No, I'm not referring to online dating, but online shopping.

Like any other compulsive online shopper, I saw someone wearing something I liked and I immediately decided that I needed to hunt it down and buy it. I did a specific search on Google and eventually found a site that had the exact items I was looking for.

The site was well designed, with fluid navigation, search capabilities, and comprehensive categorization. There were also very accurate product images, detailed descriptions and fair prices. The site was an e-shopping dream!

I quickly found the items, clicked them into the shopping cart, entered my personal information and sat back to wait for my latest online purchases.

A week later, I was still waiting.

Despite an e-mail confirmation that my order was shipped, it never arrived and when I contacted the owner of the store, she promised to investigate and get back to me.

When I didn't hear from her a day later, I called the store's non-toll free number and spoke to a gentleman who told me that he had a problem with my credit card. He set the order aside and forgot about it.

I contained my annoyance that I wasn't contacted and focused on the problematic credit card, which turned out to be a transposed number. I was assured that the order would be shipped quickly.

When I inquired four days later whether or not the order was shipped, the response was that they were "98 percent sure the order went out this time."

Not feeling very confident about the whole transaction, I was surprised when my order showed up in my mailbox the next day.

I was not surprised, however, that one of the items was not what I ordered.

Another round of e-mails to the e-tailer resulted in an assurance that the correct item would be mailed right away, as long as I mailed the incorrect item back. The e-tailer was apologetic and explained that the "prices on the Web site were lower than the prices in the [offline] store and it was easy to get confused."

Accuracy of order fulfillment: 75 percent
Elapsed time since order was placed: 17 days and still waiting for the remainder

I understand that mistakes happen, with human error being the cause for many of them. But, if an e-tailer is technologically aware enough to realize that a perfectly designed Web site is a profitable sales channel, that e-tailer should also have the resources to systemize and automate basic fulfillment processes.

The glamorous exterior of a Web site may generate customers, but it will take quality and substance to make them return.