Shopping online – watch out for these dangers!

The lure of shopping online has certainly increased with the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic!  Some consumers were more cautious about shopping inside a store especially if they had underlying health conditions or were elderly.

What about those with no credit card?

Since some merchants realized that there were persons who wanted to shop online but had no credit card, they offered customers the option to pay cash on delivery after ordering the items. This meant that even more persons could now shop online.

Benefits of online shopping

There are many obvious benefits of online shopping as customers are able to virtually choose the items they need and pay either online or at delivery. This means less interactions with those in the actual store and less risk of exposure to the virus.

Online shopping also allows you to be more deliberate in the items that you select.  Sometimes when shopping in a physical store, consumers are attracted to other items that they had not initially intended to purchase. These small changes affect the budget and they can over time cause you to overspend.

However in my opinion, when you shop online, you are able to stick to the budget a little better as you tally the cost as you shop instead of waiting after the cashier has cashed all the items. I know that has happened to me and so the running calculator in my head does not always accurately reflect the number that shows up as the total on the cash register because I took up too many other items that were not on my list.

Challenges of Online Shopping

Although there are benefits to online shopping, there are disadvantages as well as consumers sometimes leave themselves open for their credit card to be cloned. Some websites masquerade as legitimate but in fact are scams and steal their customers’ credit card information.

Inferior product and Hidden costs

There is also the risk that the items might not be exactly as they appeared to be online when they are delivered to you. The quality of the product might be inferior or there may be other issues with the size or fit of the item. Then there are hidden costs that might get overlooked. Sometimes this can be in the form of delivery charges that might not be shown until the final price. The cost  of delivery might also change depending on the customer’s location.

Delivery Problems

Delivery problems also arise when doing online shopping. Sometimes curbside deliveries are easy to negotiate, as home deliveries can sometimes cause problems due to poor communication.  It is therefore important that clear directions be given to the merchant and contact information exchanged to minimize any issues.

So do you shop online? What has your experience been while shopping online? Drop me a line below and tell me all about it!

Teri Ann Renee Paisley

Gleaner online writer

Tags: credit card, deliveries, online shopping