WEBVTT FILE

1
00:00:01.200 --> 00:00:05.840
Hi, I’m Rich. Welcome to Oxford Online English!  

2
00:00:06.559 --> 00:00:11.279
In this lesson, you can learn how 
to talk about online shopping.

3
00:00:12.320 --> 00:00:18.480
What was the last thing you bought online? 
What are the best online shopping websites,  

4
00:00:18.480 --> 00:00:27.840
in your opinion? Have you ever had a really good 
– or bad – experience when shopping online? You’ll  

5
00:00:27.840 --> 00:00:34.880
learn some useful language to talk about these 
topics and answer these questions in this lesson.

6
00:00:36.159 --> 00:00:40.079
One more thing: do you want to 
watch this video with subtitles?  

7
00:00:40.800 --> 00:00:47.280
You can! Turn them on now by 
clicking the ‘CC’ icon; on a phone,  

8
00:00:47.280 --> 00:00:51.520
find the subtitles by tapping the 
settings button on your screen.

9
00:00:52.560 --> 00:01:00.000
Now, let’s start your lesson.
Hey – nice shirt!

10
00:01:00.000 --> 00:01:00.800
Thanks!

11
00:01:00.800 --> 00:01:01.760
Is it new?

12
00:01:01.760 --> 00:01:04.400
Yes, I bought it last week on Asos.

13
00:01:04.400 --> 00:01:09.280
I’ve heard of Asos, but I’ve never 
actually ordered anything from there.  

14
00:01:09.920 --> 00:01:11.280
Would you recommend it?

15
00:01:11.280 --> 00:01:17.600
Yes, I think it’s great. I use it at least once 
a month. They have a huge range of clothes and  

16
00:01:17.600 --> 00:01:23.920
the prices are very reasonable. Some people 
say their customer service is a nightmare,  

17
00:01:23.920 --> 00:01:28.880
but I’ve never had any trouble. Where do 
you shop for clothes if you don’t use Asos?

18
00:01:28.880 --> 00:01:35.840
Well, I used to shop at Next, which is a shop 
I’ve always liked. Their clothes have always  

19
00:01:35.840 --> 00:01:42.000
been quite expensive, but over the last year 
or two the quality has been going downhill.  

20
00:01:42.640 --> 00:01:47.680
So recently I started shopping at Zara. I think 
the clothes are much better value for money.

21
00:01:48.480 --> 00:01:52.240
OK, so you would recommend 
Zara as a good place to shop?

22
00:01:52.240 --> 00:01:58.240
Yes. So far, so good. I only started using 
their website two months ago, mind you… 

23
00:01:59.680 --> 00:02:07.840
Here’s a question: do you know which prepositions 
to use when you talk about online shopping? 

24
00:02:08.720 --> 00:02:14.720
When we talk about physical shops, we 
use ‘at’ – so you can say, for example,  

25
00:02:15.760 --> 00:02:17.120
‘I bought it at Walmart’. 

26
00:02:19.280 --> 00:02:25.200
When we talk about online shops, we usually use 
‘on’ – so you can say ‘I bought it on Amazon’.  

27
00:02:26.400 --> 00:02:30.720
This is because we talk 
about being *on* a website. 

28
00:02:33.200 --> 00:02:40.560
We also say, ‘I bought it online’ or ‘I bought it 
on the internet’. We often hear students making  

29
00:02:40.560 --> 00:02:48.639
mistakes with these phrases, so be careful!
In the dialogue, you heard some vocabulary  

30
00:02:48.639 --> 00:02:53.199
to talk about online shopping. 
Look at some phrases you heard. 

31
00:02:55.200 --> 00:03:01.040
What do these phrases mean? Could 
you explain the meanings in English? 

32
00:03:02.080 --> 00:03:10.240
Try it now! Pause the video. Imagine you’re an 
English teacher, and you need to explain what  

33
00:03:10.240 --> 00:03:19.600
these phrases mean in English. What would you say? 
Pause the video and say your definitions aloud. 

34
00:03:22.080 --> 00:03:24.160
How was it? Could you do it? 

35
00:03:26.240 --> 00:03:32.320
‘A huge range’ means that they have 
many different products. For clothes,  

36
00:03:32.320 --> 00:03:37.920
this would mean that they offer many different 
items, different styles, colours, and so on. 

37
00:03:40.240 --> 00:03:46.480
‘Reasonable’ means ‘fair’. If the prices 
are reasonable, they’re not too high.  

38
00:03:47.360 --> 00:03:50.080
It doesn’t mean that the website is cheap,  

39
00:03:50.720 --> 00:04:00.080
but if you use the word ‘reasonable’, you probably 
mean that something is good value for money.

40
00:04:00.080 --> 00:04:07.840
A nightmare is, literally, a bad dream, but 
you can use it to describe something terrible. 

41
00:04:10.560 --> 00:04:18.880
Finally, if something goes downhill, it gets 
worse. ‘The quality has been going downhill’  

42
00:04:18.880 --> 00:04:24.000
means that the quality of their products 
has been getting worse and worse. 

43
00:04:26.400 --> 00:04:33.600
There are other useful words and phrases in the 
dialogue. We recommend listening to each dialogue  

44
00:04:33.600 --> 00:04:41.840
several times and noting down any phrases 
you think are useful or interesting.

45
00:04:42.800 --> 00:04:49.680
Next, you heard how to talk about shopping 
websites you use for buying clothes.

46
00:04:51.520 --> 00:04:57.280
Look at some questions.
Think about how you could answer these.

47
00:04:58.080 --> 00:05:02.080
When you answer the questions, 
try to include some details.

48
00:05:02.720 --> 00:05:10.240
For example, when you answer question one, 
don’t just say, ‘I like shopping on Amazon’.

49
00:05:10.240 --> 00:05:16.640
Instead, you could say, ‘I love buying 
clothes online. My favourite website is  

50
00:05:16.640 --> 00:05:23.840
Asos because the prices are very reasonable, 
and their customer service is excellent.’

51
00:05:25.040 --> 00:05:26.160
You
could also say,  

52
00:05:27.040 --> 00:05:35.040
‘I usually buy clothes online two or three times 
a month. I would recommend staying away from Frox  

53
00:05:35.040 --> 00:05:39.520
because the quality of the clothes 
has gone downhill recently.’

54
00:05:42.080 --> 00:05:47.360
OK? Pause the video and try 
to answer the questions now. 

55
00:05:49.760 --> 00:05:54.880
Could you do it? If not, go back 
and listen to the dialogue again.

56
00:05:56.640 --> 00:06:00.640
Ready to move on? Let’s look at your next topic. 

57
00:06:04.400 --> 00:06:11.840
In this dialogue, you will hear us comparing 
two websites – Amazon and AliExpress.  

58
00:06:12.720 --> 00:06:18.400
Have you ever used these websites? 
If you have, how do they compare?  

59
00:06:19.680 --> 00:06:22.400
Think about your answers before you listen.

60
00:06:23.839 --> 00:06:29.359
So, what about things like electrical goods? 
Which website would you use if you wanted to buy,  

61
00:06:29.360 --> 00:06:31.680
say, a battery for your mobile phone?

62
00:06:31.680 --> 00:06:36.640
Until recently I would have said Amazon 
is better without a doubt, but a while ago  

63
00:06:36.640 --> 00:06:40.880
a friend of mine introduced me 
to a website called AliExpress.

64
00:06:40.880 --> 00:06:46.640
AliExpress? I’ve never heard of 
that. How does it compare to Amazon?

65
00:06:46.640 --> 00:06:52.720
I think the main reason people use it is because 
it’s cheaper than Amazon, but I’ve also found  

66
00:06:52.720 --> 00:06:56.240
that they often have products that you 
can’t get hold of on other websites.

67
00:06:56.240 --> 00:07:00.400
OK, that’s interesting. What’s 
their customer service like?

68
00:07:00.400 --> 00:07:06.160
Well, it’s true that you’ll see lots of complaints 
about it if you read the online reviews – but  

69
00:07:06.160 --> 00:07:11.360
I’ve only had to send something back once, 
and they sent a replacement straight away.

70
00:07:11.360 --> 00:07:14.480
Right. Well, that sounds pretty reasonable.

71
00:07:14.480 --> 00:07:15.840
Yes, I thought it was fair enough.  

72
00:07:16.480 --> 00:07:21.039
The only thing I would say about 
AliExpress is that their delivery times  

73
00:07:21.040 --> 00:07:26.320
are not the best. You wouldn’t want to order 
something from them if you were in a hurry!

74
00:07:26.320 --> 00:07:31.600
Can you see the estimated delivery 
times when you place the order?

75
00:07:31.600 --> 00:07:38.320
Yes, you know what to expect – you just have to be 
patient! The last thing I bought from AliExpress,  

76
00:07:38.320 --> 00:07:44.960
which wasn’t available on Amazon by the way, was 
a part for a printer. They said it would take  

77
00:07:44.960 --> 00:07:51.200
over a month to arrive, but in fact it 
arrived safe and sound after only a week!

78
00:07:51.200 --> 00:07:58.080
So you were a satisfied customer!
How did you get on? Did you agree  

79
00:07:58.080 --> 00:08:02.880
with our comparison? Let’s have a 
look at some of the language we used. 

80
00:08:05.040 --> 00:08:13.440
Look at these sentences. Which words are missing? 
You heard them in the dialogue – try to remember. 

81
00:08:16.240 --> 00:08:22.000
OK? Let’s check.
You can use ‘without  

82
00:08:22.000 --> 00:08:28.559
a doubt’ to emphasise the point you’re 
making – you could also say ‘definitely’.

83
00:08:30.880 --> 00:08:38.640
‘Get hold of something’’ means to find something 
that you need. If you say ‘Replacement parts are  

84
00:08:38.640 --> 00:08:45.520
hard to get hold of’, you mean that it’s difficult 
to find a shop or website which sells them.

85
00:08:47.760 --> 00:08:54.240
If someone asks you, ‘What is their customer 
service like?’, they are not asking you if  

86
00:08:54.240 --> 00:09:02.960
you like it or not. ‘What is it like?’ means 
‘tell me about it’ or ‘describe it to me’.  

87
00:09:04.160 --> 00:09:11.360
If you’re talking about customer service, or 
shopping, you’re probably asking whether the  

88
00:09:11.360 --> 00:09:17.680
other person recommends it or not. It’s like 
asking: ‘Is the customer service good or bad?’  

89
00:09:18.559 --> 00:09:21.839
It’s not exactly the same, but it's similar.

90
00:09:24.559 --> 00:09:29.199
Finally, if you say that something 
is not the best, you’re saying that  

91
00:09:29.200 --> 00:09:38.480
it’s not so bad, but it could be better.
As before, there is more language in the  

92
00:09:38.480 --> 00:09:44.640
dialogue which you might find useful! We won’t 
give you every single word and phrase we use.  

93
00:09:45.679 --> 00:09:50.239
You should also do your own work to 
get the most from these dialogues.

94
00:09:51.600 --> 00:09:55.280
Now, let’s see if you can talk about this topic. 

95
00:09:57.760 --> 00:10:03.840
Try to provide a detailed answer, perhaps 
using some of the vocabulary you saw before.

96
00:10:04.559 --> 00:10:11.119
For the first question, you could say ‘When 
I need to buy electronic products, I usually  

97
00:10:11.120 --> 00:10:18.080
use a website called Banggood. They don’t have 
as many of the top brands as Amazon, but the  

98
00:10:18.080 --> 00:10:23.760
prices are great, and they often have products 
that you can’t get hold of anywhere else.’

99
00:10:26.240 --> 00:10:31.840
For the second question, you could say: ‘The 
last time I bought something on Banggood  

100
00:10:32.400 --> 00:10:38.240
was about three weeks ago. I couldn’t 
find the product on any other website,  

101
00:10:38.800 --> 00:10:45.840
and it arrived safe and sound after only 
two weeks. I was a very satisfied customer.’ 

102
00:10:47.679 --> 00:10:50.559
Of course, there are many possible answers!  

103
00:10:51.440 --> 00:10:59.840
Now it’s your turn. Pause the video 
and try to answer the questions now.

104
00:11:00.400 --> 00:11:03.840
How did you get on? Were you 
able to express your ideas?

105
00:11:04.880 --> 00:11:10.000
Next, you’ll see how to talk about 
good online shopping experiences. 

106
00:11:13.840 --> 00:11:18.240
This time, you’ll see some key 
phrases before you hear the dialogue.  

107
00:11:19.120 --> 00:11:23.440
What are the missing words? 
Try to find them as you listen. 

108
00:11:26.320 --> 00:11:33.920
Pause if you need more time to 
read. Ready? Here’s the dialogue. 

109
00:11:34.720 --> 00:11:39.600
Do you find that there are some websites you use 
more since you’ve been living outside the UK?

110
00:11:39.600 --> 00:11:47.040
Yeah - absolutely. One of my favourites is a 
website called Moonpig where you can buy greetings  

111
00:11:47.040 --> 00:11:55.040
cards – like birthday cards and Christmas cards – 
and have them delivered in the UK. British people  

112
00:11:55.040 --> 00:12:00.559
often send greetings cards to friends and 
family on their birthdays, or at Christmas,  

113
00:12:00.559 --> 00:12:04.159
and this can be more difficult to 
organise if you’re living overseas.

114
00:12:04.160 --> 00:12:08.480
Right. I guess in some countries birthday 
cards or Christmas cards are hard to find.

115
00:12:09.280 --> 00:12:14.960
Yes, that’s true, and even if you can get hold 
of them, it’s hard to gauge how long they will  

116
00:12:14.960 --> 00:12:20.960
take to arrive in the UK. So, some years ago I 
got into the habit of ordering cards on Moonpig.  

117
00:12:21.520 --> 00:12:25.760
The website is really intuitive, 
so it’s easy to find what you need.

118
00:12:26.640 --> 00:12:30.080
That’s always a plus. It 
sounds good – how does it work?

119
00:12:31.440 --> 00:12:37.360
First you choose your card, then you can 
personalise it with a photo if you want to – or  

120
00:12:37.360 --> 00:12:42.800
just write your own message. After that you just 
confirm the address that you want it sent to.

121
00:12:43.520 --> 00:12:47.679
Sounds like a good service. I gave 
up on trying to send birthday cards;  

122
00:12:47.679 --> 00:12:51.999
now I just send people text messages, 
but I’ve always felt it’s a little  

123
00:12:52.000 --> 00:12:55.440
lazy. It’s nice to get a real 
card in the post, you know?

124
00:12:55.440 --> 00:13:02.080
Yep – I’m with you. It’s a good service. The cards 
are posted in the UK, so they only take a day or  

125
00:13:02.080 --> 00:13:05.840
two to arrive. It’s straightforward 
to use once you get the hang of it,  

126
00:13:06.800 --> 00:13:10.079
reasonably-priced and they 
haven’t let me down yet! 

127
00:13:11.600 --> 00:13:19.840
Could you find the missing words? Let’s check.
Do you know what these mean? 

128
00:13:21.200 --> 00:13:29.600
‘Intuitive’ means easy to understand. If a 
website is intuitive, you can find what you need  

129
00:13:29.600 --> 00:13:36.159
and do what you want without difficulties, 
and without having to think about it too much.

130
00:13:38.720 --> 00:13:44.400
A ‘plus’ is a conversational way 
to say ‘advantage’ or ‘benefit’.

131
00:13:47.520 --> 00:13:53.920
If you ‘get the hang of something’, you 
learn how to do something – or you learn  

132
00:13:53.920 --> 00:14:01.840
how to use something. You can say, for example, 
‘It’s easy when you get the hang of it.’

133
00:14:02.800 --> 00:14:09.920
If someone ‘lets you down’, they disappoint you 
by not doing what they said they were going to do.  

134
00:14:10.960 --> 00:14:18.720
If a website is very reliable, you can 
say, for example ‘They never let me down’.

135
00:14:21.280 --> 00:14:26.160
What about you? Are you usually a 
satisfied customer when you shop online?  

136
00:14:27.600 --> 00:14:31.360
Tell us about a positive experience.

137
00:14:34.560 --> 00:14:39.040
Pause the video now and try 
to make a few sentences.

138
00:14:41.920 --> 00:14:49.360
For example, you could say, ‘Most of the time 
I enjoy shopping online. I often order birthday  

139
00:14:49.360 --> 00:14:58.080
presents online. Although it’s very convenient, 
it makes me a bit nervous because obviously they  

140
00:14:58.080 --> 00:15:07.600
need to arrive on the right day. So far, so 
good. They haven’t let me down yet! Last year,  

141
00:15:07.600 --> 00:15:13.920
I ordered a bunch of flowers for my Mum and I was 
worried that they might get damaged. I was very  

142
00:15:13.920 --> 00:15:20.400
pleased when she told me that they had arrived 
safe and sound – and on the 8th of November!’ 

143
00:15:23.120 --> 00:15:27.280
Done? Great! Let’s look at our last point. 

144
00:15:30.720 --> 00:15:35.440
Speaking of being let down, I’ve just had a 
really strange experience shopping online.

145
00:15:36.480 --> 00:15:38.160
Really? What happened?

146
00:15:38.880 --> 00:15:43.200
Well, I have an old laptop that I 
bought overseas a long time ago.  

147
00:15:43.760 --> 00:15:48.800
Last year, I needed to buy a replacement 
battery – and I couldn’t find one anywhere.  

148
00:15:49.440 --> 00:15:52.080
No one seemed to stock the exact type I needed.

149
00:15:52.640 --> 00:16:00.320
Yes – I think the manufacturers do that on 
purpose. They just want you to buy a new computer.

150
00:16:00.320 --> 00:16:06.720
Right. Well, I persevered and eventually I 
found a company which had the battery – but they  

151
00:16:06.720 --> 00:16:12.720
said that it would take two months to deliver it. 
I didn’t have any alternatives, so I went for it.

152
00:16:12.720 --> 00:16:14.640
OK, and what happened?

153
00:16:15.280 --> 00:16:19.440
Well, first of all the ordering 
process was really tricky.  

154
00:16:19.440 --> 00:16:26.480
The website was so clunky – it looked like it was 
made in the 1990s and hadn’t been updated since.

155
00:16:26.480 --> 00:16:29.040
I hate it when that happens. It’s so annoying!

156
00:16:29.040 --> 00:16:30.880
Yup, but I was determined!  

157
00:16:31.440 --> 00:16:37.760
So then, I spent about six weeks tracking my 
battery as it made its way around the world.  

158
00:16:38.560 --> 00:16:43.600
It showed that arrived in the country, but 
then it disappeared off the radar completely.  

159
00:16:44.800 --> 00:16:51.440
I contacted the company and they had no idea 
what had happened, and they sent me a refund.

160
00:16:51.440 --> 00:16:55.760
OK, well that’s something, at least.

161
00:16:55.760 --> 00:17:02.880
I was ready to just call it quits, but then, last 
week, I received a package from the same website.

162
00:17:02.880 --> 00:17:06.640
Don’t tell me… Your battery finally arrived?

163
00:17:06.640 --> 00:17:11.040
Well, not exactly… The 
package contained a battery,  

164
00:17:11.040 --> 00:17:18.160
but it was for a phone, not for a laptop. 
But, it had my name and address, and so on.

165
00:17:18.160 --> 00:17:22.400
That’s kind of weird, isn’t it? Did they 
mix up your order with someone else’s?

166
00:17:22.960 --> 00:17:27.600
Who knows? Anyhow, I gave up 
on them. It’s too much hassle. 

167
00:17:28.640 --> 00:17:33.120
Here are some sentences from the 
dialogue. Can you fill the gaps? 

168
00:17:35.520 --> 00:17:41.200
Could you remember? Let’s check.
What do these highlighted words mean?  

169
00:17:42.560 --> 00:17:50.320
Do you know, or can you guess from the context? 
Pause and think about it if you need more time. 

170
00:17:52.720 --> 00:17:56.800
‘Stock’ as a verb means to 
have something for sale.  

171
00:17:57.760 --> 00:18:05.119
You can use it in the verb phrase ‘have something 
in stock’. If a shop has something in stock,  

172
00:18:05.119 --> 00:18:13.839
it’s available and you can buy it. If something 
is out of stock, it’s not available right now. 

173
00:18:15.680 --> 00:18:19.520
‘Clunky’ means that something is badly designed  

174
00:18:19.520 --> 00:18:28.000
and difficult to use. If you website is made on 
a budget, it’ll probably be clunky. It’s mostly  

175
00:18:28.000 --> 00:18:33.760
used to talk about technology which is 
not well-designed or which is out-of-date. 

176
00:18:36.320 --> 00:18:40.560
‘Call it quits’ means that you’ve been 
trying to do something for a while,  

177
00:18:41.280 --> 00:18:48.880
but now you’re giving up and you’re not going 
to try any more. After a long, frustrating  

178
00:18:48.880 --> 00:18:55.840
customer service experience, you might 
decide to just call it quits and go home! 

179
00:18:56.960 --> 00:19:02.560
Finally, ‘hassle’ is a useful word 
to talk about bad customer service.  

180
00:19:03.520 --> 00:19:11.119
Something which is a hassle is both difficult and 
annoying. If you describe something as a hassle,  

181
00:19:11.119 --> 00:19:17.199
you’re suggesting that it doesn’t need 
to be this difficult. For example,  

182
00:19:17.760 --> 00:19:24.400
if a website makes you fill out loads of forms 
to get a refund or cancel your subscription,  

183
00:19:24.960 --> 00:19:31.680
you can describe that as a hassle – they’re 
making it more difficult than it needs to be.

184
00:19:34.640 --> 00:19:40.480
Now, it’s your turn. Have you ever had 
a bad experience with shopping online?  

185
00:19:41.680 --> 00:19:42.720
Tell us what happened.

186
00:19:44.160 --> 00:19:48.960
When you’re ready, pause the video 
and say your answer out loud.  

187
00:19:49.840 --> 00:19:56.000
Or, write your answer down and share your 
experience with other students in the comments!

188
00:19:58.080 --> 00:20:00.480
That’s it for this lesson. Thanks for watching!

189
00:20:01.040 --> 00:20:05.840
See you next time!