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The number of facilities for selling your own goods to others is exploding too. Preston Gralla explains all of this in The Complete Idiot's Guide to Online Shopping, providing you with the background knowledge you need to buy and sell things on the Web; explaining such concepts as Dutch auctions and electronic coupons; and intelligently combining the capabilities of commercial sites, such as the numerous online automobile dealers, with free resources such as government crash-test numbers. He also shows how to milk Usenet newsgroups and consumer sites for commentary and buying advice.

A large part of this book consists of commentary on various online storefronts. Most of the entries deal with books, CDs, clothing, food products, and computer stuff, and it's not fair to fault him for omitting sites in an online-shopping universe that's changing so rapidly. Notwithstanding, you'll probably want to supplement Gralla's listings with fresher sources of information about places to shop online. You'll also likely get more assistance from online resources if you're looking for stuff other than mainstream consumer goods--say, parts for a specific car or specialized metalworking tools. --David Wall

The book features an incredible wealth of information including some of the better Websites to buy certain items from, where to find important decision-making information before making online purchases, how to avoid being taken in by online scam artists, sales tax information, using credit cards to make online purchases, user warrantees, return policies, and other important purchasing considerations!

Readers will receive a solid lesson on nearly every aspect of online buying. They can compare cars, homes, computers, cameras, and other items before parting with their money. They have access to a number of consumer organizations that can alert them about problem companies, dealers, and products. They also have access to one another!

One topic that has caught the attention of many online shoppers in recent times is the online auctioning of merchandise. Just about anyone can join in and submit online bids for just about anything imaginable under the sun. Beware though! As of this writing there has already been cases of online fraud and child involvement. This fascinating aspect of online shopping requires close scrutiny. Gralla devotes a lot of attention to this matter and so should we!

For those considering going into business for themselves, there is still plenty of time for them to join in the fun and thrill of going into business online. Web developers will gain important online marketing strategies from this book that can be used to create effective business Websites for themselves and for others!