WASHINGTON — If you still have holiday shopping to tackle, you’re in good company: with just two weekends left before Christmas Eve, industry insiders expect Saturday to be one of the busiest shopping days of the year.
While plenty of those purchases are happening without ever leaving the couch, consumer watchdog groups say it’s still important to navigate with caution. Along with simply going to a retailer’s app or website, these are some other ways vendors are getting products to customers— and what to know about how to shop smart.
SOCIAL MEDIA SELLERS:
See a favorite influencer talking about a favorite new product? Or a retailer you follow posting about their holiday gift guide? Making it yours is often just a few thumb-taps away now, because platforms like Instagram and TikTok have made it easy to go ahead and buy products within the app. But in these cases, especially if it’s for a business you’ve never heard of or done business with before, experts at the Better Business Bureau recommend opening up a browser window anyway.
“Social media has made it really easy for these impulse purchases,” said Kelsey Coleman with the Better Business Bureau. “We are really encouraging folks, especially here at the holiday season when we're all doing a lot of online shopping, to really take your time to take in to check out the vendor. We want to know who we're going to be giving money to and what that product is, especially online. It's really hard to really get a good feel when we're just scrolling on our phones. We need to make sure we can take the time to to research the company, read customer reviews about the products, check out any BBB complaints to see what others are saying and what their experience has been with the quality of the product, what the return process was like and everything in between.”
Search the name of the store to find customer reviews related to quality, shipment time, and return policy—all much more important than how the gift looked on Instagram, when it comes time to actually to give the gift.
“DROP-SHIP” RETAILERS:
Sometimes vendors advertise products that aren’t actually in their inventory at all: “drop-shipping” is an increasingly popular way for retailers to sell products, only ordering something from a manufacturer–usually overseas–once a customer has placed an order.
“It's not necessarily that the product isn't legitimate. It's that we want to make sure that the quality of that product is good because in this case, the vendor never really ever has the product,” said Coleman.
Once again, do some research on the retailer before buying to make sure the company is reputable, and that items arrive are as pictured and on schedule.
Coleman recommends a Google search of the retailer, plus words like “reviews” or “complaints,” to learn about others’ experiences with shipping time, quality, and return policies.
"You want to make sure that there's also a working phone number," said Coleman. "If you do call that phone number, is it a live person on the end? Are you able to get in touch with someone if something goes wrong?"
VENDORS THROUGH ONLINE PLATFORMS:
Online marketplaces like Amazon enable all sorts of businesses to sell their stuff — as you know by now, make sure to check reviews, with a skeptical eye, before you buy.
“Again, proceed with caution," said Coleman. "You get a little bit more protection with buying something on a site like Amazon. But you do want to be very careful and do your own research on the particular vendor that even if they're selling on something like Amazon."
NO MATTER THE SELLER...
It's especially important to protect your wallet when making online purchases.
“You want to make sure that you know you're always making the purchase at a secure website. Look for that https. Meantime, you're giving over your personal information, your credit card information. You want to make sure that that website is secure. Also, using your credit card, you do have more protection there. If something does go wrong, as opposed to the digital wallet apps, you know, Cashapp, Venmo, Zelle, those you don't necessarily have the same protection that you do with your credit card.”