I don't want anyone to answer this question if they're uncomfortable with it, but I'm wondering if any of you use the internet for buying stuff. Specifically, I'm wondering how many purchases you made in the last

6 months

year

and what type of product or service was it?

(Please be serious and don't troll this post because I'd really like to have honest answers and I don't know if I will be able to tell the difference between honest answers from when someone is joking around. )

Thanks

-- Net Scape (Netsc@pe 6.0), February 22, 2001

Answers

Oh yeah, if you would be so kind...

Would you please tell me if you live in a rural or urban area?

-- (Netsc@pe 6.0), February 22, 2001.

What's up with your handle? I tried upgrading from Netscape 4.5 to 6.0 beta and it was miserable. Has Netscape bit the dust now that AOL bought them out?

-- netscape 4.5 (@ .), February 22, 2001.

Hi, Nettie,

I have never purchased anything over the net, believe it or not, probably because I have a fairly simple lifestyle, and my urban area has several major computer outlets which stock the latest toys and equipment. There are also several major bookstores here, so I've never wanted to order from Amazon.com. Other than books and software, I might buy a music CD now and again or something related to fishing. That's about the extent of my non-food shopping.

-- (kb8um8@yahoo.com), February 22, 2001.

Thanks kb8um8. I appreciate that info.

Netscape 4.5 I've said in an earlier post (months? ago) that I don't like 6.0. I prefer Explorer! I chose the handle Netsc@pe 6.0 when I reviewed it for them a year ago, and it fits with this software well (it contains a "@" and a "."). Unfortunately, I seem to be stuck with the name because that's what everyone knows me by.

Now will you answer just a little bit of my question? Please? Just tell me if you've bought something in that last year online...that'll help me a lot.

Thanks.

-- (Netsc@pe 6.0), February 22, 2001.

Drop me an email and I'll answer your questions privately.

-- Rich (howe9@shentel.net), February 22, 2001.

My I ask why you want to know?

-- Ron S Dotson (ron_s_dotson@yahoo.com), February 22, 2001.

oh lordy...what HAVEN'T I bought online...lessee - right off the top of my head:

3 Dell computers (last 5 yrs)
50+ tech manuals off of Amazon, B&N, other sites
Yearly flower deliveries for birthdays, Mothers Day, etc
Various genealogy supplies
Last-minute Xmas gifts and/or graduation gifts
T-shirts from "geek" websites [g]

I average maybe 3-5 books a month, shareware payments and stuff. I never understood the logic of folks who go ballistic over "putting your credit card on the web" even after having "secure encryption" explained to them for the umpteenth time, but have no qualms about telling it to a pimply-faced teenager manning a 1-800 number. [shrug]
This would prolly be a great school report on the joys of e-commerce and how its grown over the last 5 yrs.

-- JCL Jockey (WeThrive@nStress.com), February 22, 2001.

Net

I've done some limited shopping online recently.

Had to meet a committment to Columbia House and ordered 15 CDs a month or so ago (no problems at all!).

Also did some Christmas shopping at the Lenoxcollections website.

I kinda liked it but I fear it's just too damned easy to spend the $$ now!!

I believe the wife has spent some time and $$ at the damned Spiegel (sp?) website also.

Deano

-- Deano (deano@luvthebeach.com), February 22, 2001.

Hi, haven't bought anything off the net except the .com tag & web hosting from the States.Prices quoted much cheaper than Uk & much more power offered.No problems.We have been living in rural Ireland this past 6 months & its difficult to go and buy anything apart from basics locally.So I am turning to the Net for garden plants,books etc.

This last year most of my business has been done on the net even though we do not as yet have e-commerce facilities.Mind you, most of our customers know our products & have met or heard of us.

-- Chris (enquiries@griffenmill.com), February 22, 2001.

If I am typical, it's no wonder that etail stocks are tanking. The only Intenet shopping that I have done is some books and CDs from Amazon and buy.com. But these have been good experiences---the prices, even with shipping, are competitive; delivery times were good; ease of purchase was excellent. So far, no one has stolen my credit card number.

The main reason that I haven't bought more is that I'm just not in the market for much. I might try ebay sometime just for fun.

-- Lars (larsguy@yahoo.com), February 22, 2001.

Thanks for the responses for far, everyone.

Ron, Flint Maria Uncle Rich me and some others disagree about internet usage. You can find our conversation that led up to this question at the bottom half of link

Rich, I'll email you in about a half an hour.

JCL I might believe you, but I'm sorry but I don't recognize your handle. Does anyone know this guy?

Chris, congratulations and good luck with your business. I think it's great you're doing business over the internet because we do too. I know this is a very, very private question, but are you earning a decent living with what you make online? I mean...if it were your only income could you stay afloat? I realize you don't do e-commerce (wise idea IMO. ) yet, so I have to wonder if you've been doing it very long?

Lars, I think you're the typical type of internet user. (Although I think most of us here are online more than a typical person.)

If anyone would like to email me privately my address is Netty@graphic-designer@mail.com

Once again, thanks for your participation. I guess we can all draw our own conclusions from the answers here by tomorrow afternoon.

-- (Netsc@pe 6.0), February 22, 2001.

Dang, I mess up a couple of times in that post.

My address is netty@graphic-designer.com

-- (Netsc@pe 6.0), February 22, 2001.

I bought a digital camera online last month, Netty, and got a good price for it too. I use online for purchases that can be gotten cheaply with no shipping costs. If I can buy it cheaper in a store, the net gets passed over. It's price, not convenience I'm looking for.

-- kritter (kritter@adelphia.net), February 22, 2001.

Hi Nettie

I have ordered lotsa stuff...clothes and gifts from jcpenny.com, a gameboy from walmart last christmas (will never do that again, took forever and they never replied to my emails asking whazap; I canceled the order over the phone, and they STILL sent it and charged my card grrr) a hard-to-find Bible from barnes and noble.com, I bid on a digi- cam on ebay and got the piece of junk grrrr, and I also get advantage for the cats at low low cost from rxpalace.com (it works great and gets here in only a few days).

-- (cin@cin.cin), February 22, 2001.

I've ordered several books from amazon and some software from canada, I'm an urbanite. Don't buy much online since there's lots of sales at the malls at stores getting ready to go under.

-- (Weeble@wee.ble), February 22, 2001.

I bought 15 piles of horse shit and a load of bull crap, why do you ask?

-- Dubya the farmer (full@of.crap), February 22, 2001.

There's LOTS of stuff I purchase online. And likewise quite a few purchases NOT made due to useful caveats learned online.

Stuff I have purchased online: books, computer parts and peripherals, electronics, software including shareware, health supplements, kitchenware and housewares. I live on the outskirts of a city, so convenience is not the reason, but price, large selection, no sales tax, not available in stores.

Some criteria are - do I have to touch it, feel it, or try it on? If I have to return the item, will this be next to impossible due to shipping problems? If so, I won't buy online.

Stuff I am unlikely to ever purchase online: clothing, shoes, furniture, food.

* * *

But perhaps the question needs another dimension than just quantity of items purchased online.

Have you been able to use the internet to make better purchases?

The internet changes the shopping experience. We as consumers now have the benefit of horizontal information flow (between peers) for exchange of information. This used to be available from at best, a handful of friends and relatives, the library, and a few consumer publications - vs. the endless barrage of vertical information flow from advertiser on down through various media, to the target consumer. That's changing and the potential has barely been tapped (in my opinion). Even if you end up at the brick and mortar to make the purchase (for whatever reasons), because of the internet you can be better informed if you so choose.

-- Debbie (dbspence@usa.net), February 23, 2001.

Thanks for the responses everyone. It seems more people here do shop online than I imagined. Here's a couple of thoughts I now have on the matter:

Most of you mentioned reputable sites. That tells me that brick and mortars with good reputations offline are very likely to get business online. I wonder how this compares to little sites that aren't world famous? I guess I'd have to ask some of them!

cin, you mentioned you had a problem at ebay. I know someone who ordered a wheelchair from there and got a lawn chair on roller skates. What that taught me was there are crooks out there, even at reputable sites.

I guess in the future I'll consider buying stuff online at sites I'm familiar with (like J. C. Penney's...although I've been told they're slow) or less-known sites that I hear good reports about.

Deb, that brings me to you. You said, "because of the internet you can be better informed if you so choose." I agree. How about we start a thread about our internet purchases? The next time we buy something online, we report who with and how they did? (Purely voluntary, of course.)

JCL, are you Stephen? If you are, I'll take your post seriously. I'd like to address your question from yesterday. You asked why would someone be afraid to use their credit card online but not be afraid to give it to a pimply faced teenager on the phone. This is why I won't do it:

My stepdaughter has many friends who are very bright and have too much time on their hands. They have set up rogue servers to intercept information and I know they have used people's credit card numbers to access porn sites. My husband knows I wouldn't bother going to a porn site (or care) but if there were a charge to my credit card to an animal porn site (or something equally as sick) I would hate the fact that he thought I did that...even for a second.

Also, if I give my credit card # to someone over the phone...I know who I called. I called that number and if there's a problem I know who I dealt with. I always ask for a name. When you order something over the internet, it's just you and your machine.

I may have taken my fear of purchasing over the internet too far in the past, but I'm sure I'll not be purchasing anything from sites that I'm not familiar with anytime in the near future.

Again, I want to thank all of you for your participation.

-- (Netsc@pe 6.0), February 23, 2001.

<> No, I'm not Stephen...just an occasional contributor to this forum. Found it by way of the old Y2K forum where I posted several times. As for you not "taking my post seriously" because you do not recognise me is puzzling as I did not realise you had to be a member of a "clique" to be taken seriously.
You asked for input - I gave my results/opinion based on past experience. Make of it what you will. Finally, that was a "statement" about giving your cc# over the phone, not a question. Read my post again. If there is confusion, let me know and I will clarify.

-- JCL Jockey (WeThrive@nStress.com), February 24, 2001.

cin, you mentioned you had a problem at ebay. I know someone who ordered a wheelchair from there and got a lawn chair on roller skates.

That's right up there with the "Solar Powered Clothes Dryer" scam that I remember from the 70's energy crunch. People sent in their $29.95 and received back some rope and clothes pins.

-- Uncle Deedah (unkeed@yahoo.com), February 24, 2001.

I still use Netscape 3.0 for most functions and it seems to work fine. Don't you folks get tired of all the rearranging of the buttons & functions every time "improved" versions are introduced?

Anyone know of security problems with 3.0?

Thanks...

-- Netscr@pe (Netsc@pe_3.0), February 24, 2001.

OT: To CIN: you 'can' buy advantage for cats? I thought it had to be bought at vet place *sigh* I'll follow the link and see wuz up cuz I been paying WAAAAAYYYYYY to much.

To Net: Hi.

My hubby has purchased a few things off the net.

He bought a video tape, it came quickly and he liked it. I thought it sucked.

Booked a cruise thru travelocity.com Cruise was WONDERFUL but I'd never book thru them again, it was a nitemare, tickets were late and info I should have received didnt get to me, so I had to learn from those here (or should I say the old place)

We are city folk....cleve ohio.

Both purchased w/in a year.

-- sumer (shh@aol.con), February 24, 2001.

If you're really serious about this, Net, I've only EVER IN MY LIFE bought anything off the net outside of airline tickets. Then again, I'm not a typical consumer. I stopped buying books YEARS ago. I use the library. When I saw the net offering things like shoes and clothing, I thought, "I can't even find two dresses at the STORE in the same size that fit the same." We enjoy VERY simple living. When our kids ask what we want for Christmas we say, "PLEASE...buy us NOTHING." We don't WANT more stuff.

There IS a lawyer two houses down who had a baby a year or so ago, and I HAVE noticed that she gets her groceries off the internet. The kids got gift certificates for internet purchases from an uncle, but promptly lost them.

-- Anita (Anita_S3@hotmail.com), February 24, 2001.

Sumer, I thought it was too good to be true until I got desperate and ordered it. At the time, I had four cats and just couldnt afford to take them all in for the flea stuff.

I get four tubes (thats four months supply for one cat or dog) for I think $14.99, no tax and shipping is FREE! I kid you not. I've ordered it three times already and it arrives most expeditiously.

rxpalace.com

And oh yeah I nearly forgot the hotel reservations I made through yahoo travel. GREAT price I got! And I also ordered some home protection supplies from a website (if anyone wants the link I can find it) and was very pleased.

-- (cin@cin.cin), February 24, 2001.

My purchases over the internet are primarily for books and CDs, due to the lack of decent book or music stores near my home in the mountains. I've found the service offered on-line by Barnes & Noble, Amazon and CDNow to be excellent.

Netscrape, you're on 3.0? And I thought I was a luddite for continuing to use 4.08. 8^)

-- David L (bumpkin@dnet.net), February 24, 2001.