I do almost all my shopping online. About the only brick and mortar stores you’ll find me in are the supermarket, Home Depot, and browsing in a bookstore. Amazon was the first online store I tried two and half years ago and still the first I go to for everything but clothing. Why?

The sheer number of stores. You can get anything from Amazon’s original products-books and music to software, kitchen products, electronics, toys, hardware, videos and DVDs, cell phones, and garden equipment.
There is also an auction site and the ’’Z’’ shops(small shops that are affiliated with Amazon-many specialty products and hard to find items)

The Search engine. A general search using the all products option will get you the top choices in each category that applies. For instance, I typed in Squirrel Proof Bird Feeder. This resulted in feeders in the garden store and auction areas, a book about outwitting squirrels in books, specialty feeders in the Z shops. Each presented with options for more in that shop. You can also search within each specific store for more targeted results.

The Bookstore. They can find almost anything! My husband recently found a new edition(March 2001) of ’’The Last Days of Pompei’’ when he searched. He went to three large chain stores and none had it or could order it. I visited two other large online booksellers and neither had it available.
My husband is forever looking for old titles. Amazon is the place we are most likely to find them. Partially because there are a number of 2nd hand sellers in the Z shops.

The Wish lists. My husband is always handing me little slips of paper around gift giving times with books he’d love to find. Now, he makes his list online and I, at least know one place they are available. We don’t use wish lists as ’’gimme’’ lists but they are helpful for suggestions.

The personal recommendations and newsletters. Amazon will always show you new products similar to those you’ve purchased. You can also sign up for newsletters for specific product areas. (children’s books or toys by age, music by type etc.) When you view items you are considering-you will also see reviews from both experts and consumers. (You can also rate products and review them). There is also a box that says ’’Customers who bought this item also bought........’’ Often these are related products.

Customer Service. Prompt, easy to deal with. I purchased two different sets of bowls at the same time. One set came broken. It took three tries to get that set to arrive unbroken but it was very well handled. As soon as you identify a package as damaged and use the site’s return area you can print out a return label. (free only for wrong or damaged merchandise) In the US, the label is for Priority Mail-so I retape the box, put the label on and leave it for the mailman. In over two years this was the only package that ever came wrong or damaged.
You can also track packages sent via UPS online.

Reliability. Packages come in the time frame listed onsite or you are emailed with the delays. You can cancel any order online that isn’t yet shipped. Even though I always check the box to have all items shipped together to save cost, the items usually come as available.

Sales and deals Amazon now has an ’’Outlet’’ section of discounted merchandise. I’ve found frequent bargains in toys, books and music there. This area is arranged by store and searchable. Also, Amazon regularly has specials like free shipping in a particular store. If you don’t see these advertised onsite, visit one of the bargain search sites such as flamingoworld for the codes. It’s also common to receive a discount code for featured areas of the site in packages.

Just about the only negative I can say about Amazon is that it doesn’t participate in the points for shopping sites (My Points, Click Rewards etc) that I use.

Time for me to start my holiday shopping! I’ll be over at Amazon.com