5 Tips to Shop Securer

Hello, I am Rebecca Lee, an online-shopping lover, like you. I would like to share my experiences of online shopping with you. If you have any want to say, no matter problems, suggestions, opinions or stories, please directly email me (rebeccaleemailbox@gmail.com). Your comments and ideas are appreciated. Let’s share our experiences to help one another to shop wiser, easier and securer.

Personally, I love to shop online, because it is far cheaper the goods sold on internet than it in the real shops. However, we always try to find a good way to shop securer, not only pay securer but also buy as we expectations.

Here, I would like to share my experiences with you. Let’s discuss these tips and help one another to become WISE SHOPPERS.

Tip 1 Use a trustworthy information provider

Many online shoppers are worrying that the goods bought online will not come to our expectations. That is really a problem for us to find good stores selling good products we want.
Generally, we use Google or Yahoo to search desired products online. Then Google or Yahoo will list the result about all relative results. We can chose and click some of them to see what they are. Google and Yahoo are really good tools for us.

However, there is a problem. Not at every research, we can find what we exactly want, and it will take many times to see whether the store is the one we are looking for. For example, if you search “Apple”, it will list all results related to “Apple” nevertheless as a fruit, a brand or a name, so, we shall spend some time to filer the results. Besides, it is not easy to judge it is a good merchant or not.

Therefore, I prefer to shop through b2c website instead of directly search by Google or Yahoo. Following is the websites I usually go to,

Amazon: I just buy the goods sold by Amazon itself, because I don’t really like the Amazon Stores and Merchants.

Ebay: I like use Paypal, so I like shop on ebay. The policy of Paypal is to protect buyers that gives me confidence to pay before I see the real products, but I always trouble about how to choose one from so many stores. 

Chinashopgate: Actually, this is a website to help buyers to chose stores by providing buyer reviews and ratings of merchants and stores instead of a b2c website. The stores listed on Chinashopgate are all from China. They sell made-in-china products. The prices are far cheaper than Amazon and Ebay. In fact, many Ebay and Amazon sellers also source from this website. I know many buyers are worrying about the quality of made-in-china products, but for me, I never think “made-in-china” is bad, because I always buy them not only because the price but also its quality. The key is how to choose. That is why I like chinashopgate because it is easy to decide buy from which store because you can compare them buy their rating and buyer reviews. As far as concerned, chinashopgate is the only such website in China I can found. Try it if you want to buy high cost-effective products.

Tip 2 Compare by buyer reviews

There are too many sellers on internet. It is not easy to choose the correct store and product online. Every store says “I am the best”. How to judge? My tip is buyer reviews or store ratings from third-party. Why third-party? I know some stores give positive comments by themselves, so I prefer to believe the scores gave by the third-party.

I strongly suggest you to “compare before decide”. Generally, I choose three to five stores which selling my desired products. Then I will firstly compare their ratings and buyer reviews. From buyer reviews, you can directly know the quality and other information about the product and seller. This will help you to decide to buy or not. Usually, I seldom buy the product without rating or buyer review.

Tip 3 Clear all doubts

When I make the decision, I will contact the sellers by IM or other ways, such as phone or email. However, I prefer to contact them by Instant Messenger. Ask the sells whatever you care about, as detail as you can. Make sure you clear up all your doubts before order.

Remember the conversation between you and the seller is very important, because it is the evidence in support of your claim if you have dispute with the seller. So you’d better keep them until you think you have successfully put through the deal already. This is another reason why I prefer to use IM instead of phone. Moreover, it is better to contact seller by the IM they listed on website than other IM ways, because this will prove this is the seller not other person.

Tip 4 Pay in safe way

Term of Payment is very important for online shoppers. This is maybe our “final line of defence”. We will probably loose money if we pay by unsafe method. I only use Paypal or credit card to pay, so I only shop from the stores can be paid by Paypal or credit cards.

I never pay by TT or Western Union, especially shop from China, nevertheless the store having five-star ratings or I am its regular customer. If the seller asks you to pay by TT or WU, I suggest you flatly refuse them.

Paypal is a really good payment tool for online shoppers because it has very good policy to protect buys from false and fraud. Buyers can refund their payment if we unfortunately meet a bad seller. I will detail the policy of Paypal in my later articles.

Tip 5 Ship in safe way

Shipment is also important, although many shoppers don’t really care. Some b2c website, such as Amazon, accept return or refund only when the products are shipped by their pointed shipping companies.

A good shipping company can protect your products from destroy during shipment, especially for easy broken goods. Or, if the products are unfortunately destroyed during shipment, it is easier to claim a good shipping company for indemnification. Also, good shipping companies guarantee you can receive your products on time. After all, we are eager to receive the product. The sooner, the better. 

As a matter of fact, I only ship what I bought by express. I think it is the safest way for retail.