Online Shopping From Different Countries: 7 Tips For Buying Unique Products

Online Shopping On Foreign Platforms: 7 Tips For Security And Finance

Today, the Internet gives us many opportunities. We can work, study, socialize with friends, and shop overseas just by sitting on the couch at home. Online shopping gained momentum at the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic and still does not lose popularity.

You can buy everything online: food, clothes, household appliances, and even choose and order a car. The advantage of online shopping is the wide selection of goods from different countries. However, purchases on foreign platforms have many pitfalls. Therefore, we have prepared practical tips on how to buy international products safely and cheaply!

Use VPN

Using VPN apps while shopping online has several benefits. First, VPN creates a secure network. Public Wi-Fi networks are the easiest way to get your data. Information passing through such a network is not encrypted, so any hacker can steal data, intercept cookies and gain access to your account. However, a hacker cannot see this information when you use a VPN because your information is passing through encrypted networks.

Secondly, VPN for Chrome helps you get great deals. It is no longer a secret that some stores offer Apple gadget users higher prices than Windows or Android users. Also, the price may depend on your country: your IP address is tracked whenever you visit the online store to provide information based on your location.

However, if you decide to set up a VPN Chrome extension, you can shop at great prices. For example, buying air tickets, hotel rooms, or theater tickets is much cheaper for natives than for foreigners. Just select the desired location and move virtually to the chosen country.

Choose Safe Marketplaces

When unsafe visiting marketplaces, your banking and personal information, passwords, online history, and even correspondence with friends are at risk, hackers can resell this data to advertising firms or use it as extortion. So make sure you visit encrypted sites with “HTTPS” and not “HTTP.”

Such a seemingly insignificant ending with one letter, “S,” is crucial. Websites with “HTTPS” provide a secure connection and carefully encrypt user data. Thus, to be aware of scams, it is essential to follow these letters.

Check Prices

Do not rush to confirm the order after examining only the basket filling. Take a few minutes to ensure that the product’s price in your shopping cart matches the price on the website. Also, check customs fees, shipping costs, and other taxes – perhaps these amounts will exceed the cost of products, and then the purchases will not be profitable.

Hasty checkout also leads to problems with paying for additional products. If you confirm the order, it will no longer be possible to add other products to it. As a result, you will have to go through the same procedure and double the shipping costs. On most platforms, fees are calculated according to product size and weight and may vary from country to country.

Check Privacy & Return Policy

Please read the website’s privacy policy carefully to prevent your privacy from being hacked. Such a document means a policy regarding the processing of personal data. In other words, the company guarantees that it collects your data solely to provide high-quality services and does not transfer it to third parties. The absence of this document indicates the fraudulent actions of the platform.

Also, don’t forget to check the return policy. This document will let you know on what grounds you can claim a refund or return a product. The return policy must necessarily include a refund for defective goods.

Use Coupons And Great Deals

Isn’t it great to shop your favorite products at affordable prices while discovering fascinating discounts, coupons, and great deals? However, not knowing how to analyze discounts leads to the fact that you can quickly become a victim of scammers.

We’ve all heard about Black Friday, the year’s biggest sale. However, the “up to 80%” discounts that enchant customers are often not real – sometimes goods at normal times cost the same or even cheaper. What to do to avoid being scammed?

If you plan to buy goods at the best prices on Black Friday, make a list of necessary purchases in advance, indicating the costs, and see how the price of the goods you like has changed. This will allow you to evaluate the actual size of the discount provided by the store. The same algorithm is applied to other holidays: New Year, Christmas, Halloween, etc.

Make Sure The Website Is Legitimate

The Internet is full of scam platforms. However, there are simple methods to determine if a website is legitimate:

• Site age. Fraudulent resources, as a rule, do not exist for long. You can see the year the owner created the site at the bottom of the page, but it’s best to check the year the owner made the domain. Any whois-service is suitable for determining the age of a domain. If you see that the project allegedly existed for several years, and the domain was registered a few weeks ago, something is wrong here.
• SSL certificate. SSL certificate is documentary confirmation of the authenticity of the site. Certified web projects protect their traffic from being intercepted. Sites with an SSL certificate are marked in the browser with a closed padlock icon and have “HTTPS” already known to you in their name.
• Content and design. Large, expensive projects are created with great effort over considerable time. Their content and usability are usually thought out and worked out to the smallest detail. Beware of platforms with frequent pop-ups, clickbait headlines, and shocking materials. This indicates that the platform aims to attract your attention and extort personal data.

These three simple rules will help you avoid cooperation with scammers. Also, we recommend you bookmark legal websites to avoid being redirected to a fraudulent platform.

Check Online Reputation

Online reputation is an equally vital factor to consider when buying products abroad. Carefully study the company’s reviews, not only on the website itself but also on reputable review platforms such as Trustpilot or Sitejabber.

Feedback from real buyers will help you understand how successful their cooperation experience was, whether delivery is on time, whether payment methods are good, whether the order price is unchanged until the parcel arrives, and much more. Also, you will be able to take the precautions you need when visiting a foreign online store.

Conclusion

You may think that buying goods abroad is a complicated process. However, to safely and profitably buy the goods you like, you need to follow a few simple steps: download the VPN, check the legality of the platform, the availability of real discounts and price lists, read the privacy and return policy, and explore the reviews. We wish you a happy shopping!

Online Shopping From Different Countries: 7 Tips For Buying Unique Products

Online Shopping On Foreign Platforms: 7 Tips For Security And Finance

Today, the Internet gives us many opportunities. We can work, study, socialize with friends, and shop overseas just by sitting on the couch at home. Online shopping gained momentum at the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic and still does not lose popularity.

You can buy everything online: food, clothes, household appliances, and even choose and order a car. The advantage of online shopping is the wide selection of goods from different countries. However, purchases on foreign platforms have many pitfalls. Therefore, we have prepared practical tips on how to buy international products safely and cheaply!

Use VPN

Using VPN apps while shopping online has several benefits. First, VPN creates a secure network. Public Wi-Fi networks are the easiest way to get your data. Information passing through such a network is not encrypted, so any hacker can steal data, intercept cookies and gain access to your account. However, a hacker cannot see this information when you use a VPN because your information is passing through encrypted networks.

Secondly, VPN for Chrome helps you get great deals. It is no longer a secret that some stores offer Apple gadget users higher prices than Windows or Android users. Also, the price may depend on your country: your IP address is tracked whenever you visit the online store to provide information based on your location.

However, if you decide to set up a VPN Chrome extension, you can shop at great prices. For example, buying air tickets, hotel rooms, or theater tickets is much cheaper for natives than for foreigners. Just select the desired location and move virtually to the chosen country.

Choose Safe Marketplaces

When unsafe visiting marketplaces, your banking and personal information, passwords, online history, and even correspondence with friends are at risk, hackers can resell this data to advertising firms or use it as extortion. So make sure you visit encrypted sites with “HTTPS” and not “HTTP.”

Such a seemingly insignificant ending with one letter, “S,” is crucial. Websites with “HTTPS” provide a secure connection and carefully encrypt user data. Thus, to be aware of scams, it is essential to follow these letters.

Check Prices

Do not rush to confirm the order after examining only the basket filling. Take a few minutes to ensure that the product’s price in your shopping cart matches the price on the website. Also, check customs fees, shipping costs, and other taxes – perhaps these amounts will exceed the cost of products, and then the purchases will not be profitable.

Hasty checkout also leads to problems with paying for additional products. If you confirm the order, it will no longer be possible to add other products to it. As a result, you will have to go through the same procedure and double the shipping costs. On most platforms, fees are calculated according to product size and weight and may vary from country to country.

Check Privacy & Return Policy

Please read the website’s privacy policy carefully to prevent your privacy from being hacked. Such a document means a policy regarding the processing of personal data. In other words, the company guarantees that it collects your data solely to provide high-quality services and does not transfer it to third parties. The absence of this document indicates the fraudulent actions of the platform.

Also, don’t forget to check the return policy. This document will let you know on what grounds you can claim a refund or return a product. The return policy must necessarily include a refund for defective goods.

Use Coupons And Great Deals

Isn’t it great to shop your favorite products at affordable prices while discovering fascinating discounts, coupons, and great deals? However, not knowing how to analyze discounts leads to the fact that you can quickly become a victim of scammers.

We’ve all heard about Black Friday, the year’s biggest sale. However, the “up to 80%” discounts that enchant customers are often not real – sometimes goods at normal times cost the same or even cheaper. What to do to avoid being scammed?

If you plan to buy goods at the best prices on Black Friday, make a list of necessary purchases in advance, indicating the costs, and see how the price of the goods you like has changed. This will allow you to evaluate the actual size of the discount provided by the store. The same algorithm is applied to other holidays: New Year, Christmas, Halloween, etc.

Make Sure The Website Is Legitimate

The Internet is full of scam platforms. However, there are simple methods to determine if a website is legitimate:

• Site age. Fraudulent resources, as a rule, do not exist for long. You can see the year the owner created the site at the bottom of the page, but it’s best to check the year the owner made the domain. Any whois-service is suitable for determining the age of a domain. If you see that the project allegedly existed for several years, and the domain was registered a few weeks ago, something is wrong here.
• SSL certificate. SSL certificate is documentary confirmation of the authenticity of the site. Certified web projects protect their traffic from being intercepted. Sites with an SSL certificate are marked in the browser with a closed padlock icon and have “HTTPS” already known to you in their name.
• Content and design. Large, expensive projects are created with great effort over considerable time. Their content and usability are usually thought out and worked out to the smallest detail. Beware of platforms with frequent pop-ups, clickbait headlines, and shocking materials. This indicates that the platform aims to attract your attention and extort personal data.

These three simple rules will help you avoid cooperation with scammers. Also, we recommend you bookmark legal websites to avoid being redirected to a fraudulent platform.

Check Online Reputation

Online reputation is an equally vital factor to consider when buying products abroad. Carefully study the company’s reviews, not only on the website itself but also on reputable review platforms such as Trustpilot or Sitejabber.

Feedback from real buyers will help you understand how successful their cooperation experience was, whether delivery is on time, whether payment methods are good, whether the order price is unchanged until the parcel arrives, and much more. Also, you will be able to take the precautions you need when visiting a foreign online store.

Conclusion

You may think that buying goods abroad is a complicated process. However, to safely and profitably buy the goods you like, you need to follow a few simple steps: download the VPN, check the legality of the platform, the availability of real discounts and price lists, read the privacy and return policy, and explore the reviews. We wish you a happy shopping!