Guide to Christmas Shopping Online

If you can't stand holiday lines and crowded parking lots, skip the mall and follow our guide to Christmas shopping online instead.

My Gift Box
My Gift Box is a free service from Gifts.com that allows you to keep track of everyone on your list. For guaranteed holiday ease, plan all of your shopping in advance by entering the interests of each of your friends and family members.

As you browse thousands of gift ideas on Gifts.com, you can easily save any gift idea to your recipient's profile. Multiple gift ideas can be saved for each recipient so you can make final decisions later.

Request Wish Lists
Request a Wish List from family and friends so you know exactly what they want. Wish lists are another free service from Gifts.com that allows each recipient to save gift ideas. You can then review their favorite gifts and quickly decide on what to buy them for Christmas.

Know Your Shipping Deadlines
There's nothing worse than realizing you've missed the deadline to ship Christmas gifts. Know the last minute shipping deadlines of major merchants well in advance by checking our handy guide, published annually at the beginning of December.

Secure Shopping Online
Security of personal and credit card information is a top concern when shopping online. Always take extra care to know you are shopping on a secure site that encrypts transaction information. When asked to enter credit card information, look for "https://" at the beginning of the website URL. The "s" indicates that the information being transmitted is encrypted for privacy. Some browsers such as Internet Explorer will have a lock icon or symbol to indicate that the website is secure.

Always be careful when answering emails asking for personal information. Most merchants have a policy of never asking for personal or credit card information in an email as this is a common method of fraud known as phishing. A phishing email will often look like a legitimate email from a well-known merchant when in fact it is a fake email attempting to get you to enter personal data. Always email or call the merchant directly if you think an email that you received is an attempt at phishing.

Emailable Gifts
A popular new gift idea is the emailable or online gift card. Many merchants now offer an emailable gift option that sends a redemption code directly to the recipients inbox. The recipient can then use the code to shop at the merchant's online store. The great benefit of emailable gifts is that they are delivered instantly. They have become a perfect last minute gift option in recent years.

Gifts.com offers a large number of emailable gift options from participating merchants. In addition, there is the Gifts.com Gift Card, an emailable or printable colorful gift certificate that lets the recipient choose from over one hundred top stores nationwide.