Christmas shopping conjures up pictures of crowded shops and malls, packed car parks and public transport. In short utter chaos, with what, sometimes, appears to be the total population on the rampage for that perfect gift. In some respects though this is what Christmas is about for a lot of people. The atmosphere of the season with all the decorations and lights, the children queueing up to see the store Santa and have their photograph taken with that magical figure of Christmas. It is definitely a way to get imbued with the Christmas spirit.
It does have it’s drawbacks though, it can be very stressful and frustrating and whilst I would never avoid venturing into the stores at Christmas if only to soak up some of the atmosphere there is, nowadays, an easier and more efficient way to get your Christmas gift ideas
and actually buy them.
As if you didn’t know I’m talking about online shopping, the good old internet. I guess the title gave it away. The internet gets a pretty bad rap when you hear all the stories about scams and people being ripped off and these do occur and probably will continue to do so the same way pickpockets and other scam artists are always going to be active in the shopping areas and cities at Christmas time.
This makes it all the more important that you only use reputable organisations like Amazon, Overstock, Target and many other big names when you are looking for Christmas shopping ideas. All kinds of large retailers are now seeing an advantage to offering their goods for sale online and you can be sure that organisations such as these are not going to risk their reputations by allowing their customers to be the victims of any kind of fraud.
When checking out on these sites and entering your credit or debit card details look for the ‘lock’ symbol in the status bar of your browser. If you don’t see the status bar at the bottom of your browser screen go into the ‘View’ menu and click on ‘Status Bar’. You should always have the Status Bar visible when you are surfing the net, it provides all kinds of useful information. Also check the address bar. Instead of the usual ‘http;//’ look for ‘https://’ this tells you that it is a secure connection.
Obviously, you need to give yourself enough time for delivery when buying Christmas gifts online. Delivery services, these days are pretty good and you can even order gifts up to the last week before Christmas. Most of the on line retailers will advise you of the estimated delivery time and whether or not it will be delivered in time for the big day.
On the subject of delivery you may be forgiven for thinking that this will make your Christmas shopping more expensive. On the contrary most of the reputable online retailers offer free shipping once you’re over a minimum purchase. Often the minimum purchase is as low as $25. Even if you have to pay for shipping the rates are usually very reasonable. It’s only logical, if retailers are going to charge a lot for shipping they aren’t going to sell much! Oh! and on the subject of costs you will find most of the online retailers very competitive on price.
Another big advantage of shopping online which can be a real lifesaver is when you’ve forgotten someone or just don’t have any idea what to get them. The evergreen giftcard comes to your rescue! You can even buy this on Christmas day itself and have it emailed to the recipient. It won’t appear that you forgot them at all but planned for it to be delivered at the right time. If you are planning ahead with gift cards you can download and print them out or arrange for them to be mailed. All eventualities are catered for!
So, now you can sit back in the comfort of your own home with your Christmas shopping list and at the very least get all your Christmas gift ideas sorted out by surfing the online shopping sites. Better yet you can get all your Christmas gift shopping sown up online and just wait for them to be delivered to your door. Then you can go to the malls and just enjoy the atmosphere without charging around trying to find that special gift or struggle through the crowds loaded up with parcels. Your trip will be a pleasant excursion just for the fun of it.