The world changed so much in the last 10 years - it's amazing. One of the things I realized is that I now make most of my electronics, appliances, computer and photography related purchases online. I even sometimes shop online for household items, things like drugs, soap, toothpaste, etc. There are pretty damn good reasons to do that:
- prices are usually better than in the stores
- more choice
- consumer reviews to get the best quality and features
- often no sales tax
- it's convenient and time-saving
I use BizRate.com and Google Shopping to find the best price on the item I want to buy. These websites fetch prices from many online stores. Amazon.com will usually have the best price - that's why they are so successful and growing fast. If you buy electronics, photo or computer stuff then Best Buy, NewEgg.com or TigerDirect.com might have a better deal.
Many people like Ebay - I'm not a big fan (had a few not so good experiences).
So how do you choose where to buy? First, you search for best price on the websites mentioned. You enter the item name and preferably its manufacturer model and you will get the list of online stores that offer it with their prices. But how do you choose from which store to buy? You simply order results by the lowest price on top and then you find the first good-customer-reviewed store there.
On Bizrate.com it's easy to spot stores with a lot of good consumer reviews - it's a bright green sun next to the store name. Click on the sun and you could read what other people say about the store. Google Shopping has a five star rating for the stores which is very straightforward. I know Amazon is very selective about who they allow to sell through them, so I don't worry about buying there at all.
For me, the quality of the item is even more important than the price. I don't like the idea of buying low-quality or obsolete merchandise. That's why I ALWAYS read consumer reviews for the product on Amazon, CNET and other places.
After reading millions of reviews, I decided that the best quality/price HDTV on the market is LG 42LD550:
Online shopping offers a lot of choices and, very often, the best prices. I hope you are taking advantage of that.