3 Mistakes To Avoid When Shopping Online

3 Mistakes To Avoid When Shopping Online

One of the major advantages of the internet is the ability of shopping at the comfort of your home. While online shopping comes with its perks, you need to be careful for you to get the most from it. Here are 3 mistakes that you should avoid making:

Buying from unknown sites

Not every site that posts products is genuine. There are plenty of scam sites that are out there to steal from you. Before you buy from a site do a due diligence and research about the site. If it’s a new site and you have never heard about it, carefully go through the homepage and you will be able to tell whether the site is genuine.

One of the things that you should pay close attention to is the address and phone number. A genuine site should have a physical address and working phone number. You should even go the extra mile of calling the number and ask a question. Ask questions such as: how the company handles returns, consumer complaints and any other details that you might be interested to know.

If you are still in doubt, contact the Better Business Bureau to clear your doubts.

Not using credit cards

Data breaches happen every day. Even giant online stores have reported data breaches more than once. Online experts recommend that you should use a credit card to buy products, but many buyers still make the mistake of using debit cards.

Using a debit card puts your data at risk as the card isn’t protected against unauthorized activities like a credit card.

Not putting a thought on shipping

A product might come at a low cost, but when you include the shipping costs, you might end up spending more than you would have spent buying at your local store. Shipping costs can get expensive especially if you are buying from an overseas market.

When calculating the cost of the product, always include the shipping costs. Most online stores clearly mention that the products don’t include the shipping costs. If you can’t find the information on the site or aren’t sure, you should call the customer service desk and get a clarification.

You can also get a clarification from reading the store policies.

Conclusion

Online shopping is easy and fun when you put cautionary measures into place. Unless impossible, always ensure that you buy from a reputable and well-known site. As mentioned, avoid using a debit card-use a credit card to pay for the product.