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Know Before You Buy – a consumer guide to
making smart purchases onlines
Did you
know that in 2004, there were 207,449
complaints filed online with the Internet
Crime Complaint Center (IC3), a partnership between the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
and the National White Collar Crime
Center (NW3C). That number represents a 66.6% increase from the number of
complaints filed in 2003. Total dollar
loss was $68.14 million. In actuality, the
total number of fraud complaints and losses are much greater than 207,449 and
$68.14 million, respectively, because this number only represents complaints
filed with one agency.
Top 10 states where the domestic
perpetrators reside in according to the IC3 2004 Internet Fraud - Crime Report:
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California
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New York
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Florida
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Texas
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Illinois
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Ohio
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Pennsylvania
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Georgia
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New Jersey
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Arizona
This
article is not intended to scare people off the Internet or deter anyone from making
a purchase on the Internet. It is intended as a friendly reminder for consumers
to shop smarter on the Internet and not end up as a statistics.
Let’s face
it, Internet is a great place to shop. Prices at online stores are generally
much better than those found in brick and mortar stores. Internet also offers
an unprecedented amount of convenience for shoppers. You can shop 24/7.
However, Internet frauds are on the rise as can be seen from the above
statistics. So it is imperative to arm yourself with knowledge that can guard
against crooks on the Internet and not fall victim to their criminal
activities.
www.DiscountWatchStore.com is committed to doing what we can
to help fight Internet frauds because Internet frauds also cost merchants a lot
of money each year. In 2004, merchants lost $2.6 billion from online payment
frauds. That is why we have put together the following “Know Before You Buy Tips” to help you shop smarter and enjoy the
wonderful benefits that Internet stores have to offer.
Know Before You Buy
Tips
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Know the company that you are dealing with. Find out as much as possible
about the company. The first place to start is the company’s website.
Legitimate vendors generally provide a lot of information about their
companies, who they are and what they do. Check with third party sources
and agencies such as the Better Business Bureau.
-
Know the contact information of the seller. Make sure the company has a
phone number (preferably a toll free number), a working email address, and
a physical address. PO Boxes are not a good sign. Many website owners are
aware of this so they try to trick the consumers by using UPS Store
mailboxes or similar services and using the UPS Store address as their
business address. This is a very devious way of conducting business and
these companies should be avoided. An easy way to find out whether or not
the address that is provided on a website is actually an UPS Store address
is by click on the following link
http://go.mappoint.net/ups/PrxInput.aspx
and putting in the zip code from the address found on the
seller’s site and see if that address
matches any of the UPS Store address in
that area. If you have a match, then the suite number and the unit number
that is provided by the company is nothing more than a mail box number.
Hint: Email the company and see if you
actually get a response back and how quickly you get the
response. Also call the company and see if the phone
number works and see if you can talk to
someone.
Just doing these two things can give you a lot of information about the
legitimacy of a
company and what kind of service you might get from them if you were to order
from them.
-
Know whether the company has any on-site inventory by asking them where the
merchandise is being shipped from. Unless the company is really big, in
which case you probably know them or have heard of them anyway, it is
unlikely that the merchandise will be shipped from a different location
than the one that is provided on the website. If the merchandise is being
shipped from a different location, it might indicate that the seller is
using dropshippers, which are third party companies that help handle the
fulfillment portion of the business for the seller. These companies should
be avoided because by using a dropshipping the seller greatly reduces his/her
ability to provide good customer service. There are 3 parties involved now
and that complicates the transaction. The seller would not be able to
provide you with up to date information without first asking the
dropshipper for an update. Also the seller now cannot perform his/her own
product quality control. For example, at www.DiscountWatchStore.com,
we sell
fine watches at a discount. Every
watch and
accessory we sell is
inspected twice before they are shipped to the customers. The first
inspection is performed when we receive the
watches and
accessories from
our suppliers. After the first inspection, these
watches and accessories
are shelved. The second inspection takes place right before the watches
and accessories are shipped out to the customers. To us, this is a very
important function that we must perform. If you think about it, sellers
are like the last line of defense against defective merchandise for the
consumers. By using a dropshipping, the company cannot perform that duty.
If a company is using a dropshipper, it probably also indicates that
he/she has little or no inventory. Dealing with a company like that poses
a great deal of risk for you because this type of company comes and goes
quickly. Around the Christmas holiday season, we see a lot of these
websites. Sites that haven’t been around all year long suddenly appeared.
After the holiday rush is over, they are nowhere to be found again.
It is difficult to differentiate a reputable seller from a
crook, but it is not impossible. If you follow the above tips and do your
homework, we are confident that you will find a reputable seller to work with.
If you have any questions or have additional tips that should be included, please
email us at info@discountwatchstore.com
or call us at toll free 866-371-2330. Remember, we want you to use us not only
as a source for fine watches, but also as a source for information about watches
or about online shopping in general.
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