With ecommerce not quite hitting off the Philippine market just yet, a lot are still skeptical with making their first online purchase. This is mostly because of the proliferation of scammers and bogus sellers. Some groups and forums have even been specifically created to identify these scammers and prevent fraud, but others keep popping out. Here are a few tips which you might find useful:
1. Always, always, always check your seller. Get the photo, full name, contact numbers and address. Check their personal Multiply site, Friendster, MySpace, etc. Google their names and see what comes out.
2. Ask for their TIN number or if they have a BIR-registered business. You can search and verify the business name in the DTI database. Businesses are required to disclose their TIN number in receipts so the seller should not give an excuse that it's "confidential".
3. DONT rely on feedbacks alone. Feedbacks can be faked, believe it or not, and I've seen this on eBay. Gather your information firsthand.
4. Make sure that the seller details provided to you are existing and personal. Personal meaning it is their own, and not some other person's.
5. Once you've decided to make your purchase, choose your mode of payment. Ask yourself first how much risk you're willing to take, then you can think about convenience. Again. Assess the risk first before thinking of the convenience.
a. GCash - unsecured. Payments are sent like SMS. And like text messages, once sent, you can't retrieve it or cancel it.
b. Smart Money - unsecured. Just like GCash.
c. Bank Deposits - relatively secure. You have the seller's bank account details which you can use to trace the seller and report him and his account as fraudulent. Cons: may take a while to get your money back.
d. Xoom - relatively secured. Payments can be cancelled as long as the payment has not been picked up yet.
e. PayPal - most secured. Make sure your seller has a VERIFIED PayPal account. PayPal offers Buyer Protection Program where you can refund your payment when a claim against the seller has been filed.
6. Ask for documentation. As with BabyUno's practice, everything is documented from the Order Form, Order Information, Deposit Confirmation, Full Payment Confirmation, Order Arrival Notification, Order Shipping Notification and Order Received Confirmation. Keep all these documents safe and secure.
SO WHY DOES BABYUNO ENDORSE PAYPAL?
1. PAYMENT VIA CREDIT CARD
With big purchases like pumps and sterilizers, it is sometimes best to pay via credit card. PayPal allows payment via credit card without disclosing your credit card details to the seller. You can pay using your Visa, Mastercard, Discover and American Express credit card.
2. BUYER PROTECTION PROGRAM
If a purchaser pays a verified merchant or verified consumer with PayPal, and fails to receive the goods, PayPal will reimburse the purchaser for the amount of the goods - this is tremendous protection, since the purchaser normally wouldn''t have this level of consumer protection when using a check or bank debit. PayPal honors credit card chargebacks, as well.
3. EASY PAYMENT SYSTEM in 3 STEPS
a. Sign up for a PayPal account, if you don't have one already. This will take only 2 minutes.
b. Attach your bank account or credit card to your PayPal account.
c. Click on "Send Money". Type in the seller's email address: babyuno@live.com and the amount to send. Click on Send.
Overall
PayPal is an excellent system for both merchants and consumers. It''s a perfect solution. With superior consumer protection to credit cards, it makes real inroads into the Visa/MasterCard monopoly.
