Have you ever tried shopping online?  It can be great – here’s why:

1. You get more choice – whether it’s getting the right size or colour or finding things you’d never be able to find on the high street – from unusual spices to some rare book, from motorbike parts to a particular cheese.
2. The ease and convenience – no more traipsing round crowded aisles or dealing with hassle at the checkout.  It’s quicker, too.
3. It can be cheaper – sometimes a pound or two – sometimes a whole lot more – leaving more cash in your pocket (and it can really add up)!

Anything that saves you time and cuts out hassle, gives you more choice and saves you money, all at the same time sounds pretty good to me!

So why don’t more people do it more of the time?

There are two big reasons:

1. People worry about whether they’ll get exactly the right thing.  What if when it arrives it’s not quite the right size or colour, or it’s not exactly what you expected…
2. All the stuff you hear about people being ripped off – scams and cons and so on – pretty scary stuff.

I suppose there could be a third reason: simply not knowing how to do it (or how to get the most out of it).

I can see why that might put people off. After all, no-one wants to worry about their credit card details being nabbed… and no-one wants to get frustrated battling with the website!

Avoid the worries – but still get the choice and the savings…

The thing is, there are good ways to avoid those problems, so you can stop worrying about them.  And once someone shows you how to avoid them… well, then you’ve only got the three big advantages: more choice, save time and hassle, save money.

Imagine… you need to do some shopping (maybe some clothes, replacement windscreen wipers or a new bathroom mirror) – wouldn’t it be great if you could tap a few buttons and find exactly what you want… then have it delivered to your door, probably the very next day and very likely saving you money into the bargain!

Avoid the queues, the traipsing round in the rain and the hassle…

The people who know all this stuff get their shopping cheaper, with less hassle and without spending ages getting it – no more queues, no more traipsing round town, struggling to find a parking space or waiting in the rain for a bus… 

But the people who don’t know it either have to queue, traipse and wait in the rain… or battle with online shopping that doesn’t seem to live up to the promise – maybe even risk getting ripped off.  

(I bet there are plenty of people who tried online shopping and thought “I don’t see why everyone raves about it” – when it was just that no-one had shown them how to do it properly.)

Local shops?  They might benefit too

I know – you might say “But if I shop online, what about my local shops?”  I understand – but shopping online doesn’t mean you have to buy from some big conglomerate.  Lots of small independent shops sell online – in fact a lot of the small local shops who struggle to get enough business in the high street also sell online, which helps them thrive.  

By shopping online you can support small businesses just as much as you can in the high street – but without the hassle of fighting the crowds, dealing with getting there and so on.

It helps you save time, money and hassle… get more choice… and avoid getting ripped off.

Whether you’ve done online shopping before or are completely new to it, it’ll make it simple and easy – giving you the tips and advice that means you can get the best from it and avoid the pitfalls.

So what’s actually covered? Here are a few of the things you’ll discover:

• Whenever you buy things online, do this (it only takes maybe 3 seconds).  No exceptions – unless you don’t care about being scammed.  Page 13
• Some people will tell you that whenever you buy things online you should ALWAYS use a credit card, because it gives you more protection than a debit card.  Sometimes that’s true – but not always.  Page 14 explains when.
• If you have Amazon Prime (or are thinking of getting it – or even if you shop on Amazon sometimes), you should read page 35 – otherwise you might be missing out.
• Wear glasses?  Do what this 21 year old university student did and it could save you a packet.  Page 47
• Ever find buying presents difficult?  You might find what’s on page 51 helpful.
• Why Claire gave a good review to the seller who sent her the wrong sized cuddly minion toy. Page 86

That’s not all, of course.  For example, you’ll also discover…

• The ultimate trick if you’re worried about people nicking your credit or debit card details when you use it online – this way, they have no chance.  Page 60
• Why Claire had a photo of her wheelie bin emailed to her.  Page 74
• How you shopping online could be good for Millom Mini Rugby League, Cancer Research or the Salvation Army.  Page 93
• Tips to get the best price on whatever you’re buying – you can ignore this, of course… but you might find yourself poorer if you do.  Chapter 10

That’s still not all. But don’t worry if it seems like a lot – it’s not like you need to memorise it for a test!  Just use what’s useful to you and leave the rest – you can always come back and have another look later on if you want to.

It doesn’t matter whether you use a phone, tablet, laptop or desktop PC – the book covers shopping on all the different devices.

So how much does this book cost, I hear you cry?

Usually when we try to work out how much to charge for a book, we think about what else is out there (nothing that’s similar this time – at least nothing similar that’s any good) or what else you could get that would do a similar thing.

So we tried to work out: how much money could it save you?

The thing is, leaving aside the hassle and time it might save you, just looking at how much money it could save you, it really adds up!  It could easily be ten or twenty pounds (or more)… in the first month.  Maybe another ten or twenty the following month.  And so on – maybe more some months, a bit less other months.  That’s leaving aside when you have a big thing to buy (maybe a holiday or a car… or a new kitchen or whatever) and it might save you a whole lot more.

(Not to mention what it could save you if you avoid getting ripped off as a result of reading it – that could be a huge saving of cash, not to mention the stress avoided!)

All that could easily be over a hundred pounds a year or more: we can’t bring ourselves to charge that much for a book, however good!

Two more things I should tell you – “thing number 1”…

I should mention that we’ve also published a fully updated book on all aspects of internet security. It’s called:

“How to Stay Safe & Sound Online, 4th Edition: Protect yourself from everything from viruses to scams, identity theft to bank fraud and spam email to websites you don’t want your grandkids to see”.

This book shows you how to navigate the various risks, worries and dangers on the internet – what to do and what you need to know to be safe. You need anti-virus software, sure, but it’s not enough to have that and think that means you’re safe. And what if it DOES find a virus?

 It’s only £12.97, as it’s a bit shorter than the Shopping book.  You don’t have to get it at the same time… but if you do, you still only pay one lot of P&P, so it can save you a little bit to order them together.

“Thing number two”: Limited stock…

The second thing I should tell you is that we’ve got limited stock of the Shopping Online book – so when they’re gone, they’re gone. I’m not sure when we’ll next update them, so if you think you might want a copy, best get one now so that you don’t miss out.  We should have enough for everyone that wants one, but we have sold out before during a launch, and if that happens again this time, you could miss out.  (Or you could wait and leave it till we next update the book, but last time we printed it was 4 years ago, so you could be waiting a while!)

So why not order your free trial copy now?  Aside from the fact it means you can’t forget by accident, the sooner you order, the sooner you’ll get your copy – and the sooner you can start shopping online with confidence.

No need to send any money now – check you’re happy with the books first

You don’t have to send any money now.  Just ring up or click here to order now and we’ll pop your copies in the post straight away.  Then when your books arrive, check you’re happy before you pay.

I know it’s an unusual way of doing business – but it seems fairer than making you pay up-front without having seen the books.  And it means you’ve got nothing to lose by ordering now.

Best order now

Why not order your copy now? All you need to do is ring 01229 777606 and Jade, Shanice or Shannon (or one of the rest of us if it’s busy) will take down your details.  Or click here and put in which books you’d like and your address (so we know where to send it).  Either way, we’ll get your book(s) in the post to you straight away, hot off the press.

Then shopping online could be a doddle that saves you time, hassle and money while giving you more choice – without any worries about being ripped off or paying more than you need to.  Just give us a call or click the button now.

Yours

The Helpful Book Company

PS Of course, which of the books you choose is up to you… or since there’s a free trial you could have a look at both and see if you think they’re helpful…