Ah, online shopping — a shopaholic’s best friend.

Until a couple of years ago, I wasn’t the biggest fan of online shopping. However, I’m a very specific kind of shopper so I typically don’t buy unless I go looking for one particular thing to add to my collection.

The handful of stores I do frequent are so familiar with me that I’m basically on a first-name basis with the employees who work there. Their knowing my clothing sizes and what I’m looking for really takes the guesswork out of shopping for me.

However, making constant trips to the mall for one shirt at a time became a bit tenuous and started to waste a great deal of my time which isn’t really an ideal thing for a college student to be wasting. So I discovered the beauty of online shopping.

Of all the online shopping experiences I’ve had, the ones I’m fairly pleased with are the ones I’ve had with Forever21.

While there are two Forever21 stores in Oklahoma City, taking the time to run to the mall doesn’t always fit into my schedule. That’s where www.Forever21.com comes in.

The strong point of the website is, of course the convenience. In addition, orders over $50 ship for free and you’re able to track your package the entire way. Shipping also is usually very fast, which is a major plus when you want new clothes now.

Then there are things that could be made a bit better. The webpage where you place the order itself is messy and hard to understand.

Once, it led me to purchasing the same sweater twice.

There’s also no way to opt out of annoying weekly emails from the online store which tend to clutter my inbox.

I also wouldn’t recommend ordering jewelry — especially earrings — from the online site. Twice, earrings arrived either missing components or falling apart.

On both occasions, the Forever21 store at Penn Square Mall was more than happy to let me trade the earrings in for pairs that were complete or unbroken, but I saved myself no time by ordering online in these cases.

In closing, I really feel the good points outweigh the bad.

A recent online shopping spree of four sweaters and a scarf was affordable, eligible for free shipping and arrived at my front door in about four business days.

Rating: B-