Indeed, we must pay close attention to the guarantees we are given, to potential scams lurking around the corner , and to what we are entitled to if the purchase goes badly. Precisely because of these difficulties, online purchases are still viewed with suspicion in our country. This article offers a brief guide to understand what to do if you decide to purchase any item or service online.
Why buy online?
What are the reasons for avoiding going to stores and touching the items we want to buy? Why, perhaps, deprive ourselves of the pleasure of “real” shopping? Obviously, online shopping shouldn’t be considered the only alternative to physical purchases. It’s a real option, and in some ways advantageous, but it should only be chosen in certain cases and avoided when the item requires careful consideration and in-person observation. For example, online shopping is recommended when:
- you don’t have time to go around real shops , due to work reasons or various commitments
- in real stores we don’t find exactly the item we’re looking for
- we want to save on a large purchase, and we already know all the precise characteristics of what we want
- Never before has limiting gatherings been more mandatory due to COVID-19, making online shopping a viable alternative to in-store shopping. It avoids crowds and reduces the risk of contagion.
Advantages and disadvantages
If we’re careful and follow a few precautions, buying online has very few disadvantages . The most obvious is that you won’t be able to touch the item you’re buying (if it’s an item), but if it’s a product you’ve already seen in person in a physical store, the only risk is that it might arrive damaged or ruined, in which case there may be some form of guarantee available.
Among the advantages of purchasing online:
- visit different stores and evaluate features and prices from the comfort of your own home
- Book and print flight and train tickets without having to go to a ticket office or travel agency, even on Saturdays and Sundays
- find great deals , with advantageous discounts
- order versions of items that are not carried in physical stores .
Among the disadvantages of purchasing online:
- suffer possible phishing or spoofing attacks , which have the aim of stealing money from our account
- not being able to see and touch the object with your hand
- receive a damaged item
- having to wait a long time for delivery at times
- having to pay shipping costs
- You risk paying for an item that never arrives ; for this reason, it is important to carefully inform yourself about the guarantees offered by the seller.
What to buy online
But what can you buy online? The answers are many, and they don’t just concern objects, but also services. You can buy:
- train tickets
- plane tickets
- clothing, shoes and accessories
- furniture and furnishing objects
- buy computers, TVs and everything related to technology
- home appliances
- music, in the form of mp3s to download or CDs and DVDs to physically deliver to your home
- books
But it is also possible:
- order and pay for groceries, to be delivered to your home
- pay for travel and hotel reservations
- pay for reservations for films to see at the cinema
- Get quotes and purchase car, motorcycle, and home insurance
- Through eBay or other sites such as reverse auctions, you can buy the strangest things, from cars to agricultural machinery, from small household objects to antique furniture.
Where to buy online
When talking about online shopping, we can mean two categories of “virtual places”:
- on auction sites, where you can find really advantageous offers; the most immediate example is eBay
- e-commerce sites, which are actual virtual stores, or an integral part of physical stores, which also sell online.
In the first case, the guarantees to be sought are of two types:
- those provided by the auction site, very solid
- but even more so those provided by the seller, who will be physically responsible for the shipping and good conservation of the item.
In the second case, guarantees are to be found solely in the conditions of sale and certifications of the e-commerce site.
Where to buy books online?
But what do people buy online? From user behavior, we’ve seen that three product categories are most frequently searched for and purchased online: books, clothes , and especially shoes .
Let’s start with books . Countless users search for (and buy) them online. The latest estimates suggest that the market for online book sales has grown by as much as 20% in the last three years. This is a staggering figure, which almost seems to counter the trend of the many (too many) physical bookstores closing every year in our country. What is certain is that buying books online is absolutely advantageous for users. And while many argue that Italians “don’t read” or “still read very little,” e-commerce data regarding online book sales seems to confirm exactly the opposite.
Italians still read; they probably read different things than in the past. Not just classics, bestsellers, famous authors, and hyper-hyped titles; but also motivational books, training courses, and niche topics that we’d never have the opportunity to see in a brick-and-mortar bookstore or even a supermarket.
The advantages of buying books online are numerous:
- You can choose calmly by reading plots and user reviews at any time of the day or night
- they are received directly at home (in fact they arrive by courier and all we have to do is put them back in the bookshop);
- Before purchasing them, you can read the reviews left by users who purchased the book before us.
One of the other advantages of selling books online also applies to small publishing houses and so-called niche books. On the web, which is a window to the world, every title enjoys equal visibility; indeed, if young authors are dynamic and have some social marketing savvy, they can “make a name for themselves” by experimenting online with minimal investment compared to the traditional advertising channels that traditionally promote emerging talent. The web, however, hasn’t only brought advantages to online book purchasing. There are also some significant disadvantages. Let’s see what they are:
- Too many titles. With the advent and explosion of the internet, publishing a book is very—too—easy. Even on Amazon, you can publish your e-book with just a few clicks. This means there are many more titles on the market than in the past, probably at the expense of editorial quality that isn’t always excellent. Therefore, it’s essential to choose carefully.
- Goodbye to the paper book. Online book purchasing has led to a near-exponential rise in the sales of e-books. Old-fashioned physical bookstores and printed books have therefore inevitably suffered a period of crisis. However, this seems destined to be short-lived; true book lovers, in the long run, seem unable to give up the smell of paper altogether.
At this point, however, let’s try to understand which are the sites where it is best to buy books online:
- Amazon.it
- Mondadori.it
- Feltrinelli.it
- IBS.it
- hoepli.it
- Habenooks.it
These are, without a doubt, the most comprehensive and secure sites where you can buy books online.
Where to buy clothes online?
As mentioned, clothing is one of the most popular product categories online. The world of e-commerce dedicated to the sale of clothing has become boundless. All major fashion brands (as well as smaller, medium, and small ones) now have a virtual store that is an integral part of their business strategies. In recent months, with the coronavirus outbreak, online sales of clothing (and more) have literally exploded, so much so that even those who hadn’t yet done so rushed to set up their own online store in record time. Buying clothes online has therefore become incredibly easy and has become a daily habit, like going to the supermarket to buy groceries or simply to the hairdresser for a blow-dry. The habit of purchasing clothing online—although more slowly than in the rest of Europe—has also become ingrained in the lifestyle of Italians. Not without reservations. Indeed, there are still many people who prefer physical stores to virtual ones; Yet, as always, the virtual store must be considered an additional opportunity, for both buyers and sellers. From the perspective of the user, purchasing clothes online offers numerous advantages:
- You can buy anything right from home, so there’s no stress about finding parking downtown, no confusion in stores, no lines at the checkout. Which is no small feat these days.
- You can often find a wider selection than in a physical store. You can find everything online, and with just a few clicks you can switch from one brand to another, from one style to another, from the comfort of your own home. In-store, however, the choices are often limited and limited to the collections chosen by the store owner, who doesn’t always buy what his customers expect.
- The products arrive directly to your home, thus also avoiding the weight of bulky and heavy bags to carry up to the apartment!
However, as often happens online, all that glitters is not gold. When buying clothes online, first and foremost, it is essential to buy from secure sites . In recent years, in fact, especially thanks to sponsorships on Instagram and Facebook, Chinese clothing sites selling clothes as if they were quality items have literally exploded. Let’s be careful!!! First of all, it should be said that not all Chinese sites are bad ; for example, you can buy safely from sites like Alibaba, Shein, or Wish . They are Chinese sites, but they are very reliable. This is why by purchasing from these sites you will never run the risk of paying for goods that will never be delivered, and, furthermore, you will not be “swindled” by the image of the products; on these sites you buy things for what they really are. Another Chinese site that is very popular in our country is the popular Zaful . We don’t feel like giving you a completely positive review of this one . It seems that returns are not quick, and the refund process appears cumbersome and often very long. Furthermore, Zaful plays a lot on its image; Products are often presented so beautifully that they tempt users to buy immediately ; however, when the products arrive, they never live up to expectations. The discrepancy between the virtual image and the actual product is too great, and for this reason, we do not recommend purchasing from this site.
If you’re not interested in buying clothes from Chinese sites, we recommend some truly incredible Italian e-commerce sites , both for the selection available and the excellent quality of their service.
- luisaviaroma.it . As far as we’re concerned, it’s a veritable temple of online fashion. An endless selection of brands and categories make this famous Florentine store a veritable guru in the world of online shopping. As Italians, we should be proud of such an offline-online combo. Truly excellent.
- ventis.it . Less luxurious, more affordable. An excellent e-commerce site with a truly diverse selection of brands and categories. Quality and service are excellent here too.
- Mytheresa.com. Luxury, but not only. A now extremely popular e-commerce site where shopping is a true pleasure. You can shop based on selected looks or specific needs (for example, there are selections based on events you’re attending and looking for the perfect outfit for, from a wedding to a cocktail party with friends), but you can also shop by brand, product category, or even by color and trendiest products. A selection and product filter that we find truly useful to avoid getting lost in the depths of the web.
If you are looking for e-commerce sites specializing in the online sale of clothing, we also recommend other e-commerce sites that are now very famous in Italy, but of Central European origin:
- Zalando , an e-commerce site born in Germany, is now a true benchmark for online clothing shopping. Zalando is versatile, extremely easy to use, and completely secure. Consider that major brands entrust their collections to Zalando because its visibility surpasses that of many well-known brands.
- Asos. A selection of brands for him and her and a vast assortment of clothing for curvy women and pregnant women. The products are in a medium-low price range. An e-commerce site for users who aren’t looking for luxury brands, but for good-quality, fashionable pieces. The quality/price ratio is consistently excellent, along with one of the best services available on any e-commerce site. Asos has practically everything!
- Bonprix. German inside and out. This e-commerce site was among the first to specialize in online clothing sales. Today, it has lost some of its appeal, partly due to increasingly fierce competition. However, it has perfectly positioned itself in a niche of sellers of affordable clothing and accessories for men and women. The products are casual and affordable, perfect for those with modest expectations who still want to shop. The site is easy to navigate; payment is completely secure, and the service is—as with all German portals—absolutely excellent.
How to pay for online purchases
How do you buy online? How do you pay? Obviously, not in cash, or rather, not in all cases: sometimes you can buy cash on delivery, that is, by paying in cash upon delivery of the item, but not all sites offer this option. Otherwise, there are essentially three ways to pay for online purchases:
Credit card
The classic option, the most convenient but also the most feared, because if our data falls into the hands of criminals, the risk of theft is high. In fact, according to data collected by the Postal Police, it appears that thefts are more likely to occur when using a credit card in a store than online. However, there is still considerable mistrust. However, if you are the victim of theft, it is a good idea to check your online statement daily and activate the SMS alert service every time you make a purchase with your credit card. You must dispute the theft immediately because, according to Article 56 of the Consumer Code, Legislative Decree 206/2005, the issuing institution must refund the “stolen” amount by re-crediting it if the payment was made by someone other than the cardholder. Furthermore, e-commerce sites offer various guarantees to protect the buyer who uses the credit card, which among other things has no “top-up” costs, as instead happens with prepaid cards.
Prepaid card and Postepay
For example, the Postepay is a rechargeable card, in some ways more secure against theft, since the amount loaded onto the card is the actual purchase limit. However, a prepaid card is only suitable for those who use it infrequently, as it incurs top-up fees (even though there are no annual fees, unlike a credit card) for each transaction, which could significantly impact the final price of purchases. These cards work very simply, like cell phone top-ups: they have a one-time activation fee, and then you top up the card with the desired amount.
These cards can be used like regular credit cards, making purchases and spending, but only up to the amount currently available. Once the balance is exhausted, the card is blocked until you deposit more money. If the card is lost or stolen, or even if its access code is transferred online, a thief or cybercriminal can only spend the amount deposited on it, without being able to affect your bank account in any way, which remains completely isolated from the card. These are safe and relatively convenient tools, but they must be carefully monitored to avoid having too much money on your card when you don’t need it, or, conversely, not having enough to make purchases when you need it. Some cards of this type can be topped up online using home banking-style logins.
The Poste Pay mentioned earlier is now accepted by most e-commerce sites, while for other cards, I recommend checking with your bank to see if they’re enabled and accepted by sites that allow online purchases. Paying by credit card costs you nothing, unlike a bank transfer, which has a fixed fee.
PayPal
It’s a payment method available on several e-commerce sites, but not all, and on eBay. You can open a free PayPal account on paypal.com by entering your personal and credit card information one time, so you never have to re-enter it again for each purchase, as your PayPal account is directly linked to your data. To make payments, you only need to know the seller’s email address; the buyer will only have the email address and physical address to deliver the item; thus, you protect your privacy and credit card information from the seller. The final advantage of PayPal is that there are no fees for the buyer (though there are some for the seller).
Bank transfer
A bank transfer is a form of advance payment . You place your order online, and they send you an email with all the order details and their bank account details, which you need to transfer the money to. You can then choose whether to go to your bank or use your online banking account (if you have one) to make the transfer. You then send the payment details to the seller, who verifies the transfer and, if everything is OK, ships the goods. There’s no risk whatsoever for you, and neither is there for the seller (the only unfortunate thing is that you’ve made the transfer to a scammer who takes your money and disappears, but that’s quite rare). However, the entire process can take several days before the goods are shipped. Be very careful when making international transfers. The fees Italian banks typically charge for these transfers, even if they’re always in euros, are extremely high—in some cases, I’d even say stratospheric. So check carefully in advance how much this game will cost you.
Western Union
Western Union is one of the oldest money transfer companies in the world and operates in almost every country in the world. Payments can be made at the usual branches located throughout the country, such as Mailboxes etc. in Italy, or online on their website. To make payments with Western Union online, you must register on the site and enter your credit card number. Naturally, both here and on PayPal, you can also use a prepaid card or a PostePay card.
Mark
Some sellers also accept cash on delivery, but this payment will obviously be increased by additional collection fees. Each online seller typically explains their payment rules in detail on a dedicated page: I recommend reading it at least twice and paying close attention. One final note: never send cash in an envelope, even by registered mail. You will have no record of the payment.
How to proceed with online shopping
To ensure your purchase is made with complete peace of mind and avoid potential problems such as theft or undelivered items, you need to be careful and check certain information. For e-commerce sites, the following steps are necessary:
- We check the seller’s reliability ; at the bottom of the homepage there is usually a section called “Terms and Conditions”; by clicking on it we should find all the information on the security and guarantees offered to us by the company that publishes the site.
- We keep the address and telephone number of the virtual store’s registered office at hand
- Let’s check with a fake purchase , that no special costs are added to the price of the item and the shipping costs, which would then make us spend more than we had budgeted for
- We visit forums and other sites where people talk about the online store where we want to buy, to see if other people have had positive or negative experiences with that same company, regarding reliability, delivery times, the condition of the items delivered, etc.
- After having checked all these things and having seen that the information received satisfies us, we fill the “cart ” with what interests us and proceed with the purchase.
- We enter our data at checkout , which corresponds to the “cash register” stage: to deliver the item and to issue the mandatory transport and sales documents, it is necessary to provide personal data and, for payment, those relating to the card.
- We check that we have entered the data correctly and take note of the order number, so we can monitor it while waiting for delivery.
- Finally, we further check the company by clicking on the padlock that appears in the browser window, at the top of Safari and at the bottom of Internet Explorer and Firefox. We should obtain further information on the virtual store we are trusting, information certified by companies that ensure the regularity of e-commerce sites; these are digital certificates, to be compared with the information initially searched for in the terms indicated by the company itself.
- If the address of the site where we are purchasing is characterized by https at the beginning of the link, instead of http, it means that we are using SSL , meaning we are communicating with the company in complete security, protected from prying eyes.
Once your purchase is complete, you should receive a confirmation email with all the information you need to track your delivery.
If we’re buying on an auction site, we need to check the security and guarantees offered by the sellers, i.e., the individuals behind the nicknames. This is usually easy to do by monitoring the so-called positive or negative feedback left by other users who have dealt with that seller; this feedback (or comments) serves to verify the reliability of the sellers and buyers.
Communicate your credit card details online
When we pay by credit card or prepaid card, we are asked for some data relating to it:
- card number, usually indicated on the front
- cardholder
- card expiration date, also usually indicated on the front
- security code , CVV2 or CVC2: found on the back of Visa and Mastercard credit cards, while for American Express it is found on the front, top right.
With credit cards, you can activate passwords through your bank for further checks, but these can only be used on certain e-commerce sites.
Links to useful websites
eBay
www.eBay.it
The most famous online auction site.
BestShoppin g
www.bestshopping.com
A site where you can compare the best prices on electronics and more.
PayPal
www.paypal.com
The site where you can activate your PayPal account.
Assicurazione.it
www.assicurazione.it
A site where you can compare the best online insurance deals.
Reverse Auction News
http://www.astealribassonews.it/
All the news and websites about reverse auctions.
Helpful tips
Learn more about this topic with our guide “Helpful Tips for Online Shopping”
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