Love Christmas but hate the crowds in the shops? It’s now possible to do all of Christmas shopping online and never have to leave the house and deal with throngs of other frantic shoppers. Doing so takes a little skill – so here are some smart tips and advice on how to do your Christmas shopping online, provided by Mike James, a freelance tech expert.
As the commercial juggernaut continues to develop each year, particularly during these festive months – protecting your identity online has never been more important. For the quickest, easiest and safest method – have a look at this list of the best VPNs, and make sure your Christmas shopping isn’t affected or ruined by criminal activity online.
Get it done early
Of course this is an obvious one but if you’re determined to do your Christmas shopping online, you need to be aware that you are working to a different deadline than if you’re going to the high street. If you’re doing your Christmas shopping offline you’ll find shops open until Christmas eve, whereas if you’re exclusively shopping online you’ll have to factor in the time for posting, which can be delayed over Christmas. So get your shopping done nice and early – the last thing you want is to be panicking on Christmas Eve when key items haven’t arrived.
Pay attention to the dates
Another issue that can catch out online shoppers around Christmas are the estimated delivery dates. You might think that putting in an order early in December would give plenty of time for your items arrive, but you would be surprised how many sneaky sites will give an estimated delivery date that says something like ‘between Dec 10th – Jan 15th’ meaning there is no guarantee it will arrive in time. Make absolutely sure that the dates are before Christmas before you buy.
Make use of Amazon Wish Lists
The Wish List function of your Amazon profile can be a fantastic organisational tool for Christmas shopping. It’s a valuable place to store your ideas for everyone, or even to have them contribute some other possibilities. That doesn’t mean that you need to buy everything from Amazon, of course, but their range of products means you can usually put every down there. The Wish Lists also have a handy feature where you can save notes and ideas so even if you can’t find the exact product you’re looking for, you can still stay on top of it.
Shop around
As we mentioned before, having all of your items on an Amazon Wish List doesn’t mean you have to buy them from there. In fact it’s a much better idea to shop around. Checking out prices differences online is much quicker than doing it on the high street so there really is no excuse. Of course, it’s also worth mentioning that you need to factor in more than just the price of the item. Some sites will charge more than others for delivery, and this can be a very important factor in your decision. Try to buy in bulk orders to reduce the delivery charges.
Stay safe
If you’re going to be using lots of different websites for your online shopping then you need to make absolutely sure that you’re safe. There’s no good time to have your card details stolen or to be ripped off, but Christmas must be one of the worst. You should only ever buy from reputable stores that you know that you can trust. And remember that it is always safest to use a credit card rather than a debit card for online shopping.
