Helpful Tips on Internet Shopping

Newbies Helpful Tips on Internet Shopping and problems encountered with websites

Date - 20th March 2007 - Author - Lorraine Francheska Evans-Raistrick
Anyone new to internet shopping will find this a valuable guide to Internet Shopping. We would like to point out this is only a very basic guide to help you understand how websites work. It is extremely rare you will find any problems with our website as we update and we are here live everyday to ensure everything is working for you.

Where do I start.......I have been internet shopping for years, in fact since 1987 and if you follow important internet guidelines and understand the logistics of the internet it can be a very rewarding experience to just sit down, relax, have a cuppa and browse to shop in the comfort of your own home. Just imagine no more going out in in all weathers, less use of the car, no Queuing at the shops, plus another benefit is you often see it is cheaper to buy on the internet.
It is just as safe to give payment online as going to any outside department store or giving payment over the telephone, in fact in my personal opinion its safer. there is so much more security.

A SIMPLE GUIDE FOR NEWBIES NEW TO THE INTERNET
Following are some questions I get asked from People New to the Internet

Opening Another Browser

First what is a Browser? A browser is where you type all the web addresses you need to look at, it is the long bar at the top, open to the Worldwide web.

Sometimes you will need to have a couple of browsers open, so you can skip from one website to another or you want one of the webpages open to listen to music or for any other reason.

GREAT TIP - Listening to a piece of Music on a webpage you really like you will need to open another browser. Reason being the music will stop once you click into another webpage, to avoid this you can Open another Browser

How do I do this?

You will need to learn how to Copy and Paste from the browser the webpage address.
Follow this guideline.....

To copy and paste - Left click on your mouse in the browser and you will see the webpage address highlight
Right Click on your mouse, scroll down to copy and left click
Minimize this window - To Minimize, look top right in the blue bar, you will see three Boxes, First has a dash, Second has two boxes and then the last Box has the red box with the white X - Click on the Box with the Dash to Minimize this window
Now you will need to open another browser - OK, I hear you say, How do I do that?
On your desktop open another internet browser, as if you are going back into the internet, you will see you now have two browsers open
Left Click in your new browser it will hightlight the address then delete the address that is showing there.
Then right click and scroll down to paste and Left Click, this will show the webpage address you have just copied.
Then Press enter to show the webpage.
Now you can carry on where you left off and view the rest of the website and Listen to the music at the same time on your other browser. Clever eh, you will be a pro in no time. Voila

Common Concerns for Internet Shopping

Security - Always make sure the website carries terms and conditions and has security for making payments. When you checkout to pay for your goods you must see in your browser...

https:// - this appears at the begining of a secure page in your browser
Padlock icon - You will see a padlock appear bottom right, or on explorer 7 you will see it top right.

As an extra precaution, Remember after you have made payment, it is safer to close down your browser and open another one if you are sharing your PC.

The Shopping Basket - When you add items to your shopping basket, remember if you go to an external website you will loose everything in your basket. The best thing to do is make a note of the external website you want to visit - example - Copy and paste the website address into your notepad to view at a later time.

When Internet Browsing you may come across some Website problems -
Here is a selection I have encountered along my travels browsing the internet...

Why are some Websites Slow at loading or not Showing?

The Images on some websites are too large, they might not be jpgs, bmp files are far too large for the internet or it could be the case of having too many images on one page
It could be the owner of the website is uploading, go back to it in another 5 minutes remember to bookmark the website first.
The websites Hosting Server is down, loss of connection
Your Internet Provider Server is down, loss of connection
Too many people visiting the website, go back in 5 minutes, remember to bookmark the website first
You have a dial up connection, broadband is so much faster

Why is there no reply from some Websites after I placed my order?

First rule is - Try not to Panic, there could be a genuine reason for no reply
Examples....

Owner of the website could be ill or on holiday

Owner of the website could of had a Power Surge, usually happens after thunderstorms - loss of PC and connection

National Power Cut - Loss of Pc Connection

No reply to my emails - Dont panic Owner of the website could be ill or on holiday

Basic Website Terminology -When you see the following on the internet

WWW - this means World Wide Web
URL - User Resource Locator - this means the website address ie: www.house-of-francheska.co.uk
HTTP - Hypertext Markup Language - this means internet computer language for the website
HTTPS - Hypertext Markup Language Secure - this means the website you are viewing is secure, you will see this mostly when you have finished shopping - go to checkout for payment and for secure contact forms
Browser - This is where you type in the website address you wish to view, browsing and surfing the internet to look at different websites
Cookies - Ah always one I get asked, Cookies are exactly what they say, imagine a nice cookie biscuit, its good isnt it, well this is what cookies do, they are good for storing your passwords, remembering your ip address etc, no one can access these from your PC
Links - Links are external websites recommended by the owner of the website, usually the owner is not responsible for any content it will show
Add to Cart - When shopping, you can add your item one at a time to your cart, its your shopping trolly
View Cart - You can view your cart at anytime to see what you have ordered, you should be able to add and delete or it will say remove items before checkout
Checkout - When you have finished your shopping, view your cart and when happy you can submit to the payment page. Remember all payment pages must be secure
Encryption - when you see a sign on the owners website it is 128 bit secure, this means all your payment details are encrypted..... ie: say for example you see.......
Product Item 126 - description leather bound book Price £28.00 etc
This is how it will show when transferred over the internet to the payment provider.......
example of encryption code. 0000000000111110100101010010100000000111111010000000101010101010101010100000
How do they read it, well they have a key number to unlock the code to show the real details.

I will be adding more information over time on internet shopping, definately worth viewing every now and then for an update. If you have any concerns contact me.