Once you have left the 3 fears that we have discussed before, it’s time to move on to buy your first computer component online.

If you’re buying for the first time, on online shopping sites, I highly recommend giving a test drive first.

7 steps to do a test buy on online stores?

Step 1:

Choose the site from which you want to buy a computer component

Step 2:

Now, once the site is chosen

Step 3:

Sign up on the site with your email ID.

Step 4:

Once you have signed up, go back to your email inbox, as most of the websites send a verification link to your email. This is done to verify that none other than you use your email.

Step 5:

So now, click the verification link to verify your account.

Step 6:

If you believe that the website is trustworthy, skip to next step else there are 2 modes to check.

2 easy ways to find whether the online shopping site is legit?

First one is, call to their phone number and preferably toll-free number, if any.

Just enquire about the product you’re going to buy. If the customer care support is satisfactory for you, then go with it.

But if you cannot call, or if they don’t attend your call, then go to the “contact us” page and mail to the ‘contact email’ provided in that page, enquiring about the product.

If you’re happy with the response, then go ahead with the purchase, else look for the next shop.

But why?

If they don’t give a proper response for sales queries itself, then how their response will be, for after sales queries!

Repeat the step until you find a trustworthy site to buy.

Step 7:

Once you have decided about the site to buy, look for COD-Cash on Delivery. This is the best method to test, if you’re buying from the shop for the first time.

In COD, you won’t pay the money first, instead, you place the order and their sales person will call your mobile and confirm your address. Once the formalities are over, they will ship the product through some courier. Most websites reply you with the courier AWB No., which will be helpful for you to track the parcel from courier website.

What is tracking, in courier services?

If you’re dealing with this for the first time, don’t fear. Even if you don’t do tracking, the parcel will be delivered to you.

But still tracking has several advantages.

You can get an idea on,

• When the parcel will be delivered?
• Is it travelling on right schedule?

If it’s getting delayed, then search for “courier name” + “your city name” in Google search.

90% of the time you can get a contact number of a courier person in your city.

Once you have that, call the corresponding person, tell your AWB No. and enquire about the parcel.

How to track a lost courier parcel?

This is the segment, which is similar to the first fear that we have discussed in ‘3 fears that stop buyers from buying online’.

But a slight difference is there. How?

The first fear that we had discussed earlier was about the fraudulent act of the seller, who didn’t send you the product after receiving money from you, but in this case, the seller has shipped your product and the parcel hasn’t reached you in time due to some untold reasons.

If you can catch a concerned courier person, then it is well and good, you just make them aware that the parcel is missing and they will look after the issue. But, what if, if you can’t get any contact number of the courier person in your region, or even nearer regions too!

Yes, it can happen and it happened to me twice.

What will do in such helpless situations?

There is a solution!

Call the seller and tell that your parcel hasn’t reached you. If you have taken any steps to find the lost parcel, then tell them too. Most probably, he will assure you that the problem will be solved in 24 – 48 hours.

What could have happened? How could the courier parcel be lost?

These are some of the problems that I have faced during my purchases.

1. “You’re out of station, so we sent back the courier to our head office” – courier staff. If this is the case, then the tracking status would have been mentioned as ‘undelivered‘ in the courier company’s website.

2. Seller could have sent two parcels under one AWB No. So if the local courier has only one parcel, they will wait for the other one to reach them.

3. Uncontrollable external events – Due to some natural calamities, or transport strike etc., it could have been delayed. In such cases, the tracking status should be mentioned as ‘delayed’.

4. This is something extraordinary. The parcel could have been delivered to some other home, where some people do live with your name.

Yes! It happens.

Sometimes, the person with your name, who has received your parcel mistakenly, may call and tell you about that, as the seller could have mentioned your Mobile No. in the ‘To address’.

But most of the time, it won’t happen.

What’d you do in that situation?

If the tracking status is mentioned as ‘delivered’, call the concerned courier person and tell him, that he had delivered to wrong address or you didn’t get the parcel.

If you can’t contact the courier person then, call the seller and say that you haven’t received the parcel, but the tracking status was found to be ‘delivered’. He will take the necessary steps.

All the issues that I have come across are exposed to you now. If none of these issues happen to you, then well and good, you’re not unlucky. The courier person will come to your doorstep and ask you to pay for the item you ordered through COD. Once you pay the said amount, you will be delivered your package.

But in some places, some couriers call the buyer to come to their office to pay and receive the package. It’s happening for me too, as Bhavani is still not a city.