Beware of fraud online portals, consumer guide. Review on General Tips on Online Shopping

Nowadays we are all familiar with online purchases made, a trend popular among Indian citizens. Online shopping became popular due to following reasons:

1. One can shop from home or where-ever they are.

   
   




2. One can purchase products, which are not available at local market.

   
   




3. Lucrative prices, with discounts, at times it’s really cheaper than what we can expect in any real market place.

   
   




4. It feels as a new concept and many feel they belong to some knowledgeable group of consumers because they know about product details, can compare them online etc., which to certain extent is true also. Online market or virtual market really helps a consumer educate themselves about products, their specifications, comparisons etc.

   
   

Now, it is a common trend that we all try to get rich as soon as possible, online marketing is no different. A new portal comes up, starts providing wonderful service delivery, low prices, good customer support, thus a healthy growth in business. Now, comes the sad part, as soon as a portal starts getting good ratings, many issues comes up, be it internal employee issues, customer interaction issues related to payments, order deliveries and so on. I now have a 2 year plus of online shopping experience with many online retailers and I want to share my little experience, hoping all you people will at least read my opinion and may be that can save you from getting cheated by frauds.

Here is a quick guideline for safe and secure online shopping:

1. Please compare the prices and discounts offered, many a times I have found false claims by portals, showing unrealistic MRP(Maximum Retail Price), very high MRP shown(MRP more than teh the manufacturer quotes in their portals) helps in showing more discount to an unsuspecting consumer. I suggest that when you purchase a product having a proper MRP tag like in case of mobile handsets, laptops, computer peripherals, audio accessories, branded clothing items(including branded undergarments have standard MRP), sunglasses etc., always cross check the prices in respective manufacturer portals.

   
   




2. Always opt for CASH ON DELIVERY mode of payment, as this is the safest way of online shopping, reasons for opting COD are as follows:

   
   

a. You can always deny acceptance of delivery if you find the package as damaged or due to delay.

b. COD makes sure that your shipment will not be lost in transit, as payment for the vendor/seller is due. Many a times prepaid orders doesn’t reach the destination address and a consumer just waits endlessly.

c. I have observed that when an item is not having COD payment option, it is most likely that the vendor/seller is not having the stock of the items too. Trust me, whenever I paid in advance, I didn’t get the item delivered, had to pursue by e-mails and after mailing 30-50 times, I got refunds.

d. Do not fall prey to so called discount coupons, as discount coupons are used, mainly to lure an unsuspecting consumer to pay in advance for a little less amount payable for the order, I advice NEVER PAY IN ADVANCE. One can use coupons, which can be redeemed for COD(Cash on Delivery) mode of payment only.

1. Never purchase expensive items from any online portal, as the chances of frauds are more and if the product comes as damaged, you loose a huge amount for a little discount. A good example are laptops and other electronic items which do have moving parts inside like fans etc, which needs utmost care while handling the shipment, which is mostly not followed by courier service providers, resulting in damages and losses. You will be shocked to see how laptops are being thrown here and there at even reputed logistics handlers. When electronics are sent in bulk at different electronic stores, the handling is better because those people are only moving computer peripherals, electronics only.

   
   




2. Still if you want to purchase laptops, expensive mobile phones and electronics, do ask that who will bear the losses(if any) during transit, this is a very important factor like in many cases there is a clear policy that a manufacturer(eg: Sony) will provide support after the Sony Viao laptop is delivered to the consumer, in-transit damages are common, check with the vendor/seller, whether they are taking responsibility for in-transit damages, does they cover in-transit insurance for the product. This is a grey area and need attention too.

   
   




3. Don't blindly rely on consumer reviews posted at a particular online retail portal, mainly because there are fake identities created by them only, saying good things about the online retail merchant and vendor/seller.

   
   




4. I found these portals as the most deceptive/fraudulent business practice: Timtara.com, shopping.indiatimes.com, shopclues.com, naaptol.com, homeshop18.com, goodtimes shopping, masticart.com etc. – These portals are always deceptive, mostly indiatimes shopping don’t provide COD services on most items, try to lure a consumer by providing discount coupons, only if credit/debit cards used to make advance payment, shopclues.com sells duplicate products of reputed brands like duplicate Sennheiser earphones etc., many consumer complained not receiving any item after making payment, naaptol mostly selling cheap items, prices doesn’t match to the order summary price you receive in order confirmation mail, homeshop18.com is same as indiatimes shopping, doesn’t have COD on most items, customer service is very poor, keeps repeating same answer, same as indiatimes shopping.

   
   




5. Among the reliable portals, I found snapdeal.com, infibeam.com, saholic.com, flipkart.com as okay in service delivery, these portals are also having several complaints against them, even I had issues with these portals but after persuasion, all issues were finally resolved like cash refunds, damages, faulty products etc.

   
   




6. Always complain via e-mail, as e-mails sent by you and received by them is a physical evidence, which they cannot deny. One should not waste money by calling so called CUSTOMER CARE, who only know few words like SORRY for the inconvenience caused, at times argue with you, hang up in between a call, don’t provide a ticket/complaint number for follow up, resulting in your waste of time and money. Many customer care employees doesn’t even know what his/her job profile is about, just sit to receive calls, having almost no power to execute a process, all they can do is reply with same message every time, put up lame excuses etc. If someone complained via e-mail, one can submit copy of those e-mail conversations while lodging complaints with consumer readdress forums/consumer court.

   
   




7. Many vendor/seller like WS Retail, selling through flipkart delivers promptly for COD, when paid in advance, some don't even get their items.

   
   

One can lodge complaints at grahakseva.com, cerc.org etc., many are emerging and they do work for consumers, some other consumer forums charge some fees for service, which can be realized from the other party when they loose the law suit.

I again request you all that you should not even trust my words blindly, as I can also be a representative of some e-commerce site, writing a blog with sweet words. As a consumer, I suggest that if you are making an advance payment, then search in google for the types of complaints found against that particular portal, how serious are they and so on. I hope I am able to make my point clear as an online retail consumer, making people aware of certain DO’s and DONT’s which may help people, at least all mouthshut.com users.