While some deals seem irresistible, others may be deceptive, luring you with apparent bargains that hide underlying drawbacks. Here are some guidelines to consider before adding items to your online shopping cart:
Things to do:
1. Ensure Secure Connections: Protect your computer from malware, use secure connections, and avoid public networks for financial transactions.
2. Verify Merchant Reputation: Trust established merchants with positive reviews; be cautious with unfamiliar ones.. Beware of Unrealistic Offers: Watch out for deals too good to be true, as they may hide scams or low-quality products.
4. Play safe with cash on delivery: go for cash on delivery option as this will give you a chance to check your product manually before paying. Many of the sites do not give you the chance to place your order before ensuring it does have a COD option.
5. Return policy: since it’s a virtual platform where the chances of disliking the products are high, make sure you are well aware of the return policy, and the number of days within which you can place your return or exchange request.
Things not to do:
1. Payment gateway: do not pay if even for a second you feel the payment gateway is not secured or it got stuck or is buffering. There may be a high chance that money may get debited from your account but your order won’t get placed. In such cases, it takes time to get refunds and that is quite frustrating.
2. avoid too much information: try to avoid giving too much information or additional information to shopping apps or sites. there could be chances of data theft. Try to use nicknames as usernames instead of your real name or full name.
3. Fine print: most products especially cosmetics and skin care, do not ignore the fine print. right from the name of every ingredient to the service policies, make sure you have read on every line.
4. Avoid online FOOD shopping: do not buy or avoid food online, especially perishable items. major of the cases it is been observed the vegetables are not up to mark with the description and are taken out from old stock.
since every coin has two sides, with the advancement of technology we are in an era where we can find anything and everything online. This has made us live extremely easy and convenient and made our street smart however, it has also made us prone to different threats like data theft, scams, window shopping where one just wastes time, etc. Therefore, it is crucial to understand where you should put your money to make the purchase more justified, rational, and sustainable because that’s what makes you the king of the market!!
Happy Shopping!!!