Basic Things to Consider to Do a Trouble Free Online Shopping

Keeping the festive season in mind, while the demand for online sales increases, the common shopkeepers also use the cell to increase their sales. But sometimes customers are cheated in the name of the cell. In the festive season, many times shopkeepers cheat customers by making different offers.

If you are going shopping in this festive season, here we are telling you some tips for online and offline shopping, which will save you from cutting your pocket.

Do you use your debit and credit card for online shopping? Beware of frauds

During the festive season, online shopping portals partner with various banks to offer additional discounts and cashback to online shoppers. To avail of these discounts and cashback, customers must shop using the debit and credit cards of the selected bank.

A lot of people avail these discounts and cashback by making payments online using debit and credit cards of the banks for which offers are available.

Even when there are no discounts, people prefer card payments as they are very convenient and there is no need to keep cash handy when the product is delivered. But, it is very important to be careful while using your debit and credit cards to make payments online as card frauds are on the rise.

Many online shoppers have fallen victim to card fraud and lost hard-earned money. In this blog, we will understand certain precautions you have to take to stay safe while using your card to make online transactions.

1. When you shop online, make sure the portal you buy from is genuine. This is because there are many fake online shopping portals that steal your card details. So, it is advisable to check the reviews of the portal before making a purchase.

2. Do not use public computers to make online payments using your card. You have to use your own mobile phone or computer if you want to make payments through cards online.

3. Do not connect to a public wi-fi while making card payments online.

4. Keep your banking information to yourself and never reveal it to anyone.

5. You must download apps only from trusted sources like Google Playstore and App Store. This is because fraudsters easily develop fake apps with the intention of stealing your personal information and emptying your bank account.

6. Make sure the password you set is strong and complex. It should be a combination of letters and numbers called alpha-numeric. Avoid keeping your name and birthday as your password.

7. To stay safe from card fraud, you must keep your PIN number safe. Do not reveal your PIN number to anyone and write it in a place where others can see it.

8. Make sure to check your bank account statements and credit card statements regularly. In case you find any suspicious transactions, report them to the bank as soon as possible.

save your money in the online shopping

Comparing the price :

Let us know that there is not only one website that is selling your favorite products. There are many such websites where you can buy your favorite products. In such a way, before buying any product, you can compare the price of the product on different websites. Let us know that you can be comparing the price on websites or tools like PriceDekho and CompareRaja.

Bank Offers :

This year Amazon has partnered with SBI, under which a discount of 10 percent will be given. While Flipkart will pay an Instant Discount of 10% on payment from an HDFC card. When purchasing any product, read its bank offers carefully.

Wallet & Cashback Offers :

If your bank is not offering any offers then your e-wallet can give you cashback. Companies provide cashback when making payments from several e-wallets. For example: On payment from PaytmMall Paytm Wallet, Amazon offers cashback on payment from its wallet i.e. Amazon Payments, when paying with Flipkart PhonePay and Snapdeal with Freev charges.

Exchange offers :

Amazon and Flipkart provide exchange offers to the users when giving the old phone while buying a new phone. Talking about Amazon, it is offering an exchange offer of up to Rs 5,000 on Note 9 and an exchange rate of up to Rs 3,000 on Flipkart Zenfone 5Z.

Deal Timings :

E-commerce websites provide different deals at different times. In this case, you will have to pay attention to when to provide you with a product-related product.

Flash Cell and Instant Discount :

Companies with bank offers make their latest smart phones available at affordable prices. For example, Realme 2 Pro or Realme C1 will be made available to the Big Billion Day Cell with no special discount but will be provided with an instant discount on payment from HDFC Bank Card and PhonePe.

Quick checkout :

In order to purchase any product in the flash cell, users must already save their details on the site. The user only gets 30 to 45 seconds to buy a product in the flash cell. So keep in mind that your internet connection should be good so that you can check out soon.

How to spot fake reviews while shopping online

the Federal Trade Commission made an unprecedented move, filing a major lawsuit against a company accused of paying for fake Amazon reviews. Still, more and more companies are using fake reviews, hoping to get your business.

WATCH: How to spot a fake review online

"Some companies will hire other companies to create fake reviews for them, trying to promote their products," said Leah Napoliello, Senior Director of Investigative Services.

That's why Saoud Khalifah created FakeSpot.com.

"I ordered a couple of products from Amazon and all of these products have hundreds of five-star ratings. I got the product in physical form and they were completely off-base. They broke down within the first week. I was incredibly disappointed so I went back and read the reviews and noticed a lot of red flags all over the place," Khalifah explained.

Khalifah says he wanted to stop this from happening to others so he created a free website that tracks fake reviews.

"You go to FakeSpot.com, paste in the product you're looking at and it'll check it," he said.

It also works on products from Yahoo! and Trip Advisor.

Khalifah and his team analyze the business or product, using their artificial intelligence system to determine if the reviews are fake or not. Khalifah says he's found the most fakest Amazon reviews when it comes to electronics and gadgets.

"Phone case covers, Bluetooth headphones and other electronica paraphernalia or accessories. Usually those categories have a lot of fake reviews because it's very simple for someone to start selling their own Bluetooth headphones," said Khalifah.

How do you spot fake reviews yourself? Experts say to look for these top 3 things.

Language: A real review is typically specific in its praise. Be leery of formal product names, model numbers, and tech and marketing jargon in the review.

Reviewer:Click on the profile of the reviewer to see what else they've reviewed.

Check the timing and the number of reviews. If there are multiple glowing reviews for a product or service in a brief time span, that's a big red flag.

FakeSpot says it catches most of the fakes, but you can also check a product or company at your Better Business Bureau.

"You can never be too cautious because there are many scammers that are online," said Napoliello. "It really is important to be educated and be aware that these types of issues are out there."