Online shopping big for students this year

Chelsea Perry logs onto her eBay account to check the list of items she bid on last week. The Coach purse she hopes to win has only three hours left in the auction, and Perry is still the highest bidder. She will most likely go to class and immediately return home to check her status a few times more before the time period has lapsed.\nPerry, a 20-year-old junior, only began shopping online last year. Now she constantly surfs the Internet for sites that sell items from purses to jewelry to clothes. Her first purchase was a dress that she needed for a last-minute event.\n"It was easy just to sit down at my computer, order it and have it delivered right to my door," Perry said. "Now I shop on eBay for purses and other things because you can get stuff for really cheap prices."\nPerry is just one of thousands of U.S. college students who find online shopping convenient and efficient. Sophomore Maggie Ossola shops online but says it is easy to lose track of how much she is actually spending. \n"Sometimes I'll start bidding on something and I just keep raising my bid so I'll win," Ossola said. "When I get my bill it always seems to be more than I thought it was." \nMore and more Internet sites like Yahoo Shopping and Shopping.com are advertising to the young demographic, who have money to burn and are constantly craving the newest gadgets and goodies out on the market.\nOnline purchases by college students increased 17 percent in the past three years, according to an online spending survey conducted by the campus fact site Student Monitor. Last year, college-aged adults spent a total of $1.4 billion on miscellaneous purchases bought over the Internet, such as airfare, movies and concert tickets.\n"They've not just been brought up with computers, they are the first generation as a group brought up with the Internet and interacting with others online," said analyst Jon Gibs of Jupiter Research firm.\nBut this explosion of online purchases might have a downside. Everyone has heard of drug, gambling and even food addictions, but online-shopping addictions? The lure of 24-hour access right at your fingertips is causing some problems, Gibs said. \nPerry said her online shopping habits are getting out of hand. \n"I've spent about $300 on eBay alone this past month," she said. \nStudentadvantage.com, based out of Boston, is another site that attracts students by offering student discounts. Students across the nation are entitled to discounts from 15,000 local and national businesses with a $20 annual membership, according to an MSNBC report. Deals include a 15 percent discount on nationwide travel through Amtrak or Greyhound.\n"I am all for any discounted prices," Ossola said. "I'm a poor college student. I need all the breaks I can get, and it seems that online sites have the best prices on just about everything. That's why I like to do my shopping there."\nThe fad does not seem to be slowing down anytime soon. Sixty-nine percent of college students who have made on-line purchases before say they will continue shopping online, according to an ABC News profile.\n"I may not always be able to afford what I'm bidding on, but I get things at prices I like so I'm going to take advantage of that," Perry said.