Experience the magic of discounted websites for online shop tag

Everyone loves a good discount, and every retailer or
manufacturer worth his digital salt has been offering
steal deals for many years now. But the race seems to
be hotting up even more, as too many entrepreneurs
have jumped on to the online bandwagon and started selling
a potpourri of products – all under one roof. Amazon and
eBay no longer rule the roost. There are many niche sites that
offer even more in terms of price or intrinsic value than these
industry giants do. And that is how a distinction of oneupmanship
has emerged on the World Wide Web.
But before you buy anything online, it is always better to
compare prices with other sites on the Internet. Also check with
offline stores to find out if the goods are cheaper there. Sometimes,
prices do vary to a large extent as some of the sites are not updated
regularly. Again, the products you find online may be outdated and
may be of little value in the marketplace. It often happens with
technology products; you mostly find huge discounts on obsolete
goods. You won’t want to buy a basic phone like Nokia 2310 when
you have better options with the same price tag. Yet, some dealers
may be offering just that with the price slashed by 30 per cent. Therefore, caution is
the keyword here, especially if you are looking for a great bargain.
But first things first. On the Internet, you will mostly
find either online marketplaces or company-owned websites. Sites
like eBay.in, shopping.indiatimes.com and shopping.rediff.com are
online marketplaces that will let anyone open a store under their
auspices and sell his wares. Although this concept has become
hugely successful in the USA where laws are pretty strict, it has
failed miserably in India as anyone can sell substandard goods and
escape unhurt.
Most of the marketplaces in India are not professionally
managed. So, shopping at those online marketplaces can be
risky at times, as you are never sure of the sellers’ credibility. It
is, therefore, best to buy from individual companies that run
e-commerce sites. Then again, you should take a look at the
‘About Us’ page to know more about the company and the
people behind it. Opt for a site that has multiple payment
options including cheques, drafts, PayPal, net banking and so
on. And try to avoid fly-by-night websites offering fabulous
discounts. Many of those indulge in fraudulent activities and
you may never see that product land at your doorstep. Also,
avoid the Chinese sites that offer products at dirt cheap rates.
The last few years have witnessed the mushrooming of many
discount sites, and their number seems to be growing every day.
This is good news for both consumers and manufacturers,
especially when recovery is near after the global meltdown.
First off the bat is India Today Group’s Bag It Today
(www.bagittoday.com) that offers up to 55 per cent discounts
on private sale products and premium brands like Gucci, Tag
Heuer, Escada and many more. Although membership is free, it is
by invitation only. However, you can ask to be on the waiting list
and can expect an e-mail message quicker than anticipated. And
if you make your first purchase, you will get a welcome gift worth
Rs. 2599. However, the sale of each item is for a brief period.
Members shape the community by inviting new members and get
rewarded whenever a new friend accepts an invite and places
his/her first order. Bag it Today sells apparel, accessories, watches,
home decor, kitchen items, jewellery and other lifestyle products.
If you want to be part of a members-only luxury shopping
club, Fashion and You (www.fashionandyou.com) is the
right destination for you. The site brings an array of chic
apparel, art, jewellery, gifts, classy home trimmings and stylish
accessories for men, women and kids while you get up to 80 per
cent discount on high-end luxury brands. These exclusive
members-only sales run for a limited period of 24 to 72 hours
and allow multiple payment options. You can also opt for COD
(cash on delivery) and the products will be delivered right at
your doorstep. Its mission is to bring fashion to people through
luxury brands, handpicked styles and privileged prices.
If you want to take a look at some of the discounts and
brands it offers before signing up, visit the Facebook page
(http://www.facebook.com/fashionandyou). Because the
website will not let you take a sneak peek at the deals on offer
unless you register. Fashion and You also runs special events on
memorable occasions. On the last Friendship Day, the site has
asked each visitor to send the cutest photograph with his/her
best friend and win a lucky prize. Since it is a site that relies on
viral publicity for maximum impact, fashionandyou.com keeps
running contests on how you can invite friends and win
handsome prizes such as Tissot watches and Alexandra Bee bags
worth Rs. 60,000. And it doesn’t end with an invite alone. If the
friend makes his/her first purchase, you get Rs. 1000 credit that is
redeemable within three months if you purchase stuff worth
Rs. 1500 & above.
Most of the discounts on the site range between 30 and 70
per cent, and averages 45 per cent. For instance, there were the
Sunday Specials: Fashionable Ahana jewellery at a flat 35 per
cent off; Ralph Polo tees at 50 per cent off; 30 per cent off on
fashionable glares by Judith Leiber; fantastic art pieces for
Hollywood fans at up to 50 per cent off; Versace apparel at 20
per cent discount; fabulous bed linen by Carmichael House and
fashionable footwear from Carlton London at 40 per cent
discount; 60 per cent off on cosmetics by Bollywood celebrity
makeup artist Ambika Pillai (her clients include Katrina Kaif,
Bipasha Basu and Sonam Kapoor, among others); elegant
Giordano watches at 80 per cent off; delightful fragrances by
Escada, Dunhill, Bvlgari, Hugo Boss, Versace and Kenzo at 70
per cent off; stylish Christian Audigier watches at 65 per cent
off; DKNY bags at 40 per cent off; stunning dresses from New
York-based brand Diva In Me at 40 per cent off; 40 per cent off
on luxe leather bags & shimmery clutches by DKNY and much
more. While ‘wows’ escape your lips as you read this, let us tell
you that some of the deals often come back on popular demand.
So keep a lookout for their mail and make the most of them if
you are wedded to luxe brands and want nothing but the best.
If you are into photography or videography,

SmartShoppers (www.smartshoppers.in) is the ideal
place to visit. Not only do you find a wide range of cameras
here, but also get the chance to buy a variety of lenses. And the
best part of it? They offer neat discounts up to 50 per cent. We
have done some comparative shopping and realised that this site
offers the best price – beating other retailers any day. In
addition, you can also buy mobile phones, laptops, desktops,
MP3 players, storage devices, cordless phones and gaming
consoles. Live IT found a 50 mm F1.2 Nikkor lens going for
Rs. 40,645 when the MRP stood at Rs. 43,950. That’s a clear
saving of Rs. 3305.
With a Google rank of 6/10, FutureBazaar (www.futurebazaar.com) tops our list of
discounted sites. A part of the Future Group that has offline hypermarket (Big Bazaar),
and retail chains (Pantaloons and HomeTown), this site is extremely popular among online shoppers. We noticed a flat
50 per cent off on jewellery and Pantaloons T-shirts while mobile phones started from
Rs. 999. The site also offers Prestige gas stove at Rs. 6740 (it means 48 per cent discount),
SanDisk 8 GB SD card for Rs. 950 (MRP Rs. 2999) and Maharaja Nano Mixer Grinder for Rs. 1190 (MRP
Rs. 2995), among others. Competing with FutureBazaar in Google ranking is the
Chennai-based Indiavarta.com. A shopping site of the
Express Network (the group publishes The New Indian Express),
Indiavarta offers pretty interesting products which are worth
checking out. You will find the musical duck and the remote car
for Rs. 575 (MRP Rs. 999), car dent remover for Rs. 999 (MRP
Rs. 3999), jewellery combo of 73 items at Rs. 2999 (MRP Rs. 9999),
foot and spa massager for Rs. 1999 (MRP Rs. 4999), 32-in-1
screwdriver set for Rs. 245, baby bike at Rs. 4800 and digital
thermometer for Rs. 110.
If you love to buy exotic gift items, make the most of the free
international shipping at IndiaPlaza (www.indiaplaza.in).
From artworks and prints to rakhis and electronics, this site sells it
all at a heavy discount. The other day, IndiaPlaza was offering 60
per cent off on delicious chocolate, 31 per cent off on Nokia N97
Mini and 30 per cent off on the book, The Facebook Effect while a
rakhi-Parker pen combo cost only Rs. 799. You can also avail 31 per
cent off on Aqua Di Geo Edt spray, 80 per cent discount on
Benetton watches and 45 per cent off on Fujifilm AV100 digital
camera, among others. From room fresheners and baby products
to cakes, CD-ROMS and contraceptives – the range is simply
stupendous and you can find almost anything you want.
Rediff Shopping (http://shopping.rediff.com) offers
more than one lakh products at any given time. Choose from
books, flowers, cameras, car accessories, mobile phones, jewellery,
shirts, MP3 players, beauty & lifestyle products, umbrellas,
watches and so on. We have spotted a Dolce & Gabbana men’s
sport watch being sold for Rs. 699 (MRP Rs. 18,995) while Google
Nexus One is sold for Rs. 29,995 (MRP Rs. 39,995). On this site, you
can even get the best deals on artificial flowers, office automation
products, kids’ wear, dry fruit, handicraft, musical instruments,
sports equipment, massagers and soft toys.
Then there is eBay.in (formerly baazee.com), backed by a
powerful brand and a loyal customer base. However, sometimes
there are steal deals and sometimes, other sites steal its thunder.
Also, it is a marketplace which inevitably means that the quality of
products sold by individual vendors cannot be assured. Although
there is the eBay guarantee, it’s best to use your discretion before
you commit to a particular vendor.
There are exceptions though, and you do find good vendors
whom you can trust implicitly. Bangalore-based
Flipkart.com is one such site that offers
amazing deals and customer service. Launched in 2007 by former employees of
Amazon.com, this Indian shopping site has gathered traction through its excellent
service and great discounts on books. With traffic comparable to that of eBay, Flipkart
now sells DVDs, CDs, games and software as well. Close on its heels comes
Gobookshopping.com that has a Google ranking of 5. Here, you can buy from over
2 lakh titles and the company can even ship abroad. But unlike Flipkart where you can save up to 35 per cent, this site
only offers 10 per cent discount on books. Gadgets.in, with a Google rank of 5, sells everything from
Apple iPods and MP3 players to gadgets on security, fashion, sports, household, engineering and education. From electric
chapatti maker costing Rs. 1,249 to sleek pen camera at Rs. 1,699 (MRP Rs. 2,999) to a SatGuide global PDA at Rs. 12,999 (MRP
Rs. 19,490) – it’s a shop for both compulsive and occasional buyers. You can also check the ‘Hot Deals’ button on the home page and
even ‘Compare Products’ before making up your mind. Gujarat-based Infibeam.com’s car retail section is the unique selling point that has gained more eyeballs. The site offers physical inspection and test drive for cars and bikes before you pay, as well as same-day home delivery. Today, the company
has also stepped into the manufacturer’s domain. It is now selling Pi, India’s first reading device, for Rs. 9,999 and Phi, an
iPad-mimicking multimedia touchscreen device which you can
pre-order for Rs. 14,999 (they have Windows and Android
versions). The steal deals we have noticed include 35 per cent off
on Fatima Bhutto’s book, Songs of Blood and Sword (Rs. 454), 45 per cent discount on Asus P320 phone (Rs. 7,099) and 38 per cent off
on Kodak Easyshare CD14 camera (Rs. 3,383). And yes, it has a
Google rank of 5 as well.

Homeshop18.com is a venture of the Network18 Group
that also has introduced India’s first 24 hour Home Shopping
TV channel by the same name. And two years ago, the website
received the ‘Best Shopping Site’ award from the PCWorld
magazine. Headquartered in Noida, Uttar Pradesh, the site
offers several household items that have some curiosity value –
right from the gadgets to heal your eyesight to massagers,
jewellery, handloom and other consumer products. The deals we
liked? The Onida I21 touchscreen phone with a price tag of
Rs. 4,999 (MRP Rs. 14,990), flat 40 per cent discount on John
Players goods and the Wills Lifestyle-Reebok combo (2 polo tees,
shoes, sunglasses, watch) worth Rs. 12,595 that you get for Rs. 2,999.
New on the block is Cafegadgets.com that has a flashing
‘Price Alert’ box to grab your attention. We have found Samsung
Mini N148 going for Rs. 15,699 (MRP Rs. 19,999) and LG Crystal
GD900 for Rs. 14,799 (MRP Rs. 29500). Egully.com is another
online destination that focuses on selling new mobile phones,
mobile accessories, books, electronics, iPods and much more at
“guaranteed lowest price.” With a Google rank of 2, this site lets
you find a product of your choice, compare features & prices and
also read product reviews that will help you make the right
choice. Egully will home-deliver any product and you can search
the database by price, brand and even by colour. High resolution
images will also help you get a close look at minute details. Plus,
you get free shipping on all orders above Rs. 150. All prices are
inclusive of VAT and other taxes. If you require any help,
contact customer care or, better still, contact anyone from senior
management whose e-mail IDs are up there on the site.
When it is difficult to go to individual sites for best possible
deals, you may just try and avoid all hassles by visiting
comparison shopping sites. However, not all of them are that
great. Many are only dealing with a few Indian sites and,
therefore, the comparisons offered are none too
comprehensive. However, two-year-old Naaptol.com has
grown to become India’s leading comparison-based social
shopping portal – a one-stop destination for all shoppers,
merchants and market enthusiasts.
Although positioned as a comparison website, it does some
selling too, and benefits from multiple revenue sources like
advertising, online sales and passing on leads for local stores.
The site is extremely rich in content and the design seems to be
flawless. Refined Web 2.0 features are also present to ensure
great interactivity and easy navigation. The deals we like include
air sofa and beds starting from Rs. 2,800 (available at seven stores)
and water filters and purifiers starting from Rs. 3,995 (available at
two stores).
Also visit comparethebazaar.com, one of the best
comparison-based shopping sites. While selecting the product,
you can narrow down your search with brand name, key
features and budget. And the offers we liked? Samsung Star cell
phone ranging between Rs. 8,990 and Rs. 11,599; Dell Inspiron
1525 desktop priced between Rs. 38,560 and Rs. 43,490 and Sony
Ericsson W580i mobile with a price range of Rs. 7,990-Rs. 14,499.
On tolmol.com, we have noticed an imported CD case with
PVC for Rs. 199 and laptop graphic skins for Rs. 399.
Compareindia.in.com has two sections that let you shop
easily: Price Drops and Best Prices Now that shows the latest
prices from dealers across India. We have seen an LG flatscreen
TV going for Rs. 7,000, a Samsung RF67DEPN refrigerator
going for Rs. 64,900 (MRP Rs. 80,000) and an LG-GL211SM5
refrigerator priced at Rs. 10,950 (MRP Rs. 12,400).
Still nascent in popularity but great in functionality is
Gadgetsguru.in, a sister concern of Singapore’s Oracle
Telesystems and headquartered in Mumbai. With expertise in
electronics, this site can guide you on the best products
available. At any given time, there are over 1,500 products to
choose from. Plus you get product guarantees, as well as 100
per cent reimbursement for manufacturing defects. The deals
we have noticed include Freetalker wrist watch for Rs. 3,199
(MRP Rs. 5,000), Kindle 6 for Rs. 20,999 (MRP Rs. 25,000),
Motorola Cargo Jacket for Rs. 35,999 (MRP Rs. 50,000) and
Robosapien RS Media robot for Rs. 1,22,999 (MRP Rs. 1,50,000).
Theitdepot.com is a popular gadget store in India with a
Google rank of 4. With offline showrooms in Thiruvanmiyur
and Valasaravakkam, it has blazed a trail in 2000 by being the
first dedicated online computer store in the country. The
company is now the national distributor for Antec (one of the
leading power supply and cabinet brands in the USA) and
also the official online store for Logitech, AMD and Belkin.
The site only deals with recognised branded products which
come with full manufacturer’s warranty. It also provides a
user-friendly interface as the homepage has regular sections
like Deal of the Day, Feature Product, Combo Offer, Just
Launch and New Products.
This is, however, no comprehensive list. There are many more
websites that keep getting added to the shopping cart. Whenever
in doubt, just use consumer review sites like the all-too-popular
Mouthshut.com to know if the site is good. Checking the Google
ranking should tell you if the site is active, popular and old
enough to be trusted. Some sites offer all kinds of payment
gateways, FAQs, testimonials, track order services and
knowledge base but they lack a Google rank. At times, there is no
information regarding the company and the site does not
feature contact details. Avoid such sites and you should be safe.

It’s raining ‘deals’

As hundreds of deal sites sprout up every day, it’s time to keep your ear to the ground, bag some great offers and save the good money

Experts say that the global meltdown is over, but does it
give us much respite? Inflation, the hydra-headed
monster, cannot be contained yet and in vain we look for
some succour when we buy the everyday essentials that
we cannot do without. Tightening the purse strings seems to be
the order of the day and shopaholics across the country must
have had an agonising time, as they turn away from their
favourite online haunts in despair and lock away their plastic
money. Do not lose heart, all ye shopathoners! The World Wide
Web has all the answers to inflation and hard times.
Are you bogged down by the mounting food bills when you eat
out? Don’t you have the extra money to indulge yourself at a spa or
a resort? Fret no more. There is this chain of websites offering steal
deals in Indian metros. And sometimes, you get them absolutely free
if you register with those ‘deal’ sites. And the best part of it? Those
bargain offers can come from almost anywhere – hospitals, clinics,
academic institutions, amusement parks, bowling alleys, restaurants,
spas, luxury resorts, lifestyle brands, hobby groups and so on.
Compared to auction sites and discount shopping, these are
your best bet because they don’t come at a high price, carry little
risk and are definitely utilitarian in nature because you suddenly
realise the many activities you can do closer home. It works well
for the manufacturers and service providers because they
manage to attract a large number of clients who will publicise
and promote their businesses through the powerful word of
mouth. And consumers benefit because they can now go to the
classy joints as before at a fraction of the actual cost.
What makes this trend even more heartening is the fact that
hundreds of ‘best deal’ sites are sprouting up in the Indian
cyberspace every other day. The best way to keep your ear to the
ground, enjoy those great deals and save good money is to
subscribe to the newsletter of AlooTechie.com and explore Google
and Facebook groups with the help of the search tool. Make the
most of them and write to us when you come across a truly steal
deal or a company/website that offers it. Add ‘searching for deals’
to your daily regimen and fight inflation, the Internet way.
In case you are feeling a little lost and need some help as a
starter, here is a selective list by Live IT to guide you. They are
the few ‘deal’ sites that we find more promising among the newer
lot. This article intends to explore what these sites actually offer
in terms of value and why it makes sense for the service providers
to come up with such eye-popping bargains. Consider this a walk
through the digital Utopia where daily steal deals will take you by
surprise and where the consumer is definitely the king.
If you happen to be in Hyderabad, the best daily deal site is
Dealivore.com. Soon to go national, here you get to sample an
entire suite of services – from gourmet food and beauty care to
sports and entertainment. The other day, the site offered a flat 50
per cent discount on gaming worth Rs. 500. It could have been any
entertaining game of your choice – be it go-karting, laser combat,
pool or skating. In fact, you could have paid Rs. 100 for two half-hour
sessions of ice-skating valued at Rs. 200. But if you are more into
bowling and video games, you could have paid Rs. 250 for services
worth Rs. 400. Those who want to get a permanent tattoo had some
good news, too. The site asked you to pay only Rs. 1000 and go for a
body art experience worth Rs. 2,500. If you are looking for a job and
need to cut corners, there was another deal that would have been
most appropriate. You were asked to pay Rs. 250 for a resume writing
service valued at Rs. 1,500. If perfect grooming was topmost on your
mind, you could have paid Rs. 250 for spa and salon services worth
Rs. 500. Or better still, pay Rs. 225 for fun rides, swimming, snacks and
the delicious Rajasthani thali – all valued at Rs. 425. You can pay online
or call an agent who will deliver the voucher at a convenient time.
After that, it is pretty simple. Whenever you want to redeem the
deal, just take it along to the merchant with a photo ID card.
Dealivore offers the best deals that you cannot find anywhere
else. These are not run-of-the-mill discounts that you see every
day but unbeatable and exclusive offers from their retail
partners. The website promoters hunt in packs. They guarantee
the merchants the bare minimum amount of business and a
wide customer base. If the merchants agree, they get exclusive
publicity and ready customers. Instead of advertising through
billboards, TV or other mediums which are not only expensive
but often miss the target buyers, businesses now get customers
through those deal-of-the-day websites. Businesses often pass
through off-peak times when their services are not utilised as
well as they would like to. Sites like Dealivore help them pass on
their savings on marketing costs over to the consumers and earn
rapid publicity in the bargain.
Of course, these deals are limited in number. The merchants will
run out of business if they offer you such killer deals all the time. So
purchase them before the stocks run out and the offer expires.
Sometimes, it’s a deal a day or an exclusive offer that comes up
every week. However, it can be an interactive experience and if
there are places to visit or outlets that you like, just send a mail
message to feedback@dealivore.com with all the essential details.
There is also the option of gifting a voucher to someone you
love. Just click on the ‘Gift it’ button and follow the instructions.
You can even send a personalised voucher with the person’s
name printed on it. You may also gift a voucher that you have
purchased for yourself. Just write the name of the person in the
space provided on the voucher. And remember to tell him/her
to carry a photo ID card for the merchant to validate. The
voucher is a great gift and the purchase price is not mentioned
on it. Only the value of the voucher is mentioned.
Although you can buy multiple vouchers, you may not redeem
those for a single bill. For example, if you have purchased two
vouchers for a restaurant, you need to use them on two different
occasions. As you can only redeem one voucher at a time, you
must visit that restaurant again to utilise the other voucher. Or,
you can even transfer the voucher as mentioned above if you
don’t want to make a second visit to the establishment. Check
the deal details on the voucher and act accordingly. The site
charges 2.5 per cent of the total amount for online transaction
settlement and a delivery fee of Rs. 20 per voucher for cash on
delivery. However, vouchers have no cash-back value and you
cannot cancel or return a voucher after buying the same.
You can subscribe to dealivore.com and get deal alerts via email
or SMS. Otherwise, you may visit the site every day and
check for the latest hot deals. If someone referred by you makes
his first purchase within 72 hours, you get a credit of Rs. 50 that
will be valid for three months.
Khojguru.com is another site that offers 50-90 per cent
waiver on various products and services. The last time we
checked, it was offering 78 per cent off on a medical check-up
and consultation worth Rs. 3,600, 57 per cent price cut on a sixspread
veg/non-veg meal along with a relaxing foot massage
worth Rs. 230, 55 per cent off on Chinese cuisine worth Rs. 400, 50
per cent off on dirt biking worth Rs. 600 and 74 per cent off on a
luxurious stay at a beach resort worth Rs. 3,800.
One website that is stealing everyone’s thunder because of its
nationwide appeal is SnapDeal.com. This site is a true digital
utopia featuring great deals, easy access, quality vendors and a
simple procedure to get going. The other day, there was an offer that
asked us to pay Rs. 1,199 for a one-night-two-days adventure holiday
at a Himalayan retreat that would have normally cost Rs. 2,500. And
all we had to do was to press the ‘Buy’ button that took us to a page
where we entered our credit card details and the sale was over within
seconds. The site charged a nominal advance, so we paid the
remaining amount to the merchant directly. Once we paid the
advance, we received a voucher in our e-mail and an SMS with a
unique SnapDeal code. We took a printout of the voucher and used
it within the validity period that lasts anywhere between two and
three months.
While we have tested other daily deal sites, this one stands out
as the best because it is there at multiple locations and offers a
lot more than the other sites which are relatively new. Most of
the deals ensure 50-60 per cent discounts on the best stuff to do,
see, eat and buy in various cities across India. To choose one of
the best daily deals or side deals, go to the ‘Reviews’ section at
the bottom of the merchant’s page. That should give you a fair
idea of what you can expect from the product and the website.
A colleague of mine got a 100 per cent waiver on the spa
services at a Bangalore salon because she was a new entrant to
the site. Otherwise, she would have to pay Rs. 99 only to make the
most of this Rs. 500 deal that expired within 24 hours. However,
before you sign up for any deal, it’s important to read the fine
print below the offer price.
For example, when we looked at the Whispering Pines deal,
the rules stipulated that more than 15 vouchers from the same
company/party cannot be combined on a single trip. The
booking was to be done seven days in advance and the voucher
needs to be shown before availing the offer. Also remember that
the vouchers you buy are not inclusive of taxes.
SnapDeal is a product of Jasper, an Indian marketing
company specialising in multi-channel direct marketing
solutions with clients who are leaders in their respective
domains. The company was founded by marketing, technology,
retail and analytics professionals to address the need for highquality,
cost-effective customer management for consumer
brands. SnapDeal started its operations from New Delhi and
soon spread to Bangalore, Mumbai and Chennai. It will soon
expand to Pune, Hyderabad and other major cities.
So, how does SnapDeal work? The deals start from 12 noon,
end at 11:59 am and last for only 24 to 72 hours. In other
words, these deals are time-sensitive, have
limited validity period and all vouchers are
sold on a first-come-first-serve basis.
However, you must register with the site to
buy the deals. Just enter your e-mail address
and create a password to open your account.
But in case you are not keen to buy the day’s
deal and want the site to keep you informed
about the daily offers, sign up for the newsletter.
In case, you have mistakenly deleted the e-mail with the deal
voucher attached, log in to your SnapDeal account and go to
My Account _ My Deals section. You can view and print all
your vouchers from there. If you still have problems, just send a
mail or call the SnapDeal people and they will help you get the
voucher back. But unless there is something wrong with the
purchase, the site won’t be able to refund your money three days
after the date of buying. If you happen to be a merchant looking
for a suitable business proposition, write to partners@
snapdeal.com to strike a deal. What’s more, if SnapDeal is not
in your city, you can help launch the site there and write to
company about your business offer.
But it does not end here. SnapDeal has formed a High Rollers
club to recognise the top buyers in every city. Every week and
month, the site recognises the top 10 people in every city who have
‘saved’ the most by buying the maximum number of SnapDeal
coupons. The high rollers then get free deals, SnapDeal goodies,
passes to cool events in their cities and much more. Winners are
contacted by e-mail and notifications are also put up on the website.
If you are looking for deals that offer up to 95 per cent
discount, wait for the launch of HungamaDeals.com. It is
an online group buying club that features all the cool stuff at
a fantastic price. By promising businesses a minimum number
of customers, the deal site gets amazing discounts. It is stated
that from the launch date onward, the site will feature one
amazing deal in your city at an unbelievable price (40-95 per
cent off). And those deals will cover myriad segments – from
great restaurants to top-notch hair salons and luxury spas. If
any of your friend signs up, both of you will get Rs. 10 Deal
Miles. And when your pal makes his/her first purchase here,
you will get additional Rs. 50-Rs 100 Deal Miles, based on the
value of the transaction.
As part of its pre-launch campaign, the site is also giving away
prizes to smart getters who are helping with the expansion of its
customer base. When 10 friends referred by you register with the
site, you will get free movie tickets for two. If 25 people sign up,
you will get an MP3 player. And if 50 people register, you get a
Giordano watch. There is no lucky dip and no catch. Those
who bring in more members get the rewards. However, you
won’t get your stuff unless those new customers buy some
products from the site. So, the best way to ensure that you get
your deal is to let your friends know about this condition. Once
you fulfil the criteria, you will be duly informed and receive an
e-mail gift certificate within one day.
But the story doesn’t end here. There are many more sites that
offer similar deals and some more that offer
completely new deals and experiences. Take, for
example, Shopcorn.in. It claims to be ‘India’s
first social shopping community’ which asks
visitors to submit deals and earn royalty income.
The ‘Deals Box’ offers great deals across India
and you can redeem your points with gifts.
Some of the featured deals we have seen
include a 15 litre Kenstar geyser for Rs. 4,988, a Whirlpool RO
water purifier for Rs. 1,3990 and a Wespro DV532 camcorder for
Rs. 3,299. Grabbon.com is another Bangalore-specific website
that offers some nifty deals encompassing beauty, fitness, art,
culture and lifestyle.
Mydala.com is an interesting site that sticks to its punch line:
We bargain. You gain. With its presence in nine cities, including
all metros, it has managed to make an impact in the Capital.
However, most of its deals run concurrently in all cities; so there’s
very little that’s city-specific down south. Koovs.comalso
features unbeatable deals on the best stuff and focuses on cities
like Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore and Pune. Again,
DealsandYou.com offers some neat deals focusing on the
group buying behaviour. It has presence in 10 cities including the
metros, as well as Jaipur, Ahmedabad and Chandigarh.
Taggle.com is another great group buying company that has
exciting offers and experiences from some of the most respectable
brands in the country. Currently in all the major cities of India, it
intends to be in as many as 40 cities in the near future. With 50
per cent off on diamond jewellery, Taggle definitely exemplifies
the power of group buying and group bargaining.
These deal sites, or group buying sites, as they are termed, are
certainly a great way to start the day on a good note in these
inflation-ridden times. So what are you waiting for? Make the
most of them now and go shopping.

Internet shopping? Learn to deal with pitfalls

Stay alert to counter fraudulent activities when you seek best

deals on the Internet. And the next time you buy something

online, fear not – justice is just a click away…

The young and enterprising Faisal Farooqui did not merely
go through the motions during his graduate days at the
State University of New York at Binghamton. He did it
with a flourish. A student of Management Information
Systems and Finance, Farooqui was elected to the Faculty Senate
and went on to become the technology editor of the campus
newspaper – Pipedream. But I am sure that the guy always
believed that no dream is a pipedream.
After graduating, Farooqui had a brief stint with the telecom
practice of a technology company. But that was not the true
calling for an enterprising man like him and very soon, he was on
his own. In an interview to one of the most popular newspapers
in the country, he said that the idea had occurred to him while he
sat in class one day. And like I always say in most of my columns,
setting the idea to reality is what sets the real guys apart from the
rest. Farooqui did just that when he started Mouthshut.com.
Founded in 2000, Mouthshut is an Internet-based consumer
review website headquartered in Mumbai. And its popularity
has skyrocketed ever since – so much so that one of the leading
dailies calls Mouthshut the Indian leader in user-generated
content. So what did Farooqui get right at a time when every
dotcom company was deemed to hit the moon? More
importantly, what did Farooqui get right that 10 years hence,
Mouthshut is still raking in the accolades – Best Youth Website
in India (2006), Best Portal of the Year (2009) and still counting?
Do not worry, though. We are not here to discuss another
entrepreneurial success story. Instead, we want to highlight a trend
in consumer behaviour that may well impact your next online
purchasing decision. The idea behind Mouthshut is to provide a
public platform, so that people may talk about products, brands
and services. More than any other culture, India relies heavily on
word of mouth and prior experiences of other users when it
comes to making purchasing decisions. An inclusive society by
nature, we often fall for what our friends and family say and
consider them to be gospel truth. In fact, a Nielsen global survey
once revealed that 87 per cent of Internet-accessing Indians trust
recommendations over other kinds of advertising. Add to this the
research findings that negative word of mouth spreads by a factor
of 20 while positive word of mouth spreads by a factor 5, and you
will realise what potential Mouthshut wields.
It is common knowledge that bad product experience and
abysmal customer service have been around ever since products
were first developed and services were rendered for the first
time. But what changed dramatically during the post-Internet
era was the way consumers voiced their say regarding product
and service quality. The customer service experience started
finding a medium of propagation that seemed a revolution of
sorts. On the other hand, innovations on the Internet have also
made e-trading possible. It is no longer necessary to have a oneto-
one interaction between the buyer and the seller when goods
are bought or bartered. In fact, online shopping has gone a step
ahead and brought the auctions back in vogue. It is another
matter that the Sotheby’s and Christie’s have been around since
1744 and 1766 respectively and still feature in the media for
what they are buying and selling. The meat space will, at times,
rule over the cyber space.
Auctions have become a rage and bidding for products have
turned out to be our most favourite pastime, thanks to companies
like eBay. Founded by the French-born Iranian software
programmer Pierre Omidyar, eBay has been a runaway success in
no time. Emulation works when innovation fails and very soon,
everything from the kitchen sink to personal memorabilia are
being sold across the Internet. What is fake and what is not, who
is genuine and who is a con man, have all become a big blur on
the Internet. Online fraud and the measures to tackle it have
become as big a priority as everything else around it. Interestingly,
it also presented a big opportunity for start-ups like Mouthshut to
protect the confused consumer and make some money.

Stay alert to counter Internet frauds
Having painted that picture of gloom, we
must admit that it is not all fraud and robbery
on the Internet marketplace. In fact, online
auctions and sites like eBay are exactly where
you need to be to get the best deal. And the
fact that you can get it done with the click of
a mouse while you sip your Pina Colada at
home, makes it an unrivalled option on any
given day. Our word of caution is just to
make sure that you will get your online
purchasing right. So, here is what you can do
to stay alert and counter Internet frauds.

Before the purchase
_ As ‘location’ happens to be the success mantra in real
estate business, ‘research’ is the key in online shopping. In
case you are not the researching type, at least befriend
someone who belongs to that category. Do spend some
time checking out how much the product does cost in meat
space and add the shipping cost as well, in case you have to
pay that. Additionally, make use of price comparison sites
or visit multiple sites before you actually make the
purchase. Also remember that the less popular sites may
often be better places to scout for a deal instead of the
popular ones. But while you are at it, also remember the
risk-reward paradigm.
_ Just like Net surfing, online bidding or cyber shop-a-thon
may become an addiction. So, remember two things when
you are killing the time during the weekend: Smoking kills;
excessive indulgence makes you bankrupt.

During the purchase
_ Remember there are both angels and demons in cyberspace.
Since you cannot really see with whom you are transacting,
always check the merchant rating given by most sites. While
verifying the authenticity and the credibility of a seller, do
remember the law of numbers. Simply put, someone who
gets great ratings 370 times out of 400 is probably better
than someone who is highly rated 3 times out 4.
_ The biggest deterrent to Internet shopping is the lack of
‘feel’. You may be buying the best of brands and there may
be loads of high-resolution pictures and 360° views that will
help you get a comprehensive idea of the product in
question. But one still wants to touch it in real and try out
before the actual purchase. I still remember buying an
exquisite piece of woollen from a reputed vendor which
turned out to be of inferior material and the colour did not
match at all. To safeguard yourself against such postdelivery
mishaps, do check if the product has a warranty
period or a ‘replacement if defected’ clause.
_ If you are bidding for a product online, try and be a rational
consumer. Keep your ego in deep freeze and make sure that you
do not go beyond your means. You may not win all your bids
but at least you won’t be defaulting on your credit card bill.

Post-purchase
While most of us like to subscribe to the ‘it
won’t happen to me’ belief, chances of
being fooled by a shrewd seller are always
there. However, the brick-and-mortar
markets, as well as the cyberspace, now
offer myriad measures – so that you may
take the necessary steps to get back at the
perpetrator who has sold you a faulty
product or extended some crappy service
(and doesn’t that happen all the time).
Mouthshut.com is a frontrunner in providing a platform for
consumers to raise their voice in such matters. iComplaints is
another popular site where a consumer can lodge an official
complaint and track the same online. Thanks to the large
number of subscribers these sites have, you do enjoy twofold
benefits. First of all, you will soon come to know all you want to
know about a specific vendor’s quality of service, as someone or
the other from the large forum is sure to have interacted with
him. Plus, it also instils greater accountability among defaulters
as negative publicity on a widely accessed forum can
significantly impact their businesses.
Websites like eCoustics.com are slightly different from
Mouthshut and iComplaints. The former is basically a rating
site where people can review and post comments on the
products they have bought. Dedicated to electronic goods alone,
sites like these give prospective buyers a fair idea of what other
users like or dislike about the product.
If everything else fails and you want to head straight to where
it matters, you can always visit the India Consumer Forum site
(www.indiaconsumerforum.org) in search of the justice denied.
So the next time you buy something on the Internet, fear not –
justice is just a click away.