Items You Should Never Order or Purchase Online

E-commerce is one of the technologies that has made life very much easy for human beings.  It all started in the 1980s but experienced it rise in the 1990s when platforms like Amazon and eBay revolutionized the commerce industry.

By the help of this technology, we all can now buy and sell from our comfort zones. But there are stuff that are not advisable to purchase online. Especially when purchasing from e-commerce stores.

Although there are now terms and conditions like the “return policy” on most e-commerce platforms that favour customers to return purchased items online if they do not reach their expectations.

There are sometimes, cases that you cannot return the item, especially when shipped and delivered from abroad.

This article is here to help enlighten you on some stuff you need to avoid or prevent purchasing online. Or even if you are going to purchase these stuff online, do well to purchase them on their manufacturer’s official website.

Like when purchasing a Samsung pen-drive or memory card online, do well to purchase these items on Samsung’s official website.

Stuff You Avoid or be Cautioned when Buying Online

1. Storage devices (Pen-drives, Hard disk, Memory cards etc.):

Storage devices simply termed as devices used to store information or files for future use. It’s number one (1) on the list because, it’s one of the stuff that can be easily duplicated and is very popular.

On almost all e-commerce platforms, there are numerous vendors selling these fake storage devices. When we say fake, what is mean here is, these storage devices are not up to the sizes or storage capacity that these vendors claim.

An example is, you can purchase a pen-drive thinking it’s 64 GB pen-drive, but its original size is 16 GB or even less not even up to 1 GB.

So you will notice that, you claim your pen drive’s storage capacity is 64 GB but can not store a movie that’s 2 GB. This is popular on e-commerce stores that have the large number of vendors from Asia and Africa.

The reason you should avoid buying these stuff on popular e-com stores is that, stuff sold on there are mostly by individual vendors. In this case, you might buy one which is legit or original today and the next day, you will be duped trying to purchase the same thing.

When wiling to buy storage devices online, we will recommend you purchase them from their original manufacturer’s business website. Example, if I’m willing to buy a Samsung pen-drive or memory card, I will visit Samsung official e-com store and then purchase it there.

Or else, buy them physically, in stores where you can return them if you encounter problems after purchasing.

2. Jewelry (Bracelets, Wedding, and engagement rings, Bracelets etc.):

If care is not taken, you can purchase fake jewelries for thousands of dollars online. Just like you can purchase fake storage devices, the same applied to jewellery. Purchasing online, you do not have the chance to hold or touch what you are willing to buy, the only thing you get access to is a picture.

And stuff like this will be very complicated when you decide to return them after purchase because you feel they didn’t reach your preferred expected. Some of these jewellery items you must avoid purchasing are;

i. Watches:

Most vendors on popular e-com stores sell fake gold and diamond watches. People are always lured with the high quality images that are used by these vendors to sell these items. Our advice is, if the vendor is not a verified or trusted one, do not purchase stuff like this from them online.

And also if the watch you are willing to purchase is from a popular brand, you can try getting it on their official business website. Buying it else where on the internet is at your own risk, the probability for it to be fake is approximately 90%.

ii. Engagement rings:

You shouldn’t avoid purchasing only watches online, you should not do same when it comes to engagement and wedding rings. Almost half of the wedding rings sold online are fake.

If you are still willing to purchase them online, try buying a used or pre-owned ones. For this, the probability for it to be original is high, and its price may be low and compared to new ones.

iii. Bracelets:

Just like other jewelries, most bracelets on e-com stores are mostly fake.  Whether it being diamond or gold, it can be fake. To purchase a bracelet online we will recommend you buy a pre-owned one.

You can get pre-owned items to buy on eBay, the popular e-com store where almost half of auctioning done online take place.

How to notice if a Jewelry online is fake?

The first thing to check is it price. Price because, these vendors reduce the prices in other to catch the attention of customers. Our advice is you should consider checking reviews from past buyers or the vendor if there is any.

3. Brand Watches (Casio, Patek Phillipe, Zenith, Seiko, Hublot, Rolex, Cartier, Michael Kors etc.):

Purchasing of watches from popular brands online should also be avoided. It’s just like buying jewelry, the probability for you to buy the fake one is very high most often. Sometimes, buying these items physically you can still buy a fake one imagine buying it online then.

The best way to purchase watches from popular brands like the above listed is by purchasing from their official business e-com website. In example, you can purchase your Christian Dior watches from Christian Dior e-com store.

Not an e-com store that accept vendors all over the world. Although in cases like this the watches you will find there have low prices, but the probability for it to be fake can be more than 90%

4. Brand Shoes or Sneakers (Gucci, Jordan’s, Clark’s, Timberland, Prada, Christian Dior, Fila, Vans etc.):

Almost half of people who wear fake sneakers will tell you they purchased it online. Buying items by popular brands on e-com stores is very risky. Because of the popularity of these items, they take huge advantage of it by using quality and ye-catching pictures to lure customers.

Mostly, these items appear to be affordable, some prices of these items can be very, very low. An example is purchasing a Jordan 1 for $150 or let’s say a Nike air-force for $80. It’s definitely going to be fake.

And with items like this, it mostly cannot be returned after it been delivered. The best way to purchase these items is by visit their official business websites and purchasing them there at their actual prices.

Brands like Balenciaga, Polo Ralph Lauren, Prada, and many others have their own e-com store where you can purchase them.

Or you can try buying from an e-com store own by an individual, thus, they do not allow other vendors to register and sell there. Everything sold there is owned by themselves, here they will try to sell quality stuff in other to gain customers.

5. Brand Clothes (Ralph Lauren, Levi Strauss & Co, Nike, Tommy Hilfiger, Louis Vuitton, Chanel, Guess, Calvin Klein, Gap etc.):

Purchasing brand clothing for both genders and children, one has to be cautioned. Especially buying from e-com stores that lodges vendors from all the part of the world. The probability for you to get buy a fake brand clothing is very high.

If you are willing to purchase stuff like, a brand Jeans, T-shirts, Pull-overs etc. we advise you visit their official e-com store. All try e-com stores that do not allow variety of vendors from different part of the world.

Clothing we will advise buying online are non-brand clothing like summer tops, plain tops and others.

6. Furniture (Tables, Office Tables, Chairs, Sofa etc.)

Last on our list is furniture, with furniture you won’t be buying a fake but rather furniture smaller than you expected. And sometimes some have poor durability but not most often.

But with furniture’s, what happens most is you’ll purchase a table or sofa and then when it’s delivered, you realize it smaller than what you expected. Sometimes, the details given by vendors may not be accurate.

This why, you visit some e-com stores, and you see some furniture like office table that is just $90 or less. Most of them are very small and few of them have poor durability.

For purchasing items like furniture online, we prefer you do that with caution or even visit furniture companies or websites that write reviews about furniture, so you can be referred to a legit e-com store.

To conclude,
E-commerce has done a lot of good to mankind since it’s rise in the 1990s but also has its own disadvantages that if one is not cautioned, he/she can lose money or purchase fake items.

But, purchasing online, the only thing you have access to is the picture and details of what you are willing to purchase. And sometimes there are no reviews to help you know what people think about that product.

The best thing to do is to avoid purchasing some stuff online or try to visit the manufacturer’s website to get these items.

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