Advantages and Disadvantages of Online Shopping

Who doesn't like to shop? Buying new things is fun—except for when it takes so much time that it becomes more of a chore than a pleasure. Of course, now with online shopping and banking, you can go on a spree from your home. Purchases are just a click away on the Internet—life never has been so easy! Online shopping is a very popular kind of e-business where one consumer can shop over the Internet and have their goods delivered. Ebay and Amazon are the two most popular and trusted websites for shopping online, selling millions of products each.

Nowadays many people prefer to shop online because of its numerous benefits. However, the practice has disadvantages as well as advantages. This article will go over the pros and cons of shopping online.

Pros & Cons of shopping Online

Advantages	Disadvantages
Quicker to find products	Delay in receiving the items
Easy to Compare & find cheaper product	Inferior Products
Saves Time	Shipping charges
Access to Wider range of Products	Delivery issues
Online deals	Excess shopping
Check Feedback and rate Seller	Scam risk
Buyer Protection	Some items need real life trial
Locate rare products	Difficult to return defective product
Discrete Shopping	Warranty dilemma
Support E-businesses	Environmental issue
	Less Business for Local Retailers

Advantages of Online Shopping

1. Quicker to Find Products: Finding a product online is much easier than looking for it in the local store. In a store, you have to search for the product you want; if it's not there, you may have to visit several locations, which is frustrating and time-consuming. However, when going for online shopping, you can easily search for any product by using the website's search feature, and complete the transaction with click of a button. If the website doesn't have it, you can simply go to another without wasting your time. For example, if you can't find the suitable product in eBay, you can look for it on Amazon.
2. Easy to Compare & find Cheaper Products: Products are often cheaper at online than they are in stores. Online stores do not have the overhead costs of renting their location and paying for the electricity, AC, cashiers, etc. Also, sometimes a product can be much cheaper in another country than in your country. In this case, it would be wise to shop online to save some money. It is also easier to compare a product with different online vendors and grab the best deal.
3. It saves time and energy: You don't have to waste your time going to stores, dealing with crowds, and standing in lines. The whole process of shopping from a local store becomes even more time-consuming if you do not have your own car. You can solve all of these hassles by shopping online.
4. Access Wider Range of Products: You have great freedom of choice when you shop online. The Internet provides a far wider range of products than that you would find in any local store.
5. Online Deals: Often online stores gives good discount when they want to get rid of their old stocks. You can search for those deals and save money.
6. Check Feedback and rate Seller: Nowadays, shopping online is very reliable. Sellers are held accountable by user feedback and reviews. You can read the feedback from other buyers and take decision whether to trust the seller. If you are not satisfied with any seller, you can send him a negative feedback. Usually positive feedback matters a lot to the seller, so they always tries their best to satisfy the customer. If you are not happy with any of their product, you can just send them a message and they will come up with a reasonable solution.
7. There is buyer protection: Dependable websites like eBay provide buyer protection. This means that the website will give your money back if any seller fails to deliver the item or delivers an item that does not match the description.
8. Locate rare products: Shopping online is very useful in buying rare products. For example, I recently bought a rare car part through through eBay. Not only was I able to find it, but the part was relatively inexpensive.
9. Discrete Shopping: There are some things that you just don't want to buy publicly. You can buy any kind of product online while maintaining your privacy.
10. Support e-businesses: The progress of online business is actually helping countless people. Now people who cannot afford to buy or rent a shop, can easily open an online store and sell items from their homes. This is playing a very important role in reducing the unemployment rate.

Disadvantages of Online Shopping

1. There is a delay before receiving your package: The main disadvantage of online shopping is that there is no instant gratification. Because the item must be shipped to you, you will have to wait a few days. I sometimes prefer going to the store if I see that the delivery time is too long.
2. You may receive an inferior product: Because you cannot hold the it and look at it in your hands, you don't always know the quality of the product. Sometimes the description or photograph of the product might be of something slightly different. As a result, you might end up with an inferior-quality item.
3. There are shipping charges: As previously mentioned, many of the disadvantages of online shopping stem from shipping. Shipping charges and delays are both common problems. Though items are generally cheaper in online store, sometimes the addition of a shipping charge makes the total price similar or more expensive than that of your nearby store.
4. There can be delivery problems: Sometime you may face delivery risks. This means that the seller might fail to deliver the specified product or it deliver a product that has been damaged during shipping.
5. Now it's easy to be a shopaholic: Since it's so easy to search and purchase different items online, many people end up becoming at-home shopaholics who buy things they actually don't need. I am sad to say that I think I am one of them! Online shopaholics think they are saving money because they can find such inexpensive products, when, in reality, it's actually a waste because you don't need those objects in the first place. So buy smart!
6. There's a danger of being scammed: As online shopping becomes more and more commonplace, the number of online scams is also increasing. This is why a buyer should always buy from trusted websites only—trusted websites will take care of any fraud in order to maintain their reputations.
7. Some items are better to buy from the real store: For example, it's best not to buy clothing products online because you won't be able to know whether they will look good on you without first trying them on.
8. It's more difficult to return items: Returning an item is more difficult when you buy it online. If your seller accepts returns, they will usually want the item within a short period of time, and you will likely also have to pay for the shipping charges.
9. Warranty issues: Many electronic items are sold without international warranty. So, if warranty is important for you, make sure you contact the seller to verify whether the item has international warranty or not.
10. Environmental Issues: Shopping Online is not environmentally friendly as there will be several layers of plastic and cardboard packaging which will eventually pollute the environment. The frequent shipping are going to pollute the air.
11. Less Business for Local Retailers: If most of the people are shopping online, then local retailers will be running out of their business. This might increase the unemployment rate in your own community.

Originally I wrote this article in Hubpages : https://hubpages.com/business/online-shoppingtips