Across the Ditch Peter Feeney relaxes in the fringes of Australia's food and culture capital and laps up the suburban lifestyle.

Kiwis are increasingly buying from overseas. It's not great for our retailers, but it's a fact of life.

Banks and police are trying to stay ahead of wily credit card fraudsters - but as long as banks mail pre-activated cards, the problem will persist.

After a week-long holiday relaxing in the Far North, Chloe Johnson panics when she tries to buy skincare products online and discovers the card is missing from its usual home inside her wallet.

The number of people making online purchases had increased by 11 per cent since 2009.

Online sellers are paying an extra $39 to have their listings feature for just a couple of hours on the Trade Me homepage. And some of them say the way the "homepage feature" option is described when a new listing is loaded is misleading.

Rainbow Springs is great for a family 'splash out', says Dionne Christian.

Kiwis are increasingly becoming "convenient consumers" as they choose to shop and watch TV when it suits them.

Outlet malls often have great bargains. If you're lucky, you can find branded goods for 50 to 70% off the normal retail price.

If there's one way to make Diana Clement happy, it's by telling her to "buy one get one free".

One of the great successes of modern marketing has been the mass engagement of the population in rewards programmes, says Damien Grant. The most prevalent are Fly Buys. They are awful.

Aucklanders in some of the city's most expensive suburbs don't just pay a lot more in house prices for the privilege - it even costs them more to buy groceries.

With expanded floor space and a cluster of boutique retailers, Mt Eden's BLOC collective is now a one-stop design destination.

Buy crikey there are some stonking good shopping deals on offer right now.

Strong retail sales in the last three months of 2012 added to evidence the economy had hauled itself out of a soft patch by the end of the year.

Kiwis lifted spending on their credit, debit and charge cards last month, led by consumables such as food and liquor, and fuel.

It may still be only establishing itself on home turf but The Shopping Channel has already struck a deal to move into Australia.

Many people say it's London, Paris or Munich. But the most exciting shopping is in Bangkok. The air conditioned and squeaky-clean trains stop right at the entrance of the most important shopping complexes on the lively Sukhumvit and Rama I roads.

The chance to bring down a building, buy space on a woman's bottom and change someone's name were among the most-viewed Trade Me auctions of the year.