I’m no stranger to office equipment or supplies, I have been working at home for quite a few years now, and I know that two of the most expensive office products are toner/ink and printers! These products always seem to make me stop and gasp when I look at the prices on these guys. I need it. I want it. But am I really willing to spend $28 on a printer cartridge that is just going to last me maybe 2 months? Not really! This was about the time I stopped searching at all those offline office stores and started shopping online at stores like Amazon. Now the only problem with Amazon is that the shipping can sometimes eat away at the savings you just so happily received! So then what’s left? That’s the same thing I was thinking, and that’s when I just happened to stumble upon an office equipment site I had never seen before.

All the same products, all the same quality, all the same brands, and yet, an astonishing realization, the prices differences were incredible! The printer cartridge that used to cost me $28 was now priced at $15! Then, I decided just for giggles to check my printer price out and see the difference for that, my heart sank, I spent $400 over the price that this discount store offered. See I thought I was doing good by buying at a trusted store like Amazon, but it turns out, I was pretty much letting them rob me blind! No more! Look at this printer (not the same as mine). Staples price and discount store price:

HP PRINTER OJ PRO L7580 AIO
Amazon - $436
Discount Store - $314

Deskjet 6940 Network-Ready Color Inkjet Printer
Ambry - $143
Discount Store - $104

Brother PRINTER,MFC-3360C
Staples - $146
Discount Store - $89.99

Brother 550cj InkJet Cartirdge
Amazon - $55
Discount Store $47

So you see even when you are saving a few bucks, it’s something of a big deal, especially when you think about multiple printers, or multiple ink cartridges you would buy. I print out a lot of stuff, so I use a cartridge in one or two months that someone else might be able to keep for 5 or 6 months so to even be able to save a few bucks here and there is a huge difference at the end of the year. These discount stores don’t ask you to buy a whole pad such as 10 or 100 printers. Just buy one or two or three or, however, many you want, and you still get the discount! No stipulations whatsoever. Don’t take my word for it, check out yourself!

I’m sure I’m not the only one that has bought a desk and it turned out to be a true piece of crap. You get it home and a week later something breaks off of it, and that is the beginning of hell as you know it. First it’s the knob on the cabinet of the desk, then it’s the chair caster, by the way your finished, it looks like world war 3 started in your office. It’s a shame, and yea you could get it fixed but that stuff is such a pain in the you know what, I rather just throw it out and go buy a new one, a better one, a more exceptional one. But how can you actually buy a good desk and be sure that its of quality? Aren’t stores like Staples and Office Max the best stores to buy from? Aren’t they the only stores to buy from? No Sir!

There are sites available online referred to as discount office supply stores, these stores sell all the same products you buy at Staples and in my opinion they have a nicer quality to them, not only is the quality nicer but so is the price! You can get all the same equipment and supplies you would at Staples, Best Buy or Office Max for a fraction of the price! Now tell me, why would you want to shop anywhere else?!? Seriously check out some of the price comparisons listed below and be ready to have your mind blown!

BW Veneer Series Rectangular Desk Shell
Staples - $529
Discount Store - $499

Buddy Products ORGANIZER DSK MTL,47″ BK
EOfficeProducts - $250
Discount Store - $146

Leather 2090 Pillow-Soft Series Executive High-Back Swivel/Tilt Chair, Black
iBuyOfficeSupply - $400
Discount - $294

Tiffany Industries CHAIR ARMS LTHR MY
Staples - $400
Discount Store - $350

Now that was just a few desk and chair examples, now imagine if you will, the price you will be saving by buying all your equipment and supplies at the discount stores, they have everything you could or would possibly need from big equipment to fax machines, desks, chairs, cabinets, shelves, tables, to accessories such as phones, lamps, frames, mounts, door stops, clocks to “paper” products like envelopes, binders, folders, paper products, organizers, calendars and much more. You could quite literally take one room and buy all your stuff from staples and then take another room and buy all your stuff from a discount store, and you would be saving so much more money from the discount products it would probably make you change your mind forever, about shopping at a “brand name” store!

Recently I read a study done by an independent researcher that stated the percentage of online shoppers had risen well over 83% in the last few years. This makes tons of sense for all sorts of reasons, and I’ll be the first to admit it, I would rather shop online in my pajamas then have to go out into a crowded mall any day, especially in the winter time! One of the main reasons people would rather shop online rather than offline is the pure convenience of it all. No more standing in lines, no matter waiting to be helped, and no more crowded malls! Now you simply go to your favorite mall or store online, do a quick search for what your looking for, find what you want, place it in your cart, pay, and voila your done. Quick, easy, painless.

Back to the searching for a quick second. If you find a search box on the site you are on and you enter in something really non-specified you are going to get thousands of results. Instead, search for something a little more particular. For example, don’t search for toys. Instead, search for Tickle Me Elmo or Tom Clancy Rainbow Six 3. Or better yet if the site has search options such as categories, prices, ages, color, etc, you can use that as well. You can find literally anything and everything you could or would ever need on these sites or malls. Seriously! How about car audio? Kitchen accessories? Video game consoles? Coffee? Candy? Gourmet Food? Office supplies? Hygienic supplies? Candles? Books? Music? The list goes on and on! And it doesn’t just stop there, you can also find certain brands in these malls or stores such as Nike, EA Sports, Starbucks, Lysol, Sharp, Brother, HP, etc.

The second most popular reason people would rather shop online is prices. That’s right, did you know that you have a better chance of finding the same thing online as you would in a mall or offline store, for cheaper? It’s true! As if the prices online weren’t already good and well to begin with, some stores and malls also will offer discount coupons that you can use through the store or if your directed on their site to another merchandiser. These are great coupons ranging from half offs, to free shipping to buy one get one free.

People of all ages can shop online, but in a lot of cases nowadays you will find that a lot of the older non-computerized individuals are also shopping online. Of course my grandma hasn’t come to this point yet, but she has 10 sons and daughters to do errands for her. But a lot of older people have gotten into the technological era by buying all sorts of things online. They have also taken up the convenience of grocery shopping online as well. Yes it’s true we have actually gone from calling in an order to the local grocery store, to shopping online, canceling out to the phone altogether, and receiving our products right at our door step through our computer. Amazing isn’t it? Before you know it, we will be driving in flying cars, and we will be able to use smell-o-vision on our television sets!

All in all these malls and shopping stores online are the best choice whether you want to buy a few things at a time, want to save some major money, or if you want to shop online for someones birthday or Christmas present and just don’t feel like wandering through the crowds of people associated with shopping malls and stores. And really my last point to why you should shop online? Its fun! Check it out and see for yourself!

Shopping from online stores that you can find all over the virtual world of the Internet is as safe as shopping from your favorite stores. If you take a stroll downtown New York, you will surely end up at the famous Fifth Avenue where a hundred of shopping places are found. You will have to go from store to store to look around and choose what you want or need to buy.

If you’re a seasoned shopper, you’d probably have a list of shops that are tested and trusted regarding the service you get, the quality of merchandise you buy, and the security of your payment transactions. You are more confident on these matters when you’re fond of shopping on national chain stores.

More often than not, these large stores also have websites where all commodities are also offered. Even the small but reputable shops are also visible on the Internet nowadays. You can do window-shopping anytime without leaving the comfort and privacy of your home. You can look at a certain item that caught your interest and desire to buy again and again.

Yes, you can only look and not touch. This is a downside of online shopping.

But you should not be surprised because you could get cheated even when you do shopping physically. This often happens at fly-by-night discount stores where the merchandise for sale is not guaranteed original. You could get easily swayed to purchase anything by the aggressive sales talk of vendors. To avoid getting into this kind of trouble on your Internet shopping, find the stores with good and solid reputation. Always do an extensive research to be sure that everything is in order.

How secure are the payment transactions online? You are hesitant to type the well-guarded numbers of your credit card into a website.

Although you should realize that a local store clerk can easily steal by simply memorizing the numbers on your credit card. Hackers online will surely have a hard time doing this. The shops on the Internet also protect their own websites from all hacking or stealing activities.

Nevertheless, you still want to ensure safety on your Internet shopping.

Ask your bank to protect your credit card. You just have to pay a low fee for the protection service. In exchange, you’ll get peace of mind while shopping on the Internet.

Using PayPal and other payment account online are other safe options. You transfer only the exact amount to pay for the purchase.

Guard your finances very closely. Watch your transactions. Note the changes in your bank account balance. Being anxious is very much normal because no one will take care of your money but only you alone.

A new trend has been evolving for the past few years is Comparison Shopping. This service allows you to find great overstocks and closeouts at amazing prices. This trend is becoming more and more useful, and the simplicity of finding that next great bargain is getting easier.

Comparison shopping online is offered by web sites that allow multiple vendors online to compete for your purchase by offering the best price and service. Often times comparison shopping web sites will offer the ability to find out the exact price for overstock or closeout items including the shipping and handling charges! This is an amazing tool that is setting a precedent for consumers. Additionally, google has been working hard on their google shopping tool which allows you to do the same type of thing.

Let’s say you are searching for great deals on a particular overstock electronic item. A great example would be a television set. Once you find a specific television you like, I recommend you find and write down the product number; because this will help you to find exactly what you are searching for so that you don’t have to sift through vast search results within the comparison shopping or closeout site. Many companies that compete in comparison shopping web sites are companies looking to offer some of the lowest prices to gain you as a customer and make a very minimal margin.

Comparison shopping sites often times cater to all industries, for example you can find closeout deals on electronics, furniture, jewelry, clothing and many more items. The shopping isn’t only limited to products with individual part numbers or names; However this is recommended to search uniquely for a specific item. Doing this will provide more accurate results. For example, if you are looking for a special brand of clothing or jewelry, it would be recommended to search for something like “Nike Sweat Pants” or “Levian Necklace”.

You may be concerned about the legitimacy of ordering from these online stores, however most comparison shopping sites will actually give you ratings for the companies selling the product you are looking for and you can read past customer reviews.

In order to find a website to perform comparison shopping on, simply go to a search engine and type comparison shopping. This will bring up a wide selection of web sites that provide this online service. Check out several of them and then decide which one provides you with the best information and pricing.

It is truly amazing how far the online shopping industry has come when searching for overstock bargains or closeout specials. Hopefully this article has helped you to learn more about discount shopping online.