Share your thoughts on how you shop online!

[mozillapm]

Hello Firefox Community! 

I’m Joy, a member of the Firefox Product team. I’m excited to engage with you on Mozilla Connect and learn more about your experiences shopping online on Firefox. 

Our team is working on ways to support and enhance your online shopping experience, from the moment you start thinking about shopping for something, to researching different options, to purchasing with confidence. We would love to hear your thoughts on how we could make Firefox even better for shopping, particularly in how we can help ensure you feel safe, secure, and in control while shopping online. 

We welcome all ideas, big or small, and are open to discussing everything from blue-sky concepts to smaller improvements we could make in your current browser experience. 

I’ll be checking this thread a few times each week and am looking forward to your feedback. Thanks so much for helping us make Firefox even better!

[smuch]

An option I like when shopping is the ability to set up schedued deliveries for products I use on a regular basis.

Presently I mostly shop online with Amazon for delivery and sometimes local store sites for items such as hardware and food.

Thank you for asking.

[mozillapm]

Thanks for the note, smuch. How might you see yourself using tools and capabilities in Firefox browser to help with your item delivery setup or local item shopping?

[smuch]

mozillaJoy, Firefox tools and capabilities already satisfy my limited amount of online shopping. 

[syntobu]

It's hard to think of anything that I would want always built into firefox. "shopping" features are always overly intrusive, and immediately make me think that someone is stealing / selling my data.

[Hurry061]

Firstly, I believe it's important to prioritize security by shopping from reputable websites with secure payment options. Reading product reviews and comparing prices across different platforms can help ensure you're getting the best deal. Additionally, considering factors like shipping costs, return policies, and customer service can contribute to a positive shopping experience. Overall, being cautious and informed while shopping online can lead to successful purchases and enjoyable experiences. Like this site: https://www.paigebartholomew.com/

[Jaxon_Maxwell]

Thanks for the helpful insights, Hurry061! I completely agree with your approach to prioritizing security and being informed when shopping online. Shopping from reputable websites with secure payment options is crucial, and comparing prices and reading reviews always ensures a better deal. It's also wise to consider shipping costs, return policies, and customer service for a smooth shopping experience. Your advice is spot on for making online shopping safer and more satisfying.

[tilwiti]

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[rarula]

I believe, Firefox should be a tool to display web pages. I don't want to be bothered by my browser concerning "shopping experiences". But when I really want to go shopping online, I would use my browser to contact a shopping site, like Amazon.
So I believe in separation of duties:
Firefox to display web pages
Shopping sites to provide the content and "experience" (when asked for).

[Meem55]

I go to a site, place my order there, pay and the order is send to me.
I'm not sure how FF could help me with this? It's the site itself that provides the shopping environment and everything surrounding that.

[XenonofArcticus]

I'm frustrated by shopping sites that feel it's ok to manipulate search results, or just generally provide terrible search results for whatever reason.

I've made a specific request here:

https://connect.mozilla.org/t5/ideas/re-filter-amazon-and-ebay-search-results-to-conform-to-user-s/i...

But overall, I want a way to find the products I want quickly and at a good value. I want to be able to find them and be confident I've found the right thing.

If I want a "wind up Winnie the Pooh", I don't want to see a bunch of "Winnie the Pooh Wind Chimes", or Winnie the Pooh accessories. I'm fine with seeing "you may also like" sometimes, but when I'm searching for a specific thing, I want my shopping platforms to respect my search. So many platforms now don't respect the subtractive search operator like "-chime" to eliminate wind "chimes". It seems they feel it's in their best interests to shows us what THEY want us to buy, not what we want to buy.

Sites like DigiKey and McMaster are amazing because they characterize everything about their products and you can accurately search. AliExpress is the worst, where you put in a search string and then it vomits up uncategorized stuff. If I only want item X in a metal material, I should be able to filter for that. If I only want it in red, or in a pattern not a solid, please help me with that. If I only want to see results from credible sellers, not YGTHRUP or whatever the latest Chinese Amazon vendor is, let me do that. If I want to sort by best match AND lowest price, then let me. I don't want to see non-matching cheap stuff just because I choose lowest price. And I wdon't want to see the sponsored most expensive stuff for the first 5 pages just because I chose best match.

Google revolutionized the Internet by making Search good. And then they ruined it for money.

Please bring product search to a useable state again, whether it's on one site or across the Internet.

[smuch]

I agree and I think open shopping search is a risk in a browser. I don't want to a shopper profile associated with me. 

Future searches should not bring up Winnie the Pooh when I am shopping for pet food or wind chimes, for example.

I think private browsing should address that but I just shop in Amazon because I trust their site. 

[ErzeFranz0]

Trust Amazon? you're gonna regret it. I don't particularly trust it. I do business with it, but I don't trust it.

[ThePillenwerfer]

"You may be interested in" is often more confusing than helpful.  I'm still pondering what made e-Bay think I would want a "3-Prong **bleep** Speculum" even if it was at a "Special Price for Christmas."  I've never bought medical equipment or 'personal items.'  If that's artificial intelligence I don't thing we've anything to fear.

[Synchro]

Hello. I think I have two concerns when I shop online or, more broadly speaking, when I use my credit card online:

1. I don't want sites to remember my credit card information. They like to place flagged check-boxes like "remember this card", they say this will help me in the future, it will be easy for me not to enter my card information next time etc. But I feel calmer knowing that as few people possess this information as possible. It isn't difficult for me to spend 30 seconds to fill the lines. So maybe Firefox could check whether the service is going to remember my card or not.
2. Some services provide subscriptions. So I want to be sure that I won’t buy a subscription by mistake when I want to purchase something for one time. This is also relevant for charity. So maybe Firefox could check how often the service is going to take my money: once, or every week, or every month...

[Jon]

Really like that second point - I have definitely signed up for a subscription instead of a one-time purchase by mistake, and it's a hassle remembering to cancel before the next shipment/credit card charge. How do you see Firefox checking that and notifying you? 

[Synchro]

Unfortunately I am not very good at how IT things work and how Firefox can or cannot interact with websites. I mean both technically and ethically. But as a user I can imagine something like a warning pop-up message “You will be charged now and also on the dd.mm.yyyy” or “Be aware: this is not a one-time purchase”. Or maybe Firefox can find on a page and somehow highlight the text telling me how often the site is going to take my money (I hope sites usually indicates this).

[mozillapm]

Thanks for sharing, Synchro! I am curious if you've found solutions for either these two concerns, or if your current workaround is just to enter your card info each time and check your bank account occasionally for unwanted charges.

Also curious if you could envision using something in Firefox that would help manage your card info for you, rather than the site you're shopping with.

[Synchro]

Yes, just as you said. I can check my profile in the site to find out whether it remembered my card data or not. If I was inattentive and the site remembered it, this can also be disclosed during my next purchase. And as for unwanted charges, I believe only regular checking of the bank account can help now.

I can imagine, for example, that Mozilla could create a totally new service which would become a mediator between my bank and a payee. So that it would block payments untill I approve them. But I understand it's a really huge work and a non-core project for you.

(This is the 3rd time I try to post this reply...)

[okay_okay]

Thanks for asking. I send a lot of individual links, especially around the holiday season, for gift ideas. It would be nice to be able to group the links (or tabs) together and share them that way. Or maybe there's a better way to do this already and I haven't figured it out.

[PatchMixolydic]

+1 for shopping through websites, not through the browser. I really don't see a need for any shopping-related features in Firefox, and the sight of shopping-related prefs creeping into a dev build (`browser.shopping.experience2023.ads.enabled` especially) honestly makes me wonder if switching from Ungoogled Chromium to Firefox was the right choice.

[ArnoldGreybeard]

Why switch? You are allowed to have more than one browser installed on your device.

I use Vivaldi both stable and snapshot editions for most things, SeaMonkey and Firefox for a few sites, all of them at times in private mode. I have privacy extensions on all browsers and sit behind a Pi-Hole when browsing. What I find strange with the "ads.enabled" config switches is that a) Mozilla seem to think that there are not enough ads on the internet and b) that Mozilla seem to think that they can push ads at me in a more acceptable way than Google et al already do.

Edit : one of the ad-related config switches is already set to default "True" https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1868180

Final post in the bug tracker "Verified as fixed in our latest Beta 121.0b9 as well as our latest Nightly build, the browser.shopping.experience2023.ads.userEnabled pref is enabled by default which means users that are enrolled in this experiment and has browser.shopping.experience2023.ads.enabled and browser.shopping.experience2023.enabled set to true they will automatically see ads in the Review checker sidebar."

[lackey]

I do not want my shopping habits to be tracked or known to Mozilla. I do not want the browser to come pre-installed with something to "help" me with my shopping habits, even if it can be disabled.

Two of Firefox's greatest strengths are user choice and privacy; I care about those virtues and want to see them supported.

If Mozilla happens to make a shopping product such as Fakespot, I believe users should be able to choose to install it as an extension based on its own merit.

[lackey]

This Bugzilla page chronicles something that's being built in to Firefox: a shopping helper that is capable of injecting ads (or at least ad text) into shopping websites.

Is this the better web this pinned post is asking about?

[Johnpeter0001]

Hello Joy and the Firefox Product team,

Thank you for reaching out to the Firefox community to gather insights on improving the online shopping experience through the browser. It's great to see Mozilla's dedication to enhancing user safety, security, and control while shopping online.

One area that could be beneficial is integrating additional security features directly into Firefox, providing users with more robust protection against online threats. This could include enhanced anti-phishing measures, real-time website security checks, or stronger encryption for sensitive transactions.

Moreover, a feature that assists users in comparing prices across various websites or platforms while maintaining their privacy would be highly valuable. This could potentially involve a built-in price comparison tool or an extension that doesn't compromise user data.

Additionally, having clearer indicators of website credibility or trustworthiness during the browsing and shopping process would instill greater confidence. Perhaps incorporating visible indicators or badges for verified and secure websites could help users make informed decisions.

Furthermore, streamlining the checkout process or integrating a secure, password-protected digital wallet within Firefox could enhance convenience without compromising security.

These are just a few suggestions, but I'm looking forward to seeing how the Firefox team evolves the browser to elevate the online shopping experience. Thank you for your commitment to making Firefox a safer and more user-friendly platform for online activities.

[ArnoldGreybeard]

I generally use the Vivaldi browser when shopping online so I am not sure how Firefox could help with my shopping experiences. As I do not need any "help" from my browser when using internet web shops I think that any help from Mozilla "to support and enhance your online shopping experience" would finally lose me as a Firefox user completely especially if such "functionality" were to be
a) automatically opt in and
b) not possible to opt out of

[Jon]

Appreciate the direct response. Is there a particular reason (or reasons) you prefer using the Vivaldi browser when shopping online?

[ArnoldGreybeard]

A number of different reasons. Firefox mostly lost me as a daily user with the process of change from v2 through v3 and v4 whereby customisations, extensions and UI layouts I liked were consistently removed from the Firefox UI. I now have to install Aris' CSS Fixes for Firefox to make the UI acceptable for me. Then I have to turn the Menu bar on and fiddle with other stuff to get the UI the way I want it.

I used SeaMonkey for some time as my primary browser when tabs on top became compulsory in FIrefox. Also as it has the cleanest most sensible Email client UI I know of. But as time has passed SeaMonkey has not kept up with the internet and while I still use it as my email client of choice there are progressively more websites that don't render or respond properly.

I started using Vivaldi thereafter as it is a) a safer way to use Chrome with the Vivaldi team blocking various Google hooks into your data and b) the UI is scalable. As I use my browsers on a TV sized screen at a distance of 3 m this makes UI scalability very important. Firefox is only just usable at the screen's native resolution under Linux/XFCE, SeaMonkey is better with larger and clearer icons and tabs in the right place, but it was impossible to use Chromium as the text in the address field was so small that it was not easy to read the text. I have had this problem with Chromium on other devices under Linux with different screen sizes and never found a solution for it.

With Vivaldi I can set the UI scaling to fit in with my eyes rather than the other way round. Whether on my TV three metres away or on my PinePhone used just in front of my nose. Firefox does not offer this option. Vivaldi also uses the Blink engine which, like it or not is the new IE6 and is almost always guaranteed to work with a given website. Oh and you can install Vivaldi snapshot alongside Vivaldi stable with both having their own profile folders. So I can split my browsing, such as shopping across the two in the (probably vain) hope that I will be tracked less.

Perhaps the other thing to note is things like Mozilla pushing stuff like the browser.shopping.experience2023.ads.userEnabled flags set to default make it hard for me to trust Mozilla as a "partner" in my internet life.

I don't need more ads and more tracking in my life. And thus with all of these points together Firefox has been relegated to the "also ran" browser category on my devices along with Netsurf.

[WuYihong]

Your idea is very nice, but I don't agree with the idea of adding the features you mentioned to Firefox, because it has nothing to do with the web browser experience, and would add to the burden of the web browser. Please develop it as a standalone application if needed.

At the same time, I would also suggest: don't develop useless features/extensions, it's a waste of the Foundation's money.

[Boobieta]

Sorry, no. Stay in your lane, no targeted advertising for me.

[Scofeild618]

Hello Joy and the Firefox Product team!

It's fantastic to see Mozilla actively seeking user input for enhancing the online shopping experience on Firefox. Security and user control are paramount when it comes to online activities, and any improvements in these areas would be highly appreciated. Perhaps implementing intuitive security features, like visual indicators for secure connections, could enhance user confidence during online transactions. Additionally, exploring ways to streamline the shopping process, such as integrating convenient price-comparison tools or providing user-friendly access to privacy settings, could contribute to a more enjoyable and efficient experience. Thank you for reaching out to the community and being open to our ideas. Looking forward to seeing Firefox evolve for an even better shopping experience!

[jeffoire]

With respect to shopping, I have just opened https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1879906

In addition, it would be incredibly useful to be able to have multiple sets of cookies for websites so that I can choose which "shopping profile" I am using in a particular tab (personal, business, on behalf of a client, etc) - this would come in handy for just about any scenario that involves being logged in (Google accounts, Outlook accounts, and so on).  On a related note, I have noticed that very few sites actually store my cookie preferences, forcing me to repeatedly click through all of the preferences every time I visit, so having an automated tool for that would be delightful.

With respect to blue-sky ideas, I'm afraid most of the things I want have to do more with filtering search engine results and performing analyses of ratings and reviews (eg which reviews have a legit reason for their rating vs merely being a "rage review" (or a "shill review") and would probably involve some serious integration with API's.  It would be nice to completely eliminate all of the shady no-name vendors (mostly from a certain communist totalitarian country).  It would be nice to be able to auto-populate a site's filters (and again, let me select from several profiles, similar to the way I can create multiple searches in Zillow).

[JonesBones]

"In addition, it would be incredibly useful to be able to have multiple sets of cookies for websites so that I can choose which "shopping profile" I am using in a particular tab (personal, business, on behalf of a client, etc) - this would come in handy for just about any scenario that involves being logged in (Google accounts, Outlook accounts, and so on)."

This is already possible with Multi-Account Containers.

[jeffoire]

@JonesBonesthanks for mentioning M-AC - I finally got around to trying it out, and it doesn't work very well.  The help page doesn't explain how to set up multi-accounts and if it weren't for a video on frontpagelinux.com I wouldn't have realized that there is supposed to be an icon on the toolbar.  It doesn't show up, even after updating FF, even after going into the extensions area and clicking Reset Onboarding.  It's a sad day.

[Impromptu8033]

I like initiatives like FakeSpot in concept, BUT:

1. I'd like to see a much stronger and clearer privacy gaurantees.

2. It should be privacy-centric, and privacy-respecting at its core, like other Mozilla product offerings.

[JonesBones]

I research about available products to narrow down choice, compare prices and pick the cheapest option from reputable shop. There is no need to include anything shopping related in browser itself, there are websites that help with all this already.

[Jon]

Thanks for sharing @JonesBones! Do you use any add-ons to help with the research and price comparisons? Or just websites only?

[JonesBones]

It's just websites. For research I simply check product reviews in multiple sites I find trustworthy, sometimes also check random customer reviews.

For price comparison I use 1 specific site that pulls data from all well known local e-commerce sites.

[lackey]

With all due respect, it appears the portion of this comment that says "There is no need to include anything shopping related in the browser itself" is being ignored, along with many similar sentiments this thread. I think it's important that this sentiment be addressed too.

One of the most popular threads on Mozilla Connect implores Mozilla to slim down Firefox by removing the Pocket code from the browser. It received so many Kudos that the Mozilla Community is looking into it.. The same sentiment is being echoed in this thread, but this time around the community is imploring Mozilla in advance to let users, not Mozilla, shape how Firefox runs on shopping sites.

[alexanderjohnes]

Hi Joy, it's great to see Firefox prioritizing the online shopping experience! Security and ease of use are key for me when shopping online, so any enhancements in those areas would be appreciated. Looking forward to seeing how Firefox evolves to support users in feeling safe and android apk confident while shopping online. Thanks for reaching out for feedback.