What it means to be a retailer online
Today we’re going to talk about a few things that separate very good well informed websites versus unsecure harmful and possibly fraudulent websites. I hope that this post will help you make a proper decision on whether or not to purchase an item from any particular store. First off we all have to realize that this is the aftermarket product world, and if we intend to beef up our automobiles then we will have to make some type of purchase online. Because as we all know they don’t always sell products for our Subaru, Honda, Ford, Toyota, Chevrolet, Scion at Wal-Mart that we want! So it is up to us to find the right route and the right product online. Buying online doesn’t sound so tricky however if you get stuck buying a part which you think that you’ve got a great deal on you might also be stuck if something goes wrong with it. We all have to be recognized as equal citizens and do our proper research before clicking that final purchase.
Up front the first thing that you as a consumer can do to protect yourself is find out a little bit about the business before you make your purchase, I always tell people who would like to make a purchase online to please watch out and purchase at secure sites. What does it mean to be secure? Well it means just about everything, I don’t want my credit card to be stolen and sold on some sort of black-market website and my good credit to be ruined by some goon sticking his nose around in places that are exposed. I don’t want my wife to try and address if I know that a store manager is watching her, this is how you should approach purchasing online. Make sure the site is secure most sites in 2010 will be PCI compliant which means that they will have to go to great length to protect the security of their customers and their credit cards. So if you want to purchase that beautiful hood make sure the website that you’re using has undergone some sort of PCI compliance. For the most part you should see the security symbol during checkout (usually the symbol is a locked lock)
Next I would like to get into what it means to be a legitimate business rather than someone who’s looking to make very minimum and give you the very minimum. These are the sites that list products for unbelievable prices, that are just so unreal and destroy the competition. These websites are what you need to stay away from. I do not mean to say that and come off as a quote unquote hater to those type of businesses, but you will easily find that those websites are not very helpful and will just as easily your money up as they do spend it before you’re able to retrieve a dime of it. These companies also do the bare minimum, and they never will go above and beyond so don’t ever expect them to. They will never admit when they are wrong, then they will stick you with every single last penny if you’re returning the product (if they even take returns). The biggest role that I have here is that you look for one thing you look to see if they are BBB accredited. Most online stores that sell body kits, hoods, fenders, headlights, tail lights, performance parts and accessories are not BBB accredited. What does this mean? It means that they are not backed by the Better Business Bureau, and usually have a score rating of an F. or below. There are few sites who are BBB accredited to sell aftermarket parts and accessories one off the top of my head is http://www.viniati.com which as of today has a rating of a B. plus. These are the sites that you need to be ordering from, sites like eBay can give you the best deals out there and a lot of people are making a lot of good money selling on eBay and micro sites that do not carry the BBB accreditation. Not all of these people selling are bad, however you do not guarantee yourself a proper resolution if something does go bad. If you are dealing with a BBB accredited business you will know that your problem will be strictly addressed if something bad were to happen, and in the aftermarket parts and accessories world each item and each sale is roughly around the price range of $200. At that price it is good to have a little insurance.
To find out if a business or the business day you will be purchasing from his BBB accredited please find out at http://www.bbb.org/
This is a pretty rough look at purchasing aftermarket parts and accessories online, and it is a very simple one for a good reason. I don’t want you to just look at this and just skim through it and babble on about this that and the other, however I do want to give you a sense of what it means to deal with a proper business and to purchase online. Now go forth and find the right site at the right price and make sure they are compliant and have the BBB accreditation!
Just my two cents