As Xmas gets nearer, I find myself with too many choices. Please tell me what on-line sites you have used and your experience with their service. I have to make some decisions soon!
I am expecially looking for a site which sells musical equipment - guitar strings and such.
Thanks!
My husband orders frequently from Elderly Instruments and has been quite happy so far.
I have done virtually all of my shopping online this year.
I got books and CDs (and a printer cartridge – but that was for me 
) at buy.com . They don’t have as good a selection as, say, Amazon, but they pretty much always beat them on price. And they do have most of what you’d be looking for.
I bought all the toys we need at Amazon (they combined with Toys R Us for toys). We compared the prices to those at our actual Toys R Us store, and the ones online are generally a couple bucks cheaper (last year, before they combined, when I compared, stuff on the Toys R Us site was exactly the same price as at the store).
I’ve also used barnesandnoble.com many times in the past (and once this season). Their prices for books and music are either the same or a bit lower than Amazon.
Make sure you use web coupons. I always check Amazing-Bargains.com: Coupons, Discounts, & Online Bargains! and http://www.fightdivx.com/ to look at coupons before I buy. They can make the difference in where I go. For example, the one book I bought at barnesandnoble this time was because they had a coupon for $10 off a $30 purchase. That made their price easily beat Amazon, Buy, or any bookstore.
In the past, for some “different” items, I have used http://www.museumcompany.com and the service was good. But that is definitely a bit more out of the ordinary than simple books and music and movies.
If you do want to order online, you’d better do it soon. They need time to ship, after all.
“If you do want to order online, you’d better do it soon. They need time to ship, after all.”
Yeah, remember '99? Lots of orders were late. Also, this year is the big year for online merchants. They better make it successful this year because the dot com situation is pretty drastic.
However, local shopping malls here around Monterey, California, have a lot of vacancies so their prices are actually pretty low this year. e.g. 50-70% off, buy one get one free, this is going to beat Amazon online.
Speaking of Amazon, david, do you think they can make another year?
Yeah, I think Amazon will be one of the survivors.
Although if they don’t get my order to me on time, I’ll kill 'em! 
Online shopping isn’t as good this year as it was last year, since e-tailers have finally realized that making money might eventually be a good idea.
Last year you could find all kinds of insane coupons, like $20 off a $20 purchase at buy.com. (I used that one about six times, through different people.) The online bookstores were battling it out hard through the coupons. This year, you’re doing well to get $10 off a $30 purchase.
Still beats the hell out of fighting the crowds at Fayette Mall.
By the way, I’m looking for the deal of the century on a Handspring Visor Deluxe (or Platinum). If anyone runs across such a deal, let me know.
Dr. J