Internet | Buying online part 1: The joys of ecommerce

By Anna Malczyk

If you are interested in this topic, take a look at our University of Cape Town Internet Super-User course.

Today, like never before, the world is at your fingertips. Virtually anything you can imagine can be found on the internet – not just people and ideas, but goods and services too. It’s now possible to buy these amazing things at online stores. How does this work?

What to buy?
The only problem with online shopping is trying to limit yourself once you discover the almost-infinite range of possibilities. You can get new and second-hand books, music, clothing, appliances, movies – even food and flowers – all at the click of a button. You can access, quite literally, a whole world of products. On top of that, you can really shop around for a bargain – many items, like books, are cheaper online because they don’t have to be stored and displayed in brick-and-mortar shops.

How does buying online work?
Online shopping works very much like normal shopping. You browse the available products, inspect them, place them in your shopping trolley, then take them to the till to pay for them. The only differences are that you don’t need to leave home to do it, and that you don’t get the physical immediacy of purchasing a physical product. The purchased goods are sourced by the online shop and shipped to you, usually within a week or two of the purchase.

Online shops
Online stores come in three overall flavours: general retailers who sell a wide range of goods (Kalahari or Amazon), specialised retailers who sell a specific type of product (Books4Change or Pick ‘n Pay), and auction sites, where you can bid on a wide range of objects offered by ordinary people (Bidorbuy or eBay).

Kalahari is South Africa’s biggest and best-known online retailer. It offers a massive range of products in dozens of categories, from books and CDs to electronics and fresh flowers. You can combine as many different types of items in your order as you want – if you see something you like, simply add it to your virtual shopping cart!

Ordering and paying
When it comes time to order and pay for your items, the process couldn’t be simpler. Kalahari offers six different ways to pay for your purchase, though smaller shops may be limited to credit card or EFT payments. All you need to do is to enter your personal details, address and payment information into the secure online web page. The online store will automatically confirm your payment and put the shipping process in action. That’s it – once you’ve confirmed your order, you’re done. Your purchase will be processed and sent to you within a few days.

International purchases
Buying products from international stores works exactly the same way, but two are two things to look out for. First, the shipping options can vary widely in delivery duration and cost, so make sure you choose the best one for you – and check if the shop delivers to South Africa at all. Second, it is possible that your shipment will be stopped at the border customs and you will have to pay an additional import duty on your purchase.

Online shopping can be daunting because it feels so impersonal – you can’t see or hold the object, and there’s no shop assistant to talk to. Also, it can be scary to surrender your personal details to a website – what if something goes wrong or somebody scams you?

Learn more…

Don’t worry: most online stores are perfectly safe and reputable. To learn how to really protect yourself, come back for Buying online part 2: Safe online shopping in the next edition of SmartyPants!

Back to SmartyPants Newsletter - June 2010 Edition
This article is published under the Creative Commons Attribution license.