Believe it or not, I’m going on 7 years shopping online now and I’ve learned enough lessons on how to purchase efficiently through my travels abroad, because one thing is for certain, if you’ve got a PayPal account and an address, you’re just about sorted!
I say “just about” because the only thing you need to worry about, is how many days it’ll take for your package to arrive to give you that shopping fix one more time. Remember the headache I had trying to get my Ticket to the Moon hammocks from customs? Weeks of waiting!
Jokes aside, PayPal are awesome and they have, without a doubt, been my online wallet since 2009 both for personal use as well as a business I used to run on the tiny island of Malta.
When looking at buying stuff online, PayPal have your back with a really rad service called “Buyer Protection”. This FREE service has you covered if you purchased something using PayPal and once it was received it wasn’t what you bought or it was damaged or it just never arrived!
What PayPal will do in an event like this is help you get it sorted out and if you still don’t come right, they will reimburse you and that makes me feel that much better about buying things like a Canon 7D or Rode Microphones that are coming in from abroad. If I am buying stuff that costs over R10,000 or even if it’s a piece of worthless junk that I just have to have from eBay for $5.00, I want to know that if I don’t get what I bought, I’ll get my cash back, it’s just human to want that.
If you need to swop out the incorrect Lens or a faulty tripod (it happens!) you can opt in to PayPal’s Refunded Return Shipping. That means you won’t be blowing a fortune on flying stuff backward and forward to get the right gadgets! You can opt in for the Refunded Return Shipping here.
If you didn’t need any more convincing, PayPal is a payment option across a massive variety of online merchants including popular sites like eBay, Uber, BidOrBuy and plenty more, so if you’re still worried about shopping online, stop and move forward with time, we’re in 2016 now and online is now that future we once spoke about.
Check out the PayPal website for more information or drop them a line via their contact page if you’ve got any questions.
How to WIN $500 from PayPal with your favourite online shopping story:
So everyone loves to win something right? I don’t know many people who’d say no to $500 either, especially since the exchange rate at the moment is an absolute joke and that $500 will be almost R8K if converted!
PayPal are giving away $500 to 5 lucky Instagram Entrants who have the best stories to tell about their previous online shopping experiences. Be it a shocking story or a funny one, if you’ve got a story tell it and post a photo with it on Instagram with the hashtag #PayPalGotYouCovered and you could walk away with $500 in your PayPal account. If you don’t have an account, get one because you need it as part of your entry.
Do yourself a favour and read the official rules and T&C’s to make sure that you know everything that you need to know before entering. With almost R10,000 at stake, you’re gonna kick yourself for not checking before entering and having to forfeit your prize.