Low End Mac Reader Specials

TypeStyler For Mac OS X is Now Shipping! Download The Free Fully Functional 60 Day Tryout at www.typestyler.com

Poker Mac Don't install Parallels to play poker online! Poker Mac will show you how to download and install a native Mac poker application such as Full Tilt Poker Mac.

Laptop Hardware Provided by TechRestore - Overnight Mac & iPod Repairs.

Compare products like desktop computers, apple laptops, apple macs, and LCD Monitors side by side! All the information and reviews to make the best purchasing decision for new mobile phones, sat nav systems, or MP3 players. The Ciao online shopping community makes searching products easy for you.

Mac Fallout Shelter

Tips for Shopping Online and Avoiding Problems

- 2006.02.07 - Tip Jar

Like many people today, I do most of my shopping online. In this article I'm going to share my firsthand account of different ways to shop online - what to be careful with and what to look for when shopping.

I must note I am not biased to any online store or site; I am just a shopper and user like any of you.

Auction

There are a few auctions sites still up like Yahoo! Auctions and uBid, but the big, respected player here is eBay. They make millions and have spent millions to keeping you safe. They use a feedback system, good authentication, and have their very own payment system, PayPal, in which they will guarantee your money back if something goes wrong in certain situations.

I high recommend you stick to PayPal and not give out your personal or credit information to strangers.

The things to look for when buying on eBay:

  • Verify the seller's feedback
  • Read everything in the auction
  • Ask questions before bidding
  • Use PayPal and only PayPal
  • Check if PayPal's buyer protection is included (it's only give to respectable sellers)
  • Check to see exactly the condition and items included in the auction
  • Don't overpay for shipping
  • If it's too good to be true, it's not real

Classifieds

Yes, we're including your local paper and online classifieds like Craigslist in this article. You must be careful and ask a lot of question before going to see the item. Test the item and make sure everything works before you buy it. Make sure you have cash on hand, and always try to bargain the seller to lowering his price.

Name Brand Stores

The big names list includes Amazon.com, Walmart, Best Buy, Buy.com, CDW, Apple, MacMall, and others. They are really good at keeping a nice site. They will tell you if they have the item in stock or not. They have good return policies and pretty good customer service if you encounter problems.

Some offer in-store pickup after you purchase it online, and some have free shipping. I recommend spending a few bucks more and sticking to a big brand seller for peace of mind.

No Name Brands

There are hundreds of thousands of stores on the Internet. Make sure you check out BizRate or similar sites that have customer reviews of online stores.

Be careful, because many sites will call you and try to sell you more stuff to add to your order and take a long time to ship your item.

Also see how their customer service department is, and make sure they have what you want in stock.

One thing to look for is make sure you read or ask to see what is included with your purchase and if it has a manufacturer's warranty. Many item sold online are overseas versions of the product and do not include a US warranty.

Like I said before, if it looks too good to be true, it might be. LEM

If you find Joe's articles helpful, please consider making a donation to his tip jar.

Recent Mac Fallout Shelter articles

Links for the Day

Recent Content on Low End Mac

Recent Deals

About LEM | Support | Usage | Privacy | Contacts

Mac Fallout Shelter articles copyright ©2005-07 by Joe Rivera. Entire Low End Mac website copyright ©1997-2009 by Cobweb Publishing, Inc., unless otherwise noted. All rights reserved. Advice presented in good faith, but what works for one may not work for all. Please report errors to .
  LINKS: We allow and encourage links to any public page as long as the linked page does not appear within a frame that prevents bookmarking it.
  Access our RSS news feed at http://lowendmac.com/feed.xml.
  Email may be published at our discretion; email addresses will not be published without permission, and we will encrypt them in hopes of avoiding spammers. If you prefer your message not be published, mark it "not for publication." Letters may be edited for length, context, and to match house style.
  PRIVACY: We don't collect personal information unless you explicitly provide it. For more details, see our Terms of Use.
  Low End Mac is an independent publication and has not been authorized, sponsored, or otherwise approved by Apple Inc. Apple, the Apple logo, Macintosh, iBook, iMac, eMac, iPod, iPhone, PowerBook, MacBook, MagSafe, Mac Pro, Apple TV, and AirPort are registered trademarks of Apple Inc. Additional company and product names may be trademarks or registered trademarks and are hereby acknowledged.

Custom Search

Amazon.com

Navigation

Used Mac Dealers
Apple History
Video Cards
Email Lists

Favorite Sites

MacSurfer
MacMinute
MacInTouch
MyAppleMenu
InfoMac
Macs Only!
The Mac Observer
Accelerate Your Mac
RetroMacCast
PB Central
MacWindows
The Vintage Mac
   Museum
DealMac
DealsOnTheWeb
Mac2Sell
ramseeker
Mac Driver Museum
JAG's House
System 6 Heaven
System 7 Today
the pickle's Low-End
   Mac FAQ
Abandonware
   Petition
Mac vs. PC Info

Affiliates

The Apple Store
Mac Connection
B&H
MacMall
TechRestore
ExperCom
Crucial Memory
batteries.com

Advertise

All of our advertising is handled by BackBeat Media. For price quotes and advertising information, please contact at BackBeat Media (646-546-5194). This number is for advertising only.

Open Link

Problems viewing this page with Internet Explorer 5.5 or 6? It works fine in other browsers, including IE 7. We recommend Firefox for those using Windows, as it is standards based and more secure than IE 6 (and earlier). More LEM visitors use Firefox than any other browser.