I have never been a fan of online shopping. In fact, when my friends were raving about eBay back in the early 2000s, I can safely say that I hated it. I have always preferred the brick and mortar shops, where I can feel the fabric, see the cut and colour, and try the fit. To me, shopping is a social experience. I enjoy meeting up with friends to catch up over an afternoon of retail therapy or interacting with the sales personnel to find out their opinions and recommendations. Online shopping just seemed like a diluted version of the physical shopping experience.
Yet, recently, I have found myself drawn to online shopping and I am definitely not alone. Maybe it’s because you can shop anywhere, any time online. Maybe it’s because you can often find better deals online. Or maybe it’s because you can avoid the perpetual crowds of people in shopping centres, especially in Singapore. I know that for me, the game changer was the fact that more overseas brands were shipping their products to Singapore, allowing me to find items that were traditionally hard to get here.
Whatever it is, online shopping sites have upped their game, offering a more personalised shopping experience that is easy and convenient with extra services thrown in – like the free shipping and the ‘no questions asked’ return policy that asos.com offers. This, coupled with the easy availability of product reviews online – from bloggers offering their two cents – to communities like makeupalley.com allowing their members to chime in – or even on shopping sites themselves like amazon.com, where those who have actually purchased the product from the site give their opinions on service and quality of the product, allows us to navigate the treacherous waters of online shopping more smoothly.
Here in Singapore, besides the physical shops offering online sites for shopping, online blog shops have also sprung up with sites like thescarletroom.com and feistheist.com offering more unique options to the ubiquitous local online offerings sourced from Thailand and Korea.
Being a newbie to online shopping, there have been times when it all seems a little overwhelming. So I’ve asked around for some tips from seasoned pros that we should keep in mind when making purchases online.
Tip #1: Always protect your cash
Established sites like ASOS or topshop.com (which has recently started shipping to Singapore) have a security icon, often a padlock located at the bottom of your browser, which verifies that the site is safe. This is especially important when paying with your credit card, to protect yourself from fraud or identity theft. You can also consider using PayPal, a more secure alternative, as it protects your financial information and offers ‘buyer protection’ against lost or defective items purchased.
With blog shops, never pay via methods like ‘concealed cash’ or ‘mailed cash’, which is essentially you putting money into an envelope and mailing it to the seller. This brings us to tip number 2.
Tip #2: Documentation is key
Always obtain and keep documentation to prove that payment has been made. Receipts from ATM transfers, the payment method of choice for most blog shops, are important in ensuring that you do not get scammed by sellers. With international sites, a receipt is usually generated after payment. Save that receipt and for added assurance, you can take a screenshot of your browser when the payment is being made.
Tip #3: Read the exchange and refund policies very carefully
Not all online sites have generous exchange and refund policies like ASOS. A ‘no exchange and no refund’ policy is the norm for most blog shops. To avoid disappointment and heartache, make sure you read these policies carefully before clicking ‘add to cart’.
Tip #4: Wait for seasonal sales and shop smart
Sales like the Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales in the US and the Boxing Day sales in the UK are the best times to get deals on items you have been eyeing. Besides these, most retailers also offer special online deals from time to time. A good way to make sure you don’t miss out is to subscribe to a mailing list or follow the brand on Facebook and Twitter. Brands often give special discounts or privileges to members so try and sign up for membership where possible. Moreover, most blog shops host special ‘like and share’ contests on these social media platforms where you can win items by liking and sharing the images with your friends.
Tip #5: Customer reviews are your friend
It’s best to do some research on the product and the seller before making an online purchase. Getting on Google and looking for customer feedback about a particular product or about an online retailer’s customer service is an easy way to avoid having a bad online experience. Especially so with online blog shops where customer feedback is your primary tool to differentiate the gems from the duds. Multiple bad reviews are a clear indication that you should steer clear and spend your precious monies elsewhere.
Tip #6: Sharing saves money
When shipping orders from overseas retailers, it’s always good if you can find a friend or two who is also looking to make a purchase there. That way, you can pool the order and split the cost of shipping. This is also a great way of saving money even if you are not ordering from the same retailer because you can split the cost of a concierge or forwarding service like vPOST or Borderlinx, which allows you to combine different orders into one large shipment.
Locally, sites like theeditorsmarket.com allow you to create baskets that you can share with friends to cut costs as the price of each item goes down with the more items you place in the basket.
Ultimately, having a great experience shopping online has a lot to do with trusting your own intuition and instincts. Always remember that there are many alternatives online – so if you don’t feel happy at one shop, move on. Happy shopping!