7 disadvantages of an Online shopping:
Online shopping is increasing each day. Now, people prefer online store over offline shopping, because of the ease and convenience it offers, availability of a wide variety of products on a single platform and also due to offers and discounts.
While online shopping has many advantages, it has also got its own drawbacks. Not every online shopper is happy with their online shopping experiences. You can say more than half of the online shoppers might face problems, while shopping online. In this blog, we will discuss various disadvantages of online shopping.
Disadvantages of online shopping
1. Frauds in online shopping
Fraud in online shopping is the biggest disadvantage of online shopping. Many people are attracted by great offers which seem too good to be true. Fake online shopping portals display some great products on the website and attract customers to buy the product. Usually, websites which sell fake products instead of the genuine article, do not accept cash on delivery and request customers to make an online payment. But, in the end, customers will either receive the fake product or they will not receive the product at all. There are many cases of cybercrime where customers debit or credit cards details are misused to make fraudulent transactions.
2. Delay in the delivery
In case of offline shopping, you can receive the product then and there. But, this does not happen in online shopping. Even though it hardly takes 10-15 minutes to buy the product online, by the time it reaches your hands, it would be more than 4-5 days. During the big sales, e-commerce portals may take too long to deliver the product.
3. You can’t touch the product
The sad part of online shopping is, you cannot touch the product and feel how it is. You can just see the image and read the description. Online shopping is not suitable for people who wish to buy the product only after trying it or by touching it.
4. You cannot bargain
Indians are good at bargaining. You can bargain only in case of offline shopping, not in the case of online shopping. In online shopping, you get cashbacks, discounts, and coupons, but this is not the same as bargaining. Trust me if one is good at bargaining, he can save a lot of money during offline shopping.
5. Hidden costs and shipping charges
When you first see the product on a portal, it generally looks cheaper. But when you proceed for the payment, the extra charges like shipping charges, tax and packing charges are added. These charges will make the product expensive vis-a-vis the local store. Some portals offer free shipping if you shop more than a certain amount. Sometimes just to avail free shipping, you end up shopping more than your requirement.
6. Lack of interaction
In case of offline shopping, sales assistants shower personal attention on customers and give complete details on the product. If you have any queries, you can ask right there. But, this does not happen in the case of online shopping. All you can do is see the picture and read the description. Some portals allow shoppers check the customer reviews.
7. Returning the product
There is an option to return the product, if you do not like it. But again, it is a big headache. The return policy differs from one company to other. In case of some online shopping portals, customers have to bear the cost of returning the product. If you return the product, you will not be paid shipping charges which you had paid earlier. If you are shopping for cosmetics like a lipstick, they can’t be returned.
Have a complaint against any company? IndianMoney.com’s consumer complaints portal Iamcheated.com can help you resolve the issue. Just visit Iamcheated.com and lodge your complaint.
Disadvantages of an Online Store2. We don’t have an urgent question in the online store:
Sometimes you need to ask about the product at the same time, in a traditional store you can easily get the information from the seller at the same time, but you usually have to wait at least 24 hours in online stores to get your answer. Of course, some gifted sellers in the internet world also offer instant chat to online shoppers.
