More shopping ideas and resources

by Richard Seltzer, seltzer@samizdat.com, www.samizdat.com

Copyright 1999 by Richard Seltzer. All rights are reserved.

The following article is based on the introduction from Shop Online the Lazy Way, a book written by Richard Seltzer, which was published in August 1999 by Macmillan. It is available in paperback directly from our online store at http://store.yahoo.com/samizdat or from Amazon.com. It is also available in a Braille edition from National Braille Press (www.nbp.org).

Now that the rights have reverted to the author, he is free to update and revise this online version. Please send email to alert him of changes and interesting new sites that you have encountered.

How to Get Someone Else to Do It

Remember the Internet is a community of people who help and share with one another. The old pioneer culture of the newsgroups and email distribution lists is perpetuated in the auction sites like eBay and in chat rooms and forums all over the Web. eBay expresses these principles very well in their Community Guidelines: "eBay is a community where we encourage open and honest communication between all of our members. Our Community Guidelines are based upon five basic values. Basically, if you pitch in and help others, you should have no problem finding help when you yourself need it.

If you are trying to remember a site mentioned here and can't find it in the index, don't despair; let me help you. Just go to the Shopping Directory that I put together at my site www.samizdat.com/shopping.html. There you'll find a list of every store and resource mentioned in this book, organized the book is organized, all with hyperlinks, so you don't even need to type in the addresses -- I did it for you.

If you don't have time to keep up with all the new and interesting shopping sites coming online, I'll be doing my best to keep that directory page up to date. So keep coming back and checking. Also, if you find sites you believe should be included, please send me email to tell me about them seltzer@samizdat.com. If they are on target, I'll add them very quickly. That's how you can help me and one another. Also, I plan to use that constantly updated directory as the starting point for future editions of this book.

For advice on how to create and maintain your own little Web site, check my book The Social Web, which is available for free on the Web at www.samizdat.com/social.html You could use the techniques discussed there to build your own shopping directory page or to create Web pages where you share advice with those who have interests similar to yours, or where you list the rare things you are looking for and would like to buy, so people who are trying to sell such things can find you.

If you'd like to learn more about how to get the most out of search engines, and AltaVista in particular, check my online tutorial starting at www.samizdat.com/script/title.htm. Also check the articles the related articles at my Web site at www.samizdat.com/search.html

If you would like some hands-on experience in using chat, or if you would like to talk with me directly online about matters relating to business on the Web, please feel free to join my weekly chat sessions. If I don't have an answer to your question, perhaps one of the other participants will. Transcripts of previous sessions are available at www.samizdat.com/chat.html. You'll also see there notices about future topics of discussion and any changes in the schedule. The sessions usually take place on Thursdays from noon to 1 PM Eastern Time. To connect go to www.samizdat.com/chat-intro.html You don't need any special software -- just your browser.

If you are interested in trends in online shopping and in Internet business in general and also what's happening with electronic books, check my free newsletter, Internet-on-a-Disk, at www.samizdat.com/ioad.html and related articles at www.samizdat.com/trends.html. And if you have thoughts on similar matters send me email, for possible inclusion in the Letters to the Editor.

In any case, feel free to send me email. If time allows, I'll do what I can to help you seltzer@samizdat.com

If You Really Want More, Read These

For a quick introduction to Internet business (so you can see what's happening from the storekeeper's perspective), try "Essential Business Tactics for the Net" by Larry Chase, published by Wiley.

If you are curious about the tradition of community on the Internet, read "The Virtual Community" by Howard Rheingold, published by HarperCollins.

For guidance on how to get the most out of the AltaVista search engine, check my book "The AltaVista Search Revolution," published by Osborne/McGraw-Hill; or check the free resources at my Web site www.samizdat.com/search.html

If you want advice on how to set up your own Web site for free, and how to get people to find you, check my book "The Social Web," which you can get from my Web site or from Amazon.com.

If you are tempted to open your own low-cost online store, be sure to read the excellent article "The 10 Secrets of Selling Online" by Paul Graham at store.yahoo.com/vw/secrets.html.

For an excellent tutorial on collectibles and what to consider when buying them online, check the series of articles by Lee Bernstein at the eBay site, starting at http://pages.ebay.com/aw/catindex-collectibles-hist.html

If you are interested in online investing, be sure to read "The Gomez Advisors Investor's On-Ramp," a series of files which begins at www.quote.com/gomez/content/step1.htm and covers opening an account, researching a stock, entering your order, and reviewing your account.

If you want to buy a house and/or sell your present one, read the article by Pat Rioux "What's New in Discount Listing Services for FOR SALE BY OWNERS" www.ired.com/buymyself/rioux/fsbo and check related the state-by-state directory of resources www.ired.com/dir/fsbo.htm.

If you are curious about the crazy and rapidly changing world of high tech business -- why computers and related products keep getting less and less expensive, and why the companies that make them come and go so fast -- then you'd probably enjoy "Crossing the Chasm" and "Inside the Tornado" by Geoffrey Moore, published by HarperBusiness. 

Glossary -- If You Don't Know What It Means/Does, Look Here

Internet -- millions of computers around the world connected so they become tools for communication and shopping, instead of just "computing machines."

Web -- short for "World Wide Web," the software that makes it so you can go from one document on the Internet to another, without have to learn a complex address or having to log in at each separate site, and that supports eye-pleasing text, graphics and multimedia effects.

Web page -- A "page" on the Web is a separate document, no matter how small or large. It could be just a picture or a paragraph or two, or it could be an entire book.

browser -- the software, running on your computer, which enables you to navigate around the Web by pointing and clicking.

URL -- Universal Resource Locator, a Web address, which typically begins with www (for World Wide Web) followed by the domain name (usually the name of the company) followed by .com (if the site is a commercial enterprise in the US).

link or hyperlink -- word(s) in the text of a Web page that have a Web address (URL) associated with them, such that clicking on the word(s) is the equivalent of typing in that address and takes you right to the new page.

agent, robot, bot, crawler -- programs which mimic the actions of a human users, automatically fetching information over the Web and sometimes performing other Web-related functions.

chat -- "real time" dialogue that occurs on the Internet between several people who are online simultaneously in the same chat area. In that chat area, you will be able to see what other participants type and they see what you type--live--as it's happening in real time.

forums -- online bulletin boards, where you can post messages and others can later post responses, and responses to those responses. Over the course of days, weeks, months, years, threads of discussion grow.

email distribution lists -- online, email based discussions. You "subscribe" to receive and send email messages in a given subject area. These email distribution lists are sent by and to other online participants who also subscribe.

newsgroups -- also known as "Usenet newsgroups," allow you to post and read messages in a given subject area without having "subscribed."

Directories -- categorized lists of Web sites, based on information collected by hand--either hiring people to look at sites for possible inclusion, or accepting submissions of brief descriptions from Web site owners.

Search engines -- Web sites that allow you to search in a few seconds through the full contents of millions of Web pages. Search engines collect their information about the Internet by sending out robot programs to find all the pages that they can and add the full content of those pages (not just brief descriptions of entire sites) to their indices.

Do you need to know the meaning of an Internet-related word and you don't see it here? Then look it up at www.whatis.com.


This site is Published by B&R Samizdat Express, 33 Gould St., West Roxbury, MA 02132. (617) 469-2269. seltzer@samizdat.com

Please visit our online store at http://store.yahoo.com/samizdat

You may also want to check Richard's Online Shopping Directory www.samizdat.com/shopping.html, which has links to all the sites mentioned in the entire book, plus sites he has learned of since the book went into production.

Return to B&R Samizdat Express
For a thorough discussion of this topic, buy Richard's book Web Business Bootcamp (published by Wiley) http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0471164194/brsamizdatexpres

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