Online Shopping Abroad: Customs, VAT, Surprises

I often shop online, and more than large marketplaces, I'm thinking about classifieds between private sellers. That's where the negotiation is lively, you set the price, and sometimes you find things you can't get in stores. Then every now and then someone tells me a story about a friend of a friend who lost three hundred euros, and that's when I remember that the very freedom that makes this market great is also what makes it dangerous.

The checklist I use is basic, but I go over it every time. One: Does the seller have a profile with history, with dated reviews, not all from this month? Two: Are the item photos unique, or have I just seen identical ones on another ad? Three: Is the price consistent with the market, or is it so low that it's suspicious? Four: What payment method do they propose? If even one answer falters, I stop.

One of the most annoying things about online shopping is that when something goes wrong, you often don't even know who to blame. The platform says it's a problem between users, the seller has deleted their profile, the bank sends you a form to fill out. If you don't have a written contract and a cleanly traceable payment, you're left in the middle with no one to turn to.

When a dispute arises, what matters is the paper trail. The neutral platform needs to know what happened, what was written, what files were exchanged. That's why all serious communications between buyer and seller happen within the platform's environment, not on WhatsApp or Instagram: if needed, the history is already there, organized.

If you buy something that needs to be shipped, tracked shipping is your best friend. Not just because it shows you where the package is, but because it gives you objective proof if it arrives empty or doesn't arrive at all. Refusing to ship with tracking is a small sign that something isn't right.

Reviews are useful but should be read like a novel: pay attention to the rhythm, the language, the dates. A profile with fifty five-star reviews all written in the same month makes much less of an impression than one with twenty reviews, two of which are a little off, but spread out over a couple of years.

Unfortunately, there are no serious shortcuts. The only things that truly work, after years of stories gathered from around, are calmness in evaluating the other party, a payment method with real protection, and a written record of everything that has been said.