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AUCTIONS
|
QXL
www.qxl.com |
|
| QXL
is the biggest online auction house in
Europe and its online tour makes
a great introduction to the mysterious
world of bidding online. There's
a good selection of goods available on
the site and it's always
bustling
with activity - the Holidays section
is always worth a visit. |
The
Real Hollywood Online Auction
store.universalstudios.com/usacution |
|
| Universal
Studios
auctions off props and costumes from
its TV programmes and
films
at this excellent site. You'll also
find plenty of signed photos for
sale
and unusual items such as the pant
suit actually worn by Marlene
Dietrich. |
Sandafayre
www.sandafayre.com |
|
| Sandafayre
is
the world's largest online auction for
stamps. The site might look a
tad dull but it should be your first
port of call if you're looking for
first editions and postal rarities.
Every week Sandafayre holds huge
auctions
selling everything philatelic from
single stamps through to valuable
collections. |
Sothebys
sothebys.amazon.com |
|
| Sothebys
has
teamed up with Amazon to offer some
very special online auctions.
You'll
find unusual and rare lots here
including old books and manuscripts
and
entertainment and sports memorabilia.
The online guides are well worth
reading if you're looking for an
introduction to the art of collecting. |
Vectis
Auctions
www.vectis.co.uk |
|
| Vectis
specialises
in online auctions of collectible
toys. If you've been
hoarding
away old Corgi and Matchbox cars or
ancient Hornby train sets this is
the
perfect place to get rid of them. You
can even look back on previous
auctions
to see what kind of prices these
collectible toys are going for. |
| Rating
: 4/5 |
Yahoo!
Auctions
uk.auctions.yahoo.com/uk |
|
| There's
a
phenomenal amount of stuff for sale on
Yahoo's person-to-person
auction
site and they're a mix of UK and
US-based items. The site is extremely
busy and it's free to use for buyers
and sellers. Yahoo also runs lots
of charity auctions, which are well
worth a visit. |
Auctions.com
www.auctions.com |
|
| You'll
find
some unusual lots for auction on this
site including historical
signed
photos and bizarre items including an
Amish wash tub. Since it's a
US-based
site the prices are all listed in
dollars but it's well worth a browse
simply for the variety of goods on
offer. |
BidnBuy
www.bidnbuy.com |
|
| From
here you can jump off to two separate
sites. Buyer2Seller is a
person-to-person
auction, while BidnBuy auctions off
computer products and peripherals.
The site is based in Ireland but they
will ship to anywhere in the
European
Community. |
Bullnet
Auctions
www.bullnet.co.uk/auctions |
|
| This
site mixes business auctions with
person-to-person sales. It's free to
buy and sell in the person-to-person
auctions. The site gives you
useful
background information on any seller
you might want to deal with and
tells
you if they've successfully sold from
the site before. |
BuyStuff
www.buystuff.co.uk |
|
| The
busiest area of this online auction is
the car section. Most of the
cars
for sale come with photos and
comprehensive descriptions. You can
even
auction off domain names here. |
eBay
www.ebay.co.uk |
|
| The
UK version of the giant US
person-to-person auction site is
impressive.
It's free to put your stuff up for
sale here. And although many of the
auctions are based in the US you can
search for only those lots sold in
the UK. |
Ebid
www.ebid.co.uk |
|
| You
get to run your own auction on this
site by putting up your own goods
for
sale. Be warned though: if you do
manage to sell anything you will be
charged
a percentage of the final bid. There
are lots of products being
auctioned
here and Ebid is especially good for
computer hardware and software. |
Eurobid
www.eurobid.com |
|
| This
nicely designed site shows you which
auctions are closing today so you
could pick up a few bargains if you
get in there with a winning bid
right
at the last minute. The sellers come
from all over Europe and so the
prices
are listed in euros, although the
seller specifies what currency they
want
to be paid in. You'll find everything
from books through to villas for
sale on this site. |
First
Auction
www.firstauction.com |
|
| If
you
like your auctions fast and furious
check out the Flash Auctions on
this
site. First Auction hold 21 half-hour
auctions every day - check out
the
online timetable for more details.
Bidding starts at a dollar on the
Flash
auctions. The site is US-based but you
can still get some bargains. |
Amazon
Auctions
www.amazon.co.uk |
|
| You've
got
the potential to reach over 13 million
buyers around the world if
you
auction items at Amazon. It's free to
put an ad up there, you simply
fill
in an online form. You'll find a mix
of US and UK-based auctions and
there's
a wide selection of goods on sale. |
Auction
Hunter
www.auctionhunter.co.uk |
|
| This
person-to-person auction site attracts
plenty of activity. However if
you
don't want to hang around bidding all
day, you can always set up the
RoboBid
which bids automatically for you up to
your pre-set ceiling. Auction
Hunter
also conducts Dutch auctions on this
site. |
The
Thesaurus
Group
www.thesaurus.co.uk |
|
| More
than the normal internet auction
sites. Times,dates and places of
sales
sites across the UK, plus Auction
Search allows you to search 1,000
pages
of catalogues from over 600 auction
houses and ACTS tracks stolen fine
art, antiques and collectibles. |
|
CD's,
TAPES, DVD's, &
VIDEOS
|
101CD.com
www.101cd.com |
|
| This
site doesn't look great and the design
is very basic, however it does
stock
over one million CDs, DVDs, videos,
games and books. That figure
includes
over 500,000 import CDs. Price and
breadth of choice are the big
selling
points here. A selection of the top 40
major new releases are going for
a mere £9.99 and that price includes
postage and packing within
the
UK. For each CD you get track listings
plus reviews from other 101CD
customers. |
Audiostreet
www.audiostreet.co.uk |
|
| The
prices are very reasonable on this
UK-based site with some chart CDs
selling
for a mere £9.99. Even better,
delivery is free to UK addresses.
The site is a doddle to use - you just
search the database by artist or
by CD title. You get to see your name
in lights if you add your own
album
reviews to the site. If you want to
stay on top of the charts you can
choose
to view only the last fortnight's
worth of new releases. |
CD
Paradise
www.cdparadise.com |
|
| This
site is a spin off from WH Smith. The
selection of CDs is reasonable
with
many going for as little as £9.99. You
can search for the title
of
CD or go to a specific artist or just
browse through a musical genre.
The
CDs are well reviewed and you can
submit your own opinions to the site.
Shipping rates are fixed at £2.95 if
you order over £50
worth
of products and the items should be
dispatched within 48 hours. There's
also a handy Email Update option that
lets you know when your favourite
artist releases a new CD. |
CDNow
www.cdnow.com |
|
| CDNow
was
one of the first and remains one of
the best and most comprehensive
of online music stores. The site is
based in the US, which means you
get
attractive US prices. The good news is
that CDNow use a European
shipping
centre to speed up delivery and cut
down on costs for those over the
pond.
You'll find Realaudio samples of many
tracks on the site so you can get
a taster of a CD before you buy. You
can even create your own greatest
hits CD by downloading tracks at the
very reasonable price of 99 cents
per track. |
Emusic
www.emusic.com |
|
| This
professional looking US site stocks a
huge range of CDs. Many of the
CDs
available have sample tracks that you
can listen to for free and you
can
download tracks at 99 cents a pop. The
site also has a music news
service
and plenty of background information
on the artists. There's even a
pretty
comprehensive list of live gigs around
the world. |
HMV
www.hmv.co.uk |
|
| The
huge high street music and video
store, HMV, as got a rather good web
presence
as well. In case you hadn't guessed
already, the site offers you the
chance
to buy everything on-line that you can
get from any one of the standard
shops. The front page contains that
week's new releases, any of which
you
can buy. As you would expect from HMV,
the back catalogue is truly
immense,
and the search engine allows you to
find what you are looking for with
ease. |
Boxman
www.boxman.co.uk |
|
| This
site is very simple to use and it's
fast. But perhaps the best news for
music fans is that it sells CDs at
very competitive prices (the price
of
chart CDs varied between £10 and £11).
You can search the
CD
database by title, artist or by a
specific track. If you're lucky you
might
find you can even listen to sample
tracks of your chosen CD over the
Internet. |
Yalplay
www.yalplay.com |
|
| Yalplay
sells
chart CDs at prices of around £10.99,
which is a couple of
quid cheaper than you'll find them in
high street musical outlets. As
well
as CDs the site also stocks a
reasonable selection of vinyl and
mini-disks.
You won't find much background
information on the artists and there
are
no track listings, which can be
frustrating. Most CDs are shipped out
the
next working day at a delivery cost of
£1.25 for the first CD and
25p for each CD thereafter. |
BlackStar
www.blackstar.co.uk |
|
| The
simple design of this site means it's
fast to load and easy to work
your
way around. You're tempted in on the
front page with special offers and
free postage costs on DVDs and videos.
You can browse by film genre or
search for specific titles. There's a
plot summary for most of the
films
and suggestions of other films you
might like to see in the same genre.
The site is not short on bargains
either - some popular videos were
available
for a mere £3.99. |
DVD
Box Office
www.dvdboxoffice.com |
|
| This
site offers free shipping worldwide,
which makes a pleasant surprise.
Of
course because Boxoffice is based in
the States you can get hold of
films
before they're available in the UK and
they're much cheaper than over
here.
New Arrivals take centre stage on the
opening page of the site and
you're
looking at prices between $25 and $30
for the latest movies. |
DVD
Express
www.dvdexpress.com |
|
| If
you
are serious about DVD, then the only
way to go is to import titles from
America. The problem is choosing a
suitably reliable site. DVD Express
is one such site. Offering thousands
of titles, as well as music CD's
and
movie merchandise, this is a great
site. The design allows you to
search
for a title based on a key word, or
delve through the structure in
place. |
DVDplus
www.dvdplus.co.uk |
|
| This
site looks very stylish and proved to
be easy to navigate. You can
search
for videos or DVDs by title, actor or
director or you can browse by
genre.
Each DVD comes with a plot summary,
reviews and a star rating. If
you're
stuck for gift ideas then why not
visit the Inspire Me section where
you'll
find a list of 10 classic films that
anyone would appreciate. |
Filmstore
www.filmstore.co.uk |
|
| This
site is a subsidiary of the Odeon
cinema group and it sells the top
DVDs
and videos. Each movie comes with a
plot summary and you can search for
specific actors or directors. There's
a special section called TV
Heaven
for cult soaps and TV shows on video
which contains classics such as
Brideshead
Revisited. |
Filmworld
www.filmworld.co.uk |
|
| You'll
find
a good selection of videos and CDs on
sale at Filmworld. The
movies
are accompanied by detailed background
information. Movie buffs will
appreciate
the many and varied ways you can
search the Filmworld database - by
film
title, director, actor, distributor or
by a specific year. You could
even
use the online Film Atlas to choose
films made in specific countries.
And
just to get you in the mood, you can
even check out a few film trailers
online. |
Video
Paradise
www.videoparadise.com |
|
| Video
Paradise
is yet another WH Smith spin off.
You'll find plenty of
special
offers on the site, with most of the
videos being backed up by
comprehensive
movie reviews along with customer
comments. If you're not sure what you
fancy watching then check out the
video charts for inspiration. Videos
are sent out within 48 hours and
delivery is charged at £2.95. |
Entertainment
Express
www.entexpress.com |
|
| Not
only does Entertainment Express sell
videos but it also turns its hands
to CDs and software. You'll always
find some attractive special offers
at the site with many videos going for
as little as £3.99. If
you're
looking for inspiration you can browse
by genre or find a specific
title
by typing in a movie title or an
actor's name. The prices are good and
include delivery costs. |
|
SHOPPING
|
Iceland
www.iceland.co.uk |
|
| The
TV ads tell us that Iceland sell more
than just frozen food and in
attempt
to compete with the big boys they've
recently launched an online
shopping
service. The service is available to
customers living within a 10-mile
radius of an Iceland store (or three
miles within the M25 area) and,
even
better, delivery is free if you order
over £40 worth of goods. As
you'd expect from Iceland the prices
are competitive and the range of
goods
available is impressive. |
Lastorders.com
www.lastorders.com |
|
| Instead
of
nipping round the corner to the local
offy you can get all your
booze
from Lastorders. The site stocks over
250 products and is strong on
lagers,
ciders, spirits and Alcopops. The
choice of wines is less impressive,
wine
buffs will be better off with a
dedicated wine merchant. Prices are
reasonable
but do bear in mind the fact that
you're usually ordering in bulk. The
delivery fee is £3.50 per order. |
Organics
Direct
www.organicsdirect.com |
|
| We
might
all want to eat healthy organic food
but it can be tricky to find a
good
local supplier. Organics Direct gets
around this problem by delivering
its range of organic fruit,
vegetables, dairy produce, bread, wine
and
cakes to anywhere in the UK mainland.
Bizarrely, you can even order
organic
nappies from the site. The produce
comes highly recommended - the
company
won the 'Box scheme of the year' award
in the National 1999 Organic
Food
awards. A mixed vegetable box will set
you back a mere £12.95
including
delivery. |
Tesco
Direct
www.tesco.co.uk |
|
| It's
good news for Southerners on the Tesco
site - if you live in London or
the South East you can order your
weekly grocery shop from the Tesco
site
and get it shipped direct to your
door. If you live in the rest of the
UK there's a fair chance you might
still fall in the Tesco online
shopping
catchment area - you'll just have to
type in your postcode to see if
you're
one of the lucky ones. There's an
excellent range of goods available
from
the site including items from the
off-license area and magazines and
newspapers.
Delivery costs a fiver and if you
order early enough goods can be
shipped
out the same day. |
Whittard
Of Chelsea
www.whittard.com |
|
| The
tea and coffee specialist Whittard has
branches all over the country,
and
now you can order your tea and coffee
over the Internet with this
simply
designed, easy to use site. As well as
tea (covering heaps of varieties
from Oolong Black Dragon through to
English Breakfast) and coffee
(covering
virtually every coffee you care to
mention), you can also order china
and
'specials' (biscuits, gift vouchers,
hot chocolate). Whittard will even
ship items over to America for you.
There's one area of the site that
Americans
will find particularly useful, it
gives you instructions on how to make
the perfect cup of tea. |
Worldfoods
www.worldfoods.co.uk |
|
| It's
not always easy to get hold of organic
foods, which is where WorldFoods
steps in with its range of
unprocessed, additive-free foods.
Amongst
the
myriad products you can buy online are
nuts, snacks, dried fruits,
grains
and pasta, organic groceries,
breakfast cereals, seeds beans and
lentils
and organic vegetables. The site is
smart enough to store details of
your
last order so you can use that as a
basis for your next online shop. |
Sainsbury's
www.sainsburys.co.uk |
|
| Shop
online with Sainsbury's and your fruit
and veg is specially selected
for
you by trained Orderline shoppers, you
can even specify how ripe you
like
your bananas. The online ordering
service doesn't cover all of the UK
as
yet - you have to type in your
postcode to see if you're in the
catchment
area. Order before 9pm and you'll get
your goods by 10am the next day.
As with Tesco, the delivery fee for
ordering your grub online is a
fiver. |
Berry
Bros & Rudd
www.bbr.co.uk |
|
| This
is one of the best online wine
merchants selling some top quality
grape
juice. Hang the expense and check out
the vintage section of the site
where
you'll see lots of wines at over £250
a bottle. But there's
plenty
to suit at the budget end of the
market too. Each wine comes with a
helpful
description and you can search their
huge database by grape variety,
country
of origin or colour. If you order over
£100 worth of wine
delivery
is free, otherwise it costs a rather
expensive £7.50 per order. |
|
| STORES
|
Toys
R Us
www.toysrus.co.uk |
|
| The
giant toy superstore stocks nearly
1,000 toys on its bright and breezy
Web site. You can browse by category
of toys with most items
accompanied
by clear pictures. The prices are
competitive and there are often
special
online promotions and deals. You
should also check out the sister
Babies
R Us site (www.babiesrus.co.uk) where
you can buy baby toys, clothes
and
even nappies. Products are normally
delivered within three working days
and the delivery charge is £2.50 per
order. |
Zoom
www.zoom.co.uk |
|
| Zoom
isn't a big name on the high street
but you will know the stores behind
this new online brand; TopShop,
Principles, Dorothy Perkins and Evans
are
just a few of the brand names
represented in this online department
store.
Zoom majors on selling clothing
although you can also buy electrical
items,
gifts, household goods and even cars
if your credit card will let you.
Every product is accompanied by a
picture, so you can see exactly what
you're buying. |
Debenhams
www.debenhams.co.uk |
|
| Debenhams
is
one of the first of the big department
stores to actually offer
products
for sale online. The online goods for
sale are limited to a selection
of
gifts and flowers and you can also
access the wedding list service
through
the site. The gifts are nicely
presented and beautifully
photographed.
The 100 or so products are split into
section gifts for Him, for Her
and
for the Home. Delivery is free on
orders over £125 otherwise it's
£2.95 per order and that includes free
returns. |
The
Gadget Shop
www.thegadgetshop.co.uk |
|
| The
Gadget Shop is packed full of those
stylish items so beloved by boys
everywhere.
You'll find a good selection of the
products available on the high
street
on this site. Real gadget fans can
even set up their own personal gift
wish list, which is a great boon if
you've got a birthday coming up. If
you don't know where to start why not
check out the top ten most
popular
items on the site. Once you've chosen
one product just follow the
suggestions
that lead you to other similar
products. You could be there for days. |
Hamleys
www.hamleys.co.uk |
|
| Visiting
Hamleys
with kids in tow can be a torturous
experience - you'll never
get
the children out of there without
kicking and screaming as there's just
too much stuff to play with. Now you
can get hold of that famous red
Hamleys
bag without setting foot in the store
by shopping online. You can
choose
items by category of toy or check out
the toy recommendations. There
are
even some limited-edition toys that
adults will probably take a bit of
a fancy to. The site looks great and
every toy is well photographed -
but
be warned, it's not cheap. |
Liberty
of London
www.liberty-of-london.com/shopping |
|
| This
site is gorgeous, which is no more
than you'd expect from this
exclusive
London department store. If you're
looking for unusual gifts this is
the
site to visit. You'll find exquisite
fabrics, hoards of gift ideas for
the man or woman in your life and some
fabulous furniture. All the
products
are clearly photographed and then
dispatched in the distinctive purple
and gold Liberty packaging. The items
shown here aren't cheap although
you could always click on the button
that pulls up all the items under
£50. |
MFI
www.mfi.co.uk |
|
| If
it's
free-standing bedroom, office, lounge
or kitchen furniture you're
after,
they can all be ordered online from
MFI. If you're after more detailed
information and help on planning your
room you can even book an
appointment
with one of MFI's specialist planners
from the Web site. Delivery is
free
and as you'll know MFI boasts some of
the keenest furniture prices in
the
business. |
Argos
www.argos.co.uk |
|
| You
won't find the entire Argos catalogue
online just yet. Nevertheless the
selection of products is impressive.
You can choose to search by
entering
a key word or you can relax and browse
through product areas. The
products
are accompanied by photos gleaned from
the catalogue. The delivery
process
is less than impressive though, Argos
state you'll usually get your
product
within four to six working days -
which is a bit tardy. Spend over
£150
and delivery is free. |
|
|
