[AMG Power]

Originally Posted by fiestarry

..the astonishingly low Shell lub oil prices have intrigued me.

It looks like fakes are par for the course if you're into online shopping.

There exists the usual unscrupulous lot of sellers who have realised that this is a whole new market waiting to be tapped with a forgiving online retailer who will continue to buy from you even if you've delivered fakes.

While chocolates and perfumery only require a replacement as a remedy, in the case of engine oils the damage can be more far reaching.

It is for this very reason I have never bought engine oils online.

[Sheel]

I personally prefer buying from the company's website, most have their own website, it is much better designed, has all the current products and you don't have a plethora of choices of different brands confusing you further.

But this is true for merchandise, watches, shoes, for other things, I tend to read the reviews, I know few are paid, but still, this helps.

[GTO]

Anyone who thinks that "fulfilled by Amazon" guarantees authenticity is just kidding himself. What I do:

- Mainly buy smaller / cheaper items from Amazon and the like.

- Perfumes from Shopper's Stop. Bit pricier, but at least I am guaranteed genuine stuff.

- Electronics from Vijay Sales (they price-match online rates) or directly from the manufacturer (last phone was from Samsung's India website).

- Computers usually direct from Dell.com.

- Attire I cannot buy without trying on (fit is everything). Hence, those are physical stores only. Ditto for sunglasses, shoes etc.

- Food items from Big Basket (there are a lot of FAKES even in food).

I would never buy engine oil, perfumes etc. from Amazon. They rely too much on 3rd party sellers.

[Thad E Ginathom]

There are some cases, like my set of punches, where the package and presentation is similar but the quality is clearly wrong and fake is obvious. On the other hand, there must be whole factories in certain corners of the world churning out copies of stuff like SD cards with facsimile labels. How can one tell?

Engine oil I would not normally buy online, but last time, needing a top-up for the coming weekend, and having failed to find the brand/grade I wanted at any local supplier. Notwithstanding my comment above, I am confident that I received a genuine Shell bottle. Anyway, I only put half a litre.

[JojyKerala]

Around 10 years ago, there was an online eCommerce portal called Rediff Shopping. I bought a Blackberry from them for around Rs. 13,000.

When the package arrived, it was clear the product was an obvious fake with faulty body and ugly-looking controls. It wasn't anything near advertised on the site.

I called Rediff and complained. They acknowledged the situation and asked me to send the package back which I did. They promised to send the actual phone soon.

But a week or 2 passed by and no response. Then I started pestering them with calls on a daily basis for 2 months till they dispatched the phone. In between, there were many, many heated arguments.

This incident changed me. Over the years, I found it hard to rely on premier shopping sites such as Amazon, FlipKart etc. And if I buy something online, it's going to be a low-priced product to ensure that my losses are cut short in case a Rediff-like incident props up again. I've no strength to fight with them for months for what's rightfully mine.

[ZenMaster]

One of the biggest red flags for fake or rather low quality products is, if there seem to be full fledged reviews with "Pros", "Cons" (usually something on the lines of late delivery) written by people who seems to have gone out of their way to spend and hour writing a youtube style review for a disposable sub 500 rupee product. This will be contrasted by a huge number of negative reviews.

Fake reviews are a big headache on Amazon & Flipkart.

Nowadays Amazon has started something even more worse :
Clubbing together reviews for multiple unrelated products from the same seller and thus increasing the Star rating, when very few people have actually bought and reviewed it.
This is most prevalent in case of Mobile cases, screen guards etc. Most often the reviews are not for the type of case you are looking for or else for a totally different phone.

Unless its for a laptop, or expensive branded electronics Full fledged reviews on Amazon and flipkart are most often fake and should be given little heed.

[adi.mariner]

I bought my Fridge and Washing Machine through Amazon and Flipkart respectively. I had checked out the products in the nearby stores but they weren't ready to match the online prices. Also the exchange price for the old equipment was nowhere near the prices offered by the online sellers. The warranty part is also covered as both the offline and online sellers told me to contact the manufacturer directly. I check for reviews of the products and try to buy it from a reputed seller who has a good rating to avoid fakes.

[kamilharis]

For most of the Electronic Items and Gadgets I prefer online purchase these days mainly due to their pricing difference. They are offering minimum 2 years warranty + extended warranty too with installation supported by authorized technicians. Occasionally I have bought perfumes too which were found genuine. Only key is try to order from fulfilled sellers who has clear return/refund policies. In India i found both Flipkart and Amazon to be providing same level of customer service which is just average. Couple of my Amazon purchases were spoiled by their delivery team. Here in Saudi I just order from SOUQ ( Now Amazon.sa ) & www.noon.com and I am extremely happy with all the purchases made till now.

[EuroMachine]

Fulfilled by Amazon is different from the seller being Cloudtail.
Cloudtail buys the product directly from the company whereas Fulfilled by Amazon can be a third party seller complying to Amazon's shipping policies.

Engine oils sold by Cloudtail too are intriguingly low which the offline stores never match.
Also I research about the seller if he is a distributor or an authorized dealer from the company and make a purchase.

[Thilak29]

Buy from sites like Amazon and Flipkart only - no no to PayTM and Snapdeal (if its still alive). Among these two prominent sites, prefer Amazon and Cloudtail as seller. Usually buy only known branded item which can be discerned upon delivery (never ones with fishy names like Okayji being sold under Cloudtail). Flipkart too has couple of reliable sellers like Retailnet and Supercomnet.

Clothing prefer sites like NNNOW or Jockey - from manufacturer directly.

So far over a decade of making online purchases, never got a fake item.

[splitinfinitive]

Apart from not buying items like perfumes from Amazon, I also try and run the product reviews thru a review analyser engine that tries to weed out the fake reviews. It seems to work reasonably for popular products with lots of reviews. Fakespot & ReviewMeta are the ones I've used.

[Deowrat17]

For Clothing :- Ajio and Myntra with atleast 15 days of return/refund Policy.
For Electronics :- Amazon or Flipkart after checking the ratings of seller and Return/refund Policy.
Miscellaneous :- Amazon/Flipkart/Paytm for miscellaneous low value purchases. Most of the times these are small items like Back Cover of Phone or screen guard.

In addition I stick to following rules :-

1. I try to buy directly from the official store of that brand. They also work out cheaper for the same product than other online retailers most of the time. It is even more relevant in case of Clothes, Shoes, Eyewear, Sunglasses and Watches.

2. I never buy products with no return/refund policy.

3. I check both the positive as well as negative reviews before buying the product. If the product has no photo or has very few reviews, I generally try to avoid buying that product. If the same product is listed on multiple e-commerce sites, I check the rating and reviews of the product on all of them.

4. If I have to buy any product from Xiaomi, I directly order from Mi Store. They have good customer care support and deliver the products real quick.

[GT007]

I would say that i'm a heavy shopper when it comes to shopping online and i'm truly a deal seeker. Though at times i've been thugged but every experience teaches a lesson and strengthens your instincts.

When i started shopping for self may it be electronics or other product i would search the whole market and go to each & everyshop possible for a particular product which i wanted to buy and enquire the price and bargain hard and finally buy from the shop where i got the best deal and also make some friends with the shopkeepers along the way. Then came shopping online from ebay around a decade or so back. I found cheap prices and variety of products from all over India, some of which might not be available here in our city markets. But few times i got inferior quality or fake or first/second copy products which i returned and maybe few times my money was not refunded even. Then came Flipkart, Snapdeal, Amazon, Aliexpress etc from where i started shopping. Initially i used to compare a product i wanted to buy from ebay, amazon, flipkart, snapdeal & then buy from the cheapest possible source. Slowly trips to markets started becoming less and all smaller items were acquired from online. Then by 2014 i found flipkart to be the best online site for purchasing and ebay was losing its charm but then in the last 5 years Amazon has upped its game and is my primary go to site for online shopping followed by flipkart as the backup option. I personally feel other sites like snapdeal, ebay, tata cliq etc not upto the mark when it comes to hassle free buying experience and delivery times as provided by Amazon & Flipkart.

Now when i shop online i have certain criteria which should be met by the product or the seller which includes its reviews, images of the product, its detailed description, answers to the questions asked etc. So off late it's been a long time since I've been thugged or lost my money due to a fake/unworthy product. In the last couple of years for my new apartment i even bought televisions, fridge, washing machine, beds, mattresses, dining table, coffee table, microwave etc and still not a single problematic product. I got what i ordered and quality is good for the price the paid. Sometimes i do get inferior products but i make sure that i have return policy and get refunded.

I would like to give a few markers to avoid fakes or inferior quality products.
1) Read the reviews & if any then check the pictures uploaded by the reviewers of the product as the actual images might differ from the digital enhanced images by the seller.
2) While checking reviews check reviews from verified purchase buyers as they might be more authentic.
3) Please read all the negative reviews for the product but don't jugde directly as some reviews will be for the seller, Amazon, delivery times etc, also some people might get a lemon product which can happen in case of electronics but that doesn't mean the product is bad. Create your own sensible opinion about the product from the reviews.
4) Read the detailed description minutely including the dimensions which is very beneficial because for certain products it might appear bigger in size in seller images but in real they might be smaller than expected. Also from this description column you might be able to identify the fakes from the original many a times.
5) Check the questions posted in the product page and if required post your question as these days most of the sellers answer within 24 hours.
6) Use appropriate filters while searching for your desired product as it will help you finding the most relevant product.
7) Check the seller rating, read the seller reviews, as a fake product seller will have it written all over the reviews and it should be on your red flag.
8) Always try to go for sellers where there is a return option within few days even if it costs you a hundred bucks more as certain products might look great online or on video but when bought may seem impractical to use in real world.
9) Curb the urge of buying something for which there is no reviews anywhere online about the product or seller as seldom it might happen that the product is genuine. Also it becomes risky & if there is no return policy you might lose your money. It's better that someone else dares and reviews the product as i feel it's better to learn from other's mistakes than creating your own.
10) I have this habit that whenever i visit a shopping mall i check out physically the products i need or new items launched and have their feel & concurrently i take out my mobile and have a glance online of their rates, sometimes you might get a surprise seeing the discounts/online rates.
11) Try to leave a geniune feedback and rating you felt after using the product for a few weeks/months as it will be beneficial for lots of people.

These were few tips from my side but definitely not exhaustive and more points can be added by fellow Bhpians. Online shopping is something which you will get good at by shopping more times as every experience enhances your ability to spot fakes/inferior products & you becoming more foolproof. Off late i have found that the difference in prices online and offline have become very marginal as it used to be earlier for most of the products. Also my opinion in these uncertain times of Covid it will be better to order online than flocking the Shopping Malls for regular genuine products.

[aghate]

A good thread to be honest.

Personally, I have experienced 'Dead Cheap = Fake'. I bought a Samsung Power bank at half the retail price couple of years ago from eBay, the 10k mAH one. And it would run out of power after charging my phone once. I rated the seller '1' and after couple of follow ups from him I returned the product expecting the money back. Not only did I have to pay for the shipment, I didn't receive any money back. Adding to plight I reverted my rating as well.

From that day, I only buy from genuine sources and refrain from buying anything that is advertised very cheap. That is regardless of the fact that I have to pay more. For example, when I bought my Nikon DSLR D5200 from an official store listed on Nikon's website and not online, I paid around 5k more than online price but I have the peace of mind that it's a genuine product.

Moral of the story, buy from the official website if possible or buy it from an official store. There are many dodgy websites/sellers on these Amazon esque websites and once has to be very careful in the process of purchase.

The rules I follow are,
- Verify the seller and check other sellers price for the same product. I prefer Amazon when buying online.
- Verify the prices on official product websites.
- Buying the product from the official website. I follow this for products that are relatively expensive (shoes, gadgets, etc).
- From eBay I check the seller's ratings. If possible check for comments/rating for the product that you are buying.

[Thad E Ginathom]

Sometimes one may get the best of both worlds by buying from a reputable bricks and mortar dealer through Amazon. I did this with my first mirrorless camera: the price was much the same, the delivery was quicker, and I am accustomed to good problem resolution from Amazon.

Since then, I have been buying these items online, but direct from a reseller's site or by email. One company has a really great reputation in the photographic community, and I have had both best prices and prompt service from them. I have already bought a new camera at 74k from them. In the nature of the photographic hobby, future purchases may exceed one lakh. I am not a pessimist, but I have to wonder what happens if something arrives broken (unlikely, their packing is first class), not working, or doesn't arrive at all.

Well... I suppose I'd better ask them!