sign.

The above points is how to avoid a clear cut fraud and understanding that shopping blindly and thinking that somebody should protect you is not the best way of shopping. Lets talk about aesthetics and easy to use.
1. Process of your credit card.
Amazon claim that it is a one click shop. I checked out other sites, and they are quick too.
2. Web site design. If it is too ugly, scary, and weird to you, don’t go there unless you are a private spy. If the music starts playing and plug in messages all over you, be careful with these sites. I don‘t download from companies, which I don’t know. We all know about the computer viruses through download. Also about pop-up windows every seconds. It is not your PC fault for 10 windows, it the site to which you went. Also about the flashy stuff and banners of moving images. If it distracts you or bad for the eyes, do not use these sites.
3. Where is the address of the company? The closer to home the company, the less time and money will be shipping costs, and the ability to complain in person.
4. Your Privacy. Be careful before you give your email to anybody. You may receive 100 emails per day from unknown people, and will be forced to close the email and try to have another one. Don’t write your social security to anybody. Be creative and keep records of your passwords in a secure place. We all heard about thieves of credit cards and stolen identity.
5. Shipping costs, how quickly you get. What shipping companies do they use? Do you use UPS if you live in the suburb of Chicago like Waukegan and work in downtown Chicago? To which address do you write the receiver name? Your home? Your work? If you order a TV or computer monitor, you better use USPS or some other address. UPS needs somebody at home during business hours. You will not transport TV from downtown Chicago to your home if you use train. Well, if you have strong muscles…What will your boss will think when he sees that you do your personal stuff during the work hours? So, think about it. Think also about shipping costs back if you are not satisfied with the purchase.

It is time to wrap up the article. Maybe some day, I will give you a deep statistical analysis about each company. For right now, I encourage you to go to your local library and read Consumer Reports and do a business search there. I am sorry for using “he” instead of “she”. Anyway, good luck to you and best of all.