The purchase of products online, which also increases doubts and curiosity about how the electronic transactions. Most of us can now shop online with the use of electronic money cards, which we have to register on the e-commerce pages if we want to make any type of purchase, then we will explain how this entire purchase process works and the security measures that are taken in this regard.
Steps to buy on the Internet
Shopping online today has become the present and the future. The e-commerce boom is a reality, which is why knowing how electronic sales work is important. For both a seller and a customer.
But What is the online shopping process? We explain it to you:
- A user comes to an eCommerce because he is looking for a specific product. To do this, either go to the exact page, or use the online store's search engine to locate it.
- Once he has it, the user is not left alone with him; it is very possible that you look for that same product in other stores and assess where it compensates you the most. This will depend on the shipping costs, product price, availability, payment and shipping methods, and shipping time.
- After deciding to buy it, you will proceed to see the payment method but first you will make sure that it is a store that gives you confidence, that is, that you do not think it is a "scam", "fraud" or that you are going to lose your money. This is one of the most important steps in electronic sales since, if the person who is going to buy it decides that you are not to be trusted, or that you do not give them adequate protection, they may end up not moving forward (in fact, there is a high percentage of users who set up the cart online but do not continue beyond the payment method, either because they do not trust, because the final price is more expensive than in other sites or because they regret it).
- If they go ahead, then the transaction is made online (usually with a bank card, but other payment systems are also used such as Paypal, transfer, cash on delivery ...) and the sale is completed. Of course, it will not be closed until the customer receives their order and they spend a few days to see if they return it or not.
What happens behind a transaction?
At first glance, what happens is that we enter a e-shopping website, We select the products we want to purchase, we interact with the shopping cart and at the end we select the option to buy, and then enter our personal data and those of our card.
In more complex words; the user enters the purchase server and a Secure Internet SSL Connection is established. Subsequently, the information is taken to a payment gateway. All this goes through a payment process, the card used to make the purchase is associated and the Bank is reached, which analyzes the information taking into account many variables to decide if the transaction is legitimate.
For transaction verification some checks are made based on smart algorithms that study customer behavior. For example: places where you buy the most, country of residence, etc.
All purchases made electronically go through different processes, this depends on the server you are on and the way you make your purchase. If you are a first time in the online purchasesRemember that there are also other issues of great importance such as the security of your card, which you must take into account before making your first online purchase.
How to know if electronic sales are safe
When buying online, unless you have a lot of experience, the first step costs. Reason why electronic sales, for some time now, were more rare and people looked very well at what they had to buy to take that step.
And it is that, the fact put your personal information, give your card number, or something that links to the place where you live or your bank, makes you afraid, especially if the online store is not of your confidence.
Therefore, when making electronic sales, it is important to consider several aspects that will make customers feel safe. What things?
- Try to clearly expose your data. Imagine that you go to a web page where they put the products very cheap. However, you do not know where they are going to send them, if they are in Spain, if there is a person or a company behind them. There is also no way to contact them (no email, no phone). Would you trust to give your data no matter how cheap it was? Probably not. Well, that is what you should think to offer transparency to your customers.
- Enable various forms of payment. Many people are reluctant to buy online through the bank card. However, making a transfer, receiving cash on delivery or by Paypal is more accepted. If you offer several forms of payment, and do not limit to just one, it will make them more confident that electronic sales are safe. And do not think that because a payment method is more expensive they will not accept it; sometimes, to try, they use the expensive method to be sure, and then they can go to the easiest and most comfortable.
- Establish security in your online store. This is very important, because you need, by law, to ensure that your eCommerce payments are protected and secure. How do you get that? Well, depending on the system in which you have built the store, in your bank, etc. The best thing is to inform yourself to know what regulations you have to comply with and how to do it, especially to avoid fines that may fall on you.
- Keep informing the client of all the steps that are taken. Normally the order is received in 24-48 hours, but it is important that it be indicated so that it is known which are the states through which it passes.
Can Internet transactions be canceled?
Imagine that you just bought something and after five minutes, or sooner, you have already regretted the purchase. Canceling it will depend on the store where you have made it, but in general it is not as easy as it could be the case of going to the physical store and returning what you bought.
And is that there are online stores where it is easy to cancel everything, such as Amazon, where by saying that you bought it by mistake, in a matter of 2-3 steps, you have it solved. But what about the rest of eCommerce?
Our recommendation is the following:
- Contact your bank. If you have the possibility to enter through the Internet, do so and cancel the transaction you have made. If you can't, call your bank and ask them to help you cancel it.
- Write to the store. Online stores can have chat, social networks, telephone or email. You can contact them and explain the problem that has occurred so that they can cancel the order you have placed. What this will do is return the money to your bank.
- In some stores you also have the possibility of canceling the order yourself, especially at the beginning of it, when it is still in preparation and has not been sent. But the longer you leave, the more difficult it will be for them to cancel it.
It is important that you do it in a short time, since if the order is sent, the cancellation is much more difficult to carry out, mainly because part of that money has already been used in the shipment. Then you would have to make a return and they would send you less money than you have paid (except in large companies such as Fnac, Amazon ...).