Most online stores are doing business with honesty, and they got rewarded by happy returning customers. But there are stores that didn’t do business that way. I can’t list all of these stores by their names, there are just too many. But you should learn the way they are doing business.
1. List Lowest Prices on Comparison Engines
Lots of people do a price comparison before they buy. That’s a good habbit. But it is usually not wise to go for the store that has the lowest price. Most price comparison engines add shipping cost into the total when they compare prices, but some don’t. Watch out, there are dishonest stores that list lowest prices and free shipping. When you enter their sites and ready to checkout, you will notice that there is a handling fee!
2. Low Price With Low Configurations
My email account is stuffed with Dell’s promotional emails. I bought once from Dell.com years ago, when their prices were lower than most other major brands, such as IBM (there is no Lenovo at that time) and Compaq (before it was sold to HP). It is not the case any more. You may see an unbelievable low prices from one of their ads. When you enter Dell.com, you notice the price you saw is for computers with outdated CPUs, or discontinued hardwares or operating systems. You have to pay a lot more to to custimize a machine to fit your needs.
3. Low on Main Item, High on Accessories
There are some electronic stores, especially some stores that sell digital cameras, who listed very low prices on their websites. But if you need some extra accessories, such as SD card, tripod, or camera bag, you will be ripped off. Those prices could be a few times higher than they should be. They don’t make profit from selling cameras, but get enough conpensation from accessories. In some worst cases, they will call you and ask you if you need filters or something else, if you refused you will be told that the item you wanted are out of stock.
4. Amazon Marketplace With Super Low Prices
Some stores do not get enough traffic. So they open a store at Amazon, called marketplace. They may list a much lower price than Amazon can offer, but you have to pay a very high shipping fee. If you don’t pay enough attention, you’d think the item is sold by Amazon and probably add the item to cart without blinking an eye.
5. List items that they don’t have
Lots of stores do that because they think they will get more people to visit their sites. And it is very likely that people probably end up buying something else they do have. Bestbuyeyeglasses.com and Shoes.com are among them who use this trick.
6. Stores Located Outside of USA
You thought a website written in English and priced in dollars is an US site? Probably not. Even if they have an US address and phone number, they are not necessarily an US-based website. Many honest aboard retailers will state it very clear on homepage they ship from other countries and may take a longer time to deliver to you. But dishonest stores do not say anything or hide that information deeply. When you saw something unbelievable cheap, raise a question mark. Check out their shipping policy or contact them directly by phone. PriceAngels.com is one of them.
7. Sell Replicas At Prices of Real Ones
I am against the websites who sell replicas. But at least you tell people that the items are replicas. Unfortunately websites like PrimeRunway.com and DolceFugo.com sell replicas as if they are selling real ones. Remember, most luxury bags and watches are direct sale only, which means you can only buy them at their official web stores if you wan to buy only.
