Jyotirmaya Batra writes numerous articles for websites on gardening, parenting, fashion, sports and many more as her hobby. Her background includes teaching, writing and recreation. She is a professor in one of the colleges in Kanpur. This time she decided to express her reviews on shopping portals which she actually tried and tested. She considered points like customer satisfaction, delivery method, payment options, security and more. And she recommends sites like Infibeam.com and more.
ebay.in: It is a good site to check prices. Some good rated sellers have delivered superb. Selection is big. The quality of product is not reliable, sometimes I get products with duplicate parts. What you see is not what you get several times. Also, consistency is not there in terms of delivery, you have to babysit the vendor to get the package delivered. I do shop with them if I find a really good deal from a seller with great rating.
shopping.rediff.com: A very old site, they've delivered for more than a decade in India which is impressive. I've found them most reliable in terms of customer service. They have a huge selection too. For some reason their focus seems to be cheap low-value products. See the ads on the rediff homepage? I saw a promotion for 3-tshirts for 250 Rs and bought them. Turned out to be thin piece of cloth which I passed on for cleaning straight off. Their recent layout change is a big turn-off. I do shop with them once in a while.
shopping.indiatimes.com: Another old player like rediff. They are good in white goods but not so good in other products. Very cluttered. Looks like a newspaper, not shopping site. Also its a marketplace so when there is a problem in an order their CS rep will blame it onto a vendor.
indiaplaza.in: Another site that has been around for a long time (used to be called fabmall). These guys do a great job at marketing their site and creating promotional campaigns. Quite a few times they are good but most often they are just tricks to make consumer buy. I have read online that there were a few times when they did not honour their promotional commitments. In the past year or so the delivery quality has gone down big time. The layout is old world and its very difficult to find a product. The site appears to be stagnant because of which I've kinda stopped shopping here.
infibeam.com: A recent entrant in eCommerce space and my favourite. Their user interface is crisp and fresh. I love their navigation which allows one to narrow products of interest by user criteria. Their product selection is amazing - they say they carry 30 lakh books which is a huge and i am impressed with the coverage of electronics and gifts. Their customer service is prompt and cordial. I have placed several orders for books and gifts and the delivery has been bang on. Recently, my wife placed a rakhi order and they delvered along with a free gift for a special occassion. In the past I've found some of their electronics products to be high priced compared to rediff. I specially like their hot deals section where you find products at attractive pricing. Overall great experience and my current favourite for shopping online.
futurebazaar.com: I bought an air conditioner last summer from them. It took two weeks to deliver but the product was good. Now I see other brands like pantaloon on the site. Will have to try them again.
in.com shopping: They had multiple sites (compareindia, storeguru etc) which they are grouping into one site now. Overall I love in.com for its music and other ideas. However shopping wise they have a long way to go. Selection is limited. The YourAccount for tracking your orders is not professional.
flipkart.com: Since I shop a lot for books, I thought of mentioning flipkart which sells only books. I heard mixed reviews about them so tried them about 3 months ago. Ouf of the the two books, one book was canceled (they said out of stock) and the other one arrived within 3 days. But it was a used book - there were user writings inside which is pathetic. I wrote to the customer service and even tried calling them. I was able to reach someone after three days of effort which is very frustrating. The CS rep said publisher delivered defective goods. Note: It was used and not defective. The rep told me they a new copy of the book was being shipped which never arrived. Clearly the replied to me. Later, I heard that these same guys were telling people that flipkart is representing amazon in india which is again a LIE. This company has no ethics.
naaptol.com and other comparison sites: I use these once in a while to compare prices but not a great experience since they don't have full selection.
Other than the above I've also shopped from indiangiftsportal.com and tolmol.com but those are mostly for gifting. Their selection is limited as they don't carry books, media & electronics.
- Related Videos
- Related Articles
- Ask / Related Q&A
- The DubLi Reverse Auction and Shopping Portal Review
- Shopping portal-a boon for crazy shopaholics
- Shopping Site Reviews: Which to look for when shopping online?
- Online Shopping: Best Way to Shop and Save
- Comparison Shopping: Best Way to Get a Good Deal
- Convenience, Trust and Value When You Shop
- Compare Prices Online Shopping To Save Money
- Price Comparison: the Best Way for Cost-effective Shopping
Freelance Writing Online: A Good Way to Earn Money Online
By: Genesis Davies | 05/01/2010Everyone is looking for a magical method of earning online. So far, no one has found it. Even scammers have to work a bit! If you’re interested in making an honest living online, then freelance writing is the way to go.
Dissertation Writing: Some Students are compelled to Enlist Assistance
By: Shayane | 05/01/2010Dissertation writing is not an easy task for most university students especially in terms of complexity of activities involved with dissertations. It involves combining of extensive knowledge of the field of study with excellent writing skills as well as competency in research methods, research conducting and data analysis.
The Seven Deadly Sins. Just What Kind Of A Sinner Are You?
By: florence roulette | 04/01/2010How well do you really know yourself and how do other people see you? Find out as you read along as I define and compare myself to each of the seven deadly sins. If you can honestly do the same you may be surprised at what you learn about the person in the mirror.
Dissertation Editing – Deliver the best
By: Dissertation | 04/01/2010The Dissertation Editing demands sincerity and concentration on your work. As a writer you have to take care of every mistake while editing the dissertation.
Tips for improving essay writing speed
By: Vishal Dwivedi | 03/01/2010Being fast saves on time and hence increases in production and income. Speed writing allows one to forget the flaws of writing and grammatical errors and just type .Speed writing involves setting a goal and trying to complete it as quickly as possible. There are several factors that affects on how to improve the writing speed.
Writing styles
By: Vishal Dwivedi | 03/01/2010It is commonly used in citing social sciences and psychology. The general APA guidelines entails the research be typed in double space, font size between 10-12 in Times New Roman. The major sections include the title page, abstract, main body and the reference. The style specifies the order of headings, references, arrangement of tables, appendices, footnotes and formatting. It also combines the author-date style of parenthetical referencing.
Teaching on term paper writing
By: Vishal Dwivedi | 03/01/2010After selecting a subject from the text, a student needs to go further in search of materials that touch on that topic. These materials need to be recent since information changes with time. Most lectures require the source of material not to be past 20 years old on the shelves especially if one is not required to tackle a historical event. Looking at the book titles in relation to the required subject the student can peruse on the abstract to find the topic one is looking for. Note the points t
Simple secret to write effectively and profitably essay
By: Vishal Dwivedi | 03/01/2010Planning helps to present your material in an organized way making the reader to be confident .It is important to plan on how to set up the essay, researching on the topic and finally writing it down. Planning the essay involves dividing it into three sections; the introduction, the body, the conclusion and simply listing all the points you want to cover in the main body.