Five Mistakes That Cost You Money When Shopping Online

If you were asked to lend a hundred euros to a stranger on the street, you would turn away. If the same stranger asks you to advance them the money via instant bank transfer because 'they have a buyer waiting', a thousand people a day agree. Online shopping works like this: the context changes, not the substance.

The checklist I use is basic, but I go over it every time. One: does the seller have a profile with a history, with dated reviews, not all from this month? Two: are the item's 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 as to be suspicious? Four: what payment method do they offer? If even one answer falters, I stop.

The right of withdrawal, in online purchases, is a powerful but not universal protection. It applies to purchases from professionals, with fourteen days to change your mind. It does not apply, unless otherwise indicated, to purchases between private individuals: what you buy from another user is not protected by the same right, and this is one of the first things we should teach those entering the secondary market.

The primary issue with trading digital titles is their inherent fragility: they are strings of characters. Anyone who has seen them, in theory, could have already used them. This is why in the serious secondary market, clear codes are never shared without a mechanism that links that transfer to a payment verified by the other party.

Reviews are useful but should be read like a novel: pay attention to the rhythm, language, and 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 bit off, but spread over a couple of years.

If you buy something that needs to be shipped, tracked shipping is your best friend. Not so much 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 is amiss.

Of course, sometimes something unexpected will still happen. It's part of the game. But when it does, if you've done your groundwork well, the problem will be resolved with a few emails and not with a legal complaint. That's already a huge victory, even if it doesn't seem like it.