5 Things We Hate About Online Shopping

NEW YORK (MainStreet) -- Let's just get this out of the way: We love online shopping.

The ability to shop from the comfort of your home is one of the greatest innovations of the Internet age, allowing you to browse, read reviews and compare prices without ever having to leave the house and deal with pushy salespeople. The increasing ubiquity of smartphones and tablets means that you can do your shopping wherever you are, whether at work, in the bathroom or on an airplane. And best of all, online retail prices tend to be significantly lower than what you'll find at bricks-and-mortar stores.

With that said, online shopping does have its downfalls. Select classes of products are still cheaper to buy in stores, for instance. The lack of sales tax, previously one of the big selling points of e-commerce, is ceasing to be a factor as more states pass laws that tax online purchases. And while free shipping is common, the shopper is still on the hook for the cost of home delivery in some cases.

Those are admittedly just minor gripes, and rarely derail us from buying online. But there are other things about shopping online that we simply can't abide. Here are a few.

Forced email sign-up
Imagine if you tried to walk into a retail store, only to be stopped by a bouncer who demanded you hand over your name and email address first. Chances are you'd take your business elsewhere.

Yet that's exactly what some e-commerce Web sites do, particularly those of the daily deal variety. The first time you visit Groupon(GRPN) , you're greeted with a dialogue box that first asks you for your home city and then for your email address so you can be signed up for the daily Groupon newsletter. Competitor LivingSocial also asks for that information the first time you visit, though unlike Groupon it gives you the option of bypassing the screen so you can see what you're signing up for.