I live in a city centre in the UK so it’s pretty easy for me to get to the shops. I’ve used Amazon and eBay quite a lot as I can get stuff from them that I often can’t elsewhere, but haven’t had much experience buying from other sites.
So should I be using them or should I just stick to the high street? Have you found anything else that they’re particularly good for?
I can shop in the wee hours of the morning if I’m having trouble sleeping. I can take hours to click through sales/clearanced items to find a really good deal. I don’t have to drag kids with me, or deal with hordes of other people.
I’m still more likely to hit a real store, but those are some of the advantages I enjoy when shopping online.
Better prices, no taxes on most items, more selection without having to visit a number of stores. Plus, when it gets there, it’s like getting a present from yourself! 
I love online shopping and buy most things (except food and staples) online.
For clothes, I almost exclusively shop in person, since I like to try things on.
For books, online is usually cheaper, and it’s easier to find used books if I’m looking for something specific.
As a knitter, online is great because, while I do have a few yarn stores near me, no yarn store carries everything I want, or in the quantities/colors I might want it in. And special ordering through a store can take quite a long time.
Like the previous replies, I shop online when I can’t get what I want in real stores. This includes books at discount prices (read that, “Amazon prices”), yarn, fabric, and clothes. I’ve even bought furniture online, because there’s such a dismal selection in my town.
If you don’t feel a need to do it, then don’t. Yarn is a good example of a niche market that almost never has satisfactory brick-and-mortar outlets.
For CDs and DVDs, you can find most titles online for several dollars cheaper than what you’d pay in a brick-and-mortar store. Plus you usually don’t have to pay tax and most of the big sites offer free shipping. Seems like a no-brainer to me. I like browsing in CD stores, but I’d feel like an idiot paying $17.98 plus tax for a CD that goes for $10.99 on Amazon.
I do TONS of on-line shopping. It’s easier on the feet, I hate trying on, many places have free delivery, etc. The only good thing about in-person shopping is the social aspect of it. You know shopping…lunch…wine…more shopping…yes, your ass looks huge in that…those shoes are ADORABLE on you!
However, I don’t have the opportunity to do that much. It’s expensive and time-consuming. I’d rather get down to business and buy my stuff and get on with life.
I can buy pants that I know will fit without spending all day in a dressing room and can have groceries brought to us when we aren’t able to get out. The latter is particularly handy for Thanksgiving and Christmas preparations–someone else gets to haul ~20 pounds of meat up two flights!
I love it, but I should qualify that by saying I am lazy to begin with.
Things I like:
Like Queen Tonya, I appreciate being able to shop at weird hours. Sometimes literally in the middle of the night, or sometimes I simply don’t get out of work in time to catch a particular store’s hours.
It’s relatively quick and easy to compare prices with different vendors.
I like having bulky and/or heavy packages arrive at my house, instead of lugging them around on public transportation, especially around the holidays when everyone seems to be lugging many bulky and heavy packages around with them on public transportation.
I know many people like to try on clothes, but if it is a brand I already know fairly well, I’ve had very good luck going online for future purchases. Sometimes I am buying the same exact thing, like a pair of sneakers, and its so easy to do online.
We buy all kinds of things on the web that we can’t get locally. My wife is a book collector, and I am a record/CD collector. The web has replaced browsing through dirty racks for hours trying to find something worthwhile. Now, you look for what you want, find it, and pay the lowest price from the highest-rated vendor. No tax. And it is kind of like getting a present from yourself on the day your package arrives from Manchester or Tokyo or Houston or Halifax.
I mainly use it for stuff that’s hard to find locally, such as obscure or out-of-print DVDs. I really like going to an actual store for my shopping, but Amazon and its ilk are great for filling in the gaps that local stores leave.
I shop for fabric in person because I like to fondle it and experience the sight of it, but even that I’ll buy on-line if I know what I’m getting.
For clothes, we don’t have a huge selection of stores here and I like Lands End so I consistently shop on-line with them. I also am lazy and like to browse and select things anonymously without dealing with other people or salespeople.
For me, it’s all about getting stuff that I can’t find here.
I buy t-shirts online, because I can get ones with odd logos or images that I won’t see anyone else wearing rather than the latest craze at the mall. Some of my knitting supplies are easier found at stores online (though I do have a couple of nice stores with good selection, but certain things are still harder to find).
I recently bought a replacement wheeled shopping bag for my Mom (her’s is getting pretty tatty) and one for myself. The nearest place in Canada I could get one in a physical store is Vancouver, followed by Toronto because the bags are from Germany (the original one was bought by my aunt on a trip to Vancouver). To find another style would’ve been hard as they aren’t that common in the city (though I get comments all the time when I use it, always positive).
That’s the main thing for me. Most clothes I don’t buy online because I have to try on, and I’m a bit leery of electronics online, but most other things are fair game.
You have to drive at least an hour from my house to get to any store other than Wal-mart, and the selection is often parlous when you do get to a store, so shopping online gives a much better choice of things.
Obviously selection - I go online to find cross stitch that hasn’t got red hats and Jesus and twee little kitty cats.
The other big thing for me, though, is reviews - I love Zappos for shoes because it relies on the genius of crowds. You can see, like, “comfort dress shoes in black, sorted by popularity” and then read all the reviews of where they rub or don’t rub, and there are also percentages, like “87% of purchasers thought these were wider than the size would suggest” or whatever. Also, shipping is free both ways and the service is excellent. I buy all my shoes that way now.
Zappos…pure fuckin’ heaven, that’s what they are.
I might add that the web has also replaced the years and years of searching for an item. I was unable to replace a record the old-fashioned way, for something like 37 years. I looked for it everywhere I went, for the majority of my life. No luck. Then one day a couple of years ago, I looked for it on the web, and there it was, for less than $7, with shipping.
Whatever it is you wish you had, somebody has one for sale, and they’re out there waiting for you to find them. You have everywhere in the world to look, when not long ago, you were restricted to the places you could physically travel to look, or you might phone around. But then as now, they really didn’t have enough staff to track down one item for everyone who calls. Now, most retailers have an online database with pictures and descriptions, prices and every other relevant bit of data. You can see a picture of what you’re going to buy, and often read reviews from other customers on the product and/or the seller. All you need is a way to get money from your credit card or bank into their account. That’s a major overhaul of the way commerce has traditionally been done.
Get in on it while you can! I suspect that it will not always be like this.
You’re sat at home, cup of coffee to hand, warm, comfortable.
Beats the shit out of traipsing around shops looking for something in the rain/cold/heat/crowds
I do 99% of my christmas shopping on line. And I do my father’s as well. It really is the best thing evah.
Everything everyone has said is true, but don’t forget - when you shop online you don’t have to deal with any people. That is definitely a plus.