Internet provides us with many possibilities, such as: distant education, account payments, visa granting, and even searching for a soul-mate! So, why does online-shopping still puzzle lots of people? An unsuccessful experience, fear of poor quality products, and inappropriate sizing shouldn’t stop a real shopaholic. Fashion time is ready to recommend the best places to buy Calvin Klein for $18 or how to get Steve Madden shoes for $40. But before shopping, let’s learn some best practices for online shopping.
This and the following articles are about online-shopping in the most popular online-stores of the USA, Europe and Asia. Why should a person buy online? Well, you can save money and time. Also such stores are usually rich in a large assortment of products. The next obvious advantage is the unique clothes you can buy there. As to personal experience, internet shopping has never caused any problems for many buyers. If some products have not been delivered, a seller is responsible to return your money. That being said, there are two problems you may be faced with: difficult navigation and unwillingness to buy new products.
Paying Through the Internet.
The most popular payment method through the Internet is bank cards: Visa or Master Card. To preform online buying your bank should provide you with access to internet banking. If you already have a bank card, but you have never bought anything through the Internet, then contact the nearest bank location to receive a login name and password, as well as a card with checking codes because some stores may ask for this when verifying your payment method.
When online shopping most sites will ask for your card number, security code, and the expiration date on your card. It should be of the utmost importance to buy from legitimate sites and sellers and not potential scammers that will hack your card. If your card is ever hacked, contact your bank so they can shut down that card and offer you another one.
The currency available on you card is not important for online-stores: Rubles, Dollars, Euro, Tanzanian Tugriks; they are all converted into stores’ currency automatically while you pay for a good. The commission for a deal is very small. One thing to note, we don’t recommend using Visa Electron cards as foreign stores can’t identify it.
Internet-shopping
When it comes to internet-shopping the most wide-spread fear is to meet frauds. Thus, people are often afraid to leave bank card data.
Actually, you can create a virtual card to transfer money from the main card.
As a rule, popular and checked online-shops indicate payment safety certificates because they worry about their reputation as a safe place to shop. When you shop on a widely recognized world-wide store with a good reputation, you shouldn’t worry!
PayPal
PayPal is the biggest electronic payment system. It works in more than 190 countries. This web-site provides different languages to make signing up easy for everyone.
Select an account type – “Private/PayPal for you” so you can transfer money.
Click “Get started” and fill in the form provided with your personal data. Pay attention to be certain that Name and Surname are identical to the data on you card. Click “Sign up” and it’s done!
Keep in mind that registration is not free of charge. The system charges a $1.50 fee so you can verify that you authorized this account. This money will then be returned on your card when you confirm it. PayPal will remind you about this fee via e-mail for safety reasons. This is a necessary step since anybody can use your personal data and it helps Paypal to ensure the security of your accounts.
Now enter your account from a selected online-store. Look at the last PayPal transaction. You will see 4-digit number you should copy and paste in a required gap of the PayPal account. Now you are in the system.
Practically, all e-shops accept PayPal payments. But if you have Visa or Master Card then you can pay directly without the PayPal service.
In 2002 PayPal became a department of Ebay. The most watchful and careful buyers can pay through PayPal as this system tracks all the transactions and returns money when needed. This system is also responsible for clients’ profiles. For example, if you failed to confirm your bank card within the time limit, then PayPal blocks your account for a long period. In this case you will have to re-sign up, using another card or solve this problem with a PayPal support representative, providing them with copies of all documents, including your birth certificate.
Who are the Agents?
Unfortunately, few shops send orders directly to the required country. So when you find a Furla bag for $129, but it cannot be sent to your country, you can ask for some people who live in the USA or Europe to buy it for you or you can ask agents to do this.
Agents are companies, dealing with receiving and delivering to any country all over the world. The payment depends on the item’s weight and the commission is usually 6-8% of the cost of an order. Agents are sending companies and individuals (who deal with ordering and sending to customers). It’s recommended to trust the companies who bear legal liability only!
Shipito Company is one of the most popular agents in the USA with the best reputation. All dispatches can be tracked en route and all the goods come in time.
Shipito sends a lot of goods from Ebay, Amazon, and 6pm.com to a large number of countries.
When Should I Receive My Order?
The time of delivery takes from three days up to several months. A lot of websites offer a special UPS, FedEx express delivery. Of course such service is expensive.
If you are in no rush then choose a simple delivery. Your order will be delivered to the nearest post office or you will get a receipt to your post box. Go to the postal office with this document and you will get your order.
Don’t forget that some orders need more time to be delivered. Some stores provide a tracking number so you can trace the route of your order.
In case of some delay, one should lay a claim to a national post. In case you don’t receive your order within 6 months, then apply to e-shop support. As a rule such stores return money in spite of the fact they are not obliged to do it de jure.
According to the legislation each individual has a limit to buy goods on-line. In the case you exceed this limit, it’s necessary to pay required fees.
Real shopaholics buy goods through the Internet all the time. The more goods you order, the more you want! Most sites offer rewards or points for customers who shop at their site on a regular basis.
The most important rule is to start from the right e-shop!
