It can be safe to buy online, if you follow some basic guidelines.

SAFE HOLIDAY SHOPPING ONLINE
By Ryan Smith and Sam Chae

It's no secret that shopping online is the cheapest, fastest and most reliable way to shop...not to mention the most comfortable. Ahh, there's nothing like snuggling up to your 20 inch plasma monitor on a cold Sunday morning, no traffic, lines or angry customers yelling at cashiers. Just you, the computer, and your new body kits, exhaust or one of thousands of parts accessible online.

Shopping online is relatively safe, but like everything else, there are exceptions. Here are some common facts and myths associated with buying car parts online to help you throughout the holidays!

EBAY

Ebay is a powerful tool and a great place to find bargains on many things. I occasionally browse the bay for parts for my car, but be careful! Remember the golden rule: EBAY sellers don't require government approved business licenses, reseller certificates, or anything else that makes a business legit. Anyone with a credit card and e-mail address can sell on Ebay, so be careful! If something is prices very low and seems "too good to be true," pardon the cliche, it probably is. You may get something broken, used, or worse, nothing at all. Be careful when dealing with purchasing on Ebay. Ebay is usually the place when someone wants to dump some products for a quick buck. Remember golden rule number 2; you get what you pay for!

Classified Ads

Your browsing the classifieds on your favorite site and you see some product at a dang good price. You just can't pass it up. You might want to search around and see if this person has sold a few items to other people. Do a search for his name and see what comes up. If people are complaining then think twice. Next you'll want to e-mail them and ask them if they have a phone # where you can talk to them at. Also ask if they have more pictures so you can check out the product. If someone won't give out their phone # but wants to sell some product to you, then they might have something to hide. Make sure that they seem legit. See if they'll take Paypal as a payment, and that they have a VERIFIED Paypal account. (described later in this article). If you send a check or money order and never get your product, well you might be out of luck.

ONLINE SITES

Some of the most reputable companies online sell parts for your car. There are a handful of great companies, like Nopi, JC Whitney, SROPerformance, Speedstash, DragonIntakes and so on....But for every reputable company selling online, there will be at least 20 knock offs. Sites with titles like "KRAZY INSANE KUSTOMZ" or "FAST AND FURIOUS KUSTOM PERFORMANCE" tend to be these kinds of sites. Don't forget, to be operating a company online legally, many business licenses are involved. Just ask yourself these questions before shopping online:

- I am at JustTooFastKustomzInc.com, the name sounds very unprofessional...should I still buy there? NO! Remember, these companies require business licenses approved by the city and government...I highly doubt the city hall will write you a license for a business with the name of Red Rum Kustom Performance, or Piss Your Parents Off Racing Inc...

- If the site looks unprofessional...well you know what to do...or what NOT to do - don't forget, companies spend money on designers and developers for web sites to look professional and easy to navigate. When you see a web site tagged up with graffiti fonts, orange and green bubble letters, and pictures taken out of The Fast and the Furious web site and tagged up with the business name, you know something is up. Real companies hire developers to furnish the web sites, use secure servers, and have everything lined up and in place.

- Check your local search engines, like Google or Yahoo!. Type in the name of the web site you are looking at, and see what pops up. Watch out for web sites that give few or no results when searched in a search engine. If I were to shop at 123 Performance.com, I would type that phrase into Google and see what pops up. Lots of results means this company is reputable and has been around for some time. If there are little or no results, just walk away!

- Did you know customer fraud rates in the USA are larger than in any other country in the world? You may see a site with super low prices, but be careful, there is usually a reason it's so cheap. You can't see something on lots of other sites for $200-$250, and then go somewhere and find the same item for 50 bucks...think logically before you press that CHECKOUT button! If it's too good to be true, than it always is.

- Contact info - watch out for sites selling parts without phone numbers or fax lines posted up. Don't ever give your credit card number out to a site where the only way to contact them is through EMAIL. Look for phone, fax, address, etc.

- Foreign countries - This can be iffy. The USA is scammed more than any other country every year by foreign countries. Remember the magical word "Jurisdiction." There's not much you can do if someone is out of the country. Just use caution but sometimes you can be ok. For retailers like our self we are constantly targeted by scammers from Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore. We have them acting as phony companies wanting to buy 20 Momo steering wheels, 25 Apexi VAFC II using FEDEX next day international service. People have fallen for that and gotten burned thousands of dollars.

Credit Card Processing.

A lot of online companies like to use a service called Paypal. Their web site is located at http://www.paypal.com. Paypal is both an online bank and a credit card processor. Paypal is a very good service for both the merchant and customer. Paypal offers a lot of protection for both sides. If a customer is not satisfied with his product he can complain to Paypal and then Paypal will try to find out what the problem is and a way the problem can be resolved. Using Paypal, the merchant has to ship to the verified billing address of the credit card. If they do not then they are not protected by Paypal. This is a common practice for mostly all online credit card orders.

When you purchase from a site using Paypal there will be a number next to their name, on the 2nd page of the checkout. It's on the confirm payment page. This is the number of customers they have had. If the number is low, then they might just be starting out. If it's high your more likely to trust them. A number over 50 is probably a good start.

Also make sure that they are VERIFIED. This means that they have verified their address with a credit card. If they try to scam you, Paypal can pull the money back from them.

Merchants like to use Paypal because it's very easy to sign up for. Some small companies will not pass the credit check to get a real credit card processor. Others like to use Paypal for larger items they sell because Paypal offers more protection to the merchant. Such as if the merchant is selling Body Kits, Wheels and Tires etc.

Paypal is highly recommended. It might involve a few extra steps, but it's worth it for both parties.

Companies do not like to ship to addresses other than where the credit card statement goes to. This is called the "Billing Address". Most companies use an AVS system, which means "Address Verification System". If this does not match up when the credit card is run, The order may be cancelled and you will not get your product.

So to sum things up? Just remember, you get what you pay for. Things are cheap for a reason. If a site looks poor and unprofessional, expect the same from the people who own/ run it. Be safe out there.!

Your friends at SRO