Search, click, pay and receive. That’s the modern online retail experience. Purchasing vitamins and dietary supplements is no different. It’s convenient, fast and in many cases cheaper than buying the same or similar products in a bricks and mortar outlet. Indeed, many products are only available online so if you want them, you have no choice but to get involved in e-commerce.
However, the e-commerce world also abounds with scams, shonky products, misleading websites and false claims. Spotting these sites, and avoiding doing business with them, will help you avoid falling victim to them.
Look for sites that have been around for a while and are well established, especially if you’re not an old hand at buying supplements online. Whilst this is certainly no foolproof guarantee of their integrity and honesty, it is nevertheless a guide. Well-established sites will have customer reviews available, and an online search should turn up information (positive and negative) about them. New sites, although not necessarily shonky, may not have this type of data yet available to help you.
Related to the first tip is getting independent reviews from other customers about these sites. In fact, quite often this is the only way you can make informed choices about a site you’re considering purchasing from. Check online forums, independent review sites, social media and various other mediums that provide unbiased customer feedback around the following issues:
- did these people actually get their products,
- is the billing (and refunds) process clearly laid out so customers understand what sort of contract they’re getting into,
- how long did it take for the products to arrive,
- did the products perform as advertised,
- if customers had any issues were they resolved promptly and satisfactorily,
- is there a clear easy to find process for returning products,
- did the retailer honor returns and refunds,
- are the owners of the site easy to locate and contact for assistance
As a general rule of thumb, when buying supplements (or anything) online avoid sites that:
- have way more customer complaints than compliments,
- don’t have a clear and precise returns policy or have a very poorly disclosed returns policy,
- won’t refund products that don’t perform as expected / advertised,
- have hard to find ‘small print’ about important issues like the above,
- make it very hard to find anyone to contact about products,
- lock you into some type of on-going purchase commitment but don’t make it clear up front that’s what they’re doing,
- have a reputation, as evidenced by feedback, for selling substandard products then making it hard to return those products
By taking the time to educate yourself about products like Pat Mahomes supplements and about the vendors you’re considering buying from, you should be able to find a reputable and reliable online source.
