Shopping on the Internet	Using your MindSpring Internet connection, you can take advantage of online discounts and shop from the comfort of your home, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. You can search for hard to find items and browse multiple web sites to find the best price available. You can also use secure servers to make sure that your credit card information remains private.
Introduction	Suppose it's getting close to Christmas time. You have tons of shopping to do but very little time, much less the desire to fight the crowds. Your daughter wants a new iMac, your father wants a book about Italian Cooking, and your nephew Timmy wants a GI Joe doll that hasn't been made in about eight years. What do you do?
Note:	The Internet sites described in this section may change. That's the way it goes with the Internet. But don't worry, these scenarios will help you understand principles that can be applied to many such sites and services.
Shopping Online	We'll start with the book about Italian Cooking. More and more large retail stores are doing business on the Web: Barnes and Noble Bookstore, for example. You can use a web browser to go to the MindSpring Start Page (start.mindspring.com ) -- click Shopping to enter MindSpring's Express Lane, where you will find the Barnes and Noble link (For more information, see Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.0 ) for Windows 95/98/NT or (See Using Internet Explorer ) for MacOS. Once you arrive at the Barnes and Noble home page, you can select Cooking from the Browse Subjects drop-down menu on the left. Next, click the Go button. Once you arrive at the cooking section, you have a choice of several different categories, including baking, grilling, seafood, desserts, international cuisine and much more. Click on the link for International cuisine to find a listing for Italian cooking. It can be a bit time consuming, moving from one page to the next, but there is an easier way. The Barnes and Noble homepage offers a search engine, as do most other retail sites. You could have, for example, typed "Italian Cooking" into the Quick Search box, to receive a list of books about Italian cooking. So let's say one of the books that appears in the list is "Sophia Loren's Recipes and Memories." This is perfect because Dad always had a weakness for Sophia Loren. Click buy this book or read more about it for more information. To purchase the book you would click on the Add to my Cart button.
Note:	This virtual shopping cart is a standard for most retail sites. The cart is a list of items you wish to purchase. You can view the contents of your shopping cart by clicking on the shopping cart button. You can also add and remove items from the cart, or change the quantity until you are ready to "check out" or complete your transaction.
	When you have gathered all the items you want, you can click on the checkout button to proceed with the purchase. Barnes and Noble also offers an Express Lane option in case you only want to purchase the one book. You will need to provide shipping and payment information. Always double-check your orders to make sure that all the information is correct.
Note:	Most merchants on the Internet use a secure server for credit card transactions. This means that all the data which passes between you and the merchant has been encrypted, limiting the possibility of someone grabbing your information in transit. Your web browser should notify you when you access a page on a secure server, and display a visual cue in the browser window. For example, Internet Explorer will display a blue bar across the top of the page when you are connected to a secure server. If you are using Netscape Navigator, when you are connected to a secure server the padlock icon at the bottom left corner will appear closed. (See Forms and Secure Pages ) for Windows 95/98/NT or (See Forms and Secure Pages ) for MacOS
Online Auctions	What about hard to find items, like the GI Joe doll? One of the best places to get hard-to-find items is the online auction. Auction web sites allow you to bid on everything from vacation packages to stereo equipment to GI Joe dolls. Some auction sites even allow you to sell your own items. For this example, we will use: http://www.ebay.com To search for the GI Joe doll, you could browse the different categories listed on the page, but in general the search tool is much faster. If you type in GI Joe, you will get back a list of GI Joe items available. Clicking on an individual item takes you to a page with more information, including descriptions or pictures of the item for sale, the current high bid, and the date and time that the auction ends. This is where the auction site and the retail site differ, most auctions sites do not offer items for immediate purchase the way retail sites do. You must place a bid and then wait to see if you are outbid before the auction closes. You will need to register with the auction site before you can place a bid. After you place the bid, you will be notified via e-mail that the bid has been received. If someone outbids you on the GI Joe doll, you will be notified by e-mail and offered the opportunity to go back and raise your bid. So, of course, once you place your bid you'll want to keep a close eye on your e-mail.
Compare and Save	What about that iMac for your daughter? Because of the reduced overhead associated with online stores (no expensive retail space or salespeople) many items, even computers, can be cheaper to buy online than in a local retail store. Pricing and competition can be fierce because the customer can always buy it somewhere else with just a few clicks of the mouse. So how do you find the best price? First, just to make sure the iMac meets your requirements, as well as your daughter's, let's compare it with other comparable computers. We'll use CompareNet, which is linked, again, from your personal Start Page: start.mindspring.com When you arrive at the MindSpring Start Page, click Shopping (in the Spring To box). On the Shopping page, you will see CompareNet along the left margin; just click the Compare button. From the CompareNet web page you will need to narrow down the categories: click Computing , then click Desktops (since the iMac is a desktop computer). Next, click Show Similar Items , select Apple and click Continue , select iMac and click Search . Now that you have selected one item, CompareNet will display a list of comparable items. You can even see a side-by-side comparison: to do this, scroll down the list, clicking the Save Item to List icon next to each item you wish to display, then click the green Compare These button at the far right. Once you've made up your mind on which computer to purchase, you'll want to find the best price. Give CNet Shopper a try at www.shopper.com . It works much like CompareNet, but displays competitive prices from online stores across the Net.
Time to Shop	Now that all your shopping is done, you can relax and enjoy yourself, or maybe a little more shopping at: http://www.benandjerrys.com/ Mmmmm...