If you want to shop online you need to know where to go, how to find out what's on offer, how to pay and how to be sure that you're shopping somewhere you can trust.

It's easy to get confused when you're shopping by computer, so knowing what to look for is important.

After all, if you're buying clothes online you want to be sure they're what you want.

How it works

Shopping online is more like using a shopping catalogue than anything else. You look through the list of all the stuff they've got to sell, choose the things you like and send off your order.

It's a bit more complicated than that - this is the internet after all - but you'll quickly see that it's pretty similar.

The front page of an online shop is like a window in the shopping centre - you get the shop name and an idea of the sort of stuff they sell, with all the special offers and things they think will make you want to buy.

Once you step inside then everything is laid out on shelves - in an online shop this is the catalogue. You wander around putting stuff into your shopping basket and then you reach the checkout and pay.

If you're in the mall then you take the stuff home yourself, but unless you're buying music or computer programs that can be sent directly to you over the internet you'll have to arrange home delivery.

And once you've tried the clothes on or seen what the curtains look like against your wallpaper, you might want to return goods to the shop.

Finding the shops

You can try using a search engine to find a shop, but you're better off with a directory. If you want to buy wallpaper online then searching for 'wallpaper shops' at Yahoo! will quickly take you to Wallpaperdirect.