As Nasdaq, 95% of purchases will be facilitated by e-commerce by 2040. Ok, it is clear that future is for E-Commerce business more than traditional retails. So, if you want to take your position in the future market, you have to start right now. Starting now means you are going to be a veteran Musketeer, and never do newbie mistakes.

Check the Qatari Government guide for online shoppers to enhance your experience whenever you buy something online.   

What is Qatari Government Guide to Online Shoppers?

Recently, Qatari Government launched Qatar’s E-Commerce Portalas comprehensive educational portal for both businesses and consumers. It is available – For FREE – for everyone to know minor details and expected obstacles about e-commerce. Once you enter the portal you will find dozens of subjects to learn and lots of answers to the questions you may ask or even not.

The portal is a part of the recent Qatari E-Commerce Program. In this program, Qatar supports everyone – citizen or foreigner – who wants to start his e-commerce business. This support works in 2 paths:

1. Educational: by offering accurate information about e-commerce business and process in general.
2. Supportive: by offering many facilities and infrastructure that help entrepreneurs accomplishing their work, and users shopping safely.

For online shoppers, this article highlights their rights and what to keep in mind when they visit an e-commerce website, as follow:

Online Shoppers’ Rights

If you are one of the newbie shoppers who just takes his first steps, and want to know what laws give for online shoppers, here are your rights:

1. Browsing, Searching for, and Choosing a Product

When you choose a particular website searching for a service/product, you fulfill your right in choosing what you want/need/desire. Forcing you choosing a particular product/service, visiting a page you don’t want to see, or buying a specific product is a clear aggression on your freedom and right as an online shopper.

• Requesting Online

If you liked a specific product or an e-commerce website/platform, and this product is available for all, you have the right to request it. The merchant/website owner has no right to prevent this product for any reason, otherwise he acts a kind of racism. And you have the right to submit a complaint against this merchant.

• Return and Refund Period

You have a return certain period of time for any product you buy online. During this period you have the right to cancel your order to stop delivering without deducting any dues.

• Product Delivery

Delivering a product is one of the keys that made e-commerce a lifestyle. Simply, you order a product, pay by credit/prepaid card, add address details, and wait your product home.

Some merchants provide delivery for FREE, and some others don’t. Whether it free or paid, delivery is a must in e-commerce business. Plus you have the right to return or replace a product you don’t want. If the product is not the same offered on the merchant website, you have the full right to refund.

Well, the above 4 points are your rights that you must know before shopping or buying online.

Now, let’s highlight:

7 Points to Put in Mind before Buying Online

1. Is The Merchant/Website Trusted?

Being online, or good looking doesn’t mean it is trusted. You have to make sure of its credibility. Here is the key:

Trustworthy merchant offers clear (Contact Us) information like: Location, Phone, Fax, and more. Also, he may be proud of the history of his business or experience. If you don’t find such information, you may be the next victim of fraud.

• Make Sure of The Product’s Price

For fraudulent purposes, some e-commerce websites provide compelling offers and discounts. We know websites that offer 85% and 90% discount for notable brands. They attract more attention by revealing that this discount is exclusive with them. Unfortunately, there are a lot of victims in such a path.

So, we recommend to visit many sites before taking the decision. This short tour among the other websites gives you awareness about the product details, quality level, real price, and more. If their offer isn’t logic (comparing with other websites), ignore them to the trusted websites.

The same about brands. If you find a retail that offers exclusive products for a specific brand, you have to make sure that this product is original (not copied). Visit the brand’s website and make sure that they already produced such a product. Know that, there are many scammers that hide behind first class brands. So, take care of this approach.

• Make Sure of Payments

Before clicking “complete your purchase/order” you have to make sure that payment includes: Product, tax, and delivery fees.

Many scammers use the famous trick of “hidden fees” to collect more money in legal – but not honest – way. Make sure about what you pay for a product, and check the last line in the receipt and of course your credit/prepaid card balance.

• Your Personal Information

You have to realize that your personal information is so precious for many vendors online. He may sell it, share it with third party, or use it incorrectly. So, carefully read the terms and conditions, and privacy policy of this website. If it suits you, complete your purchase. If it is not, ignore and cancel your purchase.

Take care of the information that vendor ask for. Don’t give him extra information that he doesn’t need in completing a purchase. Some websites and mobile apps ask to provide Credit Card information for no clear reason or reasonable guarantees. So, take care of such websites.

• Participate in Trusted Auctions Only

Online Auctions look pretty and tempting. Sometimes, it is full of precious collectibles. This is a temptation you can’t resist. But, is it safe enough to join? Actually, online auctions are rich environment for fraud and theft. So, it is preferable to ignore them or at least choose the trusted websites.

• Make Sure that Merchant uses Safe Online Payment Portals

It is very hard to handle paying online in such a small business. Not only, but also has the lack of safety still existed. So, startups and e-commerce website delegate this task to professional online payment portals like SADAD, PayPal, 2CheckOut, and more.

Make sure that the merchant or e-commerce website you visit uses a safe payment portal.

• Check Customer Reviews

A merchant who allows customers to review his products, is a good sign to the credibility of him and his store. He is an honest merchant and you can trust him.

But sometimes you find a merchant who makes fake reviews to deceive his customers. How to protect yourself from such merchants? Fake reviews have limits. These merchants can’t falsify 100 or 200 reviews for exampl. So, quickly scan reviews to know the percentage of negative vs positive reviews.

Also, you can check trusted review platforms (like GoodReads for books, and Choice for products, for example) to get honest reviews.

Well, if you did what we mentioned above, you already got a long shot in understanding shopping and buying online. For more details, visit: Qatari E-Commerce Portal.

Conclusion:

Qatari Government moves at a steady pace to electronic future especially in e-commerce field. Qatar cares about awareness programs for internet users to protect them from online fraud.

And in line with previous procedures, SADAD launched its perfect mobile app for online payment solutions. It is more than just an online payment portal. It is an integrated solution for all payment issues for both users and entrepreneurs. It is an exceptional experience to try.

Give SADAD a Try