Is Online Shopping Safe?

moh@n · 22-06-2007, 12:08 PM

Dear Friends,

Has anyone of you tried the following site?

Plemix.com - Cell Phones, PDA Phones, Digital Cameras, and more in various brand…Worldwide shipping!

They say that they ship their products worldwide.

Their cellphones are unlocked. And most of their cellphones have a "Waiting List" label on them, which means not available. So they don't sell refurbished stuff I guess.

The prices are attractive (they are without bill and warranty).

Ihatemyself · 22-06-2007, 02:04 PM

I won't trust such unknown shopping sites ( i haven't heard at least) plus the things u told clearly indicate that either they do not have continuous supply of commodities or they sell it at drastic speed .Second option does not seem viable .So dont buy from this site. Go for indiatimesshopping or ebay .But i wont recommend online shopping .Credit card hackers are all over the internet

monkey · 22-06-2007, 02:59 PM

I agree partially with "Ihatemyself". While it is recommended to opt for known online shops it is equally important to be aware and alert for the threats. I think the following guidelines should be followed for a safer online shopping experience:

1. Check the reputation/popularity of the site (as mentioned earlier).
2. Try to find some reviews on this site.
3. Find out the payment gateway used by the site (like CCAvenue/Paypal etc..). Only trust sites with good payment gateways. CCAvenue provides Verisign approved protection level which is dependable. Some sites use payment gateway provided by Verisign. Verify the validity of the Verisign certificate for the site.

Now steps to be taken care-off at your computer's end:

1. Keep all your softwares (windows/linux/security softwares) updated.
2. Do not keep any unwanted/useless software installed as it may have some bug which might compromise security of your system.
3. Run all security softwares (anti-virus/anti-spyware etc..) regularly and especially before opting for online shopping. You might use multiple security software (if there is no conflict) as no security software is 100% accurate. For example: I generally use Spybot - S&D, Ad-Aware and AVG Anti-spyware simultaneously and all of these softwares catch some or the other spyware(s).
4. Try to avoid accepting cookies.

and finally...
Keep watch on your credit card statement regularly and alert your credit card company immediately if you find any misuse. Your credit company might be able to stop the actual transaction or trace the user.

I have been following these practice for a long time now and have done online shopping more than 100 times without ever facing a problem. Some of the sites I have shopped on includes ebay.in, amazon.com, indiatimes.com, sify.com, yantraonline.in, irctc.co.in, makemytrip.com, yatra.com etc.

So HAPPY SHOPPING!!!

deepakchan · 23-06-2007, 06:24 PM

Buy from a reliable site like shopping.sify.com or mobiles.indiaplaza.in
Even in eBay, you cannot trust the seller unless you've already bought some smaller items from him..

vilas_patil · 14-01-2009, 04:08 PM

I have done shopping online for couple of times (rediff shoping) and I didn't face any problem. But still I would recommend you to avoid online shopping. If the product is faulty you have to bear the shipping charges through and fro even though the online shops are genuine and if he promises the replacement.

NucleusKore · 14-01-2009, 05:07 PM

Online shopping for electronics is NOT SAFE. Online shopping for ANY item with moving parts is not safe. The only things I have NOT had trouble with are books and clothes.

calwin · 23-02-2009, 04:52 PM

Dear friends,

Is online shopping is safe or not?...Dear its totally depend upon u...whether r u selecting a reliable site or not? i m saying this bcoz i do have experience E-shopping...
i had bought some Party dresses from www.onlygowns.com and even got some leather jackets from www.leathericon.com .... and i had done my shopping very safely even they are offering free customization.....
so i will suggest you 2 go for online shopping but ask some people who have experience from the same site....

confused!! · 23-02-2009, 05:12 PM

I have done online shopping only on reliable sites

k4ce · 23-02-2009, 06:45 PM

dude it depends on the site ... and also be realistic bout the prices ... if somebody offers u an unlocked iphone for $300 , u know that there must be something wrong wid the site ... so make sure the prices are realistic

also if u buy electronics online from shops outside india , u need to find a way to deal wid customs ... overall , i wudn't recommend it for electronics cos u get most of the stuff in india ... i do buy books online ... i also did buy a watch once ...