Many sites "fool" us by many false innovative claims for promotion of not so good products, nowadays. We are easily attracted to such products gorgeously displayed. We are glibly tempted to get one soon. Then, actually seeing the real worth of the product, we end up in frustration, because of not only the loss of money, but also the tiresome hassles we run through in delivery etc. Finally, we develop an indifference, if not bitterness, towards on-line shopping as a whole. Sometimes, at the mention of on-line shopping, we become haunted with unforgettable experiences of a few such sites we had dealt with. Are you visiting online sites confidently?
Yet, I do not fail to see that many people are lazy to do sufficient research before trying online retailers. It is hard to find any good independent traders online especially. What is the way out for online shoppers, then?
Here comes a credible solution to online shoppers: 'E-Malls'! What is an E-mall? It is the online equivalent of a standard shopping mall physically. E-malls give customers only reputed agents / retailers and their service is rated by the consuming public on a module of various performance parameters. These ratings from online shopping customer feed-backs are dynamic and they assess and evaluate the product and the retailers on an ongoing basis. These ratings have also the passive power even to penalize the retailers and the products, if not up to the e-mall's standards. This I experienced earlier in Tripleclicks when I was a seller of old books. Many other e-malls like Amazon, eBay, Best-Buy, Gap are following best business practices.
A conglomeration of retailers from all around the world giving various products, of all categories, best price offers at a single place is remarkable. It is an amazing virtual market of global dimensions. Thanks to internet and e-malls, our shopping style today is changed far from the age-old customary way our grandma's and great grandma's followed.
This E-mall way, I am shopping for the past 5 years with confidence gained from my personal experiences and from other resources in internet. You can shop next time boldly, gaining from my personal experiences.
Details Of Site's Existence / History:
A site that is online for at least 3 years is a good site. Some sites get closed down after 1 or 2 years in business. Swoopo is one such sites. They initially offered fantastic deals but what use if they closed business all on a sudden! Search for good sites is a tedious process, done and redone without good results. Why unnecessarily waste your energy and time?
Out of my long and laborious probes online and hard experiences, I find that Tripleclicks' parent company, SFI, has been in business for 14 years online. They launched Tripleclicks in 2009. It is growing rapidly with 1.7 million members and is a well established e-mall.
Details Of Site's Navigation:
How easy the system is to use and find your products is most crucial. When you find difficulty in downloads or error messages or find it messy with irrelevant information, again you waste time. Any site which is easy to use, quick to load, and simple in presentation of information is a green signal for you.
Though Tripleclicks loading time is quite slow, its logo is a tell-tale to show how facile it is.
Details Of Site's Contact Information:
Are they available for support and queries? Do they resolve our tickets immediately? Do they have active support features to quickly address our problems?
Tripleclicks always value its customers great. I have my own support tickets resolved on time mostly or within 48 hrs. They can be contacted via phone, fax or postal mail. Their 24 hrs support center and frequently asked questions (FAQ) are extraordinary sources we can avail of.
Details Of Site's Refund Policy:
Have you ever physically touched and senses any online products just you do in a physical store? No, is n't? So, it is essential that you study the refund policy before buying anything online. Refund within 30 days or more is great.
Tripleclicks has merchants all around the globe. They all do not have a uniform policy. If we purchase any product, the product details, shipping and refund policy are displayed in their respective tabs along with graphics and ratings. Each merchant's policy varies accordingly. Most come with a 30-day money-back guarantee. Once I was not happy with a travel mug I purchased from an ECA of tripleclicks. As per the return policy, I got my money back minus 15% re-stocking fee. Truly stated policies and no rules bending, here. You can contact the respective seller from the link provided in the product page itself.
Details Of Your E-mail Address:
Safe sites always ensure your privacy and confidentiality. Tripleclick sites show us privacy statement saying "your mail address or your personal details won't be sold to any third parties. We respect/value your privacy."
Shopping by mobile turns out to be a risky proposition nowadays. Shortened URLs tricks us into visiting harmful sites. I find public Wi-Fi access convenient initially. Avoid using public networks as they allow casual hackers and identity thieves to collect your information (password and credit card number). Social networking sites too pose a risk by getting malicious messages from fraudsters.
Tripleclicks is a gem of marketers. So far I didn't receive any junk or bulk mails or any kind of nuisances.
Details Of Site's Delivery Mechanism:
Are you able to choose your own date and time to receive your product? Do the retailers have this option before check-out? Do they deliver at weekends? How do you receive your product? Either on hands or simply you open the door to see your new product crying for attention?
In Tripleclicks, almost all merchants want excellent ratings and feedback from customers. So, they give particular attention from sourcing to delivery of their products to the customers, after-sale complaints, returns, attending customer calls etc. Apart from Amazon, this is the only other site I am much pleased and happy to shop with. For this reason alone, I will not go to any other site in future. I recommend this to my family, friends, relatives and word-of-mouth to my colleagues. I am writing here to make other worldwide shoppers aware so as to take a correct decision while choosing a site for happy shopping.
Details Of The Order Placed Via Confirmation E-mail:
Repute companies usually send an e-mail, confirming the product we ordered or a thank you letter, or alleviate our anxieties by messaging the exact date and time the ordered product will be shipped to us.
In Tripleclicks, whenever I order a physical product, I get 2-3 series of mails confirming the arrival, say, if shipped, "you will be receiving within 3 days". They do exactly what they say. For any mishap, there comes an apology letter for inconvenience and a strong assurance that this won't happen again. A thank you message followed whenever I received safely. I have to give my feed-back about the product as well as the seller. If unsatisfied, again there are excellent follow-up mails. All these vouchsafe greater customer satisfaction. Try for once: you will be amazed by their customer service.
Details Of Gift Packages:
A Gift Item Of Tripleclicks
If you order gift items, see the seller's packaging details. If not, contact the seller immediately before your purchase and know exactly the packing material, type, instructions if any etc.
For instance, if you buy flowers, look if they are selling in vase, wrapped or in box. Got any flower care instructions? Is it fresh or wilted?
In Tripleclicks, I have seen products come with packaging details mostly. Personally I haven't bought any vase or bouquet for gifts. So, I am not so sure about this.
Details Of Your Payments:
You need to buy from a secure site. See the complaints at other sites, you will be amazed with the nature of complaints. Mostly payment insecurity and shipping. These two are the major setbacks that force the companies to lose its loyal customers. Once a customer is frustrated after a second incident with the same company, once for all the company loses a prospective buyer.
I see these 3 things. Shipment, customer handling / support, payment options. Only secure sites address the above 3 problems. At eBay, I am amused at the way they handle customers when returning a customer call. Though customer care feature is there, they don't respond to us gently and politely.
When you order a product or get into site's homepage, you can see a lock with https:// This means your details are encrypted so that no hacker can steal your information. Most merchants display shields from security companies like Verisign, GeoTrust, Comodo, and Entrust.
Tripleclicks is safe for you. In addition they are an A+ rated member of Better Business Bureau (BBB). Hence all of their business practices are ethical and safe. Otherwise they would not have been in business for 14 years and more than 1,768,500 members, 98210 products and services. Agree? They have customer-friendly payment options. More than 50! Plus you can pay directly to any of the sellers there via Direct Local Pay option. So sweet when I sampled.
Details Of Your Credit Card:
Reputed and responsible companies show concern for our safety and thereby set up a great security system.
Tripleclicks use high-security Verisign encryption and verified by GeoTrust and other security measures too, to ensure your transactions are safe, secure and private. Therefore shoppers can buy with confidence in Tripleclicks. Verified shields are displayed at homepage of the site.
You can visit tripleclicks without revealing any personal data. While your IP addresses are logged (to track a user's session), you remain anonymous. This tracking is to find your area, browsing time, type of computer and the operating system you use, but not to get personal information. They ask email addresses only from members who purchase products and those who sign up for their mailing lists. Your SESSION is tracked but you are ANONYMOUS.
They use my e-mail only to send me information which I requested or to confirm my orders. When I order a product / service from a seller, they are provided with my email address, phone number and shipping details in order to contact me about the order placed.
If you like to unsubscribe from their mailing lists which you previously subscribed to, you can do it simply with the directions given in bottom of your email.
The credit card information is retained for a period to allow for the possibility of credit being posted to your credit card for a product being returned.
They ask for phone numbers on order forms to contact us about our order. Tripleclick's privacy policy is "We NEVER sell, rent or loan our list of customer phone numbers, nor any other information about customers". Tripleclicks holds the privacy and security of their site customers in the highest regard.
Details Of Negative Reviews:
Every company, even reputed ones, are subjected to criticism at one or other. Take a look at forums and complaint / review sites. Some companies which we rate 'good' by our own experience are marked 'poor' by others. We are puzzled after reading all. We aren't in a position to make a right choice. Are you?
I personally consider reviews as 'bad' only when:
- Users citing not received their products
- Money not refunded
- non-returned phone calls / support
To know about a company review, try Alexa.com. Type in the address/URL of a site to check. You will be given an in-depth details about the site.
We don't expect them to be perfect; but we expect them to fix things when they go wrong. Being on par in terms of price and quality gets a business into the game; service wins the game. Good service in my opinion is good business. Moreover, Tripleclicks donates a portion of their revenue to International Charity, CARE. There is a spiritual aspect to our lives - When we give we receive - When a business does something good for somebody, that somebody feels good about them.
What BBB Advises For Cyber Monday Safe Shopping Tips
I always prefer a unique password to minimize my chance of identity theft. Try avoiding your initials, birthdays, addresses, phone numbers or even pet names.
If you prefer credit card for your payment, check your credit card liability. Many card providers give you zero-liability, to mean, when your card information is stolen and misused, you won't pay anything. Paypal also gives you refund for any unauthorized purchases. But charges are time-driven. So check out your financial statements often and not monthly.
In case you like to hide your identity from site users who use cookies, try anonymizer.com or Guerrillamail.com which allows you to create a temporary email address lasting for just 1 hour.
Previously, I got a few fake invoices and delivery notices from cyber criminals which appear exactly like real merchants. Either they request my billing information or ask me to open an invoice attachment. Be alert. Trust your instinct. Don't become a victim! BBB also warned customers that no legitimate sites will ask you for follow-up financial information.
Sites like eBay, Amazon and Tripleclicks allow you to rate the sellers, based on their quality and service provided. You can easily identify which sellers are best by seeing the ratings below their details. Also, every product has reviews from buyers. Check it so that you have before-hand product performance. By this way you have both seller and product credentials before you buy.
An Eca Rating Of Tripleclicks
(5) ECA Rating
Don't give your social security number during checkout process as it is a scam site, warns, Adam Levin, the founder of credit.com and identity theft 911.
In the arena of business, we, consumers, are Kings. We have our rights protected. If we face delayed deliveries, shipments, defectives, misrepresented information from merchandisers, Better Business Bureau recommends us to cancel any order or get refunds. You have 7 days legal right to return even a faultless product for a full refund (including outward delivery costs) under Distance Selling Regulations.
By the way I like to listen to music while shopping. Do you?
Believe me the music which I hear in Tripleclicks is awesome. I have never heard before from any other site or anywhere. If you too are fond of music, I request you to listen to new upcoming artists in Tripleclicks.
Don't miss my additional savings tips, read here.
Life is nothing but change alone. We cannot simply follow a monotonous one. Either we should change or nature will make us change. Try until you succeed in your life. Do not be too timid and squeamish about your actions. All life is an experiment. The greatest failure in life I consider is the failure to try. You may be disappointed if you fail. But you are doomed if you don't try.
My best wishes for your shopping goals.
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