Every time I buy anything I GOOGLE the comapny name and get amazing results.
Legitimate companies have very high satisfactory reviews while crooked tactic companies can be dicovered very quickley just by reading what others have publicly complained about.
We as buyers have ourselves acting as own own Better Business Bureau.
I never loan money with any real expectation of getting it back. That way, if I loan to family and friends, I put it through the same judgment filter of, "Would I be wise to give this person a monetary gift of this size?" It also means I'm pleasantly surprised if I actually get the money back.
I think one thing to keep in mind about online ordering (or any sort of purchasing decision, really), is that if you always go for the lowball price, you often get what you pay for either in terms of inferior product or inferior customer service (or stocking issues, etc). The closer an offer is to "too good to be true" territory, the more likely it is to wind up in a hassle.
I've been shopping online for eons, hundreds of transactions, and had only a couple that were kinda sour. It's hard to imagine that any reputable online retailer would not allow separate billing and shipping addresses--necessary for gift orders, corporate orders, and so on. Why are you getting statements mailed, anyhow? Like someone else said, this is 2008--wake up and smell the e-statement!
Having lived in Hawaii for over four years, I can feel your pain regarding online shopping. I've been shopping online since '98 or so and never had as many problems as I did in Hawaii. Shipping being the biggest problem I encountered. It was probably not as bad as trying to get something to Puerto Rico but having to hunt for someone willing to ship outside the contiguous 48 states is quite a feat. I started using Amazon for everything, especially because their free shipping works to Hawaii.
Contrary to what Scott says, I would keep on eye on Newegg, unless you are making a big purchase (multiple items) their shipping to Hawaii makes no sense. I needed an addon board for my computer which only cost 19 dollars and was smaller than a network card. They charged me another 19 dollars for S&H. Course no else that carried it would ship to Hawaii, so I had to pay the premium.
In regards to your hassle with researching which product you need, I found my friends to be invaluable. I've never been up on the latest tech/trends (outside of IT which I make my living at), so I always ring up my friends who follow or have some knowledge about the products I'm looking to pick up.
You probably should only lend/give money to people who are your closest friends. Otherwise your gonna end up getting having a bum with a criminal record follow you around asking for more and more money.
I love ordering online. I'd much rather find the item myself at my convenience. Run by monkeys? No, those are the things that occupy brick-and-mortar places. You know, they walk around like zombies and don't care about your time because they get paid by the hour, no matter how many customers they help. if they do get commission, then they pressure you like a used car salesman. In both cases they are ignorant about the technology they are trying to pawn off on you.
A company that won't let you ship to a different address than your billing address? That's a clear sign not to give them your credit card number!
Risky? Meh. with one-time-use credit card numbers, I'm not worried about that (which you didn't mention). Paying up front? That should never happen. Payment should be charged when the order is processed. Shipping? Not really a factor. Yes, often you have to pay, but often times you don't. And if you're a patient person and don't need next day or second day, it's not outrageous. Compare shipping costs to the tax at the brick-and-mortar, then compare total cost, including my time wasted with monkeys. Online wins almost every time.
Yes, your credit card address must match, but that's only common sense, and it is a protection mechanism. I'm glad for it.
Lastly, re:babysitting an order, I've never had to do that. I place my order, I get an invoice. shortly thereafter I get a tracking number. Once I get the tracking number, it's out of the seller's hands. I may check progress once a day on the shipping company website, but I don't babysit.
All that said, the advice to be aware of return policy is very good.
Now it's true that bad experiences do happen from time to time, but I think you're painting with a rather broad brush here. You've had a bad experience. I wouldn't shop a place like that more than one more time to see if it was a fluke. If it turns out to be a pattern, no more money from me. I'll find fast efficient businesses like new egg. They are speedy, return policy is decent and clearly spelled out when you place an order, and shipping is often free.
We've had fairly good success with online ordering. But then again we live where we're billed and we live in the states. A couple of ebay purchases that needed to be corrected and only one out and out scam. However, we got an Alienware computer from Ztronics recently and it was totally not what was ordered (no packing slip included, not all the software needed for reformatting, etc), they will not respond to any customer service inquiries and when we had a geeky friend look it over, it was worse than we suspected (stuff is missing). BLAH
I feel your pain. Try from Puerto Rico! Even though PR is still part of the States, it is treated like no one has ever heard of it. Even if you find a company that will ship here the price of shipping is usually crazy. The funny thing is US Mail is the same cost as if you were shipping to someone in the States. Try telling that to a company who does not want to take money from Americans in a US territory...
Thank you all for all the comments. I think my vision of retirement is not really a life of leisure. I just want to do things without worrying about compensation. For example, I really like writing right now, and I used to make jewelry for fun. These hobbies do not pay all of my bills, but I prefer doing them over my regular job. I would also be open to working for a nonprofit and not be paid as much I as I do now. I don't hate my job, and I rather like my company and coworkers, but I don't like the need to go to work. As to the question of whether or not I can pay for 60 years of living with 10 to 13 years of work. I can't say with 100% certainty that it would happen, but I believe it is possible. Another comment that resonated with me is that a lot of the financial advice out there tells you to keep all of your principal forever, and I too think that is silly. The best and most optimal thing is for me to spend everything I have before I die, because I can't take it with me.
I guess I've been luckier, but I love online shopping, I use it for everything, books, shoes, undies, groceries, electronics... I avoid actual stores as much as possible. Mostly because as Justin points out the staff in store are often not very knowledgeable, or they just don't care. I've often used a UK credit card to have things delivered in Canada and have only once had a problem with a small company who fixed the issue with one email.
For me any issues with online shopping are far outweighed by the benefits, no crowds of obnoxious shoppers, no queues, no awful muzak blaring, and the fun of getting parcels in the mail!
The helpful monkeys at the store don't know very much, if anything, about what they are selling anyway. They may know how to turn a computer on, but that's about it.
Does it matter how cheaply you're homeschooling if they're missing most of the important social stuff anyway? When I was in high school, homeschooling (is that how you'd say it?) seemed like a great idea. Now, however, after being in college 4 years, I've met and hung out with at least 15 home schooled people and all of them have pretty rough social skills. Several past roommates have been home schooled and, a year after graduating, have continued to work menial jobs occasionally because they're still too coddled to go out in to the "real world" and think they're above any sort of entry level career position. But I'm sure you and your kid is an exception/brainiac, so by all means, rock on! But don't mind me, I'm 22 so I wouldn't actually know anything about anything. Feel free to ignore.
Back then, China and India didn't have booming economies with the resulting oil demand. It's pretty unlikely that oil will come down much, in my opinion.
I almost never go into stores anymore, because service there is so awful, the stock is limited, gas is expensive etc etc
The one thing that is absolutely necessary for online shopping is a Paypal account. You do NOT want to be giving out your credit card info to everyone you buy from, if at all possible. You can also use Google Checkout, but it's not so widely available, and there are some more you can use, but Paypal is the big one. I believe there's an escrow system also, but I've never used it. Incidentally, Consumer Reports says not to order things like TV's online. They recommend mom and pop stores. They show Amazon as the one online site with the most customer satisfaction.
As a young kid still struggling to plan out the rest of my life, I'm really inspired by your article. But I'm still worried about many things. Is it logical to think that working for about 13 years will pay for rent, medical bills, groceries, gas, car payments, for about 60 years?! Being frugal is great, but that's quite a ratio...
Good planning and confidence are great, but do they pay the bills?
Dont be too hard on the nay-sayers. You have to remember the source of their research. They think that looking at blogs and just looking at webpages constitutes research.
Who are the people writing these blogs and pages anyway?
If it is the USDA who cares anyway.
Do you really expect them to promote organic?
Does the FDA promote hollistic meds instead of prescription drugs?
I can tell that you at least know what organic farming is about. Since you are a teacher you know what it is like having students that dont read the assigned material and then trying to argue the points with student that do the work.
I have tried the horizon milk and like it. I like store milk too. I believe that if the milk is actually produced organic then it is healthier.
Whether Horizon actually raises their cows organic I dont know because I havent gone to visit their farms.
I havent decided whether any food labels are actually regulated but it seems that there are a lot of people out there think that whatever a label says must be the truth.
I feel your pain! I ordered a flat screen TV from buy.com and found out about 10 days later that the order was cancelled because I had it shipped to my office address, which was not on the "approved shipping address" list for my credit card company. And of course, the item was then backordered when I went back to reorder it. Several phone fits later I got what I wanted, but jeebus! Why does it have to be so hard? No one called, no one e-mailed, no one sent me a letter, nothing.
We have loaned to people we trusted. In each instance where we didn't get paid back, we had no one to blame but ourselves. I'm not going to sue someone over $50, so I just write it off as a bad judgement call on my part, and put them on my "naughty" list.
Someday these people may need a job reference or just a good word put in about them. This they will not be getting from me....
sounds like a nightmare! I online shop for everything, because of my location. I'm 50 miles away from the nearest anything, and found it to be the ONLY way to shop. I have had problems with address verification in the past, but since I got myself a PayPal credit card, I now just pay everything via PayPal, and I can send anything anywhere, with no questions asked. (Plus I've been racking up some points to use for free Ebay purchases.)
Like you, I hate having to research everything at length, but figure it is the only way to be sure I know what I'm getting. I just bought a laptop, ordered custom from Dell, and just like my last 3 PC's from there, have had no problems at all.
I can't say I have any idea what it's like to order across the border or in Hawaii (where I understand you might not get to participate in all the free shipping promos that us mainlanders do.) I have had the same mailman and UPS driver for 15 years. They know me so well that if they see me doing shopping in town, they come over to my car and leave my packages for me. Small town does have its advantages, I guess!
Thanks for the article. I'll be sure to keep my records current for my future orders!
and ones that we also use. This article was just the tip of the iceberg, so to speak. It was meant as a starting point for those families who rely heavily on curriculum. I am going to be doing more articles in the future on field trips, outings, learning clubs, etc. Keep the ideas coming!
Even the best plans with best friends with the best intentions can go wrong. If lending to someone you know, be aware that if things go awry, you're going to have to make a choice between losing the money or losing the relationship (and you can still lose both).
Every time I buy anything I GOOGLE the comapny name and get amazing results.
Legitimate companies have very high satisfactory reviews while crooked tactic companies can be dicovered very quickley just by reading what others have publicly complained about.
We as buyers have ourselves acting as own own Better Business Bureau.
I never loan money with any real expectation of getting it back. That way, if I loan to family and friends, I put it through the same judgment filter of, "Would I be wise to give this person a monetary gift of this size?" It also means I'm pleasantly surprised if I actually get the money back.
I think one thing to keep in mind about online ordering (or any sort of purchasing decision, really), is that if you always go for the lowball price, you often get what you pay for either in terms of inferior product or inferior customer service (or stocking issues, etc). The closer an offer is to "too good to be true" territory, the more likely it is to wind up in a hassle.
I've been shopping online for eons, hundreds of transactions, and had only a couple that were kinda sour. It's hard to imagine that any reputable online retailer would not allow separate billing and shipping addresses--necessary for gift orders, corporate orders, and so on. Why are you getting statements mailed, anyhow? Like someone else said, this is 2008--wake up and smell the e-statement!
Having lived in Hawaii for over four years, I can feel your pain regarding online shopping. I've been shopping online since '98 or so and never had as many problems as I did in Hawaii. Shipping being the biggest problem I encountered. It was probably not as bad as trying to get something to Puerto Rico but having to hunt for someone willing to ship outside the contiguous 48 states is quite a feat. I started using Amazon for everything, especially because their free shipping works to Hawaii.
Contrary to what Scott says, I would keep on eye on Newegg, unless you are making a big purchase (multiple items) their shipping to Hawaii makes no sense. I needed an addon board for my computer which only cost 19 dollars and was smaller than a network card. They charged me another 19 dollars for S&H. Course no else that carried it would ship to Hawaii, so I had to pay the premium.
In regards to your hassle with researching which product you need, I found my friends to be invaluable. I've never been up on the latest tech/trends (outside of IT which I make my living at), so I always ring up my friends who follow or have some knowledge about the products I'm looking to pick up.
You probably should only lend/give money to people who are your closest friends. Otherwise your gonna end up getting having a bum with a criminal record follow you around asking for more and more money.
I love ordering online. I'd much rather find the item myself at my convenience. Run by monkeys? No, those are the things that occupy brick-and-mortar places. You know, they walk around like zombies and don't care about your time because they get paid by the hour, no matter how many customers they help. if they do get commission, then they pressure you like a used car salesman. In both cases they are ignorant about the technology they are trying to pawn off on you.
A company that won't let you ship to a different address than your billing address? That's a clear sign not to give them your credit card number!
Risky? Meh. with one-time-use credit card numbers, I'm not worried about that (which you didn't mention). Paying up front? That should never happen. Payment should be charged when the order is processed. Shipping? Not really a factor. Yes, often you have to pay, but often times you don't. And if you're a patient person and don't need next day or second day, it's not outrageous. Compare shipping costs to the tax at the brick-and-mortar, then compare total cost, including my time wasted with monkeys. Online wins almost every time.
Yes, your credit card address must match, but that's only common sense, and it is a protection mechanism. I'm glad for it.
Lastly, re:babysitting an order, I've never had to do that. I place my order, I get an invoice. shortly thereafter I get a tracking number. Once I get the tracking number, it's out of the seller's hands. I may check progress once a day on the shipping company website, but I don't babysit.
All that said, the advice to be aware of return policy is very good.
Now it's true that bad experiences do happen from time to time, but I think you're painting with a rather broad brush here. You've had a bad experience. I wouldn't shop a place like that more than one more time to see if it was a fluke. If it turns out to be a pattern, no more money from me. I'll find fast efficient businesses like new egg. They are speedy, return policy is decent and clearly spelled out when you place an order, and shipping is often free.
Hope you have better luck in the future!
between 1964-1978 stox didn't move much.
I love online buys
http://www.tech-exposed.com
We've had fairly good success with online ordering. But then again we live where we're billed and we live in the states. A couple of ebay purchases that needed to be corrected and only one out and out scam. However, we got an Alienware computer from Ztronics recently and it was totally not what was ordered (no packing slip included, not all the software needed for reformatting, etc), they will not respond to any customer service inquiries and when we had a geeky friend look it over, it was worse than we suspected (stuff is missing). BLAH
If you can't afford to lose it, you can't afford to loan it.
I feel your pain. Try from Puerto Rico! Even though PR is still part of the States, it is treated like no one has ever heard of it. Even if you find a company that will ship here the price of shipping is usually crazy. The funny thing is US Mail is the same cost as if you were shipping to someone in the States. Try telling that to a company who does not want to take money from Americans in a US territory...
Oh well...
Thank you all for all the comments. I think my vision of retirement is not really a life of leisure. I just want to do things without worrying about compensation. For example, I really like writing right now, and I used to make jewelry for fun. These hobbies do not pay all of my bills, but I prefer doing them over my regular job. I would also be open to working for a nonprofit and not be paid as much I as I do now. I don't hate my job, and I rather like my company and coworkers, but I don't like the need to go to work. As to the question of whether or not I can pay for 60 years of living with 10 to 13 years of work. I can't say with 100% certainty that it would happen, but I believe it is possible. Another comment that resonated with me is that a lot of the financial advice out there tells you to keep all of your principal forever, and I too think that is silly. The best and most optimal thing is for me to spend everything I have before I die, because I can't take it with me.
I guess I've been luckier, but I love online shopping, I use it for everything, books, shoes, undies, groceries, electronics... I avoid actual stores as much as possible. Mostly because as Justin points out the staff in store are often not very knowledgeable, or they just don't care. I've often used a UK credit card to have things delivered in Canada and have only once had a problem with a small company who fixed the issue with one email.
For me any issues with online shopping are far outweighed by the benefits, no crowds of obnoxious shoppers, no queues, no awful muzak blaring, and the fun of getting parcels in the mail!
You took the "plunge" into online ordering? This is 2008 right?? This article seems to be about 10-12 year old?
The helpful monkeys at the store don't know very much, if anything, about what they are selling anyway. They may know how to turn a computer on, but that's about it.
Does it matter how cheaply you're homeschooling if they're missing most of the important social stuff anyway? When I was in high school, homeschooling (is that how you'd say it?) seemed like a great idea. Now, however, after being in college 4 years, I've met and hung out with at least 15 home schooled people and all of them have pretty rough social skills. Several past roommates have been home schooled and, a year after graduating, have continued to work menial jobs occasionally because they're still too coddled to go out in to the "real world" and think they're above any sort of entry level career position. But I'm sure you and your kid is an exception/brainiac, so by all means, rock on! But don't mind me, I'm 22 so I wouldn't actually know anything about anything. Feel free to ignore.
Back then, China and India didn't have booming economies with the resulting oil demand. It's pretty unlikely that oil will come down much, in my opinion.
I almost never go into stores anymore, because service there is so awful, the stock is limited, gas is expensive etc etc
The one thing that is absolutely necessary for online shopping is a Paypal account. You do NOT want to be giving out your credit card info to everyone you buy from, if at all possible. You can also use Google Checkout, but it's not so widely available, and there are some more you can use, but Paypal is the big one. I believe there's an escrow system also, but I've never used it. Incidentally, Consumer Reports says not to order things like TV's online. They recommend mom and pop stores. They show Amazon as the one online site with the most customer satisfaction.
As a young kid still struggling to plan out the rest of my life, I'm really inspired by your article. But I'm still worried about many things. Is it logical to think that working for about 13 years will pay for rent, medical bills, groceries, gas, car payments, for about 60 years?! Being frugal is great, but that's quite a ratio...
Good planning and confidence are great, but do they pay the bills?
Dont be too hard on the nay-sayers. You have to remember the source of their research. They think that looking at blogs and just looking at webpages constitutes research.
Who are the people writing these blogs and pages anyway?
If it is the USDA who cares anyway.
Do you really expect them to promote organic?
Does the FDA promote hollistic meds instead of prescription drugs?
I can tell that you at least know what organic farming is about. Since you are a teacher you know what it is like having students that dont read the assigned material and then trying to argue the points with student that do the work.
I have tried the horizon milk and like it. I like store milk too. I believe that if the milk is actually produced organic then it is healthier.
Whether Horizon actually raises their cows organic I dont know because I havent gone to visit their farms.
I havent decided whether any food labels are actually regulated but it seems that there are a lot of people out there think that whatever a label says must be the truth.
I feel your pain! I ordered a flat screen TV from buy.com and found out about 10 days later that the order was cancelled because I had it shipped to my office address, which was not on the "approved shipping address" list for my credit card company. And of course, the item was then backordered when I went back to reorder it. Several phone fits later I got what I wanted, but jeebus! Why does it have to be so hard? No one called, no one e-mailed, no one sent me a letter, nothing.
"Anytime you can't afford to not be repaid.."
We have loaned to people we trusted. In each instance where we didn't get paid back, we had no one to blame but ourselves. I'm not going to sue someone over $50, so I just write it off as a bad judgement call on my part, and put them on my "naughty" list.
Someday these people may need a job reference or just a good word put in about them. This they will not be getting from me....
Great article!
Linsey
sounds like a nightmare! I online shop for everything, because of my location. I'm 50 miles away from the nearest anything, and found it to be the ONLY way to shop. I have had problems with address verification in the past, but since I got myself a PayPal credit card, I now just pay everything via PayPal, and I can send anything anywhere, with no questions asked. (Plus I've been racking up some points to use for free Ebay purchases.)
Like you, I hate having to research everything at length, but figure it is the only way to be sure I know what I'm getting. I just bought a laptop, ordered custom from Dell, and just like my last 3 PC's from there, have had no problems at all.
I can't say I have any idea what it's like to order across the border or in Hawaii (where I understand you might not get to participate in all the free shipping promos that us mainlanders do.) I have had the same mailman and UPS driver for 15 years. They know me so well that if they see me doing shopping in town, they come over to my car and leave my packages for me. Small town does have its advantages, I guess!
Thanks for the article. I'll be sure to keep my records current for my future orders!
Linsey
and ones that we also use. This article was just the tip of the iceberg, so to speak. It was meant as a starting point for those families who rely heavily on curriculum. I am going to be doing more articles in the future on field trips, outings, learning clubs, etc. Keep the ideas coming!
Linsey
Even the best plans with best friends with the best intentions can go wrong. If lending to someone you know, be aware that if things go awry, you're going to have to make a choice between losing the money or losing the relationship (and you can still lose both).