Shopping Online: The Good, The Bad & The Ugly!

These days, more than 50 percent of us Brits do at least half of our shopping online. What was once seen as being a luxury – being able to order items online and have them delivered directly to your door – has now become part of daily life. Today, there’s not anything that you can’t order online, in fact, there’s more choice online than there is in most high street stores.

Regardless of how useful a resource, online shopping can be – especially for us parents, there are both positives and negatives to shopping online. A lot of us forget that although shopping online is useful, there is a good and a bad side to it.

So, with that in mind, below is a guide to the good, the bad, and the ugly of online shopping, giving you an oversight into the positives and negatives of shopping online.

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It’s easier
One pro of shopping online is that it’s easier. Instead of having to trek into your local shopping centre or city centre, you can simply hop on your laptop when you have a spare few minutes and spend some time having a browse. If you’re a parent who has young children, this is a godsend – every mum knows that kids and shopping really don’t mix. One of the great things about online food shopping is that stores like Tesco and Asda save your shop history, so when it comes to doing your weekly shop, you can choose to reorder using the previous week’s shopping list.

You can make bigger savings
When it comes to shopping online, one of the major benefits is the amount of savings you can make. You see, there are hundreds of specialist websites that are packed full of various deals and discounts for online shopping. Simply by browsing these sites, you can find all the best deal codes and can apply them to your online shopping, saving you money. It’s also much easier to compare the best deals, as all it takes is a click of the mouse. Whereas, when you are shopping in store, to find the best deals you have to traipse from place to place.

You could be the victim of fraud
One con of shopping online is that you could be the victim of fraud. Some websites aren’t safe to shop on and can result in your bank details being stolen. If your bank details are stolen, your bank account could be emptied by fraudsters. While most banks insure against this kind of fraud and will reimburse you, it could take some time for the funds to go back into your account. If this leaves you short, it can be a real nightmare, especially when you have things to pay. However, you could always opt to take out a small loan from somewhere like Swift Money, and then pay it off again once your bank has reimbursed you the money that was stolen.

You have to pay delivery costs
Another downside to ordering online is that you may have to pay delivery costs. Most online stores offer free delivery if you spend over a certain amount – usually around £50. However, when you are buying something that costs a small amount, you may have to pay delivery costs – these can sometimes exceed the cost of the item itself, depending on what you buy and where you buy it from.

There are both pros and cons to shopping online, but overall, it’s a great way to get your hands on any items that you need, especially when you have little ones to take care of – shopping with kids is every parent’s worst nightmare.