Shopping

Shopping

Alibris - out of print, and hard to find books
Blackstar - top videos at excellent prices
Checkaprice.com - household appliance prices compared
clust.com - buy items with others for cheaper prices
e-licious - find online recipes and build your own cookbook
letsbuyit.com - buy items with others for cheaper prices
Lift the label - ethical consumerism battling for justice in the clothing industry
Prime 2000 - Christian-based online retail store
QXL - European online auction company
Responsible shopper - ethical guidance on the top retail outfits
Shoppingtrolley.net - wideranging comparison service
Traidcraft - fair trade goods
Ybag.com - hunts down offers to your preferences

Need some inspiration on the cooking front? Check out e-licious, a new recipe based site which lets you set up your own online cookbook. You can even add ingredients needed into an online shopping list. Perfect for those of you who keep your PC in the kitchen ...
The number of sites springing up to harness the power of corporate buying seem to be increasing, but are they any good? The best known is probably letsbuyit.com, and one of the new kids on the block is the strangely named clust.com Let us know what you think ...
You can investigate hundreds of commercial companies on a range of issues - sweatshops, pollution, family-friendliness, ethics and more at Responsible Shopper. The search engine interface is simple to use, and quickly gets you the info you're after. Go to: www.responsibleshopper.org
Tearfund's Lift the Label campaign is doing the rounds of the summer festivals this year, from Soul Survivor to New Wine and beyond, all aimed at helping young people make ethical choices when they buy their clothes. Helpful websites include: www.tearfund.org; ethicalconsumer.org; labourbehindthelabel.org; oneworld.org, cleanclothes.org
All the best shopping sites do the hard work for you. Ybag.com works by registering your shopping preferences and notifying you by e-mail when they find a special offer that might interest you from their lists of more than 1500 retailers. Each time you get a response from a company there will be a 'Ycall' button, so that you can always speak to the shop directly and for free. One week recently, you could track down Top 40 CDs being offered at less than £7, for instance.
Already starting to think about Christmas presents, and what to get for Auntie Mabel? Make your gift count with something fairly traded - check out the Traidcraft site. If you want to set up your own Traidcraft stall, details can be had by e-mail. And if you want to know who has one in your area, call 0191 391 1001. You can also track down info on independent fair trade retailers in your area from the British Association of Fair Trade Shops on 0191 384 7173.
If you've investigated Internet shopping, you'll probably have discovered a few sites that claim to search for the items you're after, and tell you the cheapest place to go. Some of them work quite well, but others will only turn up results from the sites they're linked to, so you don't get a very objective search. One new one which is worth a try, and which will point you to some of the less well-known sites as well as the biggies, is http://www.shoppingtrolley.net/ It's well designed, easy to use and the categories are well thought out and relevant to everyday Net users lives like hobbies, computing or teen shopping. For example, video outlet Blackstar has family videos with regular price reductions. Earlier this year these included the excellent Chronicles of Narnia series (shown on BBC), based on the CS Lewis children's books, for £8.79 each.
Looking to compare online prices on consumer goods? Worth checking out is checkaprice.com – particularly good for comparing the cost of consumer electronics and household appliances.
Not just another online retail store, Prime2000 is a rather different kettle of fish, say the founders. Stewart and Linda Hills have set up the shopping centre not only to provide household goods at competitive prices, but also to help finance Christian ministries. Check out the site, and mail them for more details
Keen on books of all kinds but at a loss when it comes to finding out-of-print, antiquarian or nostalgia items. You could well dow with visiting Alibris - "books you thought you'd never find". Why browse through endless bookshelves in dingy backstreets, giving yourself a stiff neck in the process, when you can do it in comfort from home?
So there you are, clearing out the loft over the weekend and you dig up something that just might be antique, just might be sellable, and just might help pay for this year's holiday (or at least next month's gas bill). Why not check out European online auction company QXL? They have a new scheme headed up by Antiques Roadshow presenter Hugh Scully, where you send in a digital photo of your prized item and an expert evaluation will be sent to you within four days. If you want to, you can then auction it on the site.
back to top of this category
back to top


		WEBWATCH INDEX Shopping Alibris - out of print, and hard to find books Blackstar - top videos at excellent prices Checkaprice.com - household appliance prices compared clust.com - buy items with others for cheaper prices e-licious - find online recipes and build your own cookbook letsbuyit.com - buy items with others for cheaper prices Lift the label - ethical consumerism battling for justice in the clothing industry Prime 2000 - Christian-based online retail store QXL - European online auction company Responsible shopper - ethical guidance on the top retail outfits Shoppingtrolley.net - wideranging comparison service Traidcraft - fair trade goods Ybag.com - hunts down offers to your preferences Need some inspiration on the cooking front? Check out e-licious, a new recipe based site which lets you set up your own online cookbook. You can even add ingredients needed into an online shopping list. Perfect for those of you who keep your PC in the kitchen ... The number of sites springing up to harness the power of corporate buying seem to be increasing, but are they any good? The best known is probably letsbuyit.com, and one of the new kids on the block is the strangely named clust.com Let us know what you think ... You can investigate hundreds of commercial companies on a range of issues - sweatshops, pollution, family-friendliness, ethics and more at Responsible Shopper. The search engine interface is simple to use, and quickly gets you the info you're after. Go to: www.responsibleshopper.org Tearfund's Lift the Label campaign is doing the rounds of the summer festivals this year, from Soul Survivor to New Wine and beyond, all aimed at helping young people make ethical choices when they buy their clothes. Helpful websites include: www.tearfund.org; ethicalconsumer.org; labourbehindthelabel.org; oneworld.org, cleanclothes.org All the best shopping sites do the hard work for you. Ybag.com works by registering your shopping preferences and notifying you by e-mail when they find a special offer that might interest you from their lists of more than 1500 retailers. Each time you get a response from a company there will be a 'Ycall' button, so that you can always speak to the shop directly and for free. One week recently, you could track down Top 40 CDs being offered at less than £7, for instance. Already starting to think about Christmas presents, and what to get for Auntie Mabel? Make your gift count with something fairly traded - check out the Traidcraft site. If you want to set up your own Traidcraft stall, details can be had by e-mail. And if you want to know who has one in your area, call 0191 391 1001. You can also track down info on independent fair trade retailers in your area from the British Association of Fair Trade Shops on 0191 384 7173. If you've investigated Internet shopping, you'll probably have discovered a few sites that claim to search for the items you're after, and tell you the cheapest place to go. Some of them work quite well, but others will only turn up results from the sites they're linked to, so you don't get a very objective search. One new one which is worth a try, and which will point you to some of the less well-known sites as well as the biggies, is http://www.shoppingtrolley.net/ It's well designed, easy to use and the categories are well thought out and relevant to everyday Net users lives like hobbies, computing or teen shopping. For example, video outlet Blackstar has family videos with regular price reductions. Earlier this year these included the excellent Chronicles of Narnia series (shown on BBC), based on the CS Lewis children's books, for £8.79 each. Looking to compare online prices on consumer goods? Worth checking out is checkaprice.com – particularly good for comparing the cost of consumer electronics and household appliances. Not just another online retail store, Prime2000 is a rather different kettle of fish, say the founders. Stewart and Linda Hills have set up the shopping centre not only to provide household goods at competitive prices, but also to help finance Christian ministries. Check out the site, and mail them for more details Keen on books of all kinds but at a loss when it comes to finding out-of-print, antiquarian or nostalgia items. You could well dow with visiting Alibris - "books you thought you'd never find". Why browse through endless bookshelves in dingy backstreets, giving yourself a stiff neck in the process, when you can do it in comfort from home? So there you are, clearing out the loft over the weekend and you dig up something that just might be antique, just might be sellable, and just might help pay for this year's holiday (or at least next month's gas bill). Why not check out European online auction company QXL? They have a new scheme headed up by Antiques Roadshow presenter Hugh Scully, where you send in a digital photo of your prized item and an expert evaluation will be sent to you within four days. If you want to, you can then auction it on the site. back to top of this category back to top