If you’re the type that likes to trudge from one to shop another in Chennai’s T Nagar or New Delhi’s Lajpat Nagar looking for shoes, gadgets and saris, you’re behind the times.

Indeed, why waste all those hours driving to the market, trudging around, jostling with crowds and haggling with angry vendors for a discount? Especially since you can do it all from the comfort of your home through online shopping?

Why it is better The best reason to do your shopping online is that it’s cheaper. An online store, being completely virtual, requires far less outgo toward payments for electricity, staff, renting floor space, or other expenses that would otherwise be incurred if the stores were being run from a physical location.

As a result of the lower overheads, most online retailers are willing to offer a bigger discount on their merchandise to customers than a normal store would. And you don’t have to bargain for the discount either; it’s usually marked clearly next to the product in the hope of garnering your attention. Take the example of a high-end mobile phone like the Samsung Galaxy S5; while physical mobile stores insist that the cutting edge smartphone can’t be had for less than the price of ₹40,500, it was available for ₹35,825 on flipkart.com and ₹34,950 on snapdeal.com .

The other big benefit of shopping online is the sheer variety of choice. A physical retail store can only hold so many products, whereas in the virtual world, hundreds of thousands of items can be showcased without any constraints. And you can even buy products that aren’t available in Indian stores if you browse through international sites. You’ll also save on the cost of travelling to the store.

What’s the guarantee? But the primary concern about shopping online is authenticity. Without touching or feeling the products how do you know if they’re genuine?

Most leading e-commerce sites have tie-ups with various brands to ensure that only authentic merchandise is sold.

You may have other concerns, such as whether your item will be intact? Will it arrive on time? Are those discounts just too good to be true? Breathe easy. All leading e-commerce websites offer a return or exchange policy, which could be up to 30 days. That’s more comforting than many physical stores, where products cannot be exchanged if they are on discount.

So if that dress isn’t the colour you thought it’d be or doesn’t fit well, you can always send it back for a refund or for store credit so that you can buy an alternative item. Keep in mind that the item must be in the same condition it was sent to you, including tags and packaging.

While the websites don’t stipulate the maximum number of times you can return items, if it is perceived that you are a “problem” customer, you could be put on a blacklist. This will prevent you from placing future orders on that site, or even with its competitors. There may be some items that are not are returnable; lingerie, for example, for hygiene reasons.

Is it safe?

As far as electronic items go, the same warranty offered by the manufacturer is applicable and will be clearly stated on the website you’re purchasing from.

But make sure to always read the terms and conditions and FAQ for a site before you make any purchase.

The other big worry is the security checks in the websites. But with a little bit of prudence, electronic transfer of money is no more dangerous than taking a trip to the railway station to buy a ticket and infinitely more convenient. To ensure that your experience is pleasant, restrict your shopping to well-known sites, both domestic and international.

Do a Google search of the website you’re thinking of buying from and see what the results throw up. Also, make sure that the site uses a secure server whenever you enter personal or payment details — you’ll see a padlock appear or the web address of the site change to “https://”, which denotes a secure connection. You could also circumvent the danger of having to share your credit or debit card details with someone else, and instead generate a virtual card, a service many banks offer.

These are single-use cards meant for making only online payments. You can generate — in almost no time — a virtual card through your internet banking account, loaded with the amount you need.

Finally, some websites even offer the cash-on-delivery option. There’s a fee for this service, but if you’ve sworn never to transact online, yet can’t resist those fancy shoes you saw, this option is for you.

Virtual advantage

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*Better discounts without haggling

*Wider range of products

*Warranty and return policy

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