I have come to embrace the world of online shopping! Going to the actual physical stores and malls nowadays have become too stressful especially when you’re looking for something in particular. My husband, for one, always gets irritated when he’s browsing through the boxers section and a bunch of sales ladies would just come out of nowhere to offer their assistance and he happens to be the type of person who would rather just deal with his shopping unassisted.
Shopping online is very convenient because it allows you to pay the items via Cash on Delivery, Credit/Debit card, Paypal etc.
Problem arises when you don’t receive the correct item upon delivery, shipping issues and getting screwed when the item isn’t exactly what it looked like in the catalog that lured you into buying it in the first place. There are also a lot of products that are not authentic like make-ups and other easily pirated merchandise.
LAZADA PH
Non-authentic products
The very first item I bought online was my Anastasia Beverly Hills Dipbrow Pomade. I was yet unaware at the time that Lazada allows non-authentic products into their platform. I also had no idea how much the authentic pomade actually cost so I checked out the low-priced pomade I saw.
Delivery Time
In fairness to Lazada, despite selecting Cash On Delivery for my payment method, they delivered the item in a very timely manner. But that’s also because the item did not come from overseas. It usually takes over three weeks when you buy goods coming from abroad.
Online Tracker
It was only recently that Lazada formatted its platform to include the order tracking system but before, you really needed to chat with a customer support person to obtain your order’s tracking number and manually track it via LBC’s tracking website. However, even if they did have the online tracker, it does not usually work efficiently especially if your item is coming from abroad.
Store Owner Communication
Take the photo above as an example. I placed that order last January 5th, 2019. It is now January 17th as I write this post.
Prior to writing this blog post, I contacted the customer support to follow up on this order and all they can tell me was, this order is coming from abroad and that it usually takes longer for international shipments to arrive. My point was, is there any way for them to contact the store owner and maybe ask if there was something wrong with the order why the item has not yet been shipped. At least I would know if I need to look somewhere else. They only told me to contact them again if the order has exceeded the time indicated when it’s supposed to arrive.
Wow! As if I have any other choice! So that’s what I did! I waited.
And today, I received an email from Lazada informing me that they have processed my refund for that order!
If they have the chat feature where you can constantly talk to the store owner and ask for an update, then all this hassle would never have happened! I could have looked elsewhere for this same item and probably already have the item by now!
I am very disappointed over this seriously. I needed this item for my dogs.
Shopee PH
Non-authentic Products
Like Lazada, Shopee PH can also not filter out items that are not authentic. The only big difference is that, most store owners at Shopee who do sell the authentic ones really have a disclaimer and a lengthy statement in their catalog that they do not sell fake items. The item also has reviews that back it up, people really write their testimony that the items they received appear to be original and in good condition which makes me very confident to place an order.
Delivery Time
Unlike Lazada where you can’t even contact store owners, Shopee PH store owners sometimes provide customers the options to make their purchases get delivered faster than it normally should. I don’t usually purchase something that I really need delivered very quickly so I just tend to use whatever is the default method. And I always have Ninja Van as my shipment method. Not that I had to choose it, but I believe it is the default shipment method available in my area. Ninja Van is actually doing a pretty awesome job in their delivery.
Online Tracker
I am amazed at the online tracking system Shopee PH provides for their customers. You don’t need to contact their customer support to get the tracking number, it is always readily available in your order details.
The image above shows you my orders. I ordered two items from the same store. I find that very convenient because when you purchased from different stores, you may or may not receive the items on the same day because each store has its own shipping out schedule.
So looking at the image above, the tracking shows that the item has now arrived at Ninja Van’s Sorting Hub at Cabuyao Laguna.
The next day, I got an sms from Ninja van that says a Ninja will attempt to deliver my Shopee order. So when you open your order at Shopee, it now looks like this:
And as expected, the item usually arrives at the day indicated in the tracker and the sms message.
Store Owner Communication
What is so convenient about Shopee PH is the fact that you can chitchat with the store owner about anything related to the item. So even before you purchase, you can already ask if the item is really still available. And even after checking the item out, the button to chat to the seller is still available for you to use. It would help to ask if there’s a problem with the order should you experience some delays in the shipment.
Now this is just my own experience. You may be having the best experience with Lazada, lucky for you, but this is what I have experienced and I’m sharing the comparison. There are items that I want that can only be purchased from Lazada and are not available in Shopee and I still go to Lazada when that happens.
It really just depends on how flexible you are with whatever changes that might happen along the way like order cancellation or shipment delays.
Happy online shopping!
