We get so many things wrong in life and online shopping comes with no exception. How many times have you bought something from a physical store/shop or supermarket and reached home, tried it out and got disappointed in oneself. “I think I made the wrong choice or decision. I should have picked something else,” we often say to ourselves.

And when it comes to clothes, it even gets worse. Usually, you’re thinking, I should have picked something a bit smaller or bigger than this.

Not too long ago, I bought myself two polo T-shirts from downtown Kampala, choosing an XL size that I thought fits me well. I was as certain as night follows day that they would fit me well.

When I got home and tried them on, their fitting was a little too tight for my personal preference. As you may have noticed these days, clothing companies are making a lot of slim fits and perfect fits—it’s just the trend. As if that isn’t enough, different companies make different measurements (fittings) of the same size.

For example; you may find a Turkish made size large T-shirt fits you well while a China-made T-shirt of the same size feels too tight on you. It can be a bit frustrating, right!!

I quickly pondered the option of taking the polo T-shirts back for swaps of bigger sizes (XXL) but the thought of walking downtown again under the scorching sun to search for this random store was equally off putting.

On the side of the room, I had my wife smiling sheepishly in silence, looking at the T-shirts and already imagining how they would look good on her—I assume.

Whereas the same thing usually happens with online shopping, buying online from local vendors gives you the chance to send the items back for a swap or better by only incurring a small cost of extra delivery which can be often shared between you and the vendor. I wished I had bought online.

Because an app like HobyClean offers you a direct chat line with the seller and vendor contact details for you to talk to them directly before and after delivery of items. App also offers an order history that allows you to see who you have bought from in the past. This is very crucial for products that come with a warranty or guarantee.

Anyway, away from that amazing app, here’s five things that you need to do to ensure online shopping success.

Search

Unless you want something really urgently, take time to  do an extensive search about the items you want to buy. This will help you to know more about the product. Read the product descriptions that may be provided. Most online customers tend to make their shopping decisions based only on the images of the product they see and forget or ignore to read the product descriptions or warning, if any.

Check for delivery costs
Before you complete an online purchase, please remember to check for the delivery costs that may be attached to it. Usually shipping costs vary from vendor to vendor but largely determined by the delivery destination and most online shopping comes with delivery charges.

Some vendors deliver for free within a certain range of distance while others have shipping costs already factored into their pricing so they don’t charge extra. Others also offer free shipping depending on the volume of goods you may have purchased from them.

Compare prices

If you have ever bought something for a costly sum only to see the very same product vending for much less just days later, then you know what we mean when we advise that you compare prices. Different vendors price the same product differently for a number of reasons that may be known or unknown to us.

Doing a product price comparison h will give you an average estimate of product cost range before you buy. Your goal is to purchase the best product for the best price.

Read Product reviews

One of the easiest ways to find the best product or item is to go through product reviews. Reading product reviews from people that have bought the same product will go a long way in helping you learn about the item you are planning to buy.

Some user reviews can give you a comprehensive and realistic expectation of the item. These are based on real customer experiences and can help you decide whether or not you may want to buy the product. If the first product review that you land on is a video or a long post from a product influencer, you want to give yourself some time to check out reviews by none influencers who may not be paid to promote the item.

Be wary of online scams

Do anything to avoid being scammed. As online shopping continues to grow, so do the scammers with their tactics. The last thing you want is being scammed in the difficult economic times.

Privacy and security remain a serious concern among users who worry about deceitful fraudsters who may use different methods to access your valuable personal details, such as your usernames and passwords. There are also many deceitful websites out there disguising themselves as online shopping stores in order to get information from you. But how can you tell if a website is fake? By using Google Trusted Stores, a verification system for all online shopping sites, users can determine which shop is trustworthy or not.

Online marketplaces like HobyClean are going an extra mile to prevent online scams while providing maximum security for user information by enlisting extensively vetted vendors.