We ended up with 3,500 plus direct access views on our post about how to avoid bad pine nuts. That does not count feeds (I am still learning about feeds). I thought it would be a good idea to follow up with more tips for shopping on the internet for pine nuts.

 #1. How long has the site been around, REALLY? Use thewayback machine to double check the honesty of your on line vender. Good businesses stayed on the internet, while those that were not so good passed away quickly.(FYI - we launched in 1998 and I could not afford to buy pinenuts.com as well as pinenut.com in 1998>)

 #2. The more business a site does, the fresher the product will be.

 #3. Return policy - MATTERS!

#4. Honesty in web ethics - MATTERS, avoid sites that have poor web ethics. If a vender is trying to pull a quick one via search engine spamming, the business is not ethical, period! Beware of blackhat S.E.O.

 #5. A company that uses just paypal without another credit card system is very small, or has had problems with a merchant account. Look for payment choices.

 #6. Pictures of the pine nut processing, storage, staff etc. One picture is worth a thousand words.

 #7. Our customer service person wanted me to add - CALL, the vender and establish a personal relationship. You are more likely to get a better deal on the phone, especially if you are a new client or one who has shopped multiple web sites. If you have a problem with your order, you want to talk to a live person, not email. Our customer service person has our permission to discount to new clients and people who have compared pricing.

# 8. Companies with the names like "Joe Blow Farms" are intentionally deceptive. They do not farm the pine nuts they sell. The exception to this might be a cooperative that sells pine nuts and other items from various farms. (I am sure I will add to this post, as other thoughts come to mind).