Online buying

[superal]

When making an online purchase , are you happy to pay with your credit / debit card ?  Especially if buying from a seller that you have never used before . When doing online banking I always use my VPN , do you ? If making a purchase from a new seller I always use Paypal as it has decent security . What protection do you use when making purchases online ? ?

[Moonlover]

I've been making on debit/credit card line purchases for well over 20 years without any issues, albeit I do stick to mainstream vendors.

 

On line banking makes it easy for anyone to check their accounts daily and spot any anomalies. I do it every morning using mobile phone app. It takes me less than 5 minutes.

 

No I not use a VPN when accessing my bank accounts. I see no point in that at all. Why would I want to conceal my location from my bank?

[KhunLA]

1 hour ago, superal said:

When making an online purchase , are you happy to pay with your credit / debit card ?  Especially if buying from a seller that you have never used before . When doing online banking I always use my VPN , do you ? If making a purchase from a new seller I always use Paypal as it has decent security . What protection do you use when making purchases online ? ?

99.9% of online purchases are COD.

 

I stopped using PayPal long time ago, when it took a long fight to get a refund from an obvious scam seller.  Why I used PP to begin with, their refund policy, which changed and almost failed miserably.  They lost customer with their BS, trying to get out of paying the refund. 

 

Use to use them exclusively, oh well 😎  

 

They actually fought this refund, which I had photo & listing material submitted.  Actually, for a toy, it flies pretty good, if no wind, and as advertised, for the actually product.   But, I didn't order a toy.

 

PayPal was good, until I needed them to honor their refund policy.

 

[superal]

On 3/12/2025 at 5:13 AM, KhunLA said:

99.9% of online purchases are COD.

 

I stopped using PayPal long time ago, when it took a long fight to get a refund from an obvious scam seller.  Why I used PP to begin with, their refund policy, which changed and almost failed miserably.  They lost customer with their BS, trying to get out of paying the refund. 

 

Use to use them exclusively, oh well 😎  

 

They actually fought this refund, which I had photo & listing material submitted.  Actually, for a toy, it flies pretty good, if no wind, and as advertised, for the actually product.   But, I didn't order a toy.

 

PayPal was good, until I needed them to honor their refund policy.

 

Yeah , I guess once bitten twice shy . I have had 2 refunds paid to me by P/P within 1 day of complaining about the seller . Using a Q/R code to pay is ok and doing a payment by bank transfer too . But giving your card details to an unknown company is dangerous . Similarly , I have heard of some restaurants that take your card , for payment , to their cash till area and copy / clone the card . Having your card details , including the 3 digit security number on the back of the card , gives them access to illegally use your card . Also card details are sold to third parties online . Also I never use an outside wifi  without using my VPN .

 

[KhunLA]

4 minutes ago, superal said:

Yeah , I guess once bitten twice shy . I have had 2 refunds paid to me by P/P within 1 day of complaining about the seller . Using a Q/R code to pay is ok and doing a payment by bank transfer too . But giving your card details to an unknown company is dangerous . Similarly , I have heard of some restaurants that take your card , for payment , to their cash till area and copy / clone the card . Having your card details , including the 3 digit security number on the back of the card , gives them access to illegally use your card . Also card details are sold to third parties online . Also I never use an outside wifi  without using my VPN .

 

I do use plastic here or anywhere really, just for those reasons.   If I did, I'd scrape the 3 digit security number off the back.

[JumpingJim]

On 3/12/2025 at 10:29 AM, superal said:

When making an online purchase , are you happy to pay with your credit / debit card ?  Especially if buying from a seller that you have never used before . When doing online banking I always use my VPN , do you ? If making a purchase from a new seller I always use Paypal as it has decent security . What protection do you use when making purchases online ? ?

 

Check if your bank lets you create digital card numbers for online purchases.  All my US based credits cards have this feature, so when I make an online purchase, and I don't 100% trust the company, I can create a special card number just for that purchase.  As soon as the purchase is done, I can deactivate that card number.   

[Negita43]

On 3/15/2025 at 6:56 AM, JumpingJim said:

Check if your bank lets you create digital card numbers for online purchases.

Yes at least 15 years ago I had an account with Cahoot ( subsiduary of Santander) I was able to create one off card numbers for online purchases - after a few years they took the option away - sometimes I think banks are on the side of the criminals!!

[ChaiyaTH]

On 3/12/2025 at 12:13 PM, KhunLA said:

99.9% of online purchases are COD.

 

I stopped using PayPal long time ago, when it took a long fight to get a refund from an obvious scam seller.  Why I used PP to begin with, their refund policy, which changed and almost failed miserably.  They lost customer with their BS, trying to get out of paying the refund. 

 

Use to use them exclusively, oh well 😎  

 

They actually fought this refund, which I had photo & listing material submitted.  Actually, for a toy, it flies pretty good, if no wind, and as advertised, for the actually product.   But, I didn't order a toy.

 

PayPal was good, until I needed them to honor their refund policy.

 

Having been in eCommerce for 15+ years it is kind of funny that it is always a certain type of consumers that ends up having these problems more than rarely as they are usually the type of people trying to get the best bargains. Like taking additional risk for a 30-50 dollar savings on a 300-500 purchase.

 

The irony is that they then at the same time expect the best level of customer support, owner loyalty etc, while you get that by essentially paying the normal price and not by trying to shave off that margin and purchasing it with blank sellers.

 

It's in that way not really different with buying from alibaba, why people even expect to get the exact item they look for at that cheap price, with the first order. That was exactly what offline shops have been doing for decades, which made them a good shop, they tried various ones until finding the right one.

 

I recently myself tried purchasing a jeans that looked way too good for just 350-400 baht on Lazada, the sizes were actually correct which is seldom, to then find out that there was no holes sewed yet for where the buttons go, the most strange fashion purchase experience ever.

 

I'm too lazy to do it but it would actually still be a bargain if I bring it to a tailor shop here to finish what the factory should have done, to then sell them for 1500 baht each in Europe. Anyway, pay peanuts get monkeys.

[ChaiyaTH]

In today society the issue is people seem to think they only have to pay for product value + shipping etc costs at a most minimal possible way. The entire service / warranty part somehow needs to be free. The issues existing all are related to the same.

 

It's no different with having just 2 jeans in total being normal in the old days, made by a tailor, perfectly fitting you and lasting for years, it also costed more for just 1 jeans at that time. While today people want 10 jeans with the same quality and fitting for a tenth.

 

In a way economy is not the issue at all, it is people themselves.

[Cameroni]

19 minutes ago, ChaiyaTH said:

Having been in eCommerce for 15+ years it is kind of funny that it is always a certain type of consumers that ends up having these problems more than rarely as they are usually the type of people trying to get the best bargains. Like taking additional risk for a 30-50 dollar savings on a 300-500 purchase.

 

The irony is that they then at the same time expect the best level of customer support, owner loyalty etc, while you get that by essentially paying the normal price and not by trying to shave off that margin and purchasing it with blank sellers.

 

It's in that way not really different with buying from alibaba, why people even expect to get the exact item they look for at that cheap price, with the first order. That was exactly what offline shops have been doing for decades, which made them a good shop, they tried various ones until finding the right one.

 

I recently myself tried purchasing a jeans that looked way too good for just 350-400 baht on Lazada, the sizes were actually correct which is seldom, to then find out that there was no holes sewed yet for where the buttons go, the most strange fashion purchase experience ever.

 

I'm too lazy to do it but it would actually still be a bargain if I bring it to a tailor shop here to finish what the factory should have done, to then sell them for 1500 baht each in Europe. Anyway, pay peanuts get monkeys.

 

It has nothing to do with that at all.

 

I went on a vacation at near year that involved going to Bangkok and Pattaya. After I returned Wise had flagged a number of suspicious transactions which were indeed not mine. Good job Wise.

 

Somehow my Visa card number did end up in the wrong hands. Quite annoying as apart from my card being blocked I had to get a new card sent.

 

Of course Wise has the virtual card option, so that it was not a problem to continue use the Visa card.

 

In fact to avoid problems you should choose the virtual Visa card to do online shopping, this avoids most problems. Of course it would still not protect you if use the actual card on a holiday.

[BritManToo]

On 3/12/2025 at 10:29 AM, superal said:

What protection do you use when making purchases online ? ?

COD, pay by QR code on delivery.

[Yolando]

22 minutes ago, Cameroni said:

In fact to avoid problems you should choose the virtual Visa card to do online shopping, this avoids most problems. Of course it would still not protect you if use the actual card on a holiday.

I have a separate card that I use for high risk transaction such as when needed at hotel check in or renting a car or anytime I have to hand the physical card to anyone.  The bank for that card lets me lock and unlock the card online, and when it's locked it can't be used.  I keep it locked all the time except just before I plan to use it.  

[Cameroni]

56 minutes ago, Yolando said:

I have a separate card that I use for high risk transaction such as when needed at hotel check in or renting a car or anytime I have to hand the physical card to anyone.  The bank for that card lets me lock and unlock the card online, and when it's locked it can't be used.  I keep it locked all the time except just before I plan to use it.  

 

That's an excellent idea.

[billd766]

On 3/12/2025 at 10:29 AM, superal said:

When making an online purchase , are you happy to pay with your credit / debit card ?  Especially if buying from a seller that you have never used before . When doing online banking I always use my VPN , do you ? If making a purchase from a new seller I always use Paypal as it has decent security . What protection do you use when making purchases online ? ?

Personally I prefer to pay COD. That way it is safer as nobody can access my credit/debit card, i don't have to go through the return hassle of using a "wallet", and if it doesn't turn up. then I haven't paid for it anyway.

 

However that is just my opinion, others may differ. Also if I pay in cash I can look at the heap of money and ask myself, do I "REALLY" need this item, or do I simply like and want it?

[KhunLA]

2 hours ago, ChaiyaTH said:

Having been in eCommerce for 15+ years it is kind of funny that it is always a certain type of consumers that ends up having these problems more than rarely as they are usually the type of people trying to get the best bargains. Like taking additional risk for a 30-50 dollar savings on a 300-500 purchase.

 

The irony is that they then at the same time expect the best level of customer support, owner loyalty etc, while you get that by essentially paying the normal price and not by trying to shave off that margin and purchasing it with blank sellers.

 

It's in that way not really different with buying from alibaba, why people even expect to get the exact item they look for at that cheap price, with the first order. That was exactly what offline shops have been doing for decades, which made them a good shop, they tried various ones until finding the right one.

 

I recently myself tried purchasing a jeans that looked way too good for just 350-400 baht on Lazada, the sizes were actually correct which is seldom, to then find out that there was no holes sewed yet for where the buttons go, the most strange fashion purchase experience ever.

 

I'm too lazy to do it but it would actually still be a bargain if I bring it to a tailor shop here to finish what the factory should have done, to then sell them for 1500 baht each in Europe. Anyway, pay peanuts get monkeys.

Yep, along with using trusted, reviewed (w/photos) vendors with good refund policies.  No questions asked refund policies.  

 

For LAZ, that's LAZMALL & Flagship store vendors.   Same with Shopee.   I've had no trouble with Cenral Online either, as one item came damaged.

 

Recently had a Shopee vendor offer 200 of a 340 baht purchase refund, and I could keep the item, as they really didn't want it back.  If I wasn't flush with rechargeable batteries already, I would have kept it, as I can't buy a 1200mAh batter for 140 baht.  The AQI gauge itself was too far off being accurate, or would have simply kept it.

 

Strangely, I've have 3 returns this past week or so, and more than the last couple years.  All no prob, but, trusted, well used, reviewed vendors.