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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. |
|
|
