3 Biggest Online Shopping Mistakes

Shopping online is perhaps one of the most wonderful parts of modern-day living. No longer do we have to get in our cars, bother with traffic jams, mall parking, or stand in long lines. Now, it’s as simple as sitting down at your computer or scrolling your phone and “adding to cart.” For a few bucks, or sometimes even for free, you can have something shipped directly to your house without having to get in your car at all. 

Besides the added convenience of being able to shop from home, there are also added savings. Oftentimes we can find much cheaper deals online than we would in local stores. Despite all of the wonderful conveniences of online shopping, there are plenty of risks and mistakes that can happen when ordering online. Here are some of the biggest online shopping mistakes you should avoid.

Choosing Weak Passwords

One of the most common ways that cybercriminals attack modern consumers is by stealing their passwords. If you choose a password that is easy to guess, then it’s not difficult for a cybercriminal to access your account and start ordering things under your name. 

So, while it might seem sentimental to choose the name of your grandmother living in an assisted living facility or your son’s birthday, these are often easy guesses for hackers. Ideally, you should use a password generator that can help you come up with a password that includes numerical and alphabetical characters. In short, the longer and more complicated your password is, the less likely it is that your account can be compromised.

Falling For Fake Sites

Unfortunately, in the world of online shopping, there are stores out there deliberately created to steal your money. If you find a website with prices and deals that seem too good to be true, then in some cases it’s very likely that they are indeed too good to be true. 

Carefully scroll the site and guarantee that the site is verified. Additionally, you may want to do an external search on Google and check for other users’ experiences. If a website is indeed fake, you’ll often find people flagging the website for suspicious criminal activity.

Not Reading the Fine Print

Many people make the mistake of relying on photographs alone when doing their online shopping. However, photographs can be deceiving and not always reliable. Take advantage of features such as online shopping reviews. Places like Amazon make it possible for consumers to read other purchasers’ experiences with the same product to help decide whether it’s the right purchase for them. 

In addition to reading product reviews, you should also make sure that you read product descriptions. You never know when something may look a lot larger in a photo when, in fact, it’s a miniature version. 

This is just one example of how a product may be completely different in reality from how it’s portrayed in the photo. In other words— read the fine print before you make a purchasing decision you’ll regret.