Internet Technologies/Online shopping

Online shopping is just like going to the store and shopping around and looking for things you want except in form of the internet. Tim Berners-Lee started the World Wide Web in 1990. Shortly there after, online shopping started and has expanded exponentially ever since. It provides such a convenience for consumers to keep from having to leave the house or use gas to get to all the different stores, where online shopping you can get anything you want from as many different stores as you want all at one time. Online shopping mainly takes place from people using search engines and typing in exactly what they want. Then the search engine will bring up the most popular sites for the items you look for. Once you find what you are looking for online, most sites will let you put the item in a shopping cart just like a brick and mortar store, so you can keep searching around for anything else that you may need.

Shopping online makes life so much easier because you can just type in a debit card number, wire money, deliver money, electronic money, etc. and be done with it within seconds or minutes. It makes life easy, but you just have to be careful what sites you order from because of all the scams that go on everyday. It is so easy for hackers today to steal people's identity, so being smart is definitely a key when shopping online.

It makes it easy for companies to use online catalogs or stores to do business not only because people will use it but because there is so much more of a selection that they can put online and not even have in the actual store due to space constraints.

Online Auctions
Online auctions have become increasing popular with the rise of online shopping. These auctions allow buyers and sellers to obtain and sell products and services quickly and efficiently. Auctions allow for individuals and businesses to extend their products and services to a much larger customer base.

In 1995, the current powerhouse, Ebay, was started from founder Pierre Omidyar's house. While bidding and searching through auctions is free, sellers are charged certain fees:

- A nonrefundable Insertion Fee is charged which can cost a seller anywhere from 30 cents up to $3.30, depending on the seller's starting bid on the item. - If a seller wishes to further promote their listings, the seller can highlight a listing for an additional fee. - A Final Sale fee is charged at the end of the seller's auction. This fee generally ranges from 1.25% to 5% of the final sale price.

At the end of the auction, both the seller and the buyer are notified by Ebay. The seller usually has a minimum price they will accept for the bid item. If the buyer's bid exceeds the seller's lowest price, the transaction is completed between the two parties or independently of eBay. The above rules apply to Ebay itself, but all auction-based websites charge fees for providing customers with a specific place for e-commerce.

Although Ebay is a widely recognized name in the Internet world, there are several other popular auctions sites such as Ubid.com, Bidz.com, Webidz.com. Popularity and use of auction sites has become more common, however, there are some downsides to these websites. Once an auction has ended, the binding contract of the auction is between the winning bidder and the seller only. Meaning the actual website has limited to no liability for a bad transaction. Auction sites do provide their customers with several options to retrieve money from a dishonest buyer or seller. If these options fail to achieve results, the buyer or seller is essentially on their own.

There are many benefits from online auctions. Individuals and businesses sell and purchase products that are sometimes hard-to-find and hard to sell. Usually, these products come at cheaper prices, and can be found right in the comfort of your own home.