Spring Break
For this season's holiday shopping, head to rainforest
Timothy Poon
Issue date: 12/2/08 Section: La Vida
Granted, I don't do a lot of shopping, and when I do, it's rarely in person. First off, there are people in stores and human interaction while shopping is never fun. Second, well, there are a lot of other reasons, but they all mainly stem from the "there are people out there" sentiment.
Online, however, all you have to deal with is fraud, phishing and a sticky keyboard. Personally, I'll choose the latter over people any day.
Luckily, yesterday was what has become known as "Cyber Monday," the Monday following Black Friday that represents the start of online holiday shopping. This means there is a smorgasbord of deals out there for the savvy online consumer. If you don't like shopping across the buffet of online retailers, I understand. It increases the risk of a security mishap and generally makes you go "oh snap" once the credit card bills come around.
Generally, I stick with only a select few large and reputable online retailers.
Almost too obvious to mention, but too useful to ignore is Amazon.com. Weighing in at 50 million users per month, it's hard to go wrong with this retail goliath. It's extremely rare that you will find something not offered through Amazon, including bootleg copies of import movies and television series.
Hell, they still sell VHS copies of Steven Spielberg's "Hook," albeit used.
But Amazon's inventory isn't limited to movies and the like, it also offers pretty much every book you would ever want to read and then some, as well as a caboodle of toys, board games (might I recommend Ticket to Ride), video games, computer hardware and software, home and car electronics, furniture, appliances, clothing, groceries, tools and pretty much everything else under the sun.
If you want it, it's there.
Obviously, you won't be finding stuff like bulldozers or human organs, but anything you could reasonably want is on Amazon and it's all usually offered at a pretty good price, if not the best.
Amazon's layout is pretty slick, too. Everything is easy to find and all the pedigree information for a product is at the very top for quick perusal. The best part of the top half of a product page is the suggested or related items bar. For "Hook," I was shown a grappling hook, which can be bundled together with a ninja-climbing-hand claw and foot-spike set, a combination whose necessity cannot be put into words.
Online, however, all you have to deal with is fraud, phishing and a sticky keyboard. Personally, I'll choose the latter over people any day.
Luckily, yesterday was what has become known as "Cyber Monday," the Monday following Black Friday that represents the start of online holiday shopping. This means there is a smorgasbord of deals out there for the savvy online consumer. If you don't like shopping across the buffet of online retailers, I understand. It increases the risk of a security mishap and generally makes you go "oh snap" once the credit card bills come around.
Generally, I stick with only a select few large and reputable online retailers.
Almost too obvious to mention, but too useful to ignore is Amazon.com. Weighing in at 50 million users per month, it's hard to go wrong with this retail goliath. It's extremely rare that you will find something not offered through Amazon, including bootleg copies of import movies and television series.
Hell, they still sell VHS copies of Steven Spielberg's "Hook," albeit used.
But Amazon's inventory isn't limited to movies and the like, it also offers pretty much every book you would ever want to read and then some, as well as a caboodle of toys, board games (might I recommend Ticket to Ride), video games, computer hardware and software, home and car electronics, furniture, appliances, clothing, groceries, tools and pretty much everything else under the sun.
If you want it, it's there.
Obviously, you won't be finding stuff like bulldozers or human organs, but anything you could reasonably want is on Amazon and it's all usually offered at a pretty good price, if not the best.
Amazon's layout is pretty slick, too. Everything is easy to find and all the pedigree information for a product is at the very top for quick perusal. The best part of the top half of a product page is the suggested or related items bar. For "Hook," I was shown a grappling hook, which can be bundled together with a ninja-climbing-hand claw and foot-spike set, a combination whose necessity cannot be put into words.
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