Gone are the days when all the sites were offering freebies and selling at huge discounts to attract customers. Service was never the priority, all that was important was to get the word out, to advertise, to get more people to try the online experience.
All that costs money, and most sites went belly up in the past few months. Even big names in the online arena have been going bust. So one may ask, just how safe is online shopping, and I don’t mean from the point of view of credit card security, which I will get to later, but more from the point of view that the site will still be standing tomorrow once you have paid for the goods but they haven’t been shipped yet. One needs to be a little more careful in picking sites where to shop, steer clear of smaller sites from where venture capitalist have withdrawn all funding and try and go to sites which are doing well and still expanding their site and adding new products, thats a good sign that things are going well within the organisation.
Things to buy online and things NOT to buy online
Books are the best things to buy online, its very difficult to go wrong, though I’ve had experiences having the wrong book delivered, a stinker to the site rectifies the situation fairly quickly.
Clothes are one of the worst things to buy online, there are too many variables which need to be custom made for you, the size, the feel of the cloth, the finish etc., which one just doesn’t get from a picture.
Music is another good things to buy online, CDs and Cassettes are easy to pick, though be prepared to get a cracked box since courier companies aren’t very gentle with packages.
Jewelry, so far I don’t have any complains but if you intend to spend a large sum, its best to know who you are making the payment to and seeing the quality for yourself. Online reputation still has a long way to go and most sites are still earning their goodwill.
Toys are easy to buy online since anyway you only see the box when you buy from a shop.
Miscellaneous things like computer parts, food stuff, internet accounts, mobile phones, electronics all depend on the return policies and procedures of the site, since these are likely to get faults without warning, and sites are not the best place to go with your warranty card.
Payment, well I bank with ICICI Bank and find their payment gateway the most secure and convenient way for shopping online as well as making bill payments online. Credit cards are also easy to use but with all the noise about security issues its best to go through a bank with a payment gateway and regularly change your passwords.
A few sites where I’ve shopped till date are fabmart.com, rediff.com, bidorbuy.com, eofficeplanet.com etc. some of these offer cash on delivery payment options which are fast becoming the most popular payment options.