Today I was shopping on the Internet for a Valentine's gift for a friend and also to find lodging in New Zealand for our upcoming trip. I found myself to be very frustrated and thought I might make some suggestions to people or organizations who are trying to sell something online or attract customers.

1. DO NOT require your customers to fill in a bunch of information such as name, address, credit card number, recipient address, etc. before showing them the final price of the item they are attempting to purchase.

How do I know whether I want to buy it if I do not know the final price I will have to pay? And if I decide I don't want to buy it, then why would I want to waste my time filling in all of these forms? Perhaps you feel you want to trap me into investing so much time that I will buy in spite of additional fees that might be added on to the price at the end, but you won't. You will just anger me and make me abandon your site before filling in the forms.

2. If you have a Web site for your B&B or your motel or hotel, please give the visitor complete information so that they can make a decision as to whether they are interested.

Give the prices for the rooms and describe the rooms clearly.

For example, tell us whether the room has a private bathroom or whether we will have to go across the hall to the bathroom or whether we will be sharing the bathroom with others -- and, if so, how many others? Tell us what is in the private bathroom -- a shower or a tub or both?

If you say something is a studio or a suite, please explain what you mean by this. I can't tell you the number of sites I've visited where I have not been able to figure out what the room will be like, how many it will accommodate, and in what kind of beds, with how many rooms, etc.

Here's an example of an adequate description:

Queen studio. $120 per night, including all taxes and fees. Accommodates two. A medium-sized room with a single queen bed, a desk, easy chair, a private bathroom with shower, toilet and sink, free television with 50+ cable channels, a telephone, free high-speed wireless Internet connection, small refrigerator. No view.