The Internet is one of the most well known contemporary media since its existence in the 1990’s. This is proven as the Internet has drawn so much attention from users of different background and culture around the world. Over 957 million people worldwide have been reported to be using the Internet in 2005 (La Ferle n.d, p.287). The Internet has affected an individual way of thinking and living. This fact however is an advantage to business-minded individuals. Online shopping or also known as e-commerce is now becoming more popular among Internet users. In 2001, a research made by Forrester Research Online Retail Index found that $4.3 million was spent by the Internet users to buy things online (Online Shopping and Technology 2001). Online stores like Lelong.com.my, Lowyat.net and ebay.com.my,offers a range of items to choose from at a lower price than a normal store would offer. These online stores sell many different types of items to offer from clothing to electronic goods. Although e-commerce has emerged as a preferred way of purchasing things these days, there are also pros and cons to it.

Advantages
Online shopping is an advantage of the Internet development. There are many reasons why these days, the majority of internet users prefer to shop online rather than to drive to the shopping mall, spending some time to look for the things they want. Why drive to the nearby local stores to shop when it is possible to shop online and save half the time to spend on doing more important work (Online Shopping 2005). The best thing about shopping online is that the online shop is open 24 hours a day every day (Fabiola 2008). In this case, it serves conveniences in many ways as possible as online shoppers could easily browse through items they wish to purchase by clicking on the hyperlinks provided on the website. According to Nielson (1997), hyperlinks on websites plays an important role as Internet users rely on hyperlinks to direct them from a page to another.


Disadvantages
As more Internet users shops online, there is a possibility of shoppers to fall into the traps of scammers if they are not wary enough. The privacy of online shoppers are often invaded if they shop at online shops that are not certified or that they know a little about. The main reason why some people do not want to shop online is due to the privacy and credit card security issues as payment are made online. However, a study has shown that people are more concern with their privacy rather than their security (Schaupp & Belanger 2005 cited from Online Shopping 2005). Besides that, online shoppers will not have the chance to see up close the merchandise before they purchase them. Shoppers will experience the lack of knowledge on the item they purchased because the lack of explanation on the product by salesman (Online Shopping Advice, Reviews and Tips n.d).

Ebay Malaysia Website
(Sourced from: http://www.ebay.com.my/)