The National Authority for Consumer Protection makes the following recommendations for on-line shopping:
- Be careful when giving your credit or debit card details on the internet; Always check if data is retrieved via secure protocol (https: // is secure protocol and http: // is unencrypted). Decline the transaction if you are asked for your PIN. It’s normal to ask for your CVV code (3 or 4 digits, on the card). It is safer to use a debit card dedicated to online transactions that you can only charge with the amount you need to purchase;
- It is preferable to buy from known companies or with whom you have had business contacts before or about which there are no negative comments of other clients in the discussion forums or on the evaluation sites of the services;
- Avoid economic operators who do not display complete contact data (address, phone, unique tax identification number, etc.) and which is limited to an email address;
- Compare the price offers, delivery and warranty conditions of multiple merchants before making a decision;
- If goods are shipped abroad, pay attention to postal and other costs that the merchant does not display / calculate such as customs duties and VAT;
- Note that goods that are shipped abroad arrive at a destination for a longer time; Check the delivery time for each type of shipping service accepted by the merchant, if the package is tracked during transport and if a delivery deadline can be guaranteed;
- For goods ordered abroad, check on the seller’s site for the conditions for returning goods that you do not like or that you have changed – usually you have to pay the postage return fees and these can be significant;
- If you have trouble buying foreign products, your complaint will have to be solved by a foreign entity. For issues related to the purchased goods, you should contact the seller or an authority in the seller’s country of origin. For delivery and shipping issues, responsibility lies with the postal operator. For warranty issues, there are situations where you will have to ship the product back to the seller or service in the area in which it operates – consider these costs or look for products whose warranty can be assured in Romania;
- Acquire very expensive products from companies outside of Romania only if you can check their reputation and customer satisfaction – there are independent sites that evaluate service quality and “blacklists” with companies that cheat customers. A common misconduct is to offer cheap products to the average price but whose delivery is conditional upon the purchase of accessories (sometimes indispensable for product operation) with inflated prices. Finally, the total price will significantly exceed a similar purchase from a well-established distributor of the product. Check carefully for offers that seem too good to be true;
- It is important that you print your order and the terms and conditions that appear on the site at the time of purchase, in case you later have a dispute with the seller.
- Knowing the language in which information is provided on the site allows you to make a choice according to your intentions.
