Customer Reviews

2005 Online Shopping Directory For Dummies

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I bought this book on a whim and it's paid me back big time. The book contains lots of helpful online shopping tips. The best part of the book is the thousands of web site listings - each one written in a bright, funny way. I love reading this book just for the clever reviews and have found so many exciting and different Web sites, along with the more traditional ones and sites I already knew about. Each site is rated, which helps too. The holiday season is coming up fast-this book is going to make this year's shopping a whole lot easier.

I heard the author giving an interview on the radio and I looked up her book more out of curiosity than anything else. She was right-this book is a gem! I've been shopping online for years but I learned a few valuable tips in the opening chapters. The 1,500+ site listings are great. They range from common sites that everyone's heard of to new and different sites where you can find amazing merchandise. I loved the fact that the author listed the phone number and e-mail address of every site and also rated the sites for security, service, convenience, and so on. I loved the writing style too. This is a must-have book for anyone who shops on the Internet.

very disappointing. Many websites are no longer in existence, many were not as advertised. It seems like a very incomplete listing of sources and I think it was a waste of money.

THIS G I A N T BOOK, (652 numbered pages including a full index),
is full of great information for getting the most for your money
whilst shopping online. The cover says, "Your easy-to-use guide
to more than 1,500 prime online shopping sites"....and it MEANS
it!

After a through introductory section, ("Online Shopping Overview")which is loaded with tips for shopping online, is Part II -- "On-
Line Shopping Sites." In 21 separate sections, (Chapters 4 - 24),
information on buying "Arts and Antiques - Building Your Private
Collection", to "Zany Fun - A Look At The World Wide Weird", just
about everything anyone can imagine buying online is shown. Each
chapter is preceded by a one-page introduction, on the back of
which is a "Key Word Index", which describes the various terms
often used in this section. Individual sites are listed attrac-
tively in a 3-sites per page format, each site boxed, with the
name of the site, it's website address, its telephone number, a
web address to write to, (info@___, service@____, etc.) a list
of the products it sells, and, below all this, a summary
of the site's history, a list of what it does, and a considered
opinion of how well it does this. To the right of each box, is
a smaller highlighted box, listing from 1-4 pictures of the
following: Dollar sign(s) Price, (the fewer dollar signs, obvi-
ously, the better), Grocery cart(s) - selection, (the MORE
grocery carts, the better), boxes tied with ribbons - conveni-
ence, (more boxes is also better), Smilie Faces, (customer ser-
vice), locks - seurity. The meaning of these icons is also at
the bottom of every two-page spread.

Chapter 25 is entitled, "Ten Ways to Protect You and Your Pur-
chase When Shopping Online", and obviously has much very valu-
able information for the bewildered person who is shopping on-
line for the first time, (and may be somewhat unsure about the
safety of shopping online). But this chapter, (and the next--
"Ten Places For Product and Merchant Reviews", and the (last),
one that follows, "Ten Ways to Find The Best Prices", all have
information that even the most savvy and experienced internet
shoppers may not know.

A very full and detailed index, (26 pages!) follows. On the
very last page is a "Secret Savings Site" (the name is given --
but I feel it would be unfair to the publishers to divulge it
here), which will give the visitor online coupons and coupon
codes for even more savings! : )

The text is a pretty large size for a "Dummies" book -- but I
still wish it were a little larger. Also, for some very
strange reason, the beginning, introductory pages are of a
slightly brighter tint than the interiour, boxed-with-grey-
borders pages which house the descriptions of the various
web-sites.

A high-light of many "Dummies" books are the delightful
cartoons by Rich Tennant. This book has these cartoons -- but
sadly, there are only three of them. But they will bring a
smile to anyone's face!

Of course, this is the 2005 edition of this invaluable book --
any reader will want it updated! I've looked for an updated
edition and have not found it. Perhaps this is because web-
sites that sell things have grown exponentially in the inter-
venening five years, (and will probably grow even more in the
foreseeable future!), so that an "updated" version by this
point would resemble the size of, NOT a collegiate dictionary,
as this book does, but the White Pages telephone directory of
the borough of Manhattan in New York City -- perhaps, even,
three or four times the size of this huge volume! So, this
2005 volume, which, as I said, resembles the size of a colleg-
iate dictionary, (no bigger, no smaller), will have to serve
as a "springboard", in this year, and the years to come, for
those searching for online bargains, and the best way to buy
and find them. Even if your favourite site, listed here, may
possibly go out of business in a few years, (or already has),
putting the site up on "Google" or another search engine will
most probably give many other sites, selling similar merchan-
dise.

Still, one hopes that this book could be republishd in updat-
ed editions. Perhaps not every year -- but perhaps every
five or ten years? And, because the ever-increasing number
of sites would necessitate a diminution in the size of the
print, (and perhaps a GREAT diminution in the size of the
text) -- maybe this annual, (or bi-annual, tri-annual, quint-
annual, etc.) "volume" could be put on a disc (!) -- with
print size adjustment, and maybe with clickable links so that
one could IMMMEDIATELY get to these sites. Also -- it would
be nice to have such a disc, (or disc set), published in a
Kindle edition, as well! : )

In the meantime, this 2005, print edition is a true treasure
trove for right now -- and, selling in, at present, used
editions from one cent, (which is the price I paid for mine),
it is, in my opinion, one of the greatest bargains Amazon
now has for sale. (And if all available used volumes
are out....maybe the publishers will see just HOW (rightly!)
popular this book is, and (quickly!), begin to produce an
updated version -- in a two volume printed edition, and/or
a CD edition, and/or a Kindle edition!

This book is a bargain-hunter's treasure trove!
publishers, seeing how popular it is
this