Safety Measures to Not Get Cheated While Shopping Online in India

Preface

India, the great land of Mahatma Gandhi, has become a land of great scams! The chances of getting fooled with your money in everyday life are plenty, just not while shopping online alone. I am sorry to say that being an Indian, but the facts are facts. I shared with you the bitter experience I had while shopping online in India a few days back. For you to avert such displeasure during online shopping, I am guiding you to safely shop online.

I presume that you are already an online geek. Therefore, I am not here to give you the basic tips like not to shop from a public Wi-Fi network or a public computer. Or won’t instruct to have malware and antivirus software on your computer or to shop only at secure sites etc. There are various other small but essential things to look at and to be careful when shopping online in India. These may sound silly sometimes but should keep trouble at bay for you. So here are those important points to ponder over prior to shopping online in India.

The Credibility of the Shopping Site

There are only three major e-tailers in India as of now, viz., Flipkart, SnapDeal, and Amazon. (Based on the gross merchandise values available online at this time.) They compete with each other for their share of the pie, lure customers with great service and offers.

If you decide to buy elsewhere, do thorough research about the credibility of the shopping site. There are a lot of dubious sites that would tempt with incredible offers and ultimately fly away with your money. Some of them have even fully functional call centers to sweet talk and lead you to the trap! Bangalore City Police busted one such fake site. However, many such sites go unnoticed from the radar of police. People who get fooled just curse their stars and move on. They don’t complain to the police, fearing the complications, time, corruption and money involved in police investigations and legalities.

Modus Operandi of the Shopping Site

There is an unfriendly regime for foreign direct investment in multi-brand retailing. Hence all the major e-commerce players in India function as market places rather than fully functional retailers. This helps them bypass the laws and attract capital funding in the form of foreign direct investments. However, the modus operandi of each of them differs.

For instance, look at how Amazon avoids fraudulent practices and bogus items. Beforehand It takes the goods to its fulfillment centers. Then it helps the seller to sell it. Amazon bills the buyer on behalf of the seller and delivers the goods through its own logistics. In the end, it takes its cut and pays the seller. Whereas most other players don’t warehouse the items or take care of the logistics part. Sellers keep the items themselves and ship them on their own once an intimation is received from the e-commerce site. The e-commerce sites do not have a hand on what is being sold. Chances of the sellers meddling up are a lot in this type. So try to know if the sale is fulfilled by the e-commerce site or the seller. Thus you avoid yourself landing into trouble.

Return and Refund Policies

Before shopping anything on an e-commerce site, look at the replacement guarantee, return and refund policies. Different sites have different policies. Some sites may promise “no questions asked refund or replacement” whereas it is a heck of trouble with others. Some pick up the reshipping items at your doorsteps through courier partners. Or else, some may ask you to drop at their own nearby stores. On the other hand, some may request you to drop the items at the nearby courier partner outlet. What if there are no specific stores or courier partner outlets nearby your place? You are going to be in trouble if any need for return or reshipping arises.

Similarly, some sites refund your money by reversing through the original mode of payment. Meanwhile, others would compel you to buy something else from their site itself instead of refunding the money. If the latter is the case, why the heck do you want to shop on that site?

Ease of Reaching the Site’s Customer Care

Earlier I told you how long it took just to hear from someone at the other end of eBay Customer Service. Beforehand it is better to know the customer service standards of the shopping site that you intend to buy from. What if something goes wrong in between your shopping session or with the products you buy? Just don’t go through the sweetened words on the shopping site itself. Instead, Google it out. Try to be convinced of the adversities you may need to go through.

The Credibility of the Seller

As I said earlier, e-commerce sites work as a marketplace rather than being a true retailer. Hence, we have to really worry about the credibility of the market participants. Most of the sites provide the buyers with the option of rating the sellers after a transaction has been successfully completed. Before you buy anything from a particular seller, look at the credit rating of the seller. Look at the feedback left by previous buyers. If you have any queries about the product or service, post it to the seller. See how the seller responds. Only after you have quenched satisfactorily the questions raised by your investigative instincts about the seller, proceed to shop.

Prefer Other Modes to Cash on Delivery

To gain the confidence of the cynic Indian consumers, e-tailers woo them with cash-on-delivery option. However, there is a catch in it. The delivery boy won’t hand you over the item or let you open the box unless you pay for the item. Moreover, if you claim a refund, the shopping site won’t be in a position to hand you back the cash. Instead, it will credit you some points for the same amount. You have to shop again on the same site to redeem those points. It is a heck of trouble to make them issue a demand draft or a cheque in your favor.

Instead, pay through a credit card, debit card or online banking. The refund process will be less troublesome compared to the cash-on-delivery mode. If the credit card offers online purchase protection or insurance, why not choose it over other modes of payment?

The Discounts May Be Too Good to Be True

Both offline and online advertisements of the shopping sites would allure you with significant discounts on their listed products. Are they real? To avoid getting fooled, it is your duty to do some research. Compare the price of the item that you intend to buy with other sites and with a physical retail store. Many times the discounts offered by e-tailers aren’t for real but just an eyewash!

Leave Feedbacks Wherever Possible

If feedback options are available for the products, seller, customer care or the e-commerce site itself, leave real, helpful feedback. This would help others like you when they search for respective information. Or, who knows, even yourself the next time if you want to buy something from that particular seller or site!

Bottom line

Shopping online from the comfort of home from a phone or a laptop is an unavoidable convenience these days. We couldn’t have even dreamed about it 25 years ago. Technology has made it possible. Avoiding online shopping altogether for the fear of getting into trouble will be foolishness. Better to be safe than sorry. The above comprehensive guide will help you avoid being fooled while shopping online in India.

Have you ever been in any trouble with online shopping? Do you have anything to add to the above? Leave your comment below.