Top Three Tips and Guidelines to Online Shopping

If you have been a regular visitor of this little corner in the blogsphere, then it’s probably become apparent to you that I love online shopping. I make no secret of it. I love finding deals online and feel exhilarated when I receive a package in the mail. Being in the Philippines, I don’t have access to drugstore or high-end makeup in terms of physical stores except for what’s available in my country – and that’s not a lot. This is the reason why over the years, I have become a frequent buyer in eBay and much more recently, Aliexpress.

However, as much as you get awesome deals when you do online shopping, I wouldn’t advise for just anyone to go dive into it without knowing and taking care of some important bits that are rather important when you’re an online shopper. Having said that and considering that I have considerable experience in this field, I would like to share with you my tips and guidelines for shopping on eBay.

Would love to tap into the world of online shopping?

Read on…

Set up a Paypal account

Personally, I consider Paypal to be the safest mode of payment out there. Most online shops accept Paypal. To date, the only online site that I know of that doesn’t accept Paypal as their mode of payment is Aliexpress. It’s very easy to set up a Paypal account. You just have to register in Paypal’s website and connect your bank account/credit card to your Paypal account. Needless to say, make sure your connection is secured when you’re doing your registration or even when paying through Paypal. Personally, I never use public wifi to check my account or pay for my purchase, but that’s another issue altogether.

Paypal does not only make it possible for you to pay for your online purchases, but it does help secure your purchase with their Buyer Protection. Basically, within 45 days from your purchase/payment date, you could open a dispute if you have not received your package. You could then talk to the seller and arrange for a refund/resend, whichever you prefer. Accidents sometimes happen during transit and your package could get lost, so Buyer Protection secures your payment so that you at least get your money back in such cases.

Be patient

I couldn’t stress this enough. I would say that around 70-80 percent of my online purchases are international orders. Sometimes, the shopping gods would bless you and you get your package delivered in two weeks, the earliest. However, most of the time, you would have to wait around four weeks for your package to arrive. I understand that you get excited when you purchase something online, but please refrain from harassing the seller with questions about your package not arriving before 30 days has passed since it has been shipped. Remember, if you paid through Paypal, you’re covered for 45 days from the time of purchase. 🙂

Read. Read. READ.

One of the lessons that have been drilled to me when I was still in market research was Never Assume. That keeps coming to mind, especially when I browse eBay and Aliexpress. There would be times (not always), when the picture you see in the listing can be misleading. Say, the picture would show you a set of five brushes for $5. You open that listing, immediately buys it and then when the order arrives, you see that you only get one brush. When you double-check the listing, you realize that there, in a rather small print, it says that you will only get one of the brushes in the picture and unless you specify which one of the five brushes you’d want, they will send you a random brush. And you cannot complain about it because in the first place, it was stated right there all along.

In such cases, I would say that the listing can be quite misleading. However, you, as a buyer, have the responsibility to read through it. I know; it’s long and boring, but it will save you from disappointment in the end. This does not only apply to the purchase options, but reading will help set your expectations about when the order arrives as well as what other people think about the seller and the product through feedback. Of course, it would also help you determine what shade and size to get when shades and sizing are involved in the purchase!

So there you have it – my top three tips and guidelines for online shopping. One or two of these might be obvious to you, but I still hope you picked up something in here that you can apply for your next online purchase.

Do you have your own tips to share about online shopping that has worked for you? Share them below! 🙂

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