With no crowds to avoid
Online shopping is an easier way to find gifts for your loved ones
The end of November is rushing towards us and Christmas is just around the corner. You may be anxiously anticipating the festive season but first you’re going to have to partake in another holiday ritual, which is buying presents for your friends and loved ones.
Faced with holiday shopping you’re going to have to make a choice. Will you venture out in possibly nasty weather to browse for gifts among frantic hordes of harried shoppers, or will you do most of the shopping while sitting at home?
For numerous people this will be an easy decision. According to statistics at the Canadian’s Internet Business site (http:// canadiansinternet.com) 10 percent of all retail sales in December 2015 were online, with a quarter of those purchases made using a smartphone. A further incentive to shop online is that Cyber Monday, with tremendous deals at tons of internet retailers, falls on November 30 so you can combine shopping for gifts with getting something for yourself.
Internet shopping may have many advantages but there are some serious unwanted consequences to the surge in online Christmas shopping. This is the time of year when the number of spam emails, phishing attempts, and malware infections reaches a peak (http://tinyurl.com/hsomhhu) and you should keep your guard up when searching for deals and special gifts.
A good rule is to never open an unexpected attachment and avoid clicking on links in spam messages, especially those offering goods at unbelievably low prices. Otherwise you could end up at a fake website masquerading as a legitimate merchant, a website loaded with malware, or a site selling cheap imitation s of quality brands. Instead, either type the address directly into the browser or search for the merchant’s official site, and never download software that a site claims you need to see the deals.
Only enter your credit card details at a site which uses encryption. You’ll know that a website is using encryption security if its internet address begins with “https” instead of the usual “http,” and it will have a closed padlock in front of it.
For more security you can get a private PIN that must be entered before an online credit card transaction can be com- pleted. The number is known only to you and the bank and the merchant never sees it. You can register online for a Mastercard SecureCode (http://tinyurl.com/ ygbqpev) or the Verified by Visa service (http://tinyurl.com/ y93u6cv) but be careful to record the PIN and store it safely.
When dealing with online merchants I always click on the “contact us” or “about us” link to make sure the retailer is not shipping from outside Canada, which could involve hefty shipping, brokerage, and customs duties. I also prefer to deal with a merchant with a phone number in case I need service or must return something, such as the laptop I ordered online that arrived equipped with a Chinese- language version of Windows.
Many large retail chains will let you order and pay for something at the company’s website, but pick the item up at the local store. The benefit is that a defective or unwanted gift can be returned to the store instead of dealing with the hassle of mailing it back.
Finding the lowest online price can be automated by using a comparative shopping site such as Shopbot (www.shopbot.ca) or ShopToIt (www.shoptoit.ca) which will list the lowest prices at several online Canadian retailers along with links to the websites.
Even if you prefer to shop the traditional way the internet can make the whole process more efficient and less costly. Before venturing out of the house check the websites of several retailers to compare prices and often you can check inventory online to find out if a local store has the product in stock. Many online retailers have buyer comments and ratings and ConsumerSearch (www.consumersearch.com) collects reviews of products from numerous sources, summarizes them, and provides recommendations. It seems almost unbelievable, but it’s estimated that 35 per cent of shoppers use social media to find recommendations and deals.
Happy holiday shopping!
Ray Saitz, a Peterborough resident and teacher, writes a regular column on the
Internet. He can be reached at rayser3@cogeco.ca