Shopping online or Blogshop shopping is definitely fast becoming the main shopping choice for many people, not only in overseas but in Singapore too. The Singapore physical shops have almost felt the heat and ever since have already thought of contingency plans by establishing their web presence.

Why does people liked to shop online these days? Is it because of laziness? I couldn’t stress that enough but I rather called it indulgence. Many people are faced with time constraints, the ability squeeze a schedule out of their hectic life to get something they want. The effort of quick price comparisons, unavailability of desired items in the retail stores and the restrictions of shopping hours convenience are all eliminated with the introduce of blog shop and online shopping.

But what make blog shop or online shopping easy should never be compromised with security and safety. So before you jump into the shopping online bandwagon, you must consider a few things to avoid frustration and monetary loss.

• Customer’s satisfaction and feedback is very important in determining if a particular blog shop or online shopping sites is worthy of your hard earned money. Ask your friend if they have any prior shopping experience with the respective blog shop or shopping sites to gather their experiences. Alternatively, you could use search engine like, Google, Yahoo! or the new Bing to search for the items that you plans to purchase, their offers and reviews.

• Many sites like emall.sg or bargaincity.com.sg offers price comparisons and reviews. You can use these sites to read reviews and to do price comparisons. greatdeals.com.sg publishes information on latest bargains, discount coupons, and discounts offered by various shopping online sites. Monitoring this type of sites provides opportunities to get great bargains.

• If you have to shop with an unknown blog shop or online merchant, check for their contact number at their website. Contact someone at the merchant’s physical location and talk to them. Ask them about their privacy and refund policy. If you cannot find a phone number or the blog shop does not contact you, go shopping somewhere else. There are dozens, if not hundreds, good online merchants for any items you want to buy.

• Be cautious before you reach for your pocket to purchase an item at an unbelievably reduced price, think about the reasons why the merchant is throwing out his profits. Maybe it’s a scam and they want your credit card number to rip you off. Stay with the big shopping online sites. Sites that are publicly traded or reputable private companies do not spam your email inbox with unsolicited advertisements. Beware of phishing sites and if you came across an offer that seems too good to be true, it probably is.

• Avoid using public computers at cafes, airports, etc for you online purchases. There is always a risk that others might install key-loggers to log your pin before they are encrypted. Meanwhile when you use your credit card, always make sure that your credit card and your personal information is sent using encryption to avoid someone intercepting your information for unauthorised use. One way to check for encryption is to look for https in the URL. Be careful for any weird or unusual URL, like numbers at the beginning of the URL.

• A credit card is always a good choice to pay for your online purchase, because most credit cards have online purchase protection. If you realised that something is wrong, you can always call your credit card company immediately and dispute the charge. Whereas a debit card is hard for you to recoup your losses as debit cards pull money from your bank account as soon as the transaction is made.

Enjoy Blog Shop and Online Shopping

We can go on and on about the preventive measures but it will defeat the purpose of explaining the benefits of e-shopping. While it’s always good to be extra caution at all transaction, we should not forsake the fun of shopping. One thing we knew for sure from online shopping is that we do not have to dress up, travel or mingle with other shoppers and touch anything in the store for shopping online.

Just follow the online safety tips and always be alert and vigilant of any latest scam, then you will be alright. Meanwhile, happy online shopping, shopaholics!