Do you have gently used electronics laying around your house that you could bear to part with? Gazelle.com is one site that gives you the opportunity to turn your e-trash into cash.

You simply log onto Gazelle and enter the make and model of your electronics -- everything from cell phones, mp3 players, computers and cameras to GPS systems and gaming consoles. The service then makes you an offer.

If you accept the offer, Gazelle sends you a box to ship your item(s) in and even pays for the postage. It typically takes about a week before you're paid once they receive your package.

Many major retailers are now also partnering with Gazelle. That means you can log onto the websites of Costco Wholesale, Wal-Mart and Sears to do your transaction. If you go that route, payment is remitted in store gift cards.

Get ready for eBay for dummies, courtesy of a new e-commerce site called Glyde.

Launched by a former eBay insider, Glyde promises to take all the hassle out of buying and selling online. Sellers can list an item -- a CD, DVD or video game, for example -- by typing in its title and making a notation about the condition. Glyde then suggests a market value, which can be changed anyway you see fit.

If there's an interested buyer, Glyde will mail you a pre-addressed, pre-stamped bubble-wrapped mailer and you simply drop your item in the mail within 24 hours. You can then receive a check in the mail from Glyde once the buyer is happy.

The service takes 10 percent for facilitating a transaction. The seller is also responsible for an additional $1.25 for the price of the mailer.

Think of Glyde as NetFlix meets eBay. It takes the complexity out of the whole process. “We want the middle-aged Midwestern soccer mom to easily be able to buy and sell her stuff,” Glyde creator Simon Rothman tells The New York Times. “It’s a pretty straightforward ambition.”

Gently used or new appliances can be a real deal on Craigslist as executive producer Christa has found.

For those of you who don't know, Christa has had to replace all the major appliances in her home because of flood damage.

By diligently searching online everyday, she has been able to find brand-new stainless steel double convection ovens that were never installed or used in a home. She bought them from a man who planned to use them in one of his high-end rental properties, but couldn't install because the tenants wanted a different finish! So what retails for $2,850 cost Christa a mere $600.

In addition, she picked up a fancy six-burner gas range from an architect who bought it for a client who again opted for a different finish. It was never used and came in its box with warranty. Retail price: $3,200. Christa's price: around $600!

She also snatched up a Thermador hood that retails for $3,150 for just $500!

The hazard here is that people selling appliances on Craigslist could be doing so out of their foreclosed homes. Or worse yet, they may be selling stolen goods. (Editor's note: After meeting with the sellers, Christa is certain that she has not bought stolen appliances.)

Legally speaking, it's very murky on the question of whether or not you have the right to buy built-in appliances out of a foreclosed home. Fridges and washers/dryers, however, are considered to be the owner's property and can legally be sold even when the owner is in foreclosure.

When you go to shop, so much everyday stuff is getting cheaper and cheaper. Even clothes are a deal right now!

Clark was recently looking at golf shirts in a discount store while his wife was getting clothing for the children. He found 100 percent cotton golf shirts for $7. We're talking new, not used!

Wal-Mart -- the 1 million pound gorilla of the retail world -- is set to drive prices on some common items down even further with its e-commerce site, WalMart.com.

Wal-Mart's website is the second-busiest e-commerce portal behind Amazon, according to The Financial Times of London. WalMart.com has a new initiative to push cosmetics, medicine and baby products online. You can expect a flat shipping rate of 97 cents on all orders.

Meanwhile, Clark had previously talked about Alice.com, but this site has not been as price competitive as the consumer champ had hoped.

The Lake Wobegone effect has made its way into the realm of cyberspace.

Dow Jones recently reported that Internet ratings can be vastly inflated. The average YouTube rating is 4.6 stars! It's like grade inflation for online reviews. It seems we're all too kind in our opinions. Of course, that's probably better than being too mean!

Yet people are still tougher than tough when it comes to hotel reviews on TripAdvisor. Many hotels will have only one or two circles.

Buzzillions.com allows you to check out multiple review sites at a glance. Just remember, the actual content of user comments may be more valuable than the overinflated number of stars that are given out.

Cyber-criminals love to target small businesses because they usually have strong cash flow but no IT departments. That makes their financial accounts vulnerable to hacking. Today Clark wants to share an easy and cost-effective way to safeguard your online transactions.

USA TODAY suggests simply buying a dedicated computer that's only used for financial transactions. No surfing the web on your dedicated computer. No e-mailing. No visiting Facebook, MySpace or Twitter.

This will reduce, but not eliminate, the risk of a security breach. High net worth individuals may also want to consider using a dedicated computer for all financial transactions.

Computers have become so affordable that it's very possible to get a fully functional one for under $300. Owning more than one computer is no longer cost-prohibitive. Think of it like an ultra inexpensive insurance policy for small business owners and wealthy individuals.

Amazon is set to offer a stern challenge to Wal-Mart and other electronics sellers now that the online retailer has launched its own private label line of products.

The Amazon Basics line includes electronics accessories and select items of electronics equipment. Amazon oversees all manufacturing and marketing of the line.

This development promises some great deals for customers. In addition, Amazon's traditional offer of free shipping on orders over $25 is also a great incentive for price-sensitive shoppers.

In other electronics retail news, did you know that BestBuy.com often has merchandise for sale at cheaper prices than you can find in Best Buy stores? The website also tends to puts goods on sale a day earlier than in their traditional brick-and-mortar outlets.

Peer-to-peer lending is re-emerging in the marketplace after a rough patch. This is a great way for people to lend to each other online without bank interference.

Prosper.com was one of the earliest P2P lenders to gain traction. But they didn't initially screen their borrowers well enough and a lot of loans went bust as a result. Then the government stymied them briefly over a misunderstanding about securities.

But now Prosper is back in action with a relatively low default rate of 5% among borrowers, according to Barron's. This service and its competitors are now putting people through their paces to weed out the baddies. The company claims 850,000 members and just a little under $200 million in loans underwriting at this date.

Lending Club has a 3% default rate, meanwhile, and turns down 90% of potential borrowers in an effort to cull the herd and find the most credit worthy.

That, of course, begs the question: Who would anyone go the P2P route if you're credit worthy? Generally, you can get a better deal with a P2P lender vs. a bank. Yet it's roughly equivalent to the kind of deal you'd get at a credit union.

For you as a lender, P2P lending allows you to slice up your money to limit risk. So if you want to put $1,000 in the game, you lend $100 here, $200 there and on and on.

The returns you might get as a lender can be enticing. Prosper claims the average lender earns 7% on their money, net after expenses and charge-offs. But those who are really into this virtual underwriting boast that they can make a 12% return.

Do you give any companies the right to draft your checking account for a monthly bill? It could be a utility company, a health club, a mortgage lender, your cable service, a cell provider or any other business.

Once your contract with them ends, that business may continue to make monthly debits via Automated Clearing House (ACH) from your account. Giving authorization to regularly draft an account is an open-ended arrangement, regardless of your contract.

Getting that money back can be a grueling process. The problem with ACH payments is that there are no consumer protection statutes governing what happens if you're cheated on purpose or in error.

The New York Times reports one consumer had a real nightmare with a car loan. The note was paid in full, yet the loan servicer continued to take monthly payments! The customer's own bank was no help and it was a fight every month to get the money back.

So what's the solution? Use electronic bill pay that you set up so you can shut it down anytime you want. That's the distinction between e-bill pay and traditional ACH payments. The former you control, the latter is out of your control.

And never allow a health club to draft your checking account. We've had more complaints about this industry than any other on the show.

MONEY-SAVING MOMENT: Groupon.com is a new site that takes the idea of Woot.com -- offering one item for sale per day for extra cheap -- and makes it local.

The service is available in major cities including New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Dallas, Chicago and others. Many of the daily deals are half-price offers for services, restaurants and activities specifically in metro areas. Woot, on the other hand, can be used by anybody, anywhere.

It's also different from Woot because the voucher you receive for your money can only be redeemed at a later date -- not the day of the purchase. It would be too disruptive to the restaurants and other clients on Groupon if everyone rushed in to redeem their voucher on the same day.

In addition, Groupon is a smart way for entrepreneurs to advertise their services. For example, our producer Kim operates a portable photo booth rental company for parties and events on the side. She's now considering joining up as a featured advertiser on the service.

As always, the only risk a service like Groupon presents to consumers is the possibility that a business goes bust before you can use your voucher.

Consider this: We all know Clark is no fan of gift cards -- unless you get more than you pay for. He recently bought a $125 card for $100 from a small restaurant chain. When he later tried to use it, there was a problem with the card not being activated. So he had to get his credit card statement to verify the gift card purchase for the restaurant's corporate office.

Think your browsing is being tracked too heavily on the web? Online advertising trade groups have released new guidelines that are aimed to give consumers a little breathing room.

No word yet if these "self-regulatory principles for online behavioral advertising," as they're called, will represent meaningful regulation or not.

The alternative is too frightening for the online advertising industry to consider. Just look at the European model, where there are very heavy-handed privacy regulations from the EU. In the United States, we're more laissez-faire about the whole issue…and the industry wants to keep it that way.

What's also going on behind the scenes is that online advertisers are trying to avoid federal regulation by proposing their own self-regulatory policies.

This is all about you having control of information and privacy. Clark is hopeful it can be done without government intervention. In reality though, the industry wouldn't be doing this at all if they weren't in fear of what President Obama will do to them if they don't act.

Sam's Club has come up with a smart new way to attract members. The warehouse club has launched its own auction site, but this is no second-rate eBay. All the merchandise is brand new and brand name, plus it's from one seller only.

Auctions.SamsClub.com is strictly available to the members of the wholesale club.

Meanwhile, the May issue of Consumer Reports took an in-depth look at the big national players in the grocery industry -- including warehouse clubs like Sam's Club and others.

The top-rated supermarket in the nation was Wegmans, which got the best possible scores in service, perishables and cleanliness. But the prices? Just average.

Trader Joe's came in at No. 2, with a top rating for service and price, a good rating for cleanliness and an average score on perishables.

Publix (No. 3), Raley's (No. 4) and Harris-Teeter (No. 5) rounded out the Top 5. Whole Foods came in at No. 8.

What of the warehouse clubs? Costco is at No. 7, Sam's Club is No. 38 and BJ's is No. 42.

Meanwhile, Wal-Mart Super Center -- the nation's largest grocery chain -- came in at No. 56 out of 59! They got the worst possible score on service and perishables, a bad score on cleanliness and a good score on price. Kroger -- the second largest chain -- checks in at No. 37.

So who came in last at No. 59? The worst supermarket chain in America is Waldbaum's, according to Consumer Reports.

Get ready for the dawn of a new day in the world of Internet advertising. The idea of "freemium" content has arrived, according to The New York Times.

Newspapers had to find out the hard way that the conventional wisdom about offering free online content that's supported by ads no longer works. The newspapers have been dropping like flies and driving media moguls into bankruptcy.

Internet ad revenue does not equate eyeball for eyeball with traditional revenue streams.

Freemium content (free + premium) simply means that you'll get a small amount of basic content for nada. But you'll have to pay extra for exclusive content or services.

Even Pandora has now gone to a paid version that's fancier, in addition to its original free incarnation.

RIP-OFF ALERT: Here's a case of the shoe now being on the other foot! Some unsavory consumers have come up with a new way to rip off businesses who sell their wares by phone, internet or mail order.

What being called "friendly" fraud by The Wall Street Journal has spiked by 50% in the last 6 months, according to some retailers.

Here's how it works: A consumer will order an item, receive it through the mail and then dispute the charge with their credit card company. They'll say they never received the merchandise, or it was misrepresented, or whatever other lie they can devise.

Businesses are fighting back any way they can. One retailer documents the entire packaging and shipping process with digital photos so they can dispute a charge-back if one arises.

Others have found that signature confirmation or other tracking methods are equally effective insurance policies.

The monetary toll of friendly fraud can be staggering. One photo equipment supplier averages $130,000/week in fraud orders. About a third of those are of the friendly fraud nature. The rest are people using phony credit cards to make off with expensive equipment.

There's actually nothing "friendly" about friendly fraud at all.

Customer satisfaction from online shopping is slipping, according to a new tally from ForeSee Results.

But what's interesting is that some e-tailers are still doing a great job despite the overall negative trend. According to the Top 100 Online Retail Satisfaction Index, the business that provides the best online customer experience is NetFlix.com.

Wall Street analysts have long been bearish on NetFlix.com, but we've only had one single complaint about them on the show. They must be doing something right!

Amazon.com comes in as the No. 2 e-tailer. Meanwhile, Avon.com, DoctorsFosterandSmith.com, NewEgg.com and QVC.com are all in a four-way tie further on down the list.

On the flip side, the survey names Efollett, MarketAmerica, Etronics, UrbanOutfitters, ShopNBC, J. Crew and BlueNile, among others, as the worst e-tailers.

Interestingly, BlueNile is a site that Clark has in the past recommended as a place to buy diamonds!

The recent release of The Orange Code -- a new book about ING Direct -- highlights the fact that not all giant banks are bad.

When ING first formed, they hosted focus groups to find out what people hated about their banks -- and they did the opposite. The first rule of ING's code of conduct is a simple concept: "We will tell the truth." Great businesses often start from this premise. Look at Costco, for example, which has "Obey the law" in its code of ethics.

This is not one of those banks that will give you a disclosure consisting of 4,000 pages of mice type. Clark recalls a TV story he shot where a team of lawyers were asked to vet credit card terms of disclosure from another bank. Even the lawyers were stumped by the convoluted language!

ING's business model is so different from the reality of modern banking where many banks are dead-set on deceiving you and cheating you. Mind you, not every big bank is out to get you, but that seems to be the general m.o. of many of them.

ING has $60 billion in deposits and serves 7 million Americans. When you get a mortgage through them, you get a rate upfront and usually pay a total of $800 in closing costs. That's it. Their banking and checking options come with very few fees and some of the highest interest rates in America.

There are so many great deals out there on the web right now.

Cyber Monday was something of a bust this year, which highlights the fact that Internet sales likely won't continue enjoying the doubt-digit growth they've experienced over the last several years. Fortunately, the online retailers' loss is your gain. We are now in the midst of a clearance-oriented holiday shopping season.

DealNews.com is one website that Clark likes for keeping tabs on deals across the web. Each deal is ranked in terms of "hotness" on a scale of 1 to 5 circles, with 5 representing the best deals. Other similar sites that also aid online shoppers include Dealio and Google's Froogle.

Clark also likes Woot.com, which sells only one item per day and can be cheaper by far than anyone else. He tends to buy from them once every 5 weeks.

When it comes to buying online, it's very important to read the website's return policy. Some online retailers have awful policies, while Amazon and Zappos.com generally have favorable ones. Zappos is often thought of as the best customer service e-commerce site out there.

Meanwhile, whenever Christa makes an online purchase, she always checks to see if she can get credit for her child's 529 account by clicking through to an online retailer via UPromise or BabyMint. She estimates her online purchases have contributed about $1,100 to her daughter's college-savings fund in 6 years!

Parents often call Clark looking for advice on software they can run on the family computer to prevent their children from accessing objectionable websites.

But now the penny-pincher wants to share a tactic that can help adult children who are worried about their elderly parents getting ripped-off online. Elders are prone to give up their credit card numbers on the web and get taken by marketers pushing all kinds of products they don't need.

In fact, Clark recalls doing a TV story about a senior who filled every nook and cranny of her home with things she bought on the web -- and she was virtually broke in her golden years. Can you imaging how disturbing it must be to adult children if you think your parents are set and then they become destitute?

The San Francisco Chronicle reports there is a way to protect your aging parents in cyberspace. Safe Eyes -- a software program designed to protect children on the web -- also works well for seniors. You can set it up so that your parents will be prohibited from any checkout screen. The program sells for anywhere from $35 on up.

In related news, The Pew Internet & American Life Project finds that the cell phone increases the strength of the family unit. For example, Clark's teen daughter texted him twice while he was on air talking about Safe Eyes. It turns out she's bored in math class!

Thanks to the cell phone, the concept of long distance is almost becoming a thing of the past. When Clark was in college back in the Stone Age, a long distance call was a minimum of $3.55 so you never picked up the phone unless someone died. Not so today.

There is, however, a real danger to cell phones when people become so engrossed in their conversations that they ignore what's going on around them. Clark recently saw a real estate agent who walked across an intersection while talking and right in front of a car that nearly hit her. She never noticed the near-collision. So be careful out there.

Clark has had a love/hate relationship with eBay over the years. On the one hand, he has gotten a ton of deals on small electronics accessories. But he also believes eBay should shoulder more responsibility for counterfeit goods sold on their site.

Retailers like Target and Wal-Mart have long had to deal with criminals stealing their goods and then using eBay as a modern electronic fencing operation. Some stats suggest 80% of thieves unload stolen merchandise in this way.

This thought has really been nagging at Clark -- is he part of the problem? Have some of the "steals" he's gotten been just that?

Congress is now considering the E-fencing Enforcement Act of 2008, which is backed by…you guessed it…Target and Wal-Mart. The bill would make it a felony to sell stolen items online. It would also charge eBay with a clear responsibility under the law to police its website for stolen merchandise. Therein lays the sticking point that has eBay up in arms. We'll have to wait and see what happens…

Purchases you make on the Internet are tax free, right? Wrong! The states are at it again trying to find new sources of tax revenue as we stare down a recession. They've now turned to trying to get the word out that you're legally required to pay sales tax on Internet purchases -- unless, of course, you live in a tax-free state. That's news to most people.

The courts have decided that web merchants are not responsible for collecting taxes unless they have a domicile in the state where the purchaser lives. But you still owe the tax. North Carolina has been aggressive about trying to collect. Some states are even participating in cooperative efforts where they'll rat you out to other states. We're not talking about something you buy for $12 on Amazon; we're talking about something you might buy for $12K online. 25 states now have a line on their income tax forms to collect sales tax on Internet purchases you've made over the past year. Consumers are expected to keep a log of all their e-commerce transactions and then report them!

eBay is currently facing lawsuits all over the globe for their role as an enabler for people selling counterfeit goods. Clark has long believed that eBay has a responsibility to guarantee that the merchandise on their site is the real deal. The company has seen a decline in growth, and Clark believes the question of their credibility may be part of the slowdown.

A French court now has hit eBay with a $61 million judgment. The court believes that bogus merchandise on the site -- much of it purporting to be from high-fashion labels -- affects the reputation of companies like Fendi, Louis Vuitton and others.

Meanwhile, Clark has a marketplace solution that he's long believed in. He feels eBay should require sellers to say "famous brand" instead of listing the actual brand name, or require sellers to have their wares independently verified as real before putting them up for sale. Legit sellers could then command higher prices.

eBay has been a source of arguments between Clark and Christa for years. Clark has long felt that eBay should offer protection to buyers who get ripped off by sellers. Christa, meanwhile, has taken a more libertarian view. She believes they could offer protection if they wish, but it shouldn't be required.

They've both agreed that it would be great for sellers to have the option to get bonded by eBay after successfully completing a certain number of transactions. Buyers could then have confidence that they won't be ripped off with counterfeit goods.

Of course, there are crooked buyers out there too, but that's another story.

In response to softening transactions, eBay now is experimenting with a new policy in Australia that could eventually go worldwide. They'll back every transaction up to nearly $20K. eBay is basing its math on the belief that only a small fraction of transactions are crooked.

In the past, eBay had pseudo-protection through PayPal and through itself for fraud. But that was more of a marketing ploy than anything else. This, however, is apparently the real deal.

Sellers are already making a big fuss Down Under because the only method of payment allowed under this new plan is PayPal, which is owned by eBay. So is this move just intended to boost PayPal's business, or is it a real effort to boost the confidence of buyers?

There's no doubt that eBay is going through a rough adolescence with all the counterfeit goods and accompanying lawsuits. Regardless of the legal outcome, eBay has already lost buyer confidence. What people are willing to pay for branded goods has gone down dramatically as a result. Buyers automatically assume they're going to get a counterfeit. So the marketplace, in its own way, is already at work here.

Microsoft has long trailed Google in the search market, which explains why they've been trying to buy Yahoo. By the numbers, Microsoft controls about 9% of the market, Yahoo controls around 20% and Google has 55%-60%.

In order to gain more market share, Microsoft will actually pay you to use them for search! Customers who make an online purchase after using their search engine become eligible for a cash back rebate from Microsoft. Clark has no idea how well this idea will pan out.

In related news, Google offers its own suite of free office software. Those same programs are also available in a free web-based version as well. Clark likes to see what Google has available from time to time on their site.

Finally, did you know that Microsoft Office is available outside the United States in select countries for only $3?! That's a huge difference from the $150-$500 we pay!

Clark makes about 50 small purchases per year on eBay. He especially loves the cheap cell phone/electronics accessories that he can pick up for around $5. In fact, he bought his daughter a case for her iPod Nano for $1.25 including shipping! The item came from Hong Kong, so you know the seller took a loss on the shipping charges alone.

Many people, however, use eBay for more expensive things. There's been a recent breakdown in trust between sellers and buyers. Sellers used to be able to manipulate approval ratings, but that system was done away with as eBay has tried to instill buyer confidence. Merchants are now angry that their customers can post negative things online and they're stuck with it.

One seller recently went so far as to sue a buyer who put up a neutral rating -- not even a negative one! A Seattle man named Steve Shellhorn was unhappy with the packaging that accompanied some coins he bought on eBay. So he posted his comments and was sued by a seller in North Carolina for $10K. The case was thrown out of court, but Shellhorn incurred $500 when he hired a lawyer.

The takeaway here is that a lot of people make "anonymous" posts on websites that trash other people or companies. But your identity can be revealed with a court order. So this is not to say that you can't use free speech; just realize you also have the responsibility to do it respectfully and factually. Not that those issues came into play in the Shellhorn case -- that was completely out of left field!

Purchases you make on the Internet are tax free, right? Wrong! The states are at it again trying to find new sources of tax revenue as we stare down a recession. They've now turned to trying to get the word out that you're legally required to pay sales tax on Internet purchases -- unless, of course, you live in a tax-free state. That's news to most people.

The courts have decided that web merchants are not responsible for collecting taxes unless they have a domicile in the state where the purchaser lives. But you still owe the tax. North Carolina has been aggressive about trying to collect. Some states are even participating in cooperative efforts where they'll rat you out to other states. We're not talking about something you buy for $12 on Amazon; we're talking about something you might buy for $12K online. 25 states now have a line on their income tax forms to collect sales tax on Internet purchases you've made over the past year. Consumers are expected to keep a log of all their e-commerce transactions and then report them!

Clark has had a love/hate relationship with eBay for a long time. On the one hand, he loves the deals he gets through the website. But eBay has been notorious for helping out fences and counterfeiters. So there are opportunities to save big, but there are times you may get burned too. Clark recently needed to purchase a smartphone after his was damaged during the Hawaii staff trip. When he called up his carrier for a price quote, what originally cost him $99 was now being priced at $599! So he went on eBay and found a nicer one for half the money. The risk is always that the seller gives you junk or doesn't deliver. But Clark had no such problems.

The level of savings you can get on eBay are not just anecdotal. Recent studies at the University of Maryland and a foreign university have found that consumers have saved a cumulative $19 billion (!) over the years thanks to eBay. Your typical eBay purchase is available at a discount of 30 percent versus the retail price. Not surprisingly, the greatest savings are to be found when the economy slows down and people have to dump new stuff they can no longer afford. Right now eBay is going through a midlife crisis. Their CEO is out, and eBay is lowering the costs of its items while raising commission on the sell. Clark thinks eBay needs to take a cue from Craigslist -- of which it owns a 25 percent share. Craigslist allows sellers to list their wares for free and not pay any commission when something sells. It's as if Craigslist is the new and improved eBay. The new CEO at eBay will be challenged with making a marketplace in which the counterfeiting is dealt with and people know they won't get junk.

Just the other day Clark was talking about Bill Me Later, a company that gives you an alternative to doing online transactions via the credit card cartels. The Wall Street Journal now reports that $1 in every $7 is being processed online through an alternative payment method. Clark has now learned that Bill Me Later, PayPal Checkout and Google Checkout are even better than he originally thought. All 3 are now offering extra incentives to get you to use them instead of your traditional credit cards. PayPal is offering a 20 percent cash-back discount, capped at $50. Not to be outdone, Bill Me Later has since started offering free shipping up to $20, and a no payment for 90 days policy at participating merchants. Google Checkout is also offering free shipping. Clark likes Bill Me Later best because they completely assume the role of a credit card and cut the usual Visa and MasterCard suspects out of the picture. That means increased benefit to consumers and merchants alike.

Do you often shop online? If so, you may see an option when you're checking out called Bill Me Later. This Baltimore-based company allows you to shop online without divulging your credit card information to every vendor. It's fast becoming the friend of merchants and customers alike, while Visa, MasterCard and the other traditional cartels grow to despise it. With Bill Me Later, you simply enter the last four digits of your Social Security number and you either get instant approval or you're denied. This is a more secure method to shop online. The other advantage is that Bill Me Later sometimes offers extended payment times at no interest. In addition, this is a money saver for businesses too. Merchants pay a lower fee per transaction than they would to process a normal credit card transaction. So Bill Me Later is a win/win situation for both consumers and businesses.

Clark wants to warn you about a new e-mail scam making the rounds. Criminals have been gaining access to e-mail contact lists and sweeping out all the addresses. They then send out a very distressed note in your name to every contact on your list. The e-mail will claim that you're in financial, legal or medical trouble and that you desperately need money right away. The criminals hope that even one or two of your closest friends will respond with an offer of funds. Public e-mail services such as Yahoo! have been hit by this scam, according to The New York Times. Sometimes the criminals will even change your password while they're in your account. At that point, it can be very difficult to reclaim your e-mail address. So if you get a suspicious e-mail from a relative or friend, call them first and find out what's going on before you give them your money. On a related note, there's now a $5 security key that really helps secure your PayPal account. The key generates a random code every 30 seconds that you must use to access your account. Even if a thief has your e-mail address and password, they still won't be able to get in without the code. These kinds of security keys have become so inexpensive yet so invaluable. Clark hopes that brokerage houses and banks will soon be offering these devices to customers.

There's going to be a marriage of TV and Internet in the coming years and the level of interactivity will be incredible. Clark was really excited when TechNewsWorld.com recently reported about upcoming innovations that will integrate e-commerce and TV programming in a new way. Say you're watching a TV show and you notice some really fashionable clothing or shoes being worn by an actor or actress. You'll be able to click with your mouse or TV remote and purchase the clothing or shoes right then and there via a pop-up purchase window. People who watch TV shows on the web are already experiencing this kind of cross-promotion on their computers.

An MTV reality series called The Hills is trying out this new business model. So TV viewers like Christa, Clark's executive producer, can purchase clothing worn by the show's Lauren Conrad while she experiences daily drama in the chic setting of her Teen Vogue internship. Not exactly the kind of advancement Clark was hoping this technology would bring us! He's looking forward to the day when there will be one junction box on your TV that bring together lots of programming from multiple platforms -- satellite, cable, the web, mobile and more.

Clark recently took his oldest child to college for the first time and came away with some musings about how much things have changed since he was in school. Back in the day, he went to campus with one trunk full of belongings. At his daughter's school, students showed up with fridges, microwaves, coordinated bedspreads and more. He even saw one student carrying in a 36-inch LCD hi-def TV. Meanwhile, everyone has cars on campus these days. When Clark was studying, freshmen weren't allowed to have vehicles. Sophomores could do so only with parental permission or if they had a job. Of course it goes without saying that when Clark was in college, there was no Internet, computers or cell phones. He used a typewriter and had one professor who did not allow papers to be turned in with any corrected letters on the page. If you made a mistake while typing -- even in the last sentence -- you had to start all over again.

Clark has one bit of advice for anyone who doesn't want to pay those hefty prices for college textbooks. His daughter's roommate spent $580 on books for class, while his daughter has to pay $135 for one book! Clark says to shop around for the books online. CheapestBookPrice.com, AllBookstores.com, Biblio.com, AbeBooks.com, A1Books.com, BookFinder.com, ValoreBooks.com and Textbook411.com are all good sites for this purpose. Amazon is also doing big business selling college text books, and there are some British book websites that offer science textbooks for about 40 percent off the domestic price (even when you factor in the cost of international shipping.) Don't buy your books before class starts. Go the first day and ask your professor if you can buy a prior edition and try to find it used.

What do you do if you need money but want to avoid borrowing from the banks? In the past, Clark has always recommended credit unions. But now there are even more options available. Prosper.com is a site where people lend money to each other instead of a bank being in the middle. The investor who takes a risk in lending to you earns relatively high returns and you get a low rate. This is a big success that's growing exponentially. The way it works is that a borrower gets a lot of cash from several different people online. That helps lower the individual lender's risk in the case of default. People are essentially becoming their own loan officers by calculating the risk to see if they want to be part of a loan. There's a similar website in Britain called Zopa.com that's getting ready to come to the United States. A little competition in this field is going to be a healthy thing. However, there are some core differences between Proper and Zopa. The former grades your credit and then assigns you a lender, while the latter is tougher and only allows loans to those with moderate credit.

The volume of transactions on sites like these is growing. So is this a threat to the banking business? While it's still small potatoes today, over time it could be. CircleLending.com is also a good site to use for lending to people who are your family members or friends because it helps you negotiate a contractual agreement. Meanwhile, Clark has a rule for lending to family that he calls the "one time out rule." It states that you can lend to a family member once (and only once) as a gift. Even though they will call it a loan, you may never see the money come back. If it does, you'll be pleasantly surprised. It's kind of the same idea as the old saying, "First time shame on you, second time shame on me."

For the first time ever, people are buying more clothing than electronics. One of the most customer-friendly and popular sites is zappos.com. They offer shoes, accessories and other apparel and there is no shipping – even if you’re returning. They have a one-year return policy, which is unheard of the in shoe industry. Online clothing retailers have electronic sizing on their sites nowadays, so the potential for correct fitting is much better. Another popular site is bluenile.com, which is outselling Tiffany’s in engagement rings. Both of these companies keep the focus on the customer and that is why they’ve been so successful. Other companies should take a hint and try it.

Free shipping is the No. 1 draw for people who shop online. This holiday season, online sales are up by about 30 percent compared to previous years. You probably saw lots of signs for free shipping at sites this year. But it’s important to read the fine print. With sites like Amazon.com, shipping is free after a certain amount. But it has to be a product sold by Amazon, not an outside vendor. Also, there are cutoff dates you must observe to get the free shipping and to deliver in time. Many stores also allow you to return items to the actual stores, even if you buy them online. So, what about shipping gifts yourself? Both FedEx and UPS make it very affordable to send items by ground. UPS bought Mailboxes Etc. and prices there are a bit higher than at a traditional UPS store. And FedEx bought Kinko’s. So, if you go to a Kinko’s to mail, you’ll pay FedEx ground rates. Sending by air is quite pricey and ground usually gets there in the same time. Sometimes, ground deliveries get there in a day. Just be sure that you package the items yourself. Having one of these companies package it for you costs a ton.

Clark read a story recently in the Orlando Sentinel about the many risks of online shopping, especially at holiday time. It’s so easy to get taken these days in online transactions because many of the Web sites out there are phony. Just about anyone can set up a domain name and start peddling goods. So, how can you protect yourself? One way is to visit whois.net, the site that lists the person or company that registered the site and when it was registered. If the site was just registered, you know it is probably not legit. Epinions.com and bizrate.com are other sites that rate companies and their customer service. You can also protect yourself at the payment stage by using checkout.google.com, the rival to PayPal. So, if you don’t know the site by name or reputation, always check it out before you buy.

Google has been a huge success in the Internet market and it is now branching out into yet another industry. You may have heard of PayPal. The eBay owned company has had the electronic payment market to itself. And, as a result, it has been able to treat customers in a mostly poor manner. But that’s all about to change. Google is now stepping into the ring and is offering a FREE electronic payment program. It’s called “Google Accounts” and it’s only available in test form and in certain markets. It will be available to people who use “Google Base,” the company’s equivalent and competitor to Craigslist, the online local marketplace that is partially owned by eBay. So, it’s a great alternative if you’re doing lots of online transactions and are either paying a lot or getting bad customer service from PayPal. Just remember that if you decide to use Google Accounts, there is no fraud protection at all. This would be the time for PayPal to step in and offer real service and protection for its customers. We’ll see what happens.

Web shopping is booming right now. In fact sales are expected to be up more than 22 percent this holiday season compared to last year. Why? People don’t want to get in their cars and drive around to shop because the cost of gas is so high. The down side to the online shopping is the change in shipping policies. Many have raised the amount of merchandise you have to buy before you get free shipping. Others have just created flat rates based on how much you buy. Amazon.com used to offer free shipping on orders over $25. But it’s so hard to tell what items are Amazon items and what items come from the other merchants on the site, which are not eligible for free shipping. So, the site has gotten much more confusing. Still, people visit it all the time. So, what percent of their shopping will people do online versus in stores this year? Would you believe it’s only 5 percent? Of course, some people will do 100 percent of their shopping online. But for the majority of people, they will do about 95 percent of their shopping in regular retail stores.

Clark has long been an advocate of electronic bill pay. In part, it’s the convenience once you get it all set up. But it’s also much safer. When you pay electronically you have proof that you sent it. It took a while for electronic bill pay to catch on, but many people have signed up over the past few years. It’s become even more popular since most programs became free. But, all of a sudden, people are canceling accounts. Why? All of the phishing scams have people really scared. These people may have been taken by a phishing scam and given their information to an organization they thought was a bank or legitimate organization. These criminals are very clever and they’ve managed to reach 2 million people out there. Not to mention the mistakes on the parts of banks themselves and the crooked employees in organizations like Bank of America and Wachovia who were stealing customers’ money. But it’s important to remember that most cases of identity theft happen in very low tech ways. All the same, online banking is under attack. Clark has to give Bank of America praise as while as criticism because it’s only fair. The company now displays a confirmation symbol to customers when they sign on to BOA’s legitimate site. It can be a picture you select or a symbol, and crooks won’t know it. So, if you don’t see that picture pop up you should be worried. It’s a great idea that Clark hopes others follow. Just be sure you're doing what you need to in order to protect yourself. The first is to be careful about who you give your social security number to. And, OPT OUT of credit card solicitations by calling 1-888-5-OPT-OUT.

About every day, someone calls the show about a late payment that is causing them some trouble. The consequences of doing this in today’s banking world are very unforgiving. Late fees are now in the $40s and $50s, and it’s okay for many banks to inform other banks and creditors that you are late with payments. That’s why it’s more important than ever to bank online. A survey done by the Pew Internet Project shows that about 50 percent of older baby boomers and 40 percent of younger baby boomers are banking online. About 60 percent of Generation Y consumers are banking online. It’s such an easy thing to do, once you set it up. And you always know that your bills get where they need to go ON TIME.

Across the nation, the interest rate for a simple savings account is around a half a percent. But some Internet only banks are offering much higher rates. ING Direct is offering 2.3% on savings accounts, and Emigrantdirect.com is offering 3% for a simple savings account. Better yet, there are no fees or games invovled. Your account will also be insured up to $100,000 by the FDIC. This is great for a rainy day account!

How do you pay our bills? In the year 2004, electronic bill paying makes a lot of sense. In fact, roughly one-third of Americans now pay their bills, or some portion of their bills, online. And that the number is heading up. What is the problem with the old system of check writing? If it gets to the creditor late, you – the consumer - have no proof that the check was sent on time. You may get stuck with a late fee, or even a mark on your credit. Clark has done electronic bill paying since the 90’s. Sometimes, banks and companies make mistakes. But if you pay though online bill pay, there is an electronic paper trail. Then if there is a problem, the service will step up and help. Listeners say that this system has helped them when there is a problem. The payer is protected. Try it.

Would you buy a $90,000 ring or a $20,000 bracelet on the Internet? Amazon is hoping you will and has been surveying people to find out. So far, they’ve found people are receptive to Amazon selling fine jewelry. Not all of it is fine jewelry. Prices will start at about $50. But Amazon is joining forces with tons of Internet jewelry sellers. The sale of online jewelry is up 40 percent in the last year. But only about 5 percent of jewelry sales happen online, according to the Wall Street Journal. Some people are still selling fake or counterfeit jewelry online. So, you need make sure you can get a full refund for the item within a certain period of time if you happen to change your mind. Usually jewelers will allow you to return within 14 days. That’s not a store credit. You need to make sure you can get a full refund for any reason. And get a receipt that says that. You need to be able to provide proof that you have a right to a refund. But think a different way about buying jewelry. If you’ve always bought from stores, consider trying the online route. You always want to compare.

Clark has been a fan of electronic bill pay for years. Today, he’s happy to report that approximately 20 million people are using electronic bill pay, and that number is growing. The process takes seconds once the system is set up. And the possibility of someone tapping into your account is almost nil. It’s much easier for someone to pull mail out of your mailbox and steal your identity that way. Also, think about how many times you send in a payment and a company claims you missed the due date. If you mail your payment with a check, you have no way of proving that you sent it on time. Clark even conducted an experiment into this issue in 1999 to find out for sure. Using a credit card, Clark sent nine monthly payments via “next day delivery,” and every one of them arrived within a day as expected. But of those nine payments, only two of them were posted on time. The other seven were posted a day or more after the due date even though Clark knew they arrived on time. You are protected virtually 100 percent if you pay electronically. It’s cheaper, quicker and more secure.