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 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.
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 595 rather than the expedited shipping for 1295.
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.
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, O-N-L-I-N-E 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 term.
This person likes buying on the internet because they can do some comparison shopping.
Comparison shopping, C-O-M-P-A-R-I-S-O-N, 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 podcasts or whatever you want to.
We usually say headphones.
That sometimes word gets used also for the types of earphones that go just into your ear.
They don't cover your whole ear.
We often call those earbuds, B-U-D-S.
Earbuds, like the iPod has white earbuds.
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.
P-A-I-R.
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, they'll usually be some sort of sentence or paragraph that gives you more information about the product.
A product, P-R-O-D-U-C-T, 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, C-A-R-T.
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, C-H-E-C-K, 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 item in his basket and that it was in stock.
An item I-T-E-M 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 a iPod and you could have two iPods, so you have two of the same item or two of the same product.
Your basket B-A-S-K-E-T 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 S-T-O-C-K.
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 I wanna buy a certain product, a certain item, and they say 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 S-H-I-P-P-I-N-G means sending the package.
Two ways that they can have the package sent to them.
A package, P-A-C-K-A-G-E, 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, e-x-p-e-d-i-t-e-d.
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 again, in using 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 will cost, of course, more money.
That is expedited shipping.
Well, the person here clicks the continue button, meaning they 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 B-I-L-L-I-N-G 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.
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 P-U-R-C-H-A-S-E means to buy.
When they buy it, they get a confirmation page and the confirmation page just says yes, you bought this.
It says that it's proof that you bought this item on our store.
And you will often get a tracking number.
A tracking number t-r-a-c-k-i-n-g number two words.
That is a number that you can track or check the 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, 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 uh of uh 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 this story again, this time at a native rate of speech.
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 595 rather than the expedited shipping for 1295.
I clicked the continue button and filled in my shipping address and billing address.
Then it took me to the payments 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 shipped.
Buying on the internet is perfect for someone like me.
Now, if only finding a girlfriend was just that easy.
Our script today was written by Dr. Lucy Say, and we thank her for her work.
From Los Angeles, I'm Jeff McQuillan.
Thanks for listening.
We'll see you next time on ESL Podcasts.
English as a Second Language podcast is written and produced by Dr Lucy Say, hosted by Dr Jeff McQuillan.
This podcast is copyright 2006.
