How to know a legit online store in Nigeria.
I know it have been baffling your mind on how to verify if an online business is legit or not.
Today I will be giving you few steps and checks to know if an online business within your local is legit. Please note that this doesn’t provide any guarantees that the online business will be 100% legit. Always do your additional research.
So I will be using Bel Stores as an example, the fast growing e-commerce website mostly used by people in the south-eastern side of Nigeria. Bel Stores have over 1,000 products both for luxury and middle class. They deal majorly on fashion but have seem to expand to smartphones, laptops, and other gadgets.
First thing is to check if the online business have a website that is secured by comodo or any other domain registrar. For example www.belstores.com.ng is secured as you can see the “lock” icon on your tab browser.
What are people saying about them on Google? How many positive/negative reviews do they have? How many visits and views have they received on google. Using Bel Stores as an example, they are verified on google and have 4.9 google rating with 32 reviews. That’s actually a very good score.
Thirdly is to check their social media presence. Are they on most popular social media like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and so on. How many active followers do they have? What about the engagements, comments, reviews by other people that must have bought something from them? These are the things to check. Our example, Bel Stores have over 2000+ active Instagram followers, and about 500+ Facebook followers. They also have a twitter and YouTube channel. And a company LinkedIn page with the Chief Executive Officer, employees and other board members.
Fourth thing is to check whether is a fully registered business and how long have they been in existence? Bel Stores have been operating since 2019 and fully registered.
Another important thing is to check companies they are partnering with. Bel Stores partnered with Flutterwave Inc. and Paystack in 2020 to provide seamless checkout for customers. They also partnered with Coinbase Commerce in 2021 to provide checkout with up to 10 different cryptocurrencies.
Lastly, check their terms and conditions. I know most of us skip terms and conditions when signing up on most websites but this is a very important thing to do. Read about their payment systems, delivery processes, return and refund policy before proceeding to make your purchase. You can read about Bel Stores terms and conditions on their official website www.belstores.com.ng
These are the 5 checks to carry out before purchasing from any online store to avoid stories that touches.
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