FReeper Canteen ~ Online Shopping 101 ~ November 22, 2005

22-NOV-05 | Gummy News

[GummyIII]

Gummy Style!

Newsflash:  Gummy Hates to Shop November 22, 2005 I hate to shop.  I know. You are thinking, "She's not normal."  Perhaps I should clarify.  I hate to drive to a busy mall or store, get out, fight the crowds, look in umpteen stores for the best bargain, and come home with nothing but achy feet and head.  When Al Gore invented the internet, he did it for me.  Honest. (Psssst....He would have told you that, but he's afraid you wouldn't believe him.) OK,  you've guessed it...I do all my shopping online.  Below are my best tips for online shopping. Oh, there is ONE drawback, gentlemen...you can't wait until Christmas Eve to shop.  It's a good thing I believe in Santa Claus! He brings me my present EVERY year. (Hint:  if the animated background bugs you, hit the "stop" button on your browser.)

We Support Our Troops!!!!  Thank you for your service!!!

Shop Online Safely Use credit cards. The big three credit card issuers, American Express, MasterCard and Visa, have a zero liability policy. You pay nothing for unauthorized transactions if you notify your financial institution. For extra fraud protection, sign up for MasterCard's SecureCode or Visa's Verified by Visa. These are password challenge programs for online shopping. Look for signs that online purchases are secure. At the point that you are providing your payment information, the beginning of the Web site address should change from http to shttp or https, indicating the information is being encrypted. Your browser may also signal that the information is secure with a symbol, such as a broken key that becomes whole or a padlock that closes. Never enter your personal information in a pop-up screen. When you visit a company's Web site, an unauthorized pop-up screen created by an identity thief could appear with blanks for you to provide your personal information. Legitimate companies don't ask for personal information via pop-up screens.  Keep your computer secure for safe shopping and other online activities. Protect your computer with spam filters, anti-virus and anti-spyware software, pop-up blockers and a firewall, and keep them up to date. Go to http://www.staysafeonline.org and http://www.onguardonline.gov to learn more about how to keep your computer secure. Or use El Gran's wonderful site:  Canteen Resource Center. Disclaimer: Not suitable for Grinches or Scrooges. Santa reads this news, too!!

Tips for Saving Money and Sanity Try online coupons. Many online stores provide regular customers with promotional codes. These codes are entered during the online checkout process. They save you money, just like a traditional coupon. Coupon Cabin, Current Codes and Naughty Codes are three websites that list promotional codes for online stores. (Google "promotional code" and the name of the store from which you are purchasing.  Others may show up.) Promotional codes usually offer free shipping or a reduced price. Often, online stores offer multiple codes, but you'll probably have to use one or the other.  Use disposable e-mail. You must register an e-mail address with stores when you purchase online.  The store e-mails a confirmation of your purchase and, often, tracking information. Additionally, it may send you promotional codes. But it may also send you unwanted e-mail.There are a couple ways to handle this. You could create a new e-mail address. A number of sites offer free e-mail, including Hotmail (www.msn.com), Yahoo (mail.yahoo.com), Techemail (www.techemail.com) and Netscape (www.netscape.com). Or, sign up for a disposable e-mail address. Free services such as spamgourmet and Sneakemail allow you to create a temporary e-mail address. They forward mail to your "real" one. Sign up for a temporary address before making a purchase. When you've received your purchases and are satisfied with them, you can eliminate the temporary address. COMING NEXT WEEK:   All I want for Christmas is.......... Gummy News is produced  as a service to our troops.  Volume 1, Number 1.

Comparision Shopping 101 Yahoo, Inc., Shopzilla, Shopping.com,  Google Inc.'s Froogle.com, PriceWatch, PriceGrabber, NexTag and ShopLocal are a few of the top contenders for online comparison shopping.  Take the time to see how each one works.  Most will sort by price, look for items within a price range, and look for specific brand items which you specify.  Many of the above sites have ratings for you to check the product.  Other sites are cnet.com, zdnet.com, consumersearch.com, epinions.com, PCMagazine, BusinessWeekOnline, ConsumerGuide, and many others.  Also, many of the consumer online sites offer customer reviews.  Use those in conjunction with other reviews. For example, Amazon.com and Circuit City's online store are two sites with customer reviews. Best viewed at 1024x768,  medium text size

[luvie]

***smooches*** back atcha! What are you doing for Thanksgiving? Eating too much like we all will be? :o)

YYYYEEEEEHHHAAAAAWWWWWWW!..BACK! :o)

[Lady Jag]

SARGE!!!



Have a fantastic Thanksgiving!!

[El Gran Salseron]

Of course it's ok. Sheesh! :-)

[CMS]

Good evening Luv W! *HUGS* how are you?
Good evening FReeper Canteen! How is everyone?
I'm just checking in for a few minutes to say hi.

[calrighty]

ROTF...............

[Old Sarge]

Oh, I forgot to tell The Marshmallow Story!

Some kind soul sent us marshmallows, and while people were looking for sticks, I just got out my bayonet, speared a few, and held it over the flames for a few seconds.

Folks looked at me wierd, but hey, I had marshmallows on a bayonet, so what was the big yip?

I'm working on the prose, just things aren't quite... quite. You'll see when it's done!

[luvie]

((((((HUGS))))))

CMS....it is sooooooo good to see you here. I was so sad that I missed your call the other evening. But I still have the message on my answering machine. God bless you and I pray you stay safe! What are you guys doing for Thanksgiving?

[Kathy in Alaska]

Good early afternoon, beachy. ((HUGS))
Did I see that you are having some rainy weather back there?
Libbi's friend lives in Waldorf.

[AZamericonnie]

Yes....new recipes are fun. Course always best to try them out before a holdiday dinner!:)

[Soaring Feather]

LOL

Did anyone take any pics of you roasting the marshmallows, OMG that's a howl!!

Sarge, you are just a cut up!LOL

Can't wait to read it!

[Old Sarge]

DUDE! You're in theater already? Welcome back!

We were at Camp Buerhing for a week, where'd they finally stuff your guys?

[Colonel_Flagg]

Oh, nothing. So it's a safe bet :)

[Colonel_Flagg]

LOL ... no. Just had some things to do around the house. All better now!

[Colonel_Flagg]

Hi, home, I'm honey!

[AZamericonnie]

{{{{{{CMS}}}}}} Hope I didn't miss you! Hope everything is going well there! Are they feeding you good? *hugs*

[CMS]

We are at Camp Buerhing for now and will head up to Iraq soon.

[Soaring Feather]

Honey, how nice to see you in daylight hours without blood shot eyes!! Mine not yours. LOL

[Soaring Feather]

Doing well, thanks.

[luvie]

FREEP THIS POLL!!!!
Lets don't let the DUmmies out-do us on this! (Click on "House.gov" at the top)

[Old Sarge]

{{{{{ LADY J!!! }}}}}

That has got to be the CUTEST pic!
Wonderful!!