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How to Avoid Getting Ripped Off When Shopping Online
Like most of us, your Facebook and Pinterest feeds are probably full of tantalizing products you might want to buy. Maybe you even found Boredwalk this way! If you're an avid online shopper you've probably also been burned by some online transactions. Whether you ended up with a hair dryer that could double as a flame thrower or an outfit that looks nothing like the picture, being ripped off sucks. It's even more frustrating in instances where you don't really have recourse to do anything about it.
Being an e-commerce professional, I hate seeing these slimy websites taking advantage of consumers. It just makes life harder for consumers and legitimate e-commerce businesses like mine that really do care about operating ethically and providing new (and returning!) customers with a great shopping experience. So how can a consumer avoid being scammed? You might think you can depend on reviews or product photos, but unfortunately sometimes reviews are fraudulent and product photos are stolen. Being e-commerce pros, here are the signals we look for to determine if a website is trustworthy and likely to deliver what it offers. You can use these tips to protect yourself, too!
That's me on the left!
1. What's on the "About" page?
Shady companies can often say a lot while still saying nothing. They might ramble on about their "vast distribution network" or their "unmatched selection", but what they avoid telling you is anything substantive ABOUT their company — you know, the whole point of having an "About" page in the first place. They won't show you pictures of the team or share their names. They won't tell you where their offices are located. Unethical companies don't actually want you to know too much about them, so they fill their about pages with vague information about their business.
One phrase to particularly watch out for is "partners with global merchants and artisans." Go ahead and Google that phrase; seriously, you will be in awe of how much it pops up. This is a euphemism. What they mean is they drop ship* stuff from sites trading in low-quality (often counterfeit) products like AliExpress at a hefty mark up. If you want to buy goods of questionable quality directly from China, just go to AliExpress directly. Yeah, there's a good chance you will get ripped off or end up with counterfeit goods (which could even threaten your global entry status if you're into travel), but if you want to roll the dice on that, at least don't pay the middlemen drop shippers.
In summation, when it comes to "About" pages be sure to pay attention to what they aren't telling you. If the details are vague and there's not much of a story about the people behind the business, that's not a good sign. If they're hiding from you, you have to wonder why.
* Drop shipping is a business model where rather than making and/or holding physical inventory in their own warehouse or via a reputable 3rd-party logistics (3PL) hub, an online "store" will just take your order information — what you ordered and where it's going — and relay it to the actual manufacturer to pack & ship on their behalf. Drop shipping in and of itself is not an uncommon business practice OR inherently shady. We used to do this when we first started out before we brought our production & shipping in-house! But it IS a model that is increasingly abused and leads to lots of scammers offering one thing on their website and shipping significantly inferior knock-offs of the product(s) pictured to unsuspecting customers.
That's us!
2. Does this website provide contact info and/or shipping info?
Being in a global economy, websites can be based anywhere. While it might be cool to discover a legitimate exotic international brand, it also leaves you open to the risk of dealing with businesses in countries that don't take consumer safety all that seriously.
If you're buying goods that come from overseas and you end up at best dissatisfied with the purchase, and at worst injured by the product, you won't have any recourse against the company that sold it to you. If you primarily deal with businesses that are based in your own country you're at least dealing with businesses subject to the same laws you're used to. Legitimate U.S. based businesses all carry liability insurance (we sure do) and know they will be held liable if they sell something that hurts a consumer.
This is why I always look for contact information on websites. I want to see a U.S. phone number and hours of operation so that I know I can call and talk to a real human. I want to know where the company is based and where the products will be shipping from (and a random PO box doesn't count). If a company won't give you their contact information, again, they're hiding from you, and you have to wonder why.
Our website says we're in Los Angeles because we are. Well, technically we're in Pico Rivera, a suburb in L.A. County about 20 minutes from downtown L.A., but most people haven't heard of Pico Rivera, so Los Angeles metro area is a better descriptor to help people understand where we're based. We design, print, and ship all of our products from our L.A. area office, and if you showed up at the address on our website you could talk to the person who wrote this article — hi there! This is the kind of transparency I look for when I'm trying to suss out whether a website can be trusted.
3. What is the return policy?
Sketchy companies have sketchy return policies. They might dance around their return policy with vague language like "if you're not satisfied, let us know" or they may make no reference to their return policy at all. When I shop online I look for a clear return policy. Can I return the product for any reason? What condition must the product be in for it to be accepted as a return or exchange? How long do I have to return it? Where do I send the return?
That last question is especially important. Remember what I said about overseas companies? If you're going to be on the hook for return shipping overseas you'll likely find the shipping costs are so outrageously expensive that it's not even worth the cost to return it. These companies know this and that's how they avoid ever having to issue a refund.
4. Beware of supply chains!
"Supply chain" is just a fancy way of saying who's involved in getting the product from the assembly line to you. When you walk into a store like Bed Bath and Beyond and you buy a Cuisinart food processor, you can be sure Bed Bath and Beyond got that food processor from Cuisinart. You might be thinking "duh, of course they did!" but I'm making this point because with e-commerce, sometimes things aren't what they appear to be.
When you deal with online "marketplace" retailers like eBay or Amazon, you don't really know who's in the supply chain. For example, just because someone says a shoe is a Birkenstock shoe doesn't mean that's what it actually is. If Bed Bath and Beyond sold you a counterfeit Cuisinart in one of their stores they'd be in all sorts of liability trouble and they'd be on the hook. If that fake food processor started a kitchen fire you could sue them. If Cuisinart caught them selling fakes of their product they could sue them. For these reasons a store like Bed Bath and Beyond has plenty of incentive to make sure they are selling exactly what they say they are selling. Online marketplaces like eBay and Amazon are another story, and thus far they've been able to avoid being held liable for selling counterfeit goods.
This would be annoying if you ended up with a product that's just junky and not as described, but it's downright dangerous if you're buying something like eyewear, cosmetics, toys for your kids, electronics or even toys for adults. Buying directly from brand websites, such as ours, or major retailers who source their products directly from the brands, is a good way to ensure that you'll always get exactly what was advertised.
It can be tempting in 2018 to just assume that because the U.S. has relatively comprehensive consumer protections in place that every other country has similar protections in place, or that those protections apply to all products that ship into the U.S. from overseas. The unfortunate reality is that they don't. This isn't to say that the ONLY trustworthy consumer products and/or e-commerce businesses come from and/or are based in the U.S. Sometimes there are disreputable U.S.-based e-commerce companies, and there are certainly LOTS of legitimate retailers selling high-quality goods all around the world. But with the good of a globalized economy: innovation, lower prices, and economic growth for developing nations — comes the bad: inferior quality, unsafe manufacturing practices using hazardous materials, and shady business practices, and it's up to all of us as consumers to use critical thinking and practice good judgment before handing over our hard-earned money and risk getting burned by unscrupulous scammers.
That's it for this week; shop safe & smart out there, and have a great weekend!
Peace, love, and tacos,
Matt
The Best Bloody Mary Recipe Ever!
Things here at Boredwalk HQ can get pretty hectic during the week (and Meredith and I are certainly no strangers to printing shirts, creating new designs, or fielding customer service questions over the weekend — I'll be here at the office for at least a couple hours tomorrow), so one of our favorite ways to unwind on Saturdays & Sundays is to indulge in the time-honored meal mash-up that is brunch.
Whether we're meeting up with friends to dine out, or staying in to whip up some deconstructed avocado toast salad or a vegan omelet (yes, they exist, and yes, they're delicious — I'll prove it in a later blog post) one thing is a must — a stiff pre-noon cocktail to aid digestion.
Mimosas and bellinis are all well and good, but I prefer a beverage that drinks like a meal unto itself. Enter: the Bloody Mary.
At its core, a Bloody Mary is more or less just tomato juice and vodka over ice. It's evolved a bit over the last century, but to this day I still encounter some truly sad, basic afterthoughts where the only nod to flavor is a dash of black pepper, squirt of lemon juice, and a drop or two of Worcestershire sauce and/or hot sauce served in a highball so crammed with ice it may as well just be a glass of tangy red water.
I've also had some fantastic Bloody Marys at fine establishments, but a responsible adult beverage enthusiast should really have a solid handful of original recipes to fall back on when staying in or having company over. I've made it something of a personal mission over the last several years to perfect the Bloody Mary. The good news? Mission accomplished! The bad news? It's not the most traditional recipe. Note I didn't title it the best classic Bloody Mary recipe ever...anyway, onward.
What makes this Bloody Mary different is both a liberal (some might say excessive) use of herbs, seasonings, and dill pickle brine, as well as the presence of mezcal in addition to the usual vodka.
Mezcal is a relative of tequila, but with a distinctive smoky flavor that balances the sweetness of vodka and gives the dominant tomato flavor more character. Next time you're in the mood for a savory cocktail, mezcal is your pal!
As for the pickle brine, this is used in lieu of the more traditional lemon juice. I've always found that the lemon juice in Bloody Marys adds too much acidic "brightness" that tastes more like it's just sort of floating on top of the other flavors rather than acting as an integral part of the whole flavor profile. Pickle brine still adds that brightness, but in a more muted and complementary way than lemon juice does. If the mixology purity police take umbrage with this recipe, fine — we'll call it a Dirty Mezcal Mary!
Ingredients
• 1 jigger vodka (whatever brand you'd like. I find the selection of spirits at Trader Joe's is both top-notch and economical.)
• 1 jigger mezcal (see above.)
• 1 1/2 jiggers dill pickle brine
• Ice
• 1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce (to keep things plant-based we use either Annie's or The Wizard's.)
• Tomato juice (around 3/4 cup, but the amount will vary based on the size of your glass.)
• Several dashes ground black pepper
• Pinch ground celery seed (NOT celery salt)
• Dash cajun seasoning
• Dash seafood seasoning
• Dash ground chipotle powder (this stuff brings the heat, so add gradually til desired taste is achieved.)
• Several dashes of hot sauce (I like a spicy Bloody Mary, but if you don't, just add a couple dashes or none at all according to your taste.)
• Dill pickle, for garnish (optional)
• Celery stalk, for garnish (optional)
• Olive, for garnish (optional)
Method
Fill highball or tumbler glass halfway with ice. This is important! Don't water down your beverage AND make it difficult to properly mix your ingredients together.
Add vodka, mezcal, pickle brine, hot sauce, Worcestershire sauce, and seasonings & spices. Stir to thoroughly combine.*
*No, I don't use a cocktail shaker for this. It breaks up the ice and adds too much water to the proceedings, AND adds more clean-up.
Add enough tomato juice to leave approximately 1" (that's 2.54cm if you're a metric fan) of space in the glass to allow for displacement when you add your garnishes; stir to combine again. Taste & adjust seasonings according to your preference. Garnish with a dill pickle, celery stalk, olive, or whatever else you'd like, and serve/drink.
Level Up
Some places do a season salt rim on their Bloody Marys. I'm ambivalent about this, as sometimes their Bloody Mary mix is already too salty (this is why I recommend using celery seed instead of celery salt, since there's already plenty of saltiness imparted by the cajun seasoning, seafood seasoning, and pickle brine) and a rim just ruins the whole thing by making every sip aggressively salty.
If you do decide to go this route, I recommend salting the rim of your glass first. Take a small plate, add 1/2 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp cajun seasoning, and mix to combine while dry. Moisten the rim of your glass with the edge of your pickle, place the rim against the plate and twist to pick up some of the salt mixture. If you want to go salt-crazy, moisten a bit more of the rim — about 1/2 inch — and put the salt mixture on a flat surface like a cutting board. Place the glass on its side and roll through the mixture. Then progress to the making of the cocktail.
Voila:
That's it for this week! I hope you enjoy your weekend, and if any of you are out marching for our lives to stop gun violence, stay safe out there!
Peace, love, and cocktails,
Matt