Even Safe Online Purchases Carry A Risk

During the holidays, everybody is looking for a hot bargain. Many people turn to E-Bay. But, if you don`t do your homework, you could be left with anything but the holiday spirit. Linda Montgomery of Bossier City is an E-Bay shopper. But this year, Montgomery wishes she hadn`t. She ordered 2 sets of Christmas nesting dolls for her young grandchildren. One set arrived without a problem; the other was a different story. "I emailed the seller through E-Bay and directly but I did not get a response," Montgomery said. The dolls were being shipped from Canada, but, since she placed her order so early, Montgomery thought that would not be a problem. She waited for more than 4 weeks and nothing arrived. With Christmas just around the corner, Linda stopped waiting and bought another, more expensive set of dolls. Unfortunately, the dolls from Canada arrived just days later. "I was dissapointed it took so long," Montgomery said. ue Kirkland, however, wasn`t so lucky. The Bossier City resident ordered a refurbished printer from an E-Bay seller. The cost including shipping was about $60.00. Immediately after she made the purchase, she realized something wasn`t right. " I always contact the seller with shipping information but I got no response," Kirkland said. Sue filed a complaint with Paypal and E-Bay, however, she has not heard from the seller and he is no longer registered with E-Bay. She should get some of her money back, but, not all of it. The lesson here is that even relatively safe purchases carry a risk. Despite that risk, E-Bay has proven to be a fairly safe way to shop online. However, experts say you should make your purchases through Paypal and take a close look at the seller`s rating and customer comments.