5 Ways To Make Christmas Shopping Merry

#1) Do Your Christmas Shopping Online!

Right about now you're beak is wide open like a baby Blue Jay awaiting food from its mamma! "That &%$#@! warned me not to shop online just one article ago!" Well, what I really meant, was to alarm you to the pitfalls of online shopping, not turn you off to it all together. Actually, the Web is the BEST place to shop. Remember that shopping does not necessarily mean buying!

You won't find a better resource than the Web for price comparison and hunting down hard to find items. You can use the Web to cut down on the time it takes you to actually make a successful purchase. You can use powerful search engines to find goods and services. You can use online resources to check the validity of Web sites and retail outlets as well. You can join consumer watch dog groups and subscribe to consumer news letters that update you to the latest goods & services scams and get vital information on product ratings and the best deals.

You don't need to get out in to rush-hour traffic and do battle with uninsured motorist who are too busy singing along to "Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer" on the radio to pay attention to the road. There are no on-strike disgruntled shopping mall Santa's drunk on Eggnog and lined up in front of your favorite store shouting obscenities and chanting the "Teamsters Union" creed. Last but not least there's no snotty-nosed, pimple faced 17 year old kid telling you, "I'll open up my line in a minute, just keep your Tommy Hillfigure on!"

#2) Don't Do Your Shopping at The Last Moment!

Go ahead and break tradition, I dare you! Watch the smiles on your love ones faces when they actually get to open their 2001 Christmas gifts during 2001. After ordering goods online, you do have to wait for them to arrive at your front door. However, most of the shipping times (provided you're dealing with a reputable establishment) are reasonable. During the off-season, it's not uncommon to have packages arrive 48-72 hours after ordering them (if you live in the U.S.). If you live in a major country and purchase from Web sites owned and operated by fellow countrymen, you should normally get your goods within 10 business days. You should add an additional week to the 10 day average if you are having something shipped internationally.

However, these numbers greatly increase during the holiday season. Mail order was always notorious for the infamous (4 to 6 week) rule. Thankfully, Web entities usually use sophisticated software that integrates the databases for purchasing and shipping departments. This streamlines the whole process on a 24-hour/day basis. Usually, the only hick-up is the actual physical mail service and back-ordered merchandise. Therefore, you should have your order placed at least 3 weeks before the day you need merchandise to arrive and remember that there will be no delivery on Christmas day!

#3) Don't Spend Large Sums of Money with Virtual Willie!

Most online merchants claim to have the best goods and services at the best prices. Therefore, it's up to you to check into the validity of the site and their claims. If you're new to the Internet and computers and you decide to shop online, it might be best if you choose merchants that have a strong off-line reputation. Use merchants who have retail outlets in the real world and have been around long enough to have a track record that reflects their ability to satisfy the customer. Find out if their on-line store front is integrated with their off-line store front, this may give you the ability to take merchandise purchased from their Web site back to their local outlet (provided the need arises).

If you choose to do business with a merchant that does not have an off-line establishment or reputation you should be careful. Try using the more popular Web merchants. I won't bore you by mentioning their names, you are probably familiar with seeing their dot.com names splattered all over the city you live in and during the commercial breaks of your favorite shows. If for some reason you choose to do business with Virtual Willie (some site you know nothing about) then be sure to verify their existence. Find their contact page; use the information found there to send them email. Try and place a phone call to see whom answers. Pay a visit to the Better Business Bureau Online. See if you can find any information about the establishment using their resources. If you can't satisfy yourself to their validity, don't buy from them!

#4) Always Check Merchant Policies before You Need To Use Them!

If they have no merchant policies don't shop there! If they do have policies, make sure you read them carefully and print one copy out and save another copy to your hard drive. If you don't have a printer, you should save a copy of the policies to removable storage media (floppy-disk, CDR, other). Make sure you understand any and all information pertaining to warrantees, guarantees, refunds, exchanges and credits as well as shipping and handling charges.

Shipping & handling charges are especially important. Many consumers find what seems to be a bargain because it's $10 cheaper than at an off-line retailer. However, after adding shipping and handling charges, it ends up being a couple of dollars more! If you start shopping online too late, you may have to get "special shipping" such as "overnight" or "express" in order to get the merchandise to your door before Christmas. You should know that usually, this costs a tremendous amount of money and could skyrocket the cost of your Christmas gift/gifts.

It is also especially important to pay close attention to "return policies". You should find answers to questions such as; does the merchant accept returns? Who pays the shipping and handling charge on returns, you or the merchant? Should the consumer have merchandise to be returned insured? Will the merchant reimburse for merchandise returned insured? Some of these questions are more relevant than others are, but each of them is a legitimate concern. Returning merchandise in a safe and efficient manner can be expensive when it has to be shipped, especially if the shipping will be international. You should know how much of the "return" burden is on your shoulders before you buy from the merchant.

#5) Don't Send Virtual Christmas Cards! (Send a fruit cake instead)

Who eats fruitcake anyway, no--I mean really, who eats it? Even though the origins of fruitcake are unknown, sending one to love ones is a better idea than sending a virtual Christmas card. That is a novelty that has worn out it's welcome in the online community. Our physical mailboxes are just fine for Christmas cards. A real card that bares Christmas themes, pictures and personal messages adds a warm addition to the family room or mantle. Virtual cards just don't compare (even if they print them out). Besides, the Internet is full of junk email messages that clog up Net traffic and congest mail servers.

You're doing all of us who use the Net a big favor when you keep your email file sizes small. Virtual cards with blinking text, animated GIFs and musical rhapsodies hog Net realty and only end up being deleted shortly after receipt. Add to this the fact that we now have a serious problem with virus transmission in the online community. Many computer users are less than computer savvy. Virus & firewall protection updates are not on the agenda of the average consumer. Therefore many computer users unknowingly and unwittingly help spread computer viruses.

These viruses can exist on your system and use your email program to send infectious emails to your family and friends or anyone's email address contained in your email address book. Undoubtedly, many computer virus authors will take advantage of the increased mail traffic during the holiday season. They will be hard at work authoring viruses that attach themselves to holiday mail. There may even be virtual cards sold from bogus business entities that come with viruses already attached. A hacker may want to profit from the sale of the cards as well as create chaos with their malicious virus. The bottom line is this, get some good virus protection software and a decent firewall. There's no excuse for not having these applications running on your computer because you can find them for FREE download on the Internet.

Make sure you use them to keep your system free of viruses and update the software regularly to keep it current with known virus defenses (changes daily). Help cut down on virtual traffic jams by keeping your virtual junk mail exploits to a minimum. Computer viruses being spread by unaware and often uncaring users has become a problem so serious that some ISPs (Internet Service Providers) are actually considering giving subscribers who's computer systems are spreading viruses using the ISPs mail server the boot. That's right your ISP may be one of the ones considering shutting down service to users who don't rid their systems of computer viruses. So, in conclusion, have a merry eChristmas and a virus free New Year!