Most of the information in this table comes from the July 2000 copy of Smart Money Magazine's: Smart Money Magazine's 2000 Internet Guide. They spent lots of time and money comparing shopping sites and have given a great, easy to use, guide linking to the best 52 sites in 31 categories. Each is the BEST site tested in all those they tried out in their exhaustive attempt to find THE best site in each category.

P r o d u c t s

Baby Products

Baby Center

Cameras 

Clothing

Nordstrom - of the 15 sites they tested this one had the best prices and allowed you to compare styles and recommends matching clothes and accessories.

Electronics

Etown - nothing beats this site when it comes to the best in CD players and stereo speakers. It provides product reviews and price comparisons on its entire inventory of 5,000 items. It will produce a comparison of several models right next to each other for you.

Flowers

Flower bud has the best prices on flowers on the web.

Furniture

Furniture.com

Gardening

Garden - with more than 23,000 products this is a must stop for any gardener.

Gourmet Food

Prescription Drugs

planet rx The market money people compared the prices of four prescription drugs on 10 sites, and PlanetRx beat its rivals on three of the medications.

Sporting Goods

Fogdog "has more than 800 brands and 80,000 items." It has great customer service and will help you find something if you don't find it on their site.

Toys

" The best place online to find Big Bird and Barney is still eToys. With more than 100,000 products, including everything from boogie boards to telescopes, the site has one of the largest selections on the Net."

Travel Gear

At Recreational Equipment Inc.'s Rei site if you looked up backpacks you would pull up some 424 items, 200 more than its nearest competitor.

Videos and DVDs

CheckOut.com has over 220,000 titles.

Wine

Wine.com can ship 2,500 labels to 42 states - the most of any online wine retailer.

Look for comparison pricing at Bill Shrink.

BUSINESS TRAVEL

No site has more upgrades than Biz travel.

Credit Cards

Bank rate found 24 credit cards below the national average in interest rates, without a yearly fee. It is easy to use and is updated weekly.

HOTEL RESERVATIONS

"With 47,000 hotels in its database, Travelocity is the clear winner when it comes to making a hassle-free reservation. Aside from its enormous selection of properties in 192 countries, Travelocity allows you to plot your search on a map to ensure that your luxury hotel isn't sitting by the train tracks. Best yet, Travelocity has added consolidator hotel rates and consistently produces some of the cheapest rates around."

Office Management

Quicken is comparable to the top 5 online bill paying sites, only its FREE. It also allows you to track your banking and credit card history.

Education

FINANCIAL AID

Fast Web has more than 3,500 scholarships in its database, the most of any site on the web. It's easy to use. All you do is fill out a questionaire and it tells you the available awards. It's listings are updated daily and emails you with ones that match your search.

COLLEGE RESEARCH

TEXTBOOKS

Lending Tree is the place to get a home loan.

Your best search site for properties online is Realtor, the official site of the National Association of Realtors.

Owners lets you sell your home without using a broker. They distribute photos of your home to Internet portals like Yahoo!Just Listed is another page.

Realtor, of the 12 sites the Smart Money people tested, had the largest number of listings - more than 1.3 million nationwide - and an exclusive home finder that can search several communities at once.

At SmartMoney: Home Ownership you will find 8 worksheets to help you decide whether to rent or buy, how much house you can afford, mortgage payment amounts, etc.