In this day and age virtually everyone seems to shop online; it is as common as drinking a cup of coffee it seems. Ecommerce truly has come a long way over the years, and it is only getting more secure as time goes on. However, I still hear a good deal of stories about people getting ripped off when buying electronics online, especially on eBay.
Basically you are pretty safe purchasing electronics from most of the big online retail stores (walmart.com, bestbuy.com, staples.com, and so on). However, it is places like craiglist.org and eBay that you have to be a bit more cautious about, at least when purchasing electronics. But know this: these are probably the 2 cheapest places you will ever find on the internet for the most part.
We will just cover eBay in this article, since craigslist does not generally offer many electric based products. The most important thing to look for by far when using eBay, is the user feedback rating of the person you are purchasing from. If they do not have a feedback of at least 100 or more, and a positive rating of at lest 98.5% or greater, then you should seriously consider moving on.
Another big thing to take into consideration is the return policy, especially when dealing with electronics. Many electronics, for example, the popular electronic airsoft guns, have a fairly high chance of being defective. But as long as the product is backed by a reasonable return policy, you should be safe 99% of the time.
One more thing worth mentioning, is that you really need to read the whole auction/product description when shopping on eBay (or on any similar website). This is because is it fairly common on eBay to list an item (especially electronics), but leave out important details in the title, such as flaws, missing pieces, or generally defects etc. This is why you need to thoroughly read the description; people like to try and hide things in the fine print of the details sometimes, so watch out. So basically just use common sense, and have a sharp eye, and you should be very safe buying electronics on eBay (or on the internet in generally, for that matter). - 31403
Basically you are pretty safe purchasing electronics from most of the big online retail stores (walmart.com, bestbuy.com, staples.com, and so on). However, it is places like craiglist.org and eBay that you have to be a bit more cautious about, at least when purchasing electronics. But know this: these are probably the 2 cheapest places you will ever find on the internet for the most part.
We will just cover eBay in this article, since craigslist does not generally offer many electric based products. The most important thing to look for by far when using eBay, is the user feedback rating of the person you are purchasing from. If they do not have a feedback of at least 100 or more, and a positive rating of at lest 98.5% or greater, then you should seriously consider moving on.
Another big thing to take into consideration is the return policy, especially when dealing with electronics. Many electronics, for example, the popular electronic airsoft guns, have a fairly high chance of being defective. But as long as the product is backed by a reasonable return policy, you should be safe 99% of the time.
One more thing worth mentioning, is that you really need to read the whole auction/product description when shopping on eBay (or on any similar website). This is because is it fairly common on eBay to list an item (especially electronics), but leave out important details in the title, such as flaws, missing pieces, or generally defects etc. This is why you need to thoroughly read the description; people like to try and hide things in the fine print of the details sometimes, so watch out. So basically just use common sense, and have a sharp eye, and you should be very safe buying electronics on eBay (or on the internet in generally, for that matter). - 31403
About the Author:
This article was brought to you by internet veteran, William Elmiric, who has been safely shopping online for well over 10 years now. When it comes to purchasing electronics from eBay, follow his advice, and you are sure to be safe 99% of the time or more. Just follow his sound advice given in the examples above and you will be safe.
