Love doing your shopping online? Read this before you make your next purchase.
The Good Things About Online Shopping
I do almost 80-90% of my shopping online especially ever since I have had kids. Why? That is because it is so much easier (and often cheaper) to buy while you are sitting in front of your laptop or using your phone to make a purchase than to drive to the shops with your kids and shop around. Just a click or two and you're done!
On the other hand, when you go to the shops you end up spending and buying twice more than what you actually wanted. And of course, if you have kids with you, you are unnecessarily adding more toys and junk food to keep them quiet and let you shop around in peace. It obviously takes much longer too.
And the Bad...
So if you're someone like me who loves to do most (if not all) of her shopping online either for the sake of convenience, variety or cost-effectiveness, you'll be annoyed to know that many of your buying decisions are wrong. You make those decisions based on the pictures and mostly on the product rating and reviews. However, the pictures you see are photoshopped to make them look extra-good and those positive reviews (and sometimes negative as well) on the products you buy are often fake. Grrrr!
And how do I know that? Being a freelance copywriter, I see job requests around all the time where my clients are willing to pay me to write 5-star reviews for the products they sell online on platforms like Amazon or eBay. You will be surprised to know that some of these clients go to even greater heights to have negative reviews posted on their competitor's websites to make their own product stand out. Yes, this is true! I have had such requests in the past so I know for the fact that this does happen. Even if there are a handful of such nasty people around, they still exist.
Obviously, writing a couple of sentences about the product is an easy job to do for many freelance writers out there and people who have no sense of work ethics are very willing to take up these jobs quickly for little money. For me, however, it is a big NO NO. "Sorry, but I am afraid I do not write fake reviews," I say to such clients as politely as I possibly can.
A Little Piece of Advice for Writers
While, I am always encouraging freelance writers to write and am always talking on this blog about the different ways to make money online, I definitely would not encourage you to do this. It is obviously very misleading and unethical. All those who are shopping online and cannot see or feel the actual product are very dependent on buyers' reviews to make a purchasing decision.
We, as buyers, see a well-rated product that looks good on the pictures and take no time to spend our hard-earned money on it. We wait patiently for the product to arrive and once it does, we eagerly open the package only to find out that it was not what we expected. Complete and utter disappointment!
And for the Online Shoppers
Even if we see an item sold online has 99% positive reviews, we still will remain unaware of how many of these are trust-worthy. May be we can read those 1% negative reviews to find out the actual flaws in the product before making a purchasing decision the next time you shop online. Also, I would strongly recommend that you read the refund and returns policy of the store before making any purchase. If the store you are thinking of buying from does not accept returns or charges you for returns, it would be a good idea to look up for the same product elsewhere with a better returns policy. Check the time frame you are expected to return the product by to claim a full refund. So just in case the product that arrives does not live up to your expectations, you can return it for a full refund in good time.
Good luck shopping online!
The Good Things About Online Shopping
I do almost 80-90% of my shopping online especially ever since I have had kids. Why? That is because it is so much easier (and often cheaper) to buy while you are sitting in front of your laptop or using your phone to make a purchase than to drive to the shops with your kids and shop around. Just a click or two and you're done!
On the other hand, when you go to the shops you end up spending and buying twice more than what you actually wanted. And of course, if you have kids with you, you are unnecessarily adding more toys and junk food to keep them quiet and let you shop around in peace. It obviously takes much longer too.
And the Bad...
So if you're someone like me who loves to do most (if not all) of her shopping online either for the sake of convenience, variety or cost-effectiveness, you'll be annoyed to know that many of your buying decisions are wrong. You make those decisions based on the pictures and mostly on the product rating and reviews. However, the pictures you see are photoshopped to make them look extra-good and those positive reviews (and sometimes negative as well) on the products you buy are often fake. Grrrr!
And how do I know that? Being a freelance copywriter, I see job requests around all the time where my clients are willing to pay me to write 5-star reviews for the products they sell online on platforms like Amazon or eBay. You will be surprised to know that some of these clients go to even greater heights to have negative reviews posted on their competitor's websites to make their own product stand out. Yes, this is true! I have had such requests in the past so I know for the fact that this does happen. Even if there are a handful of such nasty people around, they still exist.
Obviously, writing a couple of sentences about the product is an easy job to do for many freelance writers out there and people who have no sense of work ethics are very willing to take up these jobs quickly for little money. For me, however, it is a big NO NO. "Sorry, but I am afraid I do not write fake reviews," I say to such clients as politely as I possibly can.
A Little Piece of Advice for Writers
While, I am always encouraging freelance writers to write and am always talking on this blog about the different ways to make money online, I definitely would not encourage you to do this. It is obviously very misleading and unethical. All those who are shopping online and cannot see or feel the actual product are very dependent on buyers' reviews to make a purchasing decision.
We, as buyers, see a well-rated product that looks good on the pictures and take no time to spend our hard-earned money on it. We wait patiently for the product to arrive and once it does, we eagerly open the package only to find out that it was not what we expected. Complete and utter disappointment!
And for the Online Shoppers
Even if we see an item sold online has 99% positive reviews, we still will remain unaware of how many of these are trust-worthy. May be we can read those 1% negative reviews to find out the actual flaws in the product before making a purchasing decision the next time you shop online. Also, I would strongly recommend that you read the refund and returns policy of the store before making any purchase. If the store you are thinking of buying from does not accept returns or charges you for returns, it would be a good idea to look up for the same product elsewhere with a better returns policy. Check the time frame you are expected to return the product by to claim a full refund. So just in case the product that arrives does not live up to your expectations, you can return it for a full refund in good time.
Good luck shopping online!
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