Online shopping is an excellent and effortless way to find exactly what you need from the comfort of your couch or bed! Unfortunately, there are risks involved with online shopping with the prevalence of online shopping scams. Online shopping scams are scammers who use fake websites or fake advertisements to entice you to purchase a product online. We have outlined how you can avoid falling victim to cheap couches for sale scams with our top ways to identify an online shopping scam. 5Star Furniture is a credible online furniture store with a range of cheap couches for sale that you can trust to be affordable and high-quality.
How To Avoid Cheap Couches for Sales Scams:
We understand that online shopping scams can make you distrustful of purchasing cheap couches for sale online. When you are purchasing a more expensive item like a couch online, you need to ensure that you can trust the reputation of the online store. This is why we have created an easy guide on all the ways that you can identify cheap couches for sale scams so that you can protect yourself and your money, and still find the perfect couch for your lounge from a reputable online furniture store.
1) Sounds Too Good to Be True:
As the saying goes, if it sounds too good to be true, it most likely is. When you come across a cheap couch for sale online, it is important to assess it for any tell-tale signs that this may be a scam. We have highlighted two ways to quickly identify if a couch for sale online is too good to be true.
Price is Too Low: Alarm bells should be ringing if you come across a large lounge suit in genuine leather for only a few hundred bucks. While this may feel like an exciting deal, the price is far too low to demonstrate the legitimacy of the seller or the product. If the couch is not on a discount or promotion and the price is exceptionally low, you should be cautious about purchasing the couch from the online furniture store.
Too Many Perks: Not only do you get an L-shaped lounge with matching single-seaters, but you also get free delivery, free matching scatter cushions, and a side-table thrown in for good measure. You should always be wary when there are too many perks included in the sale of a cheap couch. While perks are not always an indication of a scam, online shopping scams will usually include too many perks that are there to entice you to make the purchase.
2) Limited Information:
If there is no information on the product at all, close the browser and return to your journey of finding a reputable online furniture store for cheap couches for sale. If you have found a cheap couch for sale with a product description, but the information is brief and limited, then you should also pause and investigate further. We have outlined the information that should always be included in the description of the cheap couch for sale so that you can easily sift out the scams from reputable online furniture stores.
Measurements: When buying a couch online, measurements are an essential piece of information that you need. As you will not be seeing the couch in person before purchase, you need to know if the couch you desire will fit into your lounge space. If there are no available measurements or the measurements are in the imperial system but the company claims to be based in South Africa, you should avoid that online furniture store.
Materials and Colours: A material description will help you decide whether or not the couch is suitable for your lifestyle needs. The description should also include the available colour range in the specific material of the couch. Information on the material is essential as it demonstrates that the online furniture store has a comprehensive understanding of the couch, and is not just using sourced photos of couches as a scam to swindle you out of your money.
Guarantee: A couch is typically a more expensive furniture piece for your home, which means that you need to have a guarantee included in the sale of the couch. A guarantee ensures that the couch should retain its original quality for the stated period in the guarantee. A guarantee protects you and also holds the online furniture store accountable for the quality of their couch, allowing you to trust them.
Delivery: As an online furniture store, there should always be details included about delivery. These details can state where the online furniture store delivers to, the expected delivery cost within a certain vicinity, and if delivery is free if you spend over a stipulated amount. If there is vague or non-existent information on delivery, we recommend contacting the store or looking for a couch elsewhere.
3) Site Security:
Site security is essential no matter what you are planning to purchase from an online store. Site security measures demonstrate that the website is legitimate and has taken the steps to ensure your security whilst using its website. We have outlined the two essential things to look for that demonstrate site security, and if these are not present you should avoid the online furniture store.
Examine the URL: The first way to check for site security is to examine the URL. At the beginning of the URL, there should be https://, with the most important being the “s” which stands for secure. This demonstrates that the website has put security protections in place for its website users. You should also assess the domain name in the URL. If it is a respelling on a well-known online furniture store, then you should be wary.
Check for the Padlock: While not foolproof, the padlock symbol in the address bar is another way to assess the security of the website you are on. The padlock demonstrates that the website has Secure Sockets Layer (SSL), which essentially ensures that only you and the website can access what is being typed into the browser. This protects your information from being accessed from alternative sources.
4) Browse the Entire Website:
You should always examine a website in its entirety before making a purchase. This includes looking through all the different pages, reading the privacy policy, and checking for images of the cheap couches for sale. We have highlighted 2 essential factors to check for when examining the online furniture store for reliability.
Spelling and Grammar: A legitimate online furniture store will pride itself on the professionalism and quality of its website. This includes having various web pages that offer you information on the business. Not only should a website have all this information, but the spelling and grammar need to be correct to demonstrate the credibility of the website.
Contact Information: An online furniture store should always have their contact information on their website. At a minimum, this should include their contact details and the location of their store or factory. You can then do research into this information to assess whether it is legitimate.
5) Check for Reviews:
You have found a secure website that lists cheap couches for sale that are fairly priced and include extensive information on the product, and now you are thinking that you are ready to pay for your new couch. Before you click on the “proceed to cart” button, you should stop and do some additional research on the specific online furniture store. The best way to assess the legitimacy of an online furniture store is to read online reviews.
Any legitimate online store should have reviews available on its website. If there are no reviews available, it can mean that the online furniture store is very new and has yet to receive any responses from customers, or it is a scam. Look for reviews online or place a question on an online forum asking if anyone has purchased from this specific company and what their experiences were before you make the purchase.
6) Be Wary About Bank Transfer Payments:
Your final point of assessment for cheap couches for sale scams is the payment process. If you are asked to pay by direct bank transfer on an online furniture store for your new couch, you should stop and reassess your decision. Direct bank transfer payment options are not in themselves a cause for concern, but they are when they are your only payment option.
You should always have options on how to pay for your new couch on an online furniture store. At the very least, there should be the option to pay with either a debit card or credit card, and then additional options can include cash on delivery or a direct bank transfer. It is easier for you to get your money back if you pay for a couch scam on your debit or credit card, but getting your money back from direct bank transfers is more complicated which is why scams generally only offer this payment option.
5Star Furniture Cheap Couches for Sale:
5Star Furniture is a trusted and reliable online furniture store with a wide range of cheap couches for sale. We provide a variety of high-quality couches in various styles, materials, and sizes at an affordable price. With us, you can trust that the cheap couch you fall in love with on our online furniture store will be the exact couch that timeously arrives at your home.
Our online furniture store features every single couch we have available. Included in our couch selections are various photographs of each specific couch and a detailed product description that includes measurements, materials, colours, guarantee, and delivery details. We take every step to demonstrate that we are a credible online furniture store that you can trust for your online couch purchase.
Our online furniture store is on a safe and secure website. We have taken security measures to ensure that you are protected when purchasing your new couch from our online furniture store. When you proceed to the online checkout, you will have a variety of secure payment options so that you can choose which is best suited to you.
You can easily see what our customers have to say about our cheap couches for sale and our services in our reviews section. We include all reviews to provide you with accurate and reliable accounts of our online furniture store. From quality to delivery to price, we strive to provide you with total peace of mind when you choose to purchase your new couch from us.
Find cheap couches for sale on 5Star Furniture’s online furniture store that you can trust to be high quality and affordable.
