Online Shopping
Introduction
Shopping on the internet is becoming more and more popular. Products are
often cheaper online and some people like the convenience of having goods
delivered directly to their door.
Why is it cheaper?
The main reason certain goods are cheaper online than they are in store is that
the companies specialising in internet sales have less overheads than companies
focusing on high street sales. ‘Overheads’ is a term that describes the costs a
company incurs in selling its’ product. For example, a high street shop will have
to buy an expensive shop in town, pay high business rates, employ staff, spend
money making the store look nice, deliver all of the goods to the store etc.
Whereas an internet company can buy a cheap warehouse out of town, employ a
minimal amount of staff and only have to spend money on making a website
look nice – far cheaper than making a shop look nice. If a company has less
overheads it can afford to sell its’ products cheaper and still make a good profit.
When you are considering buying something have a look around
the high street shops; this enables you to see the product properly
and get a proper feeling for whether it is right for you before you
make any decisions to buy. Once you have decided on the product
you can then go online to find the best price – this can often save
you a lot of money, especially with electronic goods.
To find out how much the website charges for delivering the goods.
If the delivery charge is too high it may be cheaper to buy the
product in a store. However, some websites offer free delivery if
you spend over a certain amount.
What can I buy online?
You can buy almost anything online. Most high street shops have internet sites
and they often have special discounts or offers for buying goods online. The
major supermarkets have online food shopping with home delivery and you can
quickly compare supermarket prices online to make sure you get the best deal.
You can book hotels, trains, planes, holidays and, depending on where you live,
even order takeaways online. You can also use auctions sites like Ebay to buy
and sell second-hand goods. You can pretty much find anything on Ebay.
How do I find what I am looking for?
You will normally search for goods using a search engine such as Google or Ask
Jeeves. You can search by general product name, i.e. ‘fridge’, to get lots of
different sites selling fridges or you can enter particular makes such as
‘Hotpoint’, or even enter a specific model number such as ‘WLM540p’. Once you
have decided on a particular product you can use price comparison websites to
find the cheapest online store to purchase the product from.
For a complete directory of price comparison websites covering
almost every product imaginable visit:
http://paler.com/price_comparison.html
How do I pay?
Most online shops require payment via debit card or credit card. However, some
sites accept online payment systems such as Paypal. With Paypal you can add
money from your bank account to an online account, which you can then use to
pay for things from online shops.
When buying goods using a credit card you are protected by
Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act. This means that if the
goods you buy are faulty or are not supplied you can claim
compensation from either the supplier or the credit card company.
For a credit card company to be liable, the cash price of the goods
or service must be over £100 and under £30,000 and there must
be a claim for breach of contract (or misrepresentation) against the
supplier. If these requirements are satisfied, you then have a claim
against the supplier and/or the credit card company.
(Source: BBC. (2005). Liability of credit card companies. Available:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/consumer/guides_to/credit_liability.shtml. Last accessed
19 May 2008.)
Is it safe?
If you take a few simple precautions there is no reason why shopping online
shouldn’t be as safe as buying something from a catalogue or any other kind of
shop. Before you buy, have a good look around the website you’re thinking of
buying from. If you are uncertain as to whether it is genuine, do a quick Google
search to see if you can find any information about the site or company.
How can I make sure it is safe?
It is easy to set-up a fake shopping website, but any decent and genuine
shopping website has certain features that you should look out for.
These include:

Information such as address, telephone number and email address. This
information may be kept under a section called ‘about us’ it may also
include a brief story about when / how the company was formed.

Secure shopping. This normally means that after you have added items to
your shopping cart you can then click ‘pay’ and be directed to a secure
website. Your browser may inform you that you are being transferred to a
secure area of the website. When you are using an secure area your web
browser will show ‘https://’ rather than the normal ‘http://’. The ‘s’
informs you that the connection is secure. Secure connections ensure that
no one else can see the payment details that you enter when paying for
the goods.

Websites should tell you how much it will cost to deliver the goods (prior
to buying them) and how the goods will be delivered.

They should also give you full details of whether they accept returns or
offer any refunds. The same should apply to any warranties or guarantees
that might be applicable to the goods they are selling.

They should have a privacy policy telling you what happens to any
personal details you give.
Anything I shouldn’t do?

Never send your card details by email for any reason as emails are not
secure.

Never reveal your login details for any shopping website to anyone –
otherwise they’ll be able to log in and use whatever card you have got
registered with that site to buy things.

Never buy things that are advertised via email unless you have signed-up
to receive emails from that company. Most ‘spam’ (means unwanted)
emails are designed to get your card details by offering you bargains that
do not exist. Also ignore any emails pertaining to be from your bank that
ask you to verify your details – banks will never do this. If you fill in your
details you will simply be handing your money over to criminals.
Do I have any rights?
When you buy goods from a trader, such as a shop, market stall, garage, etc,
you enter into a contract, which is controlled by many laws including, the Sale of
Goods Act 1979 (as amended by the Sale & Supply of Goods Act 1994 and the
Sale and Supply of Goods to Consumers Regulations 2002). The law gives you
certain implied, or automatic, statutory rights, under this contract.
The Sale of Goods Act 1979 (as amended) says that goods should be as
follows:

Of satisfactory quality.
This means the goods must meet the standards that any reasonable
person would expect, taking into account the description, the price and all
other relevant information. In some circumstances, the retailer may be
liable for any statement made by the manufacturer about the goods.
Satisfactory quality includes the appearance and finish of the goods, their safety
and durability and whether they are free from defects (including minor faults)

Fit for the purpose
that goods of this type are generally sold. They must also be fit for any
specific or particular purpose made known to the seller at the time of the
agreement.

As described
- goods should correspond with any description applied to them.
(Source: Trading Standards. (2004). Trading Standards and Consumer Protection Information for
UK. Available: http://www.tradingstandards.gov.uk/cgi-bin/calitem.cgi?file=ADV0043-1011.txt.
Last accessed 19 May 2008.)
You are also entitled to a few more things including:
 clear information about the goods you are buying
 written confirmation of your purchase, which most companies send via
email
 something called a ‘cooling off’ period, which lets you cancel your order
and get your money back without having to give a reason
 a full refund if your goods don’t turn up by the date you agree or within
30 days if you didn’t agree a date.
What about buying from abroad?
The internet gives you access to goods from all over the world – many of them
at very tempting prices. However, there are many things to consider when
thinking about purchasing goods from abroad.

You need to be certain that the goods you are buying will work in the UK.
For example certain technology products and things like DVDs have
different standards or systems and are often not compatible with other UK
devices.

If something goes wrong with whatever you’ve bought, will the guarantee
(if any applied!) be valid in this country and is there somewhere you can
return it over here rather than having to send it back to where it came
from (at your expense).

The delivery fees are likely to be hefty.

If you are buying from outside of the European Union you will probably
have to pay customs duty and VAT on top of the price you are paying for
your goods. The way duty and VAT are added to a product can make the
purchase very expensive. For example, if you bought something for £100
and paid £25 delivery the total value of the import will be £125. HM
Revenue & Customs then calculate the duty on this amount. So if the duty
rate was 10% then you’d have an extra £12.50 added to £125, making
£137.50. VAT is then calculated on top of this, so you’ll normally pay
17.5% on £137.50. This makes your total cost £161.56! Import Duty and
VAT is payable by the physical importer (the person who delivers the
goods) so you’ll normally be contacted by the shipping company who will
tell you that your goods have arrived in the UK and are ready to be
delivered to you, but they won’t send them until you have paid them the
Duty and VAT – otherwise they’d be out of pocket!
Phone the National Advice Service on: 0845 010 9000, they can
give you the Duty and VAT rate of imported goods. You can then work out
whether buying goods from outside the EU is still a good idea!

It is not always obvious that you are buying from abroad so check with
the website about where it will be sending its goods from and how much
it will cost.

Make sure the website sells to UK citizens – some American websites only
accept payments from a credit card belonging to an American address.
Shopping online – the benefits and drawbacks
Benefits
There are lots of benefits to online shopping:


you can do your shopping from a computer without actually having to
leave home!
You can shop when it suits you, for example, late at night rather than
when normal shops are open.
Your notes:
List 5 further benefits of online shopping:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Drawbacks
Online shopping does have a number of drawbacks:

You need access to a computer.

You usually need either a credit or debit card to buy anything.
List 5 further drawbacks of online shopping:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.