Surfin' for Sales

By Holli Haerr

If you're holiday shopping and looking for bargains, you might try searching online. Sometimes, websites have better deals than stores. For example, when I got my cellphone (not a fancy one) it was free online but would have cost $30 at the store - and both were run by the same company! Of course, I ordered it from the website.

So, what's the best website for finding deals?

Turns out, there are several. Professor Dawn DiStefano teaches marketing and e-commerce at Nassau Community College and researched several sites, including some that have so called "brick and mortar" stores (stores you can visit) such as www.Walmart.com, www.Target.com, www.BestBuy.com.

She also looked at some that are online only, such as www.Overstock.com and www.Amazon.com. For a certain camera, she found the best price was on Best Buy. And the best price on a GPS was on Overstock.

Overall, she says if you're looking for deals, shop around. (At least, you can do it with just a few clicks.) But - she says don't buy from a website you don't recognize just because the price seems good.

Before you buy, add in the cost of shipping (if there is one).

And, check websites you're not familiar with before you buy.  James Reed, from Nassau's Consumer Affairs Department says you can go to websites run by places such as the Federal Trade Commission, which has links like this one, with tips for consumers about online shopping.