How to place an order in an online store: 5 rules for safe shopping
Online trading is gaining momentum. More and more people prefer to order goods online rather than spend 5-6 hours running around stores located in different parts of the city. However, in order for virtual shopping to bring pleasure and not create problems, you need to choose the right seller. By following five rules, you can make profitable purchases on websites, saving time, money and nerves.
Checking the reliability of the store
Even if the inscription on the page informs that the product remains in stock in a single copy, and the numbers on the counter inexorably count down the last minutes until the end of the promotion, you should not get excited and place an order as quickly as possible. Before making a purchase, you need to make sure that the store is trustworthy.
The simplest and most accessible methods for every buyer:
- Search reviews — if an online store has been around for a long time (at least six months), it will not be difficult to find customer opinions on the service and quality of the product online. You shouldn’t trust the reviews that are published on the store’s website and on its pages on social networks, especially in cases where they are entirely positive.
- Visual assessment of the site — the presence of grammatical errors in the text, a huge amount of third-party advertising, and the lack of a clear structure should alert the buyer.
- Price comparison - if a store offers goods at a price that is 30-50% lower than the market average, we can say with confidence that this is a scam.After placing an order, events can develop in different ways - for example, the buyer will be informed that the indicated price is no longer relevant, and the information on the site simply did not have time to be updated; or the ordered product will turn out to be a low-quality fake. There is also a high probability that the site is used by scammers as bait and after payment the buyer will not receive anything. There are also “ghost sites” - abandoned by their owners, they somehow miraculously end up in search engine results. You can identify them by the news section - if more than a year has passed since the date of the last publication, there is every reason to believe that this store has ceased operations.
- Critical assessment of information — statements that confiscated property is being sold on the site should alert a potential buyer. All goods that were seized by customs officials, after the court makes a decision on the case, become the property of the state, and their sale occurs exclusively at auction. And the so-called confiscated goods sold on the Internet often turn out to be low-grade goods from China.
- Obtaining information from the FSN database - this is relevant for residents of the Russian Federation. Before purchasing expensive items in small and little-known stores, you should contact the manager and clarify the name of the legal entity that carries out the trade (for example, Soroka-Vorona sole proprietorship or private enterprise Ivanov Ivan Ivanovich). Next, on the website https://egrul.nalog.ru/index.html you need to request an extract from the register to verify the existence of such a business entity.
Search for contact information
Most often, contact information is placed at the top of the page - next to the name of the store.Sometimes it can be found at the bottom - in the same place as the links to the “Payment” and “Delivery” sections that are most important for buyers. And only some stores indicate their contact information in a specially designated place - in the “Contacts” section.
It’s good if the online store has several ways to communicate with customers, for example:
- Email;
- social media accounts;
- phone number.
It’s even better if the website also indicates the address of the office where you can drive up to view and pick up the goods.
If the administration did not leave any contact information or you can only contact the store by e-mail, this is a reason to be wary - this is usually how scammers work.
Communication with the manager
Before placing, let alone paying for, an order, you should contact the store manager by calling the number indicated on the website. During the conversation, you can clarify the price of the product, delivery time, compliance with photographs and text descriptions, as well as discuss other important points for the buyer.
If the manager does not know the product well and cannot give specific answers to questions, it is better to hold off on purchasing it and look for a similar item on other trading platforms.
Risk assessment - reliable and not so reliable payment methods
As a rule, online merchants ship the goods after full payment. This worries buyers who are not always ready to risk their finances. However, there is nothing wrong with prepayment - you just need to choose a legally operating store and transfer money through a bank or through special payment acceptance systems. This will make it easy to prove the fact of payment if any misunderstandings arise.
| Fine | Badly |
|---|---|
| Online payment through payment acceptance systems (Assist, Interkassa, OnlyMoney, PayWeb and others). You cannot connect these systems to the site without providing documents. Accordingly, in a conflict situation there will be no problems in establishing the identity of the seller and proving the transfer of money. | Direct transfer to a bank card. With this payment method, it is difficult to prove that the amount transferred to a stranger was payment for the goods. You will need significant evidence - for example, correspondence with the seller, where he gives his details and shows his readiness to send the goods to the buyer. |
| Transfer money to a bank account. If a store accepts payment using this method, it means it operates legally. | Payment to electronic wallets (Qiwi, WebMoney, Yandex.Money and others). It is no secret that accounts in electronic payment systems can be registered under dummies or using fake documents, or even completely anonymously. In this case, it will be almost impossible to prove the fact of payment and recover the misappropriated money from the recipient. |
| Payment by cash or card upon pickup. The buyer can make sure that the product is of high quality and meets his expectations. | Transfer indicating card details (number, expiration date, three-digit CVV/CVC code), made directly on the store’s website. You can make payments this way only on the websites of large, well-known trading platforms. A mandatory condition for payment is a secure connection to the server (via SSL protocol). Otherwise, payment information will fall into the hands of fraudsters, who will certainly not miss the chance to empty someone else’s card. |
But cash on delivery, beloved by many, is not always protection against fraudulent actions of the seller. According to the rules, a postal employee has the right to open the parcel for inspection if the sender has made an inventory of the contents. If there is no such inventory, the buyer will receive the parcel and will be able to check its contents only after payment.
Studying store rules: how are conflict situations resolved?
- Since many unforeseen situations happen in life, it is important to know in advance what the buyer can expect if he is not sent the product he ordered, or the item turns out to be faulty or has a different color or size.
- Responsible sellers always post on the website a list of rules according to which exchanges or returns are made, and warranty service is provided. In order not to be left with nothing when it turns out that the store is not ready to return the money for a down jacket that came apart at the seams on the third day of wear, you need to carefully study the rules established by the store.
Summarizing all of the above, I would like to remind you of the main principle that should guide all customers of online stores: trust, but verify. Before placing an order, you need to scroll through the site, evaluate its appearance and structure, compare prices with other retail outlets, make sure that the seller offers a secure payment method, and communicate with the manager. Only after this, if nothing is in doubt, can you press the treasured “Buy” button.