Online Shopping Guides

Online Shopping Guides is especially for you if you are reluctant, or new to shopping online; I want to show you that it is not that hard, and you CAN shop securely online. You may just need some simple steps, (and maybe some hand-holding), as you learn to shop online safely and smartly. Online-Shopping-Guides.com is a kind and friendly online guide.

I explain things in easy-to-follow directions, and provide mature observations and recommendations on sites and products - all coming from the perspective of a frugal and discerning shopper with strong ethical principles.

Most shopping sites, including those that compare products' prices, just aim to make you a customer. I certainly don't want to discourage you from buying online. Hey, it's fun, and can even be profitable. I also have some things to recommend to you. But I want to help you mind your manners, ethics, and budget, as well as to shop securely and make the smartest purchases.

Coming from a poor Mennonite family on the Canadian prairies, with a Mom who was sickly most of my life, and a Dad who could only get labourer jobs, I have learned to be frugal and resourceful and creative about getting the things I needed or wanted. Now I make my living on the internet and find I can apply those habits and principles even here to get ahead.

I think the internet seems scary at first because it appears to be so impersonal, so filled with technological tricks - (that is, things happen so quickly), and where are all those people you are used to dealing with face to face in the offline world?

Guess what! They are here too, and if you learn to find the people behind a shopping site, - or at least assume they are there - you will become much more comfortable shopping online. In the end your little village (small circle of contacts) opens up to a huge international city where anyone and everyone can become someone you know. Not necessarily trust, mind you. Trust is built over time.

Just as in your home-town area, you know enough to keep away from certain 'tough streets' and to discern who is safe to talk to and do business with, so you can learn the skills to be that discerning on the internet too. I should know; I first tip-toed nervously onto the internet in January of 1999. After a few months my shoulders relaxed and I felt at home in this much larger world. But I know my experiences have been fairly good because I brought my manners, my wits, my Christian ethics and my frugal shopping habits with me. There's still always more to learn, but I think I'm a suitable Guide for you.

Would you like to learn from me and my Online Shopping Guides here?

Great! Thanks! Let's go on, then.

Good Reasons for Shopping Online

The convenience!

The world-wide selection!

The savings!

Comparison shopping can be more thorough

Avoid physical exhaustion or burning feet

Miraculous blessing if you are handicapped

Save gas and wear on vehicle - or bus tickets and transfers - or (gasp!) expensive taxi fares!

No embarassment if you change your mind at the last minute!

7 Simple Steps for Shopping Online:

You will find a number of helpful online shopping guides and useful information, and good links on this site, but if we were to boil it down to the most basic outline for those who are brand new to shopping on the internet, then these 7 Steps would be a condensed online shopping guide;

1. Browse or search for what you want to buy.

2. Decide on which online store to use - the hardest part!

3. Double-check to make sure it is the BEST buy and at a SECURE online store.

4. Click your chosen item(s) and click on the shopping cart button to fill out form with your payment information.

5. Click "Checkout" button, wait... a bit

6. When your purchase is acknowledged, print out your receipt as shown on the screen.

7. Download the item, if it was a digital purchase, OR wait a few days for delivery of hard goods items.

It really boils down to such very simple steps. But we go into much more detail on this site! It can get to be so much fun, and oh-- the money you can save! Even EARN!

Just as you have discovered certain stores or malls in your city, or one near you, and you keep going back because you usually have success shopping there, so also, in the online world there are malls with unique features. Because the world is able to come into their doors online - these online shops have the volume in sales advantage. They can offer far more selection at far better prices.

Not only all that, but there are ways to take advantage of one simple action, that allows you to make a profit on things you buy locally, like your groceries and gasoline for your car, - but I'm running ahead of myself.

Still Reluctant to Shop Online?

There are two main reasons you might hesitate - even be reluctant to shop online:

1. You may be new to computers and feel you don't understand the technology.

2. You may be afraid of being ripped off by strangers.

Yes, it's true. Naive people do lose money online!

Both reasons imply a lack of knowledge. This little manual (online shopping guides site) will show you how SIMPLE it is to shop online, but how to do it SAFELY.

There are precautions to take, and I can demystify the process for you.

Besides, you could shop smarter and save money on every purchase, and even make some money back! Want to see? :)

I'll be happy to show you!

My Most Basic Online Shopping Guides

More about the basics of shopping online (or use the top links on the left side of each page).

More about secure online shopping. Handling the payments and money side of things. (Second section of links on the left column).

How to Get Cash BACK! when you shop online.

Grocery shopping from home is one kind of online shopping.

Research First! - how to look for and find products and stores online.

Stores & Shops - how to find good, reliable stores that carry what you are looking for now.

Comparison Shopping - the art of surveying the products at different sites, and deciding on the best product for your purchase.

Finding Prescription Eyeglasses online - what you need to know about using features at eyeglasses sites.

If you get to be a Power Shopper - you may want to make a business of it.

New! Comments

Have your say about what you just read! Leave me a comment in the box below.

More & Deeper

Shopping Guide BLOG - keeps you up-to-date with the most recent pages and information added to this site, check it each time you visit for what's new here. Bookmark it.

7 Steps to Shop Online - Here are more detailed steps for how to shop online, simple enough so that if you can read and follow instructions, you should be able to do it easily enough. You'll gain confidence as you shop online more and more often.

Advantages! - besides the many obvious advantages, here are suggestions for how to turn the disadvantages into your most favourite advantages.

Dis-Advantages? Transforming disadvantages of shopping online into real advantages of shopping online? Yes, you can!

Research First! - find out about the product you want to purchase and also the online stores or shops that offer it - to get the best deal possible.

Stores & Shops - before you start shopping wildly online - there are places to avoid - and there are places that are excellent. Learn to find out which a prospective shopping site is before you use it.

Comparison Shopping - An introduction to Comparison Shopping sites or engines, and how to use them to find the best deals for your online shopping.

Best Deals by Seasons - Wait, if you can, until the time of year when that item has the best discount sales.

Consumer Reports - is a resource for choosing the best products to buy in North America.

Handling Payments

Secure Online Shopping criteria, and good habits to form that will keep you safe as you enter the exciting world of online shopping.

Shopping Online with Credit Cards does not have to be scary; if you are informed and ethical, and conscientious you can safely shop with your credit card online.

Shopping Online with Gift Cards - there are serious pros and cons to weigh before you start shopping online with gift cards.

Shopping Online WITHOUT credit cards - I can assure you from personal experience that there are several ways to shop online without credit cards at all; and I may not even have found all the ways.

Shopping online with PayPal - Reassuring facts about shopping online with PayPal to give you peace of mind.

Download your purchase of e-book, software, membership - here are detailed instructions for downloading your e-book, software, or membership access, and some extra security notes for protecting your purchases.

Invoice Troubleshooting - It's good to know what to do about receipts, or online invoices - troubleshooting when things go wrong. Even though we all hope it never happens, it sometimes does, and knowing what steps to take can make a world of a difference.

Need Shopping Money? - Here are two potentially profitable ways to get it through a small business effort on the side.

Grocery Shopping Online - Discoveries about Grocery Shopping Online in the UK, USA and Canada, including short reviews of the first flush of such sites found.

Grocery Shopping Online in Canada - with some basic information on the online grocery stores listed here to get you started.

Grocery Shopping Online in USA with descriptions and reviews of some national and regional grocery shopping sites that can deliver groceries to your door.

Grocery Shopping Online in UK - and the results of my search for such online grocery sites in that country. At first I thought they had a corner on this novel idea.

Need to send a Personal Shopper for your groceries? - Tips to either arrange for a personal shopper to do it for you, or for you to offer to be a personal shopper for others.

A Power Shopper, - and how to become one in several stages as you develop your online shopping skills.

Suggestions for setting up your own personal shopper business, - where you use your skills on behalf of those who do not have time or otherwise cannot shop for themselves.

Site Basics

About the Owner - You want to know about the owner of this site to help determine how much to trust the information found here, right? Well . . . I think what I can offer you is integrity and persistence - yes, tremendous tenacity.

Reach Ruth - Looking for how to reach Ruth Friesen, the owner of this website? This is the page and the best method.

Privacy Policy - Yes, the Online-Shopping-Guides.com site has a Privacy Policy to protect YOU.

Layout Map - An outline to act as a map of this site if you should get lost.

G---o-----s---h---o---p---p---i---n---g & TAKE The Customer Advantage!

Home - Online Shopping Guides is especially for the reluctant and those new to shopping online; I want to show you that it is not that hard, and you CAN shop securely online. 'Home' is the default entry point and index for this website.