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Are you one who has been hit by
the online shopping bug? I definitely am one. I find it easy, convenient and
stress free. In fact shopping is a stress buster for me. Period. I like going
through the stuffs and checking few things out, that gives me immense pleasure.
But you know how it is when you have the dreaded four letters up in the stores –
SALE! You have half the population of your city in the stores hovering over
every damn item. You don’t get your size or the color that you are looking for
nor do you get a space in the trial room and forget about the queue at billing!
That is where all the stress is.
So I have conveniently shifted to
online shopping – gives me a lot of freedom to choose size, no hassle of
billing line or spending your weekend at the store. In Bangalore you almost get
anything and everything through online shopping – your groceries, fresh
vegetables, clothes, jewelry, makeup, cakes, sweets and even coffee – delivered
at your door step! Isn’t that really great? I have thus become an avid online
shopper. It saves me a whole lot of time and energy.
Now if you are one like me hope
you are taking care of a few things specially when you shop online very
frequently. I recently came across a nice article on the RewardMe site about
some useful tips on online shopping. You can read that here.
So I thought about sharing my own
tips on online shopping with you guys.
1. Try and Use Cash on Delivery Option
I always prefer the COD method. I
find it a little safer than paying upfront. Specially these days when you read
people receiving mangoes and stones instead of their ordered phones and
laptops! You at least can check what you are getting before paying. It’s a
little difficult when you are buying expensive stuffs like an iPhone or a
laptop but still I would prefer COD. But these days they accept credit/debit
card as COD so it helps. I have bought a lot of stuff using this method.
2. Insist on checking the item before you pay
If you have chosen to pay by COD
always insist on checking the product before you make the payment. This will
only safeguard you from being duped by either the merchant or the courier guy.
Normally a lot of these e-tailers doesn’t allow it, they insist you make
payment before you receive the package. But even if you have to fight with the
delivery guy do that – so that you can check you are getting mangoes instead of
your phone.
And if you are one who buys
vegetables and fruits online insist on returning the damaged ones right away
and don’t pay for that item. I follow this religiously, it’s better that way
than getting money back from the site.
3. Check for deals without Delivery Charges
There are lot of websites who charge delivery
charges for your shipment. Now I understand these if it’s coming from another
city or a country. But when you buy things like consumer goods, furniture,
groceries I do not expect them to take delivery charges for that. Specially for
groceries I keep adding things in the cart and save that shopping, even if it’s
for two days in a row. You always have something or the other to order. And
once I hit the minimum order amount which allows free delivery I hit the buy
button.
I end up buying most of my bulk
groceries this way. I am not the one who buys once a month and manage with
that. I can’t somehow manage to figure how much I might need in a month.
Sometimes I need more sometimes less.
4. Never save your credit card details
Even if it sounds tempting and saves on time, do not save your card or bank details in the websites. Specially if you do not have a good anti virus in your computer or phone. There is no dearth of people waiting to dupe you or collect your card details and use them for their gain. At all time you need to safeguard your security. I prefer spending two more minutes to put in an OTP (One Time Password) or the security questions than crying later on when account balance has vanished all of a sudden.
5. Check for Sales and Deals
This is probably the best feature
of online shopping. You have a sale almost all round the year. Specially on
apparels and household products. You can compare prices and deals among
different sites and choose what fits you best.
Recently I bought a luxury pen
for gifting and got almost a 43% discount on one site. This I would probably
not get if I had been to the store of the brand, or a showroom at a mall.
6. Write a Review and earn points
This is another great feature of
online shopping. Some websites have this shop & review program where you
can earn points by reviewing products that you have bought. And later on you
can redeem those points in your next buys. Isn’t that really great.
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So here are my quick six tips on
online shopping that I follow. Do you follow something which is really nice?
Let me know your own tips too.
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