Net Shoppers Having Few Happy Returns

A new study underscores some of the perils of shopping online.

More than one-fifth — 21 percent — of those who purchased goods over the Internet during the past six months returned the item, according to research by NFO Interactive.

Women’s apparel and accessories were sent back most often, by 20 percent of those returning goods. Movies and videos were returned by 13 percent.

Still, nearly three-fourths of shoppers returning goods were satisfied with how the return was handled. And roughly two of three respondents making returns found the return process to be convenient and easy.

Nearly 90 percent of those making returns did so by mailing the item back to the merchant.

The results were based on responses from 759 online shoppers.

Take a break from rewrapping goods to be returned and check out the following new, entertaining or useful Web sites:

* Personal touch: Maybe you’ve convinced yourself that getting fit would be so much easier if only you had a personal trainer like some of the privileged jet set.

Well, meet “Sven,” an animated 3D virtual trainer who is the resident fitness expert at AllOutTraining.com

Sven responds to e-mailed questions with a slightly Swedish accent, complete with facial expressions.

Corny? Perhaps, but Web site developers say it’s just what the doctor ordered: easy, inexpensive access to personal training.

http://www.Allouttraining.com

* Smooth sailing: Dream vacations that fail to live up to expectations can turn into costly nightmares.

Part of the problem, says ThirdAge.com, is that consumers don’t do enough to ensure that their “travel personality” matches their travel plans.

So, the Web site has developed a multiple-choice quiz, which it describes as “an interactive experience designed to elicit laughter along with a clearer definition of the traveler’s personal style.” The goal is to help users define their tastes, adaptability and sense of adventure — and avoid travel misadventures.

http://www.thirdage.com

* Starry eyed: Aspiring astronauts can fuel their fantasies by calling up this Web site, which is packed with information on the cosmos, including a page on what it takes to be an astronaut.

Geared toward grades K-6, the site also offers several games (NASA picture puzzles, an intergalactic scavenger hunt and a way to calculate your weight on other planets) and plenty of scientific explanations of planets, stars, space shuttles and satellites.

http://ispec.scibernet.com/station