Helpful sites

We do the majority of our clothes shopping online. I have found that it saves, gas, time, money and wear and tear. We do about 80% of the Christmas Shopping Online.

As a former Merchant I feel as safe with an online purchase as i do writing a check at the dry cleaners or Grocery Store. Your Account numbers are transmitted by phoneline, wireless and internet no matter what.

I have used and continue to use these merchants.

For the dog i use Petmeds.com and petsmart com.

Shoes
All three EXCELLENT rating in every way

For Mens shoes
http://www.grapevinehill.com/ or their ebay store at http://stores.ebay.com/Grapevinehill

For Men, Boys, Girls sneakers and some clothes
http://www.drjays.com/ (no known ebay store)

For Women
http://www.shopgco.com/index.cfm? (Gotham City, they are excellent and your wife will love it) and their ebay store@ http://stores.ebay.com/Gotham-City-Online

Department stores I have used online
http://www.bestbuy.com 5 stars out of 5 for time, packing, notification
http://www.sears.com 5 stars out of 5 for packing (beautiful packing) and notification, time 4out of 5
http://www.macys.com 1 out 5 for packing, time, notification 0 out of 5, terrible

For Ink and Toner
I have to use Epson factory carts for black ink but i use these for Color from
http://www.aink.com/ Superb 5 out of 5 in all categories

Auto Parts
http://www.autozone.com/
unbelievably FAST Shipping and EXCELLENT service and accuracy

Music supplies
http://www.samash.com
Superb Time in shipping, great packing. we have spent several thousand with them. The 800 phone service is somewhat lacking as far as the way they handle the phones but I highly recommend them. The service on the phone is helpful and friendly but sometimes slow to get through.

I hope these sites are of help to some of you, more reviews to come.

How Could I forget two favorites that i have used for years?
http://www.amazon.com Goes without saying- wonderful over the last 6 years
http://www.columbiahouse.com Once again, i have been a member since 1992 and joined the DVD club in 2001, I like certain movies and i get them in three days generally. Superb service, faulty disc? No questions asked, replaced immediately.

don't forget www.ebay.com

I stay away from eBay nowadays....

too many people are trying to get rich off of shipping, items never get shipped, and people are just nasty to deal with!

I only bought a couple of times from ebay and I had a good experience both times. I found a lady who knit a beautiful white hat for my baby girl's baptism. It's a great keepsake...

Stores I really like.

www.cabelas.com - sporting goods
www.drsfostersmith.com - pets
www.landsend.com - clothes
www.oldnavy.com - clothes

I have about 800 completed transactions on ebay. My FB rating is 453 (not everyone leaves FB) and i have been a user since February 1997. I have one negative FB. I love ebay. This year I bought two pallet loads of Cordless drills at about $5.00 ea. and sold them at hurricane time for $20.00 ea. I sold them at work only, 90% are still in use, I made one exchange and everyone including me was happy.

I bought 1000 Cell phone antennas (the kind you see on the counter at quickie marts) at .18 each and sold most at two for $5.00. I gave some away also. I also collect old matchbox cars and have gotten some great deals.

If you look at my list above you will see several ebay stores on it. Ebay is bad in that my distributor in Florida began selling high end collectibles and undercutting our business when their business faltered. They were "pre-selling" $300.00 Alien and Predator statues at prices lower than my wholesale, during the longshoremen slowdown and before the items arrived from China. In killing us, they killed themselves to, all to churn cash for their 90 day cycles.

That being said, I still love ebay. My business never sold on ebay but I did some items personally. I am a big garage saler and have found some great items cheap. An online transaction is safer than that reciept you throw away at the gas station. I can tell, it is safer in the relative sense.

I absolutely and wholeheartedly endorse I-net shopping. It saves fuel, money and time.

http://www.zappos.com

Five stars for product, five for communication, five for pricing, five for shipping, TWO DAYS!

My oldest wears size 14. I got a pair of giorgio Brutini Black dress shoes shipped for 55.95.
Brazilian made, leather sole and upper, beautiful stitching and comfortable according to him.

Even my wife no longer hits the Mall for Office clothes.

i used to be big on ebay purchasing, but now not so much cause i've had a lot of not favorable experiences...

i love yourmusic.com; it's a music subscription service but it only sends you one cd that you requested once a month for $5.99. it's really convenient and makes great gifts :)

i do like amazon, but only when i order directly!

Tim