For all your holiday shopping needs...

This year most of my holiday shopping was done at Amazon.com. Their prices were consistently lowest, had by far the biggest catalog, and offered free shipping on a lot of stuff. What most impressed me was their excellent customer service.

I purchased an item and after it shipped, a rebate appeared that would apply to another item I wanted, if purchased at the same time as the first. Any other retailer would have said "tough luck", and if I tried to submit the rebate with the items on different receipts, 8-10 weeks later it would be denied. One e-mail to Amazon and their response was "let us know when you order the second item, and we'll refund you the amount of the rebate."

They've also started a "Frustration-Free packaging initiative", to make product boxes less wasteful and easier to open.

I wish all my holiday shopping was this easy, but for now, Amazon doesn't quite sell everything.