However, with recent demise of so many dot.com players, pendulum is attempting to swing in other direction.

This week another major player has announced that their once free service will no longer be free as of August 6th. If you have a list hosted on ListBot, http://www.listbot.com/, you will either need to make new arrangements to get it hosted by someone else or get ready to hand over around $150 per year.

What was once free yesterday may no longer be free tomorrow.

Considering need to become profitable online, trend is understandable. However, these dot.coms that are charging fees must keep in mind free nature of Internet and not ignore fundamental nature of that concept.

Yahoo, http://www.yahoo.com/, is an excellent example of a dot.com that began to charge fees but not for it's core service of search engine directory use.

Yes, if you want preferential treatment in getting listed on Yahoo you need to hand them almost two hundred dollars for privilege.

And, yes, they are "selling" you something on every web page that comes up with results of your online search.

It pays bills and still allows them to keep their original service free.

A compromise must be reached otherwise those faltering dot.com's and any Johnny come lately will find that in order to keep good will of their customers and potential customers, they must be given an incentive merely to visit web site.

Otherwise they will look elsewhere to still find it free.

7. Know if merchant offers a warranty or money back guarantee or before bidding on a product. You don't want to get stuck with a product that does not work or you're not satisfied with.

8. Online auctions will, sometimes, allow you to check merchants history with their auction. Check to see if people have complained about their products or business practices before you decide to bid.

9. It's important to place a bid early in auction to show other bidders you are interested in product. If someone does out bid you, don't be afraid to out bid them. Remember not to go over your maximum bid price.

10. Another reason to know when auction ends; you can place a last minute bid. The other bidders may not be keeping track of when auction ends or may not have time to bid again.