Buy one thing, start to finish
Take a single item from a website to your doorstep, knowing what every screen along the way is asking for.
Every store on the internet, from the largest to the smallest, asks you the same four things in the same order.
The practice store below is called Marsh & Tilley and does not exist, which is deliberate: any real store would redesign itself and make this lesson wrong. Yours will look a little different, and every one of them has these same four steps.
Key points
- Recognize the same four screens in any store: item, cart, delivery, payment
- Know that money only moves on the last button, which shows the total
- Watch for delivery turning a good price into an ordinary one
- Buy as a guest instead of inventing another password
What to remember
- The total appears on the final button. Read it, and check it against what you expected.
- You can go as far as the payment page in any store and stop. It is a perfectly good way to find out the real total.
- Continue as a guest is nearly always there, and it gets you the same goods at the same price.
Try this
Take something you might genuinely buy as far as the payment page at a store you already trust, then close the window. You will see the real total, delivery included, and nothing will have happened.
Practice: Buy one thing, start to finish. Your first lesson is free, with no account or card; the rest are part of a Lantern plan. Interactive lessons require JavaScript.