It is a known fact that more and more people have been shopping online, especially the likes of me who work all day and are duvet-trapped for most of the weekend. Either that or doing chores like laundry. It has become vital that I am able to put my work address for anything I order online — that is, if I’m not prepared to pay extra for weekend deliveries.

When I do online shopping, there are 3 things that I carefully consider.

1. Price
The internet greatly facilitated finding the best prices for the consumer. Because the pricing has become transparent, all suppliers and vendors are constantly checking their prices against others so they can be (or remain) competitive. A lot of items are actually cheaper to buy via the internet than in store. So, I really look around before buying.

2. Payment Methods
Most online retail sites accept payment by credit or debit cards. But lately, I am more inclined to buy products from a site who offers payment via PayPal. The main reasoning for this is that I have some cash in my PayPal account that I have received from rendering reviews. I would not want to withdraw this money as I would incur charges in doing so. Therefore, I have resolved to use this money to pay for my purchases online, which shouldn’t (for the moment, at least) charge me with admin fees as some sites with credit/debit cards do.

3. Delivery Options
As I said in the beginning, this is vital for me. I am not home for most of the day and having the option to have it delivered to my work place is definitely preferable. If delivery is only possible to my billing address, which is my home address, then have the chance to choose delivery times would do. In this way, I am able to take time off work (usually in hours) so I could be home and receive the package myself. However, I feel awkward in taking more than half the day for this purpose. Well, even waiting for half the day is quite daunting. I’d rather mark it off from my holidays if such is the case. Anyway, weekend deliveries can be appealing as long as they do not cost the earth, which most of the time is.

It is then to my shock and eventual disappointment to find that eBuyer would charge a customer £10.00 to deliver your order to an address different from your billing address. The site FAQ says:

If you require your order to be redirected to another address then please click here to request this. You will be required to enter the full address and a contact number for where you would like the order to be delivered. You will also need to authorise Ebuyer to debit the redirection charge of £10.00 inc. VAT from your credit / debit card.

It goes to say that redirection is only allowed on the second and subsequent orders. So, for first time orders, like mine, you’ll be 10 quid poorer.

What I don’t also understand is that their selected courier, City Link, does not offer redirection as well. I think they were saying that it was unlawful and that I should make my case to the sender, in this case, eBuyer. Thing is, I’ve had items that were originally delivered to my home address but as I was not present, they left a card where I could arrange for re-delivery at another AND a different address. There was no need to inform the sender.

This is quite a disappointing customer service. It does not also help when even their Customer Service Agents do not inform you of this when you’re on the phone to them after 15 minutes of being held in the call queue on a number that costs 10p a minute! Probably 85% of transactions done online are completed without problems. I’d say that companies are likely to keep existing clients and attract more new ones based on how they handle the 15%. This is the reason why they have a Customer Service Department in the first place!

In the end, the other factor that maybe I should consider before buying online is the potential stress that I will encounter should there be a muck-up on the order. But then again, how do you measure that?

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