Welcome!
If you have an account, please:
Log in
Yes, it's THAT book!

Drop your email here to stay informed of the status of my "tell most" book about the National Security Agency:

--OR--

Read a little about the book here:

Employees are allies, not the adversary

--OR--

Check out the Kickstarter here (click)
How can I help you?
Contact Jeremy
Recommendations

Here's something that


I, Jeremy Duffy, actually recommend and think is worth checking out.
No web-bugs, no bs, just a legit recommmendation that I have personally evaluated before allowing it to be listed here:

Think something's here that shouldn't be? contact me!

Research Products

Probably one of the first things you'll do when buying is some product research. You see something for a good price or find the perfect widget or gift, but take a moment to find out some more about it before clicking the BUY button.

Online Reviews

Google helpfully suggests common searches including reviews

The first step to finding a review is to simply search for your product name (Honda Odyssey in my case) using a major search engine. As of the writing of this article, Google helpfully shows common searches that might be what you're looking for in a drop down with a count of results for those terms.

You can try looking at the website names that the pages are hosted on to stick with bigger name reviewers (autos.yahoo.com for example), but I find it useful to try a bunch of different sites to get a variety of information.

The key is to find reviews that cover the good and the bad. In other words, if a review has nothing negative to say about a product, it's probably not that the product really is the best thing in the universe, but rather that the author is biased or it's an ad disguised as a review (for example, most Lifelock reviews).

Customer Reviews

Some of the most valuable information I have ever found on a product came from the comments left by people who've actually bought it.

Reviews from the people who actually bought it.

The first thing to keep in mind when reading user supplied comments is that there are two kinds to ignore:

  1. Fake Reviews – It's a fact that many companies will stoop to leaving fake "customer reviews" for their competitor's product to discourage people from buying it. The way to tell if a negative review is worth anything is to see how consistently you hear the same negative information and from where. Also, copy about 10 words from the review and paste it to a search engine. If you find many sites with the exact same phrase, it's probably a plant.
  2. Retaliation Reviews – Some people are really ticked about one thing or another and choose to take it out by leaving a horrible product review (even if it was just a customer service issue). You can usually tell these ones when they start going into how bad the store itself was or if they say things that don't mean anything like "The worst. It stunk!"

Other than those, you can get immensely useful information by reading the user comments.

Online Forums

Forums are some of the best places to research and get information. If there's a web forum dedicated to the product you plan to buy (and there almost always is), asking the dedicated forum posters there can net you great information very quickly.

For example, if you're trying to compare two or three different digital cameras, the people in digitalcamerareview.com forums would be very helpful. to quickly and easily find a forum for the product type you need, just do a Google search for the type of product and "inurl:forum". This looks for any webpage that mentions your product and also has the word "forum" in the url (usuall a forum for that product).

Find a forum for pretty much anything using this trick.

Before signing up and getting posting, check to make sure it's an active forum. To do this, just look at the last post date for some of the categories and see if they're recent. The more areas that are actively updated, the more likely you'll get a quick and useful response.

Check to see that it's an active forum before bothering to post (click to enlarge)

If it looks like a dead forum, maybe try backing up and finding another option instead.

shopping online Tutorial
prev: Validating Webstores and Services|INDEX|next: Paying Online
If you like to keep your money and safe yourself the trouble and hassle of getting nailed by a bad or fraudulent retailer online, you need to learn to identify them before it's too late.
Before you buy anything, utilize the vast power of the Internet to research products and pick the best one possible.
You're about to pay for something, but what's the safest way to do it?

Related Guide

Once you've gone through the trouble to make an online account with a company, make sure you protect your passwords properly

Share This

Have a Comment or Question?

Loading...

If you want to learn more about my professional background, click here to learn more.

Check out one of my guides/tutorials:

web posting dangers Tutorial
|INDEX|next: Spyware Scanners
Chat, Instant Messaging, Forums, and Internet Blogs are fun, but make sure you post carefully.
Sometimes spyware gets in your computer and the anti-virus won't stop it. Use a spyware scanner to find and remove spyware and adware.
Use a software firewall to detect bad code on your computer when it tries to connect to the Internet.
Always keep your system up to date with security patches or none of the rest of your security software will matter.
Use an encryption tool to protect your important data when storing or transmitting it.
Switch to Firefox for your web browsing and you'll be better protected from Internet threats.

... or check out any of my other guides and tutorials by clicking here!

Validating Webstores and Services

It can be hard to know who to trust and who to not trust online, but there are things you can do to verify who the good guys and bad guys are before it's too late.

[Click for full description]

Research Products

One of the best things about shopping online is the ability to research information online.

[Click for full description]

Paying Online

Ever been nervous about paying online for something. Just take a second to learn about the various options and put your mind at ease.

[Click for full description]

Spyware Scanners

Learn how to detect and remove spyware and adware using a free scanning tool.

[Click for full description]

Software Firewall

Learn what a firewall is and why you want one on your computer.

[Click for full description]

Operating System Updates

Make sure to keep your operating system up-to-date with security patches or else none of the rest of your security software will be able to protect you.

[Click for full description]

File Encryption

Learn how to protect your important files on your computer or when transmitting them with free tools for file encryption.

[Click for full description]

Mozilla Firefox - Internet Browser

There are many browser choices out there. Read why I think Firefox is one of the best.

[Click for full description]