Yesterday I wrote about my internal debate regarding purchasing Christmas presents online versus shopping in a store. I was thrilled to hear so many responses and different opinions from our readers. It seems as if we have a split of faithful online shoppers and true to the mall shoppers.

I went back to my online shopping cart that had caused me distress due to the $60 shipping cost. This was on Amazon.com. I figured I would compare the prices of the items with Toys R Us because there is a store near me that I could go to in person. I wanted to make sure they had the toys that I wanted.

I compared the price of the first toy and found that Amazon sold it for $20 LESS than Toys R Us. Okay, that just made the $60 shipping charge less intimidating. I compared the next item and once again, found that Amazon sold it for $20 LESS! I did this a third time and found the exact same result. All of a sudden I realized that if I went in person to Toys R Us, that I would not be saving any money because their toys were significantly more expensive.

I tallied up how much everything would cost if I bought it online at Amazon compared to going to Toys R Us. The result was that I would actually be saving  money by shopping online at Amazon even with shipping charges.

I quickly placed my online order with Amazon. I was quite pleased with my investigative work and happy to know that I don’t have to go out to the crazy stores!