E-shopping sites: Get the best of online bargains

The festival season is here and it's a good time for bargain hunting on shopping websites. Whether you want to pamper yourself or buy gifts, these websites are a great place to avail good discounts on a range of products.

However, confusing price lists, less than reliable comparison charts and endless searches for the right thing to spend your money on can have you confused.

So, we give you a lowdown on some of the most convenient online shopping and gift sites.

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Flipkart.com

The best thing about Flipkart is that it does not charge you for the delivery of your purchase and it offers discounts (up to 35 per cent) on new book titles.

Once you select your book, you can give your shipping address and proceed to checkout for payment or opt for a cash-on-delivery.

We ordered a PC game DVD - at a 25 per cent discount - which was delivered within five working days, while a hardcover book ordered via cash-on-delivery arrived within 48 hours.

The packaging used was excellent - the book arrived in a paperback-sized cardboard box and the DVD in a scratch-resistant cover.

Verdict: Expect to have a good experience, which may prompt you to visit the site again.

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Futurebazaar.com

The site is the e-commerce arm of the Future Group and provides integrated shopping for consumers to buy products from eZone, Pantaloons and Big Bazaar.

We ordered a pen drive and it arrived after seven days, but a set of glass tumblers arrived within two days.

The site has some really good bargains for household appliances and electronics (for instance the Apple Macbook that costs Rs 60,900 is offered at Rs 57,990 on the site and delivered free).

The site depicts warranty, discounts, expected delivery time and freebies in a reader-friendly way.

For bargain hunters, the website always has promotional offers, and there is a "Lucky Price" section where you have a chance to get up to 50 per cent discount on selected items.

Verdict: It could do with more products, but the site offers an affordable shopping experience to customers who may not have direct access to the brand offline.

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Yebhi.com

The site's user interface is clean and clutter free. The six-angle viewing feature is very impressive and they have maintained the feature for almost every product on offer.

Yebhi.com has a very liberal 30-days-no-questions-asked return policy. We ordered a bag from the website via cash-on-delivery and received the item within 24 hours.

The items are shipped with the guarantee that if the customer is not ...

Snapdeal.com

Snapdeal sells discounted vouchers for services in all major cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Bangalore.

The site has a neat layout, loads quickly even on slow bandwidth connections and, most importantly, the deals are updated everyday.

They have a good mix of categories like restaurants and beauty services. We bought a beauty treatment deal worth Rs 4,000 for Rs 350 and the discount coupon was promptly delivered on the mobile as well by email.

We paid using a credit card (there's a cash-on-voucher delivery too) and took out a print of the voucher.

Verdict: The best part of Snapdeal is whatever terms and conditions of the discount voucher be, they are put on the page clearly with no hidden conditions to grapple with later.