subject: Online Offers Are There To Stay, Buy, But Dont Get Trapped [print this page] The advantage of online shopping is you can do it anytime you want. Whether it is midnight or early hours dont matter. The other advantage is you save money traveling and of course the time. There are still lots of advantages, like for example the freedom to compare hundreds of products and services. However products can be a little difficult to order online because you cannot touch or feel them, whereas for services you have no such restriction. Service providers know that, and that is the reason why they come up with online offers more frequently. Online offers are usually cheaper because stores dont have to spend money on realty and salesmen, and dont have to stock goods either.
But before you order something online take care to see that you dont fall into a trap. The 5 traps that you have to stay away from are: offers of freebies, offers of heavy discounts, deferred payment benefits, free shipping and low price offer. Merchants and businesses are not there to give you freebies after freebies for nothing. Somewhere they have to make a profit to remain afloat and it has to come from people like you remember. That is not to say that offers and discounts are unreal, sometimes it comes from genuine needs like for example getting a good share of the market. So just be prudent, that is all to it.
Here is how the top 5 online traps work:
a.Offers of freebies: Nothing in this world is free, that is for sure. Here is how it works for the sellers. You will be offered one free of the same kind against your purchase. You fall for it. The important thing you forget is the price you paid for the first purchase was twice the normal market rate. No doubt you can use the second one as well, but why pay for it when you do with one?
b.Offers of heavy discount: No merchant will sell goods without a profit included. So all this talk of discount is illusionary. If the discount is 50% then understand that the price marked on the products have been inflated by 100%. You think that you have a real bargain, but the fact is you will have been enticed to buy more than what you had planned. The extra purchase if you did is usable but why put your money into it right now.
c.Deferred Payment Benefits: Merchants know very well that their money is recoverable from you if your credit card is good standing. So they will offer not to bill you for several months. You fall for it because your card has already reached its maximum. That way you have lost your power of bargaining as well. You will be billed later, but remember the amount will include interest charges as well. You lose and the merchant wins.
d.Free Shipping: The last time you made a bargain purchase from a different merchant and you ended up paying a lot more than you bargained on transportation. You got annoyed the last time, so you think this offer of free shipping is right for you. In the melee you dont pay attention to the marked price. You dont pay for the shipping, but the merchant charges you for packing and forwarding. That is shipping charges siphoned without your knowing it. Again you lose and the merchant wins.
e.Low Price Offer: The price is so low that you get carried away by the offer. You think that prices cannot be any lower than that. You presume that shipping is not going to be much until the goods have arrived at your home. Either you pay the inflated shipping charges or return it back refusing to take delivery. Both ways you are a loser. The two-way shipping charges eat away every cent you paid, the merchant gets back his goods, but you end up with empty hands. Who wins? Guess.
by: nathanbrown
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