As e-shopping becomes more popular, there is an increasing interest in trying to understand the key factors that affect e-shopping experiences. Here, we explore key factors that shape young consumers' e-shopping experiences, and we attempt to identify differences between factors shaping positive and negative experiences. Applying a critical incident technique, we study 432 e-mail messages from consumers who visited four specific e-shopping sites and purchased gifts. We identify five key groups of variables (i.e., price, product-related, site interface, fulfilment, privacy/security), which shape shopping experiences. We also compare our set of features with others that have emerged in the traditional retailing and e-tailing literatures. Here, we find that fulfilment and privacy/security serve to shape negative experiences, whereas site interface is more associated with positive experiences. Managerial and research implications are discussed.