The Advent of Online Shopping

Lately I have become more and more comfortable with online shopping due to the convenience and the variety of choices available.
My earliest experience was from ebay to buy some books, and then groupon to buy the most unusual stuff. But now I have moved to buy clothes, sports equipment, mobile phone and accessories, and even an LCD TV from online stores.
The advantage is I get to compare prices for the same standard items.  I am most impressed by the TV delivery, ordered on Friday morning, delivered on Saturday morning.  (lazada.com.my).

One thing I learnt when buying things online is that it is better to order standard items.  And check the sizes carefully, measure and visualize.  For other items, it is better to have a cash-on-delivery option so that you can view and see the goods first, unless the items are of low value.  This is very true for clothes, I would probably not buy online anymore unless the prices are so irresistible.

Every time a package comes, I would be so excited.  Like the song that goes: "brown paper packages tied up with strings".  Love the brown packages and crisp sound of paper!  Feels like getting a gift, even though you know that you bought it for yourself.

Cash-back for Selling Phone

My faithful phone

A note of gratitude that while I upgraded my phone to Mi3, my previous phone was put up for sale yesterday as a 2nd-hand item and it was quickly sold today, at the reasonable price that I asked for.  The quick sale meant I would not have worry that phones will continue to depreciate with time as new technology comes along.

Another Scam Alert

This time, even an advertisement for renting out rooms at my apartment has attracted a scam response. Here it goes:

I am a citizen of United States America,staying at Richmond,Virginia,staying at 1410 OAKHURST LANE APT#1 RICHMOND,VA 23224 and i want rent this apartment because am coming dawn to Malaysia for International Conference and which is going to take me 6Month do let know know the total package of the apartment and make sure you calculate it in USD$ and get back to me soon as possible so that i can make the payment via ECASH COMPANY here in USA that will deliver the money to your door step in Malaysia means ATM CASH CARD that you can use to withdraw the money in any bank in Malaysia using ATM MACHINE..and do get back to me with the attachment of the apartment to review. Nice Doing Business with you. Mrs Michele.

The best part is when I advertised, I specified it is for males only.
What kind of international conference will last for 6 months?
Again, I blocked the email as scam and deleted the email.

Online Scam

Mudah.my is a useful website to buy and sell things in Malaysia. However, lately I noticed there are false purchasers using the website as well.
Usually this happens when you want to sell used mobile phones. Earlier I wanted to sell one, and I got 3 emails from overseas, purportedly from UK, wanting to buy the mobile phone from me. Of course I didn't entertain since I wanted to sell to Malaysians only, and I didn't think much about it. Then lately I wanted to sell a cooler bag, one that is used to keep cold drinks for picnics, and I got an email from someone supposedly named "Dr Sarah Smith", wanting to buy. I thought, maybe it's a foreigner in Malaysia who wanted to buy, so I responded to the email, naming a place to meet for COD (cash on delivery).
I got a reply email from her and she said she is from Scotland, but she would like to buy it for her son who is now in Nigeria. She asked me to ship to Nigeria by Poslaju. In the email, she also asked me to reply to her the price including shipping, my full name, my bank account number, handphone contact number so that she can transfer the money to me. I immediately reported the email as spam, and deleted it.
A few things made me very suspicious:
1. The "Dr" in the email. Usually if you want to buy something you wouldn't even tell the seller you are a doctor or whatever. This person uses a Dr title to improve her credibility.
2. She is supposedly from Scotland, but the English grammar is atrocious. She wrote: "I awaits your reply..." I remember the last time I also got an email from another guy wanting to buy my handphone, who is also from the UK with an English name, but the English was terrible.
3. Asking elaborate details of full name, bank account, handphone number- all these details are needed for bank verification when you call in to do banking transaction.
So, be very careful with all these personal details, especially when dealing with foreigners. For all you know these people are already in Malaysia, otherwise how would they know about Poslaju? And I am just thankful that I didn't fall into their trap.