The dangers of shopping online

Are you a fan of shopping online? Watch out for these sneaky tricks....

I have to admit I have become a bit of an online shopping addict. There’s something so convenient about sitting in a chair in front of your computer, eyeing up goods and simply ordering them at the click of a button. It certainly beats struggling along the high street with your bags, trying to avoid swinging them into everyone else.

But there is another benefit of shopping online – and that’s the fact that it can work out to be cheaper than shopping on the high street.

This is partly thanks to voucher codes which can quickly shave money off your bill. In fact, according to a PayPal survey, 30 million Britons have used discount vouchers in the last six months.

But it’s also thanks to cashback websites such as Quidco, TopCashBack and GreasyPalm, which do exactly what they say on the tin – earn you cash back.

So you can see why shopping online makes sense. After all, you’re likely to get a better bargain by sitting on your computer than you are huffing and puffing down the high street.

However, there’s just one snag to this scenario. So many of us are getting tempted by bargain buys online, that according to PayPal, we’re actually spending up to 50% more online than shoppers willing to pay the price on the ticket.

Here, I’m going to show you why:        

Tricks of the trade

Many online retailers employ cunning tactics to encourage you to spend more. These could include:

• Targeted pricing – if you register on a website selling DVDs, for example, files on your computer will tell the retailer what you’ve looked at previously. This means adverts tailored to your interests can then be shown on the page to draw you in, and sometimes these items will be at a higher price than you could find elsewhere.
• Drip pricing – what had initially been a small purchase can quickly turn into a pretty expensive one. For example, the price of a CD can soon double once you’ve taken postage and packaging fees into account, along with anytransaction and handling fees.
• Baiting sales – this is where a small number of products are advertised at a low price. However, when you go to buy them, you’ll find they’re not available. Often, these items will be on the same page as a range of full priced products.
• High-low pricing – a range of items is advertised at a discount. However, these discounts are offered from artificially high original prices to make you think you’re getting a better deal than you are.

The personal touch

Of course, these are not the only sneaky tricks that encourage you to spend more when you’re shopping online.

After all, simply having an account with a particular retailer can make it really easy to hand over more cash than you planned to. If you’ve registered with a website, every time you log in, a personal greeting will pop up to welcome you, along with recommendations based on your previous purchases. Alternatively, your recommendations might be based on what other people with similar tastes have bought.

This makes it incredibly easy to see something you like, pop it in your online shopping basket, make a swift online payment and worry about your bank balance later.

And it’s not just the website itself you have to worry about. Your email inbox will also no doubt be flooded with updates on the latest fashion trends and any special offers that are currently running - which leads me on to my next point.

Special offers

Online retailers are also pretty crafty when it comes to special offers. How many times have you seen offers such as ‘free delivery if you spend £75’? Or ‘free gift for orders over £30’? Or ‘save 10% when you spend £50’?

Some websites will even tell you how much you have left to spend before you qualify for the deal! All of these little tricks make it so easy to throw a couple of extra items into your basket, without really thinking about how much damage they will do to your bank balance.

Extra temptations

If you’re signed up to a clothing retailer, you’ll often find that when you go to make a purchase, several other matching items will be suggested to you to make your outfit complete. So if you’re buying a pair of jeans, it might suggest that you ‘team them with’ a certain top, or a particular bag or piece of jewellery.

Unfortunately, it’s so easy to get sucked in by this. Building up a whole outfit online has got even easier since the introduction of ‘real’ models – so it’s easy to see exactly what the outfit will look like on a human, rather than a mannequin. ASOS has even gone so far as to have a catwalk in which you can watch the model strut his/her stuff and see how the item of clothing really looks.

Stay safe

Finally, one of the major concerns many of us have when we’re shopping online is the possibility of ID fraud. In most cases, if you’re buying something online, you’ll have to enter your debit or credit card details as well as your personal information.

So if you’re worried about this, here are five top tips to help keep you safe when you shop online:

Check the name

Always carefully check the spelling of the website address or URL – if anything is misspelt, it’s likely to be an unofficial site.

If you’re unfamiliar with the site, it’s also worth typing the company name into a search engine to find any reviews from other customers. This can be a great way of establishing whether the site is out to scam you.

Check the address

It’s not just the web address you should worry about. It’s well worth checking out the postal address too. If the address isn’t obvious (perhaps it’s hidden in the terms and conditions or it’s missing all together), you’re better off doing your shopping elsewhere.

You should also avoid the website if the address is a P.O. Box or if the only way to contact the company is by email or mobile phone.

Look for the padlock

When you go to pay for your purchases, check the website has a secure way of paying. Make sure you look for the padlock symbol on the screen when you fill in your payment details. The web address at the top of the page should also change to ‘https://’ as opposed to ‘http’ – the ‘s’ signifies it’s secure.

Pay carefully

If your order is over £100, one of the best ways to pay is by credit card. That’s because you’ll be protected by Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act (1974), which will give you valuable consumer protection if there's a problem with your purchases. If your order is under £100, look to use a Visa debit card so you can make a claim under the Visa Chargeback scheme.

Alternatively, you could consider using a prepaid card as this won’t be linked to your bank account or personal identity. However, make sure you choose one such as the Kalixa card which offers lost and stolen protection so that your funds will be protected. Just bear in mind that many of these prepaid cards require you to pay an upfront fee for ordering the card.

Keep your receipt

Once you’ve made your payment, always keep hold of the order confirmation in case of any dispute. That way you’ve got proof of your order and payment.

Hopefully these tips will help you to stay safe online. And if you are a bit of a shopaholic, make sure that before you click online, you determine exactly what you’re planning to buy and stick to it! What’s more, why not set yourself a budget to ensure you don’t spend more than you can afford to? That way you’ll be able to beat the retailers at their own game!

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