ONLINE FURNITURE SHOPPING TIPS

Many people shop at the store and always think of buying online to save time and money and one of the biggest question I see surrounding topics is being sure about the risks in buying from an online furniture store such as Visiondecor.com, Furniture.com, and Everythingfurniture.com, etc. But there are also many other unknown companies out there that people can find great deals, sometimes too good to be true, but are unsure of the store’s security and safety by just looking at their website. So if you are looking to buy from a furniture store or any other online company, here are some of the top suggestions in putting the store you want to shop from through a quick litmus test, since you are going to be spending a lot on furnishing your home, dining room, bedroom, etc, you should be sure you are buying from reputable people.
#1 - Phone Number - at a minimum be sure that the website has a clearly displayed contact phone number. A toll free number starting with 800, 888, 877, etc would be even better. A clearly displayed phone number is important because this proves the company is openly offering contact to their office and customer support. This means that are people ready to answer your phone calls and help you. Usually companies that are fly by night don’t have enough people for support and this will put question into their foundation as a company. So, the final thing is to call the number to be sure you are able to get someone during their business hours on the phone to answer some of the questions that you can ask listed below.
#2 - Physical Location - online furniture stores that are legitimate openly display their physical location on their About Us or Contact Us page. I am not suggesting you drive to their warehouse/office and start asking questions unless you got an appointment, but it would be best to know that they are ok with you knowing exactly where they are located. If they don’t have it listed, call and ask them, if they answer with no hesitation that means they have nothing to hide. Also, you may even ask them if they offer local pick up if their warehouse is close to you because you can save on shipping and get pay them when you see the merchandise upon pick up.
#3 - Charge When Ship - many furniture stores take a deposit and get paid upon COD. It should be the same online. Companies that tell you that they will charge your card only upon shipment are more reputable because you don’t have to wait the 1-2 weeks before getting a tracking number and wondering what they are doing with your money in the meantime, because that is plenty of time for any unknown company to run with your money. So, look for that quality or even ask about it where they charge your credit card payment method when they can provide you a tracking number. Now, you do still have to give them your credit card information upon ordering, but they usually just authorize the total you see in your shopping cart and it is not charged until shipping.
#4 - Customer Support - if you are looking for something or need help, give them a call or send them an email. Look for someone to answer your call and help you get what you need or answer your concerns. If you sent them an email, it is great to know they respond to you within 1-2 business days, sometimes even within the hours. This is a great way for you to test out their services before you even buy from them and get a good feeling of how accessible they are if you do have an issue or concern with your order afterwards.
#5 - Return Policy - look for a 30 day return policy that is standard. Be sure you know when they pay or refund you for original and return shipping. Because of the extreme costs of shipping heavy pieces of furniture most companies are financially unable to refund shipping fees unless there was mistake in fulfilling your order, damage, or defect. Therefore, you should be clear about their policy on returns and print it out for your records just in case they decide to change it in the future, so at least you have a document of the policy when you made your order.
#6 - Privacy Policy - be sure to know that the company you are buying from has a privacy policy in the first place, and then be sure they state they will not give out or sell your personal information. This will prevent any sensitive data of yours to be leaked out which can lead to fraud and security risks for you. With them having a privacy policy means they have thought things out for the customer and takes the customers concerns into consideration.
#7 - Use a Credit Card or Paypal - that protects your interests. One of my favorite companies to use to make payments are American Express and Discover because they put customer complaints and disputes at the forefront, but other banks are good too. Many times vendors list out the basic payment options they accept, but if you use almost any payment method you desire if they accept paypal payments. Paypal is owned by ebay and they are very reputable, so making a payment through paypal is protected even if it is money directly withdrawn from your bank. When you have any issues, you can resolve it with the vendor and then for further support open a complaint case to get the issue mediated through paypal. But using a credit card that has online fraud or security protection and/or paypal will definitely make sure you are protected by your credit card issuing bank from unknown online dealers.
#8 - Tracking Information - be sure the online furniture store has a tracking page and clearly know how your order is tracked during the shipping process. Don’t take any excuses that trucking shipments for items such as sofas/beds cannot be tracked, because they can! With the right companies and the careful attention to customer needs, every shipment or order should have a tracking number and knowing where to track it on the website or the shipping company will help you to know that your order did in fact ship out and you know when your order will arrive.
#9 - Age of the site - the age of a website doesn’t really say too much about the company, but at least you can confirm how long they’ve been operating on the site. Usually look for sites that have been up for more than a year, so you aren’t buying from a newly created domain that may or may not have a real company behind it taking your order. You can check the age of a site by using many tools online such as this one: http://www.webconfs.com/domain-age.php, or you can visit whois.com to check the domain registration and date as well.
#10 - Billing and Shipping Address Info - when you place your order reputable companies do not take your billing information to charge your card and then ship to a different address. So be sure to protect yourself and know that companies will not ship your order to an address other than your billing address listed with your preferred payment method. This is a good security measure online for both the merchant and the customer, because there are too many people out there using other people’s credit cards to process fraudulent orders.
I cannot say that these top ten things will keep you out of danger completely, but I can assure all of you that after years of business experience in running my own Visiondecor.com furniture store this way, these are the top ten things that can help a customer, as we have been put through the test many times to offer similar, if not exact, products and services listed above. I welcome any suggestions about more ideas to keep online buying safe or if my furniture store does not live up to par for us to improve ourselves as well; Have a safe shopping season!