Title: Online Stores, Why Use Them? Word Count: 633 Summary: I have had many conversations either by email or in talking with friends and family regarding shopping at online stores rather than going directly to the company itself. I decided to do some research, as I always do, mainly because like most people I want to get the best products for the best price. Keywords: Online Store, Web Store, Online Mall, Best Prices, Camping World, Amazon, Sharper Image, best deal Article Body: I have had many conversations either by email or in talking with friends and family regarding shopping at online stores rather than going directly to the company itself. I decided to do some research, as I always do, mainly because like most people I want to get the best products for the best price. Before I started my research my experience, was like most people I imagine, in that I searched for the best deal on the Internet. I would search for products, look for the ad that most closely matched what I wanted, researched a bit and bought the product from that site. Sometimes it was the company itself other times I would click on a link from an affiliate site. After my research I recommend searching for good online stores before purchasing directly from the company. Why? Great question. I found that if you really do your research that you can find many of the online stores have researched the products for visitors and they will receive special offers, from the companies that they can pass on to their online visitors. By visitor I mean someone like you are I that goes to an online store (affiliate store) clicks on a link to a company like Amazon and buys directly from the company. You are actually buying from the company, but you will get any special discounts that may have been give to the affiliates online store. There is a common misconception that you will get a better price if you go directly to the website. Not true! I discovered that not only will you not pay one penny more by using an online store, but you will often get special discounts that you might not see otherwise. How can this be? Well, if you go through an online web store you will be taken to the companies website and get the best pricing they offer. The difference is that many affiliate sites will get discount offers that they can offer their visitors who visit their site. I was so impressed with my research that I decided to offer an online store on my site. I actually received many of these discount offers on a regular basis. What I like is that I am able to offer many special discounts to my frequent visitors. You will find many good online stores on the Internet, not just mine, that offer this. A web site owner typically will get discount offers from the companies, which he or she can then pass on to visitors. A visitor simply clicks on the respective companies link from the affiliates site. It's painless and invisible to the visitor as he or she simply clicks through to companies like Amazon, Sharper Image, Camping World etc. Why would these companies do this? Web site owners like myself pay to advertise their sites, which contain links to the companies. The companies are getting free advertising and in my opinion the discounts they offer saves the company money, because they cost of advertising is taken into consideration. They get more customers without paying for any advertising. The visitor gets the best price, which may include further discounts. It' a win-win situation for everyone. In summary, just search the web like always, if you find an online store that you like and feel comfortable with, book mark the site and use it when shopping online. It's that simple. Please feel free to read both this article or one of my many others by visiting my link in the resource box below. I always enjoy getting emails pertaining to my articles or my site. Your feedback is important to me. The growth of the Internet allows for the companies, affiliates and most importantly the online customers to be matched up helping all parties.