Add it to your cart
In many ways, entering an online marketplace is a lot like entering a brick-and-mortar retail storeââ,¬"you'll find shopping carts, shopping lists, departments, and checkout areas.
To help you find what you're looking for, most sites offer powerful search engines that let you search on a number of criteria, depending on the item. Once a site returns a list of potential matches, one click brings up product information, photos, and other details about your item.
Some sites offer a "wish list" option that lets you save items for a later dateââ,¬"or for your friends and family to view when they shop for you. It works very much like a department store-based gift registry. They need only know your name and e-mail address to access your preferences.
Once you've decided to buy a certain item, you simply place it in your shopping cart or shopping bag by clicking on an icon, which might read "Add to Shopping Cart" or the like. Although the name of the receptacle may vary, it's always an electronic holding area that saves a list of the items you want to buy.
Merely placing an item in the shopping cart, however, does not mean that you've bought it. And it's just as easy to remove, change, or add items to your cart as it is to put them in. Just click "Remove from Cart" or change the quantity of items from 1 to 2, for example. Many sites will hold your items in a shopping cart for a certain period of timeââ,¬"even if you leave the site before making a purchase.
