II went through quite some reviews with people sharing their horrible experiences with rediff.com. I have done quite some shopping on rediff and also have recommended it to some of my friends for best deals.
My experience started 1.5 years back when I purchased a rain jacket worth Rs 640 offered for 290 bucks. It was COD (cash on delivery) method and I got it within 7 days of my order placement. The quality was good and I rechecked the product in a local shop, infact 2-3 (u know how proud we feel to show off a good deal) and to my amazement found that the jacket was almost in a range of 700-1000bucks.
My second buy was a massage belt offered for 200 bucks, ones that are used to reduce Ur belly. Again it was a COD and I got it in time. Although the product may have altered my belly but 250 bucks was worth a risk to try it out
Third buy was a Sherlock Holmes type watch u can attach to a coat that grandfather style. Got it for 165 bucks again COD. Completely satisfied with the delivery and service.
The fourth buy was a 7 in 1 Mp3 USB player with 256 MB card worth 3900 bucks offered at 2000. Payment method Credit card. Was skeptical but needed one badly for my Rajasthan tour. Decided to go forward with it. The brand was Ojjas. Got the beauty. Works absolutely fine. Very happy with the delivery and feed back. Recommended the same to two other friends who bought them at even cheaper prices (1500 bucks darn...)
Yeah almost forgot, bought 1 cordless phone with caller id (worth Rs 165) and few car accessories etc all satisfactorily. My cousin even bought a Kodak digicam worth Rs 6000 from rediff.
Never had the opportunity to buy garments. Reading some reviews here regarding garments I would think 10times before doing so. I think there are certain brands like Ojjas and others which have a good rep. My experience with rediff while shopping was good, infact great until now.
I had an issue when I wanted to buy a Bionic using HDFC direct pay. The order could not be processed and the customer service on 2 email notification cancelled it.
For starters I would support the idea of online shopping as it opens a window to enormous items at the comfort of Ur room which u can chose for without Ur mom or wife nagging u (an exercise best saved). I would also recommend doing all buying by COD methods. My experience with credit card was also satisfactory. I cannot comment on how safe Net banking would be