This thread has been specifically created where anyone can ask a question about online shopping for a product, immediately before committing to a purchase. As social media platforms are containing more and more sham/scam advertisements, and there are more and more scam/sham online shop websites, it can be difficult to determine what is real and what is fake.
You are welcome to ask questions about a specific product. Questions could include:
Is a particular advertised product selling items genuine or a sham/scam?
Is a particular online shop/website ridgy-didge or Australian?
Is the product dangerous or will work as advertised?
If you have a question, post the URL which contains information about a specific product, its brand/model and other useful information (this will assist this thread being found in internet searches done by others should they also try and find out information about the product).
Other members will provide advice and/or opinion about whether you are likely to be taken for a ride when purchasing the particular product.
While it may not prevent you being shammed/scammed, hopefully the information posted here may help you make a more informed decision about your potential purchase.
If you have purchased a sham product or have been scam, you can also post specific details in this thread as well.
Instagram is becoming my pet hate - many things for sale, often “free”, just pay freight - but freight often so exhorbitant, it is paying for the product and more.
Today, a newby, a post claimed that many Myer stores are closing permanently. The cosmetics that remain in stock to be given away, to encourage people to buy when they are available online. Sounds feasible!
But cant find any news of such an event. I tried to buy, but payment failed - then received email saying i could buy for 50% discount. I replied it was cost of freight only - and the next email renewed the original offer. By then i had cold feet, marked it spam.
Sadly, i didnt make special note of the account name - email from NuHealthyLifestyle but the acc of that name is private. Cannot find original by scrolling. All a bit suss.
They may have still captured the CC details if that was the payment method, it fails of course but the page was still sent with those details intact to the dodgy site.
@mudpuppy should keep a close eye on their CC financial accounts if they did use it.
This is a slightly different slant on the topic of dishonest and/or manipulative online shopping sites.
I have posted it here as it seems to be an evolution of this buyer beware topic.
" Dark patterns, also known as deceptive design patterns, occur when a user interface has been carefully crafted to nudge or trick users into doing things they didn’t set out to do.
Dark patterns are not subliminal messagaging, visual or auditory stimuli that the conscious mind cannot perceive, although advertisers have been accused of using that as well.
The investigation focused on three manipulative practices that can push consumers into making choices that may not be in their best interests:
Fake countdown timers, which create a sense of false urgency
Interfaces designed to lead consumers to certain purchases, subscriptions or other choices.
Another that is mildly annoying is during a search on a given vendor’s site you get a default sort order in the returned records. Sometimes the default order is simple like alphabetical. Sometimes there seems to be no choice - which is really annoying if the search criteria return many records. But sometimes the default is not specified or it it is the “most popular”. These are ways to point you to the products that the vendor would prefer you buy, the ones they make the best profit on, for example.
Many search engines give poor performance by not allowing you to narrow your search to what you actually want, that is they return excess irrelevant results. It seems vendors reckon annoying you and risking you quitting is worth the opportunity to foist certain lines on you.
Always ignore the countdown, and always change the sort order. No idea what to do about hidden infrmation. I will sometimes do a whois and find that a site was created the first time a week ago. Thats a bad sign.
The only places I will purchase online is known established and can be verified.
Other than eBay - my general go to. The eBay $$$ are valuable, Amazon if desperate only, AliExpress a definite favourite, made-in-china.com - another favourite, and recognised online shops. Never ever had things not arrive or not as ordered from Australian suppliers. I pride myself on being a canny shopper when it comes to price, and Searching for a good deal.
Would never purchase off Facebook, don’t do Instragram, or anything else. I also have my Facebook locked down rock-solid. Really affects me I don’t have a 1,000,000+ followers.
Agree, never buy on fb or Instagram. If I see something interesting on Instagram, I search for it online, then make a decision. It’s invariably cheaper and details about product are more accessible, without pressure.
