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New year shopping
Written by: Jiří Vašek

Thanks to the savings offered by online merchants, the popularity of internet shopping increases each year. Today 7% of all consumer electronics and appliances are sold over the net. In addition to a vast assortment, all sorts of sales are going on in the wake of the Christmas season.

http://www.mall.cz This site associates the largest group of e-shops, which also offer expert consulting. Many people use them to get ball-park information for buying modern technologies, whose prices have fallen nicely with the dollar's decline. The site gets about 30,000 hits a day. Some contact the mall by just sending SMS messages to 736 393 652 inquiring about a certain type of goods, and a couple of seconds later the price comes back, while others use newly-opened brick-and-mortar shops in Prague, Brno, and Ostrava for personal treatment. The company offers free delivery, and you can unwrap, check, and jointly confirm the guarantee with the driver, and even pay COD for the goods. @@@@@

http://www.kosmas.cz Books make great gifts, especially from this Czech branch of amazon.com, which offers10-15% discounted prices. The shop, which Chip magazine this year named as the best Czech e-shop, has over 11,000 titles from over 450 publishers. Each week 20-50 new titles arrive at the warehouse and can be delivered by mail or courier at a time the customer chooses. A money-back guarantee and on-line complaint service are a matter of course, and you can watch your order progress online. The site also offers an overview of prepared books, links to reviews, and a list of literary awards. It carries music and multimedia, too. @@@@@

http://www.bezvaceny.cz When it opened a year ago at the end of September, this site promised price comparisons of goods in e-shops, classic brick-and-mortar stores, and retail chains. Just enter the name of the goods or service you want, they said, and the customer could see the places where individual items were cheapest. But this great idea got hung up about half-way, the search engine fumbles even basic terms, and the offer's minimal at best. An unfortunate result to such a good idea. @@

http://www.pneu-max.cz This e-sales warehouse holds over 500,000 tires from 70 manufacturers with substantially lower prices than you'll find elsewhere. Buy four or more tires and delivery via PPL is free, otherwise it costs CZK 100, the same as all orders under CZK 6,000 (free delivery is therefore rare).The shop offers mainly expensive, high-quality names such as Pirelli, Continental, Goodyear, and Firestone - all new and guaranteed, verifiable by the DOT code on the tire wall. On the main page there are quality tests of individual tires for your information, and the staff can also provide help over the phone. Expect your new tires within three days. @@@@

http://www.broucekaberuska.cz Another recipient of the Shop of the Year 2004 award, this one focusing exclusively on kids' stuff. It carries a broad spectrum of children's beds, chairs, carseats, and baby carriages, as well as maternity fashions and a second-hand shop. You can put goods in your shopping basket and change its content, only registering when you're ready to buy. Purchases over CZK 4,000 are delivered in Prague and throughout the country for free - the company only charges for packaging or postage if the order is sent COD. Most of the goods can be seen at the brick-and-mortar Brouček a Beruška shops at the Průhonice Hypernova and in Uhříněves. @@@@

novelties
www.estav.cz/finance/sporeni/sporeni.asp
This site contains an overview of building savings plans, including fees for set-up and account management, and mainly interest rates on deposits. Also, it shows daily reports on the construction industry, a calendar of its events, and job openings.

www.csobinvest.cz
Let yourself be inspired at this web site, and invest in over 100 funds with all sorts of investment strategies. They're all managed by professionals from the ČSOB/KBC finance group. The basic requirements are that you decide what type of strategy you want and open the required investment account with a minimum CZK 5,000 or its equivalent in foreign currency.

www.condor.cz/viza
Are you traveling to a distant land and don't know if you need a visa? Checking this site is more convenient and faster than calling consulates. It has a list of countries with which the Czech Republic has (or does not have) no-visa agreements, addresses of their representation offices, and basic information on how long it takes to get permission to enter the country, what needs to be submitted, and how much it costs.