We all love shopping. In this age of digitization, it has now become possible for us to shop from our cozy comfortable homes without venturing out into scorching heat and freezing cold. Online shopping also helps us to save a considerable amount of time and money. Online shopping has its own share of pros and cons and one needs to be cautious while buying stuff online.
Here are a few guidelines to make your online shopping experience fun, exciting, stress-free and secure.
Duplicate Products
Online Shopping websites buy products in bulk and hence are able to sell the products for less than actual retail price. Some businesses may use this characteristic to sell duplicate or dummy products at cheap rates. Therefore, it is advisable to not order products which seem too good to be true for the prescribed price.
Genuine and Original Brands
If you doubt the originality of brand or product, check all the reviews available for the product on the website. It becomes easier to determine genuine and fake products from the reviews and images of the product provided by other customers. Some YouTubers also provide youtube product reviews for online shoppers. This reviews can really help buyers to clear all their doubts regarding the products in question.
Products that should be avoided buying online
While doing only shopping it is not possible to feel, smell or taste the products. So it is better to be absolutely sure about the product that your buying. For example, perfumes, scented candles, fabrics, food flavourers, snacks, etc. Also, you cannot try and check the products and know how they look on you. Hence, while buying products such as footwear and clothing one needs to be sure of the size that they are looking for. Most of the sites do provide sizing charts for references. But these sizing charts may differ from one website to another website.
Understanding the difference between image and original product
While buying fabrics, clothes, and tapestry you should be aware that their might little difference in the color of the image provided and the actual product. This happens because images are taken in different surroundings with different lighting conditions.
Warranty and Guarantee ?
Check and not warranty and guarantee period of products such as electronic appliances and jewellery. Also, understand how you can apply for the warranty if the product breaks down or fails to operate altogether.
Terms and Conditions
It is wise to go through the Terms and Conditions of the shopping websites. One should be aware of return and exchange policies of a shopping website if the need for same arises. Also, some websites may charge extra amount for shipping and for Cash on Delivery mode of payment.
Authentic Websites
Choose well-known, authentic and secure websites for online shopping. Many tricksters put out their products at very cheap rates and retrieve all the information that you enter into the site. It may lead to the leak of your personal information and debit/credit card details. Buy from websites that show small lock icons at the bottom of the screen. Those are genuine and authentic websites. Other sign to find original and trustworthy websites that start with address HTTPS and not HTTP. Websites whose address starts with the only HTTP are considerably less secure.
Choosing Right Payment Options
It is better to opt for Cash on Delivery option than to provide your personal information and credit/ debit card details to the shopping website. If the website does not provide Cash on the Delivery option it is advised to make payments from a credit card instead of debit card. Credit cards allow buyers to seek credit from the issuer in case product delivered is damaged or not at all delivered altogether.
International Shopping Websites
When buying from international websites one needs to be extra careful. Because the rates displayed on the website may be in a different currency from the local currency. Hence one needs to consider conversion rates and also cost of shipping and customs duties. These all together combined may increase the total cost of the product way out of proportion.
Best Shopping Deals
Keep your eyes open for Best Buy Best Deals and offers an online shopping provides you with a large spectrum of products at reasonable rates during festivals and holiday seasons.
Security Tips
1) While buying online don’t forget to check out the time required for delivery of the products. Make sure that you are around or nearby address that you provide. Always ask customer representatives to provide you with delivery tracking number. The time required to deliver product may vary from few days to few weeks depending upon the type of product and the place from where the product is dispatched. Custom made products may require more time when compared to ready-made products.
2) Use websites that require you to Sign In and make sure you log out every time you are done with shopping. Never share your website login Id and password with anyone else. Make sure that the password you use is strong and unique.
3) Many shopping websites provide you option of saving your credit card details on the website server in order to facilitate speedy shopping process. These definitely make shopping easy and faster but it also comes with risk as you put out your personal information elsewhere. Therefore instead of storing your information on the server of a shopping website, it is better to enter it each time you log in.
Conclusion
Online shopping definitely aids us in saving time and money by providing us with a vast range of products under one roof. But it is also necessary to take due precautions in order to have delightful stress-free shopping experience.
