It depends on the item. If it's clothing (anything clothing related), I HAVE to look at it and touch it in stores before I even buy it. Different store have different clothing quality so it's hard for me to tell one verses the other unless I go there for myself. Then I usually end up buying it in the store. For electronics or games, I will usually find the specific thing about it and then browse around on the internet for best prices possible. I think this coming Cyber Monday I'll be using mostly Amazon. I rarely use eBay, and I may use some other sites like Etsy or thisiswhyimbroke
This year I will be doing most of my shopping online. I did it that way last year and ended up saving a lot by finding great sales. It's a little less fun that shopping in stores but I don't mind. Saving money means I can buy a few more gifts
I like doing my shopping at Amazon too. It is a lot faster and easier to shop online. If I don't go to Amazon, I will most likely go to WalMart. I will have to go early because it is always a madhouse during Christmas time because people tend to wait to the last minute before they start their shopping.
I do most of Christmas shopping at Target. I have a REDCard (you can get a debit or credit version) that gives me 5% off all of my purchases. It's great to use for holidays, especially Christmas because that's when I make larger purchases. The 5% is good on anything in the store, so sometimes I'll buy gift cards and then use those at the store (Gap, etc). If I can find a good deal I will shop online. Most of the time I use Amazon, and if I do shop online at any retailers for the holidays I make sure to go through a site like Ebates.com or something since it will give me money back.
I do most of my Christmas shopping on Amazon because I don't like crowds or the Black Friday madness. I only have one person to shop for, which is my daughter, so it's easy to just place one Amazon order and knock out all of my shopping in one afternoon.
I'm seriously considering not doing gifts this year at all...or perhaps just doing handmade ones. The amount of money we end up spending on the holidays in our house is just ridiculous, and as it is we have too much stuff, limited space for it and definitely limited bank account. I want our holiday to be more about the reasons we're celebrating, and just the time spent with each other, rather than material things.
I think if I order online I'd have to buy my gifts at the start of November. I haven't decided where to buy yet but if all else fails, I'll settle for the flea markets. Thankfully I live in a country where flea markets abound. During holidays, the malls try to accommodate holiday rush syndromes so they close shop well until midnight. In our country, the holiday sales are crazy; people swarm and push to the point of causing a stampede. So I'm not too worried about where. I'm more worried about the when.
For online shopping, I will probably use mostly Amazon and Overstock. Both have a good selection and reasonable shipping. I can't really pick just one place for my other shopping needs, since everyone I buy for likes different things. I'll be heading out to a lot of shops from now until Christmas.
I shop online and in antiques stores mostly. For my siblings and cousins, I like to get vintage items from our childhood. My grandmother had wonderful toys from the 1950s that we all fought over when we were kids. Antique kitchen items make neat gifts, too. I try not to step foot in a mall or shopping center between November and January. I buy wrapping paper and cards from CVS. The crowds make me crazy, and angry about rampant consumerism.
For me it depends on what I'm in the mood for at the time. If I feel like walking through malls then I would buy majority of my gifts from mall stores, but if I'm feeling lazy or if there are better sales online, then I'd buy from there primarily. This year, I think I'm feeling more up for going to the mall so I probably will do that and just try to buy everything within a day or two, and if not then maybe I'd mix it in with a bit of online shopping.
The best buys are immediately after Christmas. We often shop these after Christmas sales and put the purchases away for next Christmas. Then we start seriously shopping in August, keeping an eye out for good sales and we are usually done by the first of December so we can avoid the crowds. Because we live in a small town with limited shopping outlets, we find on line shopping a great benefit. It's easy to find the item you want and compare prices and reputations of different outlets. A couple of years ago, we wanted to buy my son a bike computer for Christmas. The bike shops in town had a limited selection and started at $75. I found one on-line from a Hong Kong retailer for less than $10. shipping included. The retailer had a 99% satisfaction rating on E-Bay and we were not disappointed when it arrived a month later, it had all the bells and whistles of any other bike computer and worked perfectly. The only downside was the slow pace of standard International Shipping, it takes a while for the boat to cross the Pacific, but I knew that going in. Since then, we have ordered several other electronic items from Hong Kong retailers with good reputations and have never been disappointed. BTW, they all prefer PayPal a a method of payment which I feel good about too.
I will most likely do all my browsing for gifts in a "brick and mortar" establishment and then end up buying the things I have looked at online. I do like to touch the things I'm intending to buy, which is why a "brick and mortar" store is still useful, but 9 times out of 10 I can buy the thing I've seen and felt, online for cheaper.
I don't do Christmas shopping, because I'm not going to shop for Christ, because I never met the being or entity known by that name. However, I'll do some holiday shopping for my family and friends. Most of my shopping, with be at my garage shop, creating things for my family and friends; but I will purchase things at stores to help create my presents.
I have only one source for my gift shopping. I avoid malls because there really are no great deals, but I get why people go for the experience. I prefer to wait a short time until my items arrive and I am caught by surprise, it is a great feeling. I highly suggest people to do some research on the items they want in a mall. Because it is more than likely that you may find it a lot cheaper online. Amazon does a great job in providing excellent customer service, it is something that is not always guaranteed when shopping at a mall.
I will do some shopping online and at walmart and kmart. I love the holidays so I will be starting my Christmas shopping early. I also like going to the black Friday sales that's were I get most of my stuff.And its always good if one of your stores have layaway so you can get stuff and pay it off over time instead of all at one time. I have layaway ay kmart right now and I have until December to pay it off. And I didn't have to put no money down when I put the stuff on layaway.
Just like many people on here, I'm doing most of my shopping on Amazon, it's just too convenient to now start adding things to my shopping cart and then making one big order with everything I need, rather than going around to all the different shops at the last minute and browsing to try and get gift ideas.
This year I am not only going to try and do all of my shopping online, but I am going to try and cut back on the total number of gifts I am getting everyone and just go for some big ticket items that they need or want, instead of a bunch of little things that they don't really want that much. So for example, I may get my siblings some large flat panel TVs for their bedrooms, Apple TV and a couple other things. My mom has been wanting some new chairs to go with her dining set, since the ones that came with it have gotten too worn out and she doesn't want to part with the set as a whole - I was able to find some chairs that would match perfectly with it, even though it has a rather uncommon finish on it (antique white, very ornate design). My dad could use a new recliner and needs a new air compressor, so those are on my list.
I'll do most of my shopping this year at malls and outlet malls. Some of the stores I frequent are Under Amour, Nautica, Polo and Nike. As well as Gap and Old Navy. I'll also do a bit of online shopping, and visit a couple of department stores like JC Penney and Belk. I shop at quite a few different places. I find that it's possible to get good deals that you are unexpected online. And that's always a positive.
