خرید اینترنتی

Buying on the internet

Welcome to English as a Second Language Podcast number 140: Buying on the Internet.

This is English as a Second Language Podcast episode 140. I’m your host, Dr. Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in beautiful Los Angeles, California.

On this podcast, we’re going to talk about buying something over, or on, the Internet. Let’s get started!

[start of story]

It’s true that I don’t like shopping. When I want to buy something, I do it online. I like buying on the Internet because I can easily do some comparison shopping and find the best price. It’s easy, too.

Last week I wanted to buy some new headphones. I did a search and found a pair on sale at a store in New Jersey. I read the product description and knew that this was the right one. I added it to my shopping cart and I was ready to check out. The screen showed that I had one item in my basket and that it was in stock. I had a choice of shipping and I picked standard shipping for $5.95, rather than the expedited shipping for $12.95. I clicked the “continue” button and filled in my shipping address and my billing address. Then, it took me to the payment screen and I typed in my credit card number and expiration date. I clicked the “Purchase” button and I was done. I got a confirmation page with a tracking number. I checked the next day and it showed that my item had already been shipped.

Buying on the Internet is perfect for someone like me. Now, if only finding a girlfriend was just that easy.

[end of story]

We are shopping on the Internet today, buying things on the Internet. And our story begins with the narrator, the person telling the story, saying that when they buy things, they like to do it “online.” “Online” (online) means buying something on the Internet – it’s the same as being on the Internet, being online. The person likes to buy on the Internet and you can also say buy “over the Internet,” but “on” is probably now a little more common. This person likes buying on the Internet because they can do some comparison shopping. “Comparison shopping” (comparison) is when you can compare or look at two different stores or three different stores or ten different stores and see which store has the cheapest price. That’s comparison shopping, looking at different stores and getting their prices.

Well, last week, the narrator wanted to buy some new headphones. “Headphones” – all one word – are those things you put on your ears – that cover your ears – to listen to music or podcast or whatever you want to. We usually say “headphones” – that sometimes – word – get’s used also for the types of earphones that go into your – adjust into your ear. They don’t cover your whole ear. We often call those “ear buds” (buds). “Ear buds,” like the iPod has white ear buds. But a headphone, the old type of headphone is the one that covers your whole ear and we usually say this is a “pair” of headphones. A “pair of headphones,” because, of course, there are two and two is a pair (pair). Well, he finds a pair of headphones at a store in New Jersey. New Jersey is a state on the east coast of the United States right next to New York –the state of New York.” He reads the product description and knows that it’s the right one. The “product description” when you buy something on an Internet store, there’ll usually be some sort of sentence or paragraph that gives you more information about the product. A “product” (product) is just the thing that you are buying. So, the product is whatever you are buying. The product description will have a description of what you are interested in.

This person knew that it was the “right one” or the “correct one,” meaning it’s the one that he wants. So, the first thing he does is he “adds it to his shopping cart.” This is an electronic shopping cart. A “shopping cart” – “shopping cart” are two words – (cart) – “shopping cart” is normally, in a store like a grocery store – a supermarket – it’s what you push, that you put all of your food into this big – it’s like a big basket that has wheels on it and you can push it. But in an Internet store, the shopping cart is where you put things that you want to buy and you can put things in your shopping cart and if you change your mind, you can take them out again. So, it’s like a place where the Internet store holds the things that you are interested in buying. And normally on a website, on an Internet store, you can click on a button that says, “Shopping Cart” and that will tell you what you plan on buying, what you have decided to buy.

When you’re ready to buy, then you “check out” – two words – (check) out. “To check out” means to purchase or to buy the product, to actually now decide that you’re going to buy it and you make that decision, then you check out and again, you’ll often see a button on an Internet store that says, “check out” – that’s what you do when you want to finish and go ahead and buy what you want. Well, when the person looked at their shopping cart, in the story, the screen showed or the computer screen showed that they had one item – he had one time in his basket. And it was “in stock.” An “item” (item) is similar to a product. It’s the thing that you are going to buy – the individual product that you are going to buy. You can say, for example, that the product is an iPod and you could have two iPods. So, you have two of the same item or two of the same product.

Your “basket” (basket) is the same as your shopping cart. So, If you say, “I have one item in my basket,” that’s the same as one item in my shopping cart – the place that holds the things I’m thinking of buying. And the item is “in stock.” We say something is “in stock” – two words – “stock” is (stock) – that means that the store actually has the product. So, if you’re buying an iPod and it says it’s “in stock,” that means they actually have the iPod and can send it to you. If it says it’s “out of stock” – “out of stock” means they don’t have any. So, sometimes you’ll go to a store and you’ll say, “Oh, I want to buy a certain product, a certain item.” And they say, “Oh, I’m sorry. It’s out of stock,” meaning we don’t have any left to sell.

In the story, the person buying the headphones has a choice of shipping and “shipping” (shipping) means sending the package – two ways – that they can have the package sent to them. A “package” (package) is the box or whatever it is that you are buying, they put it in something, and then they ship it or mail it – send it to you. So, there are two possibilities, one is standard shipping and another is expedited shipping. “Standard shipping” is the normal or regular shipping and here in the United States, if you buy on an Internet store, standard shipping is usually something that takes five to seven days for you to get it – that would be standard shipping. “Expedited shipping” (expedited) – “expedited” – that’s when you are going to pay more money and they will send it faster. They will use a faster way of sending it to you. So, it again, used in the United States as an example, we have a service called “priority mail.” “Priority mail” means that you’ll get it in two or three days instead of five to seven days. You can also have something sent overnight with a special service. And the service or cost, of course, more money – that is expedited shipping.

Well, the person here clicks the continue button, meaning they decide what they want for shipping and then they fill in or type in, put in, their shipping address and their billing address. The “shipping address” is, of course, where you want the company to send your product, to send your package, your item. The “billing address” (billing) – “billing address” – that’s where, if you are paying by a credit card, for example, that’s where you get your credit card bill. And when you buy something on the Internet, in the United States at least, the company that is selling you the item, they will check electronically, to make sure that you have the correct address for your credit card. And if you put in the wrong address, then it will reject your credit card. So, if you buy something and you live in the United States or Canada and you buy from a store in the United States or Canada, you have to put a correct billing address. If you buy internationally, for example, if you are in Japan and you want to buy something from a store here in the United States, there is, I don’t think any way that most of the companies can check your address. So, it’s a little less important but you still have to put in a billing address.

Well, the person in the story types in their billing address and they click the “purchase” button. And “to purchase” (purchase) means to buy. When they buy it, they get a confirmation page. And the “confirmation page” just says, “Yes, you bought this.” It’s proof that you bought this item on our store. And you will often get a “tracking number.” A “tracking number” (tracking) number – two words – that is a number that you can track or check your package to see where it is and the major mail services in the United States delivery services – companies that will deliver or send you a package. You can put in a number. They give you a number that you can then type into the computer – into the Internet and it will tell you where your package is and if it is going to arrive at your house or business on time, on the right day. So, it’s a way of finding out about where your package is and how long it will take to get to you – that’s a tracking number.

Well, let’s listen to the story again, this time at a native rate of speech.

[start of story]

It’s true that I don’t like shopping. When I want to buy something, I do it online. I like buying on the Internet because I can easily do some comparison shopping and find the best price. It’s easy, too.

Last week I wanted to buy some new headphones. I did a search and found a pair on sale at a store in New Jersey. I read the product description and knew that this was the right one. I added it to my shopping cart and I was ready to check out. The screen showed that I had one item in my basket and that it was in stock. I had a choice of shipping and I picked standard shipping for $5.95, rather than the expedited shipping for $12.95. I clicked the “continue” button and filled in my shipping address and my billing address. Then, it took me to the payment screen and I typed in my credit card number and expiration date. I clicked the “Purchase” button and I was done. I got a confirmation page with a tracking number. I checked the next day and it showed that my item had already been shipped.

Buying on the Internet is perfect for someone like me. Now, if only finding a girlfriend was just that easy.

[end of story]

Our script today was written by Dr. Lucy Tse. We thank her for her work.

From Los Angeles, California, I’m Jeff McQuillan. Thanks for listening. We’ll see you next time on ESL Podcast.

English as a Second Language podcast is written and produced by Dr. Lucy Tse, hosted by Dr. Jeff McQuillan. This podcast is copyright 2006.