“A man will never love you or treat you as well as a store. If a man doesn’t fit, you can’t exchange him seven days later for a gorgeous cashmere sweater. And a store always smells good. A store can awaken a lust for things you never even knew you needed. And when your fingers first grasp those shiny, new bags…oh yes… oh yes.”                     

  -Rebecca Bloomwood, Confessions of a Shopaholic

The thrill of the hunt. The anticipation of the reward. The euphoria of acquisition. Don’t you just love to shop? Nope. I’m not a shopaholic. But I’m afraid that I’m heading there. Lol. But I would like to say I’m more of a careful shopper. The things I buy are “necessities” or “investments”. What’s wrong with having more than 10 pairs of shoes or more than 5 watches when they can be complemented on different outfits? I look for quality, price and need-slash-want.

But not all of my shopping experiences are good – some are bad and some are cached in “lesson learned”. Here are some of what I learned:

1. Be careful of scams.

Unsecured marketplace/community forums such as craigslist.org offer no protection to the buyer. There are a lot of scams happening in this kind of site. My motto is “If it’s good to be true then it’s false.” Interact only with locals and those with direct communication. It is better if you can pick it up and examine the item first before buying. Red flag anyone who’s offering a good price but is only available through shipping and payment through wireless transfer. Remember, most items here have no return/exchange policy.

2. Read the fine print of the store’s policy.

I usually go online shopping. I go for those with free shipping and returns. If there’s no free returns, I make sure first if I can return it in-store. That way I won’t have to pay for shipping fee. Take note of the allowable days for return, the condition of the item for return, and the credit type for return. Some stores require that the item should be in original packaging and sealed. Other stores can only give you store credit and not a credit back to your card. Electronic items usually have a restocking fee deducted from your refund.

3. Always save your receipt.

The receipt is your evidence that you purchase something. I always save it just in case I want to do return/exchange. Save also your return receipt so that if the credit didn’t go back to your card immediately you have that receipt to show the credit card company. I saved a 1-year old return receipt. The amount hasn’t been credited back to me and after a year I complained about the unrefunded credit. They were able to trace back the transaction by the transaction number I have in my receipt but unfortunately they cannot credit it back to me because they only have a 2-month policy for complaints.

4. Buy with confidence.

I love paypal and ebay. They truly protect both sellers and buyers. If you’re not satisfied with your purchase and it’s the seller’s fault for not being truthful, you can return the item and have your money credited back to you. Not only that if the seller proves to be problematic, ebay can suspend their account until your issue with the seller is resolved.

5. The problem with faux.

A lot of us like me try to look for an expensive item but has a lowered price. If it’s a very low price and you know that it’s originally expensive, chances are it’s fake. I can never tell which is fake though unless it’s staring at me straight into my face. A lot of items in Ebay sell fake fragrances, fake watches, fake electronic items, etc. 

The problem with fake items is…you get what you paid for. Don’t expect an electronic item to function without a hitch knowing it’s not branded. There’s also news that report about the ingredients of fake fragrances. It says that some contain urine in it for color and acidity. Fake fragrances can also cause contact dermatitis.

6. Did you purchase a return?

People exchange or return items frequently. Some will return an item after using it. Now the stores of course will not just throw it away. They can’t lose money so they return the items back to the rack. Reports show that lab findings in returned items include bad bacteria, feces, and other bad stuffs. Before you buy something, inspect it closely. At Macy’s, they stick a return label stickers on the tag for purchased items. Look for this to know if you’re buying a returned item. If you want it really bad and you don’t mind a little scratch here and there, ask for a defective item discount to get a good price.

7. New clothes NEED to be washed first.

Purchasing a new item doesn’t mean that the item is sterile and clean. If you smell them closely, new items have a bad odor. Like from the warehouse kind of odor. I bought something for my mom from Victoria Secret online and when the product arrived we oohhed and aaahhed over it. But when we put our nose onto the fabric, it smelled bad. Not human odor bad but it’s like delivery odor bad. These clothes are not exempted from germs or filth gotten from shipping, restocking, and handling so better wash it first before you wear them.

8. Online quality.

I always canvass items before I buy them. I find that I can get better and lower prices online than in-store. The problem with online items is first, you can’t inspect them closely or try it on. 2nd, usually it’s made from third-world country. If you don’t mind things made in China, then this wouldn’t be a problem for you.

One time my dad and I were searching for a wedding gift for my cousin. We decided on a cutlery set. We went to Williams and Sonoma and got a set that it’s Germany-made. It was expensive. Later, I went online to compare the price for that similar set. I saw a cheaper one but I have a strong feeling that it’s made in China.  A similar story is when I bought a good-priced Baby-G watch from Amazon. I thought Baby-G is Japan-made. But when I got mine from Amazon, I was disappointed to discover it was made from China.

 

I hope these tips can make you be a more careful shopper.

XOXO,

Shopaholic-to-be

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