While Internet shopping is a boon for many, there are traps for the unwary shopper. A finely embroidered tapestry, a lacy Victorian Christmas card, a delicate sugar Easter egg - and a mousemat, decorated in the shape of a mask of King Tutankamun.

How did it all start?

Convenience

Convenience is the main reason online shopping has caught on, especially for women who juggle their lives: you order things when it suits you and get them delivered to your door. You pay for them by credit card - no cash is involved. It's time-saving too: a recent Which? report found that the average time regular users spent ordering their groceries was 35 minutes, even less for those who keep lists of their standard items.

 There is an enormous and ever-increasing number of retail sites offering a variety of products from books to baby equipment, and services from banking to builders. You will find, for example, it is usually cheaper to book things like airline tickets, hotels and insurance online, where substantial discounts are widely advertised. Moreover, Internet accounts are often 'best buys' offering the best interest rates. You can find a real bargain if you know where to look.

Many of our 6,000 mail order catalogues have a website as well as familiar telephone numbers and forms. Even small local traders like plumbers and painters, hairdressers and handymen, often have a website. You can order a bouncy castle for your grandchildren's birthday, organise your daughter's wedding, plan a visit to the cinema or theatre, bet on a horse, contact an estate agent, even buy a retreat in the South of France - all online.

You may also want unusual items you aren't likely to find on the high street, or intimate items that you might not want other people to know about (like Janet Reger underwear, an intriguing reusable eco-friendly menstrual cup or a pack of condoms that play "Love me tender, love me true").

Take a look at three women who now depend on access to the Internet and online shopping.

Liz teaches in Norwich but her disabled father, who has just had a cataract operation, lives alone in Northumberland. Making sure from a distance that he had the right sorts of things to eat and didn't run out of basic supplies was a nightmare, especially while he was recovering. That is, until she found that her supermarket would deliver an order to him, even though his address was different from the one her credit card was registered at. Says Liz, with a sigh of relief, "I phone Dad each weekend to sort out what he needs, and get his groceries delivered on Wednesday mornings. The system works and it's an absolute godsend in term-time."

Marie already has a toddler and is expecting twins. She lives in a North Yorkshire village, so a car is essential for getting around and about and she doesn't now fit so easily behind the steering wheel. "I can't face the idea of strapping Jake into his seat and heaving myself on board. Just the thought of pushing a trolley around the supermarket puts me off shopping altogether. So I love the idea of ordering online, which saves me so much hassle. And I can do it when Jake's gone to bed."

Chris is fairly high up the executive ladder but still has a husband, house and children to organise. 'Me' time is at a premium, so she depends on the Internet not only for her weekly grocery orders but also for trains, planes and hotels, clothes and presents, online banking, insurance and investments. "I do give supermarkets short shrift if they send the wrong things or fail to deliver on time. In my area there is a lot of online choice, so I am prepared to shop around. But it was great in Australia recently when we went into a library in Melbourne, had free use of their Internet and I placed an order with my supermarket in England. We arrived back home at noon and our food arrived at 5.00pm."