I origionally wrote this as a Christmas Holiday shoping guide, but I think that these online shopping tips work any time of year.  I have a few websites and tips for you that might make your shopping a little easier.

 

For those specific hard to find items, I suggest trying Ebay (www.ebay.com) or yahoo auctions (http://auctions.shopping.yahoo.com/).  I know that some of you may not have a lot of experience with auction sites, but I really like the whole online auction scene.  You get those hard to find items, at a reasonable price, and you have some fun doing it.

 

If you are planning on buying any electronic gadgets, then www.shopper.com would be a great place for you to start.  They have information about the products as well as ratings and reviews.  The site also provides links to sites that carry the product so that you are guaranteed to get the lowest price.

 

Books are always great gifts and there are a lot of booksellers online.  Two of the biggest sites in this space are www.amazon.com , and www.barnesandnobel.com.

 

What do you get the person who seems to have everything?  I have the answer for that too.  Get them one of the unique gifts available at www.sharperimage.com or www.brookstone.com.  These stores have something that is sure to please everyone on your list.

 

Sometimes shopping online can be a real learning experience. a learning experience. Shopping online can be full of pitfalls, and I have into a few of them while shopping for camera equipment. I placed an order on one photography supplier's website. After two days, I received an email with a 1-800 number, requesting that I call and confirm my order. I thought to myself; there is something just not right about this. I called the number and was told that the camera package that I ordered was not the factory sealed package with all included accessories, but instead was just the camera body. I promptly canceled my order, and started looking for another site to buy my camera. I found another price that I thought was reasonable, and called the online merchants 1-800 number right away. After some clever social engineering with the operator, I was able to find out that the camera that I thought was so reasonably priced also did not include the normal camera accessories like a battery and battery charger. Neither of these merchants included this information anywhere on their sites. I later learned that these merchants are called grey market retailers.I finally went to www.pricegrabber.com, and found a reputable retailer. The retailer put a guarantee in their ad that I was getting a factory sealed box, and they listed all of the box contents in the ad. In this case I have to say, be careful where you buy, and do your homework.Pricegrabber was definitely my avenging angel here.