What are the potential risks of buying on e-commerce sites?

Online shopping and retailers have experienced rapid sales growth and online traffic in the past few years. Almost half of the population has shifted from the traditional methods of shopping to online mode. Online shopping has both merits and demerits, considering various factors involved in the shopping process. Even the trust and credibility of customers lie in between. Some are completely positive and relaxed about online shopping and criteria, while many others are concerned about the associated risks in online shopping. E-commerce sites may guarantee you the safe payment, checkouts, and shopping; still, there are some risk factors associated with the given process of online shopping. 

Online shopping may not always be safe and secure as we think of it to be. Still, there are some perceived risks in online shopping that every customer needs to be aware of. Staying careful and attentive is one of the best ways in minimizing risks in online shopping. Online shopping is not about selecting and ordering the products, but it involves customers’ trust at the sake, reliability of the seller, and an online payment process.  

What are the different types of risks involved in Online Shopping? 

Online shopping cannot be considered as a 100% safe site. There is no guarantee about the site’s legitimacy, which could also sell you low-quality goods online. Many different types of perceived risks in online shopping pose threats to your privacy, credentials, and trust. It is important to remain completely aware during the whole process of online shopping.  

1. Phishing Fraud:

Phishing fraud is amongst the most common risks in online shopping. Owing to its potentially damaging effects on the consumers, phishing is amongst the top concerns of these online shopping scams. 

      It tricks the users into leaking their personal information, credit card details, and id passwords by sending them fake messages or emails claiming reputable companies. The foremost step in minimizing the risk of online shopping is protecting your data. Do not click on unwanted links or open up unnecessary attachments from unknown emails. You should try to protect yourself from phishing scams as you are on the verge of privacy leaks. 

2. Fake Online Reviews:

Paid followers and likes are no new term in technology and online life. Recently there have been increasing incidents of fake reviews of the products over some sites or applications. Customers usually try to buy the things after first reading its reviews and analysis by many customers. But these days, the reviews are paid and fake to increase the sales of the product. This tricks you into buying things of low quality and unauthorized sellers. Online shopping is full of risks, from buying fake products online to delivery risks in online shopping. 

3. Malfunctioning and crashing of software: It is common to observe that while your payment is being processed, the online payment system and the page come crashing down. Due to this, your payment may get stuck in between, and you may also lose your money. The crashing of internet service providers is amongst the perceived risks of online shopping. Users must be careful of these things and avoid making unnecessary and large payments through online portals that are not trustworthy. Risk management in online shopping involves taking care of system crashes, viruses and malware, fake promotions, and sales. 

4. Fake goods and promotions: Many online sets sell up counterfeit goods on their online portals. Fake goods provided by these sites are low in quality and do not have a verified barcode mark to recognize the company’s credibility. Most of the time, nutrition products and branded clothing are fake and overpriced. They do not have a proper bar code and are inferior in quality. Therefore you should always purchase products from a reliable source or official retailers online. Do not get trapped into these cheap game tactics. 

5. Scams:

The risks of online shopping do not stop here. We are always at risk of falling prey to lies, frauds, and bogus sales. These messages include meeting a single set of conditions to avail of the following products. These deals and offers are entirely false, fake, and insane. They fool you into sending messages to ten groups and increase their revenue by traffic on their domain. You should be very careful about these scams and avoid falling prey to their tactics. Risk management in online shopping includes fair judgment. Everyone should remain attentive, cautious, and smart enough to figure out any of the fake deals. 

What are the ways of minimizing the risk in online shopping?

Minimizing the risk of online shopping involves the following steps:

• The first step for risk management in online shopping is protecting your device. You should make sure a proper security plan or application is installed on your phone, which would keep your device virus and malware protected.
• Be cautious and try to be aware of fake online sites or counterfeit products.
• Do not click on unnecessary links and don’t open the attachment files available on the emails sent.
• Make your wifi connection private as if your ISP is visible, you will be at the verge of privacy leaks.
• Always prefer shopping from reputable companies or online sites.
• Managing the delivery risks in online shopping and ensuring proper customer support.

Benefits of Online Shopping:

• Convenience
• Time-saving
• Comparison and real-time rates
• Easy to track the orders
• Comfortable and inexhaustible
• International as well as domestic reach.
• Doorstep delivery
• choice and variety is increased

Conclusion:

Risk management in online shopping is solely dependent upon your awareness and protection efforts. If you are willing to minimize the risks in online shopping, you should follow some preventive measures. Make sure your credentials are well encrypted and protected. Download a proper antivirus software in your device to avoid any malware attack. One must take care of all the risks involved from fake and counterfeit goods to the complete delivery risks in online shopping. Let us hope you enjoy your online shopping experience and be careful about the given risk factors.